All right, now let's turn in
our Bibles to 2 Samuel 24. Now, just to give you an idea
of what I'm going to do tonight and the next message, tonight
I'm not going through 2 Samuel 24. I'm going to do that this
coming Sunday night. But tonight, I'm going to just
take verse 1, and then I want you to turn to another scripture,
a parallel scripture, and that's in 1 Chronicles chapter 21. Turn
to 1 Chronicles chapter 21. This is a parallel passage. This is another historical view
of David's life in Chronicles. They say if you look at the book
of Samuel and the book of Kings and the book of Chronicles, there
are a lot of parallels there. Obviously, the two books of Samuel
give you sort of like a viewpoint of the prophet of God. And kings,
obviously, they give you the viewpoint of the political, the
king, the kingly viewpoint. And chronicles, the priestly
viewpoint. So that's why you have three
different versions. They're not different in the
sense that there's no contradictions. But there's sometimes variations
because of how we view things. You know, we all believe the
same gospel, but sometimes we'll view things in providence. And
as they develop and work out, we may view them a little differently.
You may see some things I don't see. And I may see some things
you don't see. And it's the same way with the
writers of Scripture, even as they were inspired by the Holy
Spirit. For example, you can look at
the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew is a very Jewish
Gospel. It's steeped in the prophecy
of the Old Testament. Mark is a very Roman Gospel.
It's a very short and concise, immediate Gospel. And of course, Luke is a very
Gentile Gospel. And John is just on his own,
sort of. But they emphasize certain aspects
of the person and work of Christ. You see, Matthew speaks of the
son of David, and Mark of Christ the servant, Luke of the son
of God, and John emphasizes his deity right off. But they're
all together. You see, the Bible is one book. We turn to the books
of the Bible, but it's one book. And so what we're going to read
in 1 Chronicles 21.1 is not a contradiction of what we're going to read in
2 Samuel 24.1. Now listen to what it says in
verse 1 of 2 Samuel 24. It says, and again, the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Now that's the first
issue. God's anger against the nation. And it says, and he,
that is the Lord, are at his command. move David against them
to say, go number Israel and Judah. And we're going to see
later on, I'll do this, we'll go through some of 2 Samuel 24,
that David numbering Israel here was a sin against God. But see,
this is how God determined to punish Israel. But now look at
1 Chronicles chapter 21 and verse 1. Here's the same thing. Listen to what it says here.
You may look at this and say, wow, this is kind of strange,
isn't it? Well, look at it. It says, and
Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number
Israel. Now, what do you think of that?
Don't answer. But isn't that something? 2 Samuel
24. Anger was kindled. You know what
that means? You throw a little kindling on
the fire, it stirs it up. Now, I want you to think about
some things, and I'm going to try to be as brief as I can tonight,
but I want you to turn to some scripture with me. And what I'm
hoping this will do is lay the foundation of what is really
taught in the whole chapter of 2 Samuel 24, which I'll get to
next time, concerning the cost of redemption. That's what that's
going to be. But we've looked at the life of David as a type
of Christ. David, a type of Christ. And
what a glory that is to see that. David, the shepherd. The shepherd
king. David, the warrior. The warrior
king. Standing against Goliath as the
representative of the people of Israel. Killing Goliath. Just
what a great picture of our Savior on the cross. standing as our
representative and substitute, conquering the giants of sin
and Satan and the curse of the law. Those are glorious things. And throughout most of David's
reign, I believe David understood well his responsibility as the
king of Israel, the king of the nation, to represent and convey
the glory of God in the salvation of sinners by the promised Messiah
King who was to come. I believe David saw that. And
the reason I believe that is not if I read the history of
David through 2 Samuel. Because, you know, we see a lot
of his failures there. In fact, this chapter 24 is one
of his failures, one of David's failures. And I want to say,
you know, it says here God moved David to do this, but you're
going to see down in 2 Samuel 24, David does not blame God
for this. And that's amazing to me. He
doesn't. Now people today who read the Bible and want to contradict
it and want to deny the sovereignty of God, they'll blame God. But
not David. He said, I sinned. We'll see
that in just a moment. But the reason I believe that
David understood his responsibility is because of the Psalms that
he wrote throughout his lifetime. Those are expressions of David's
heart as he was inspired by the Spirit to write of the glory
of God in the coming promise of Christ to come. to save him
from his sins. We've looked at the life of David
as an example of a sinner saved by the grace of God in Christ.
Many things in David's life that we should emulate. You can see
them in the Psalms. David was submissive to the sovereign
purpose and will of God in all things. Why he wrote psalms like
that, you know, and then some of those songs he didn't write,
but some of them he did. But he believed the Lord was
in control. The Lord, right? And he took
comfort in that. He didn't fight that like people today do. He
don't like that preacher I heard on TV who stood up and he said,
he said this, he said, you know, there are many Christians today
who are operating under, what did he say, an error? And he
said, the error is that God's in control. That's what he said. And I guarantee you he had thousands
of people watching him, listening to him, buying his books. David
didn't say that. Oh, no. He said, God's in control.
And he said, that's my hope. That's why he talked about in
2 Samuel 23 about the covenant of grace, the covenant of redemption
in Christ. It's ordered in all things and
sure. You know why? Who ordered it? God did. God set it in order. Everything
about it. Who would accomplish it, the
conditions of it, who it was for? Everything about it. God
ordered it. He was in control. David knew
that in his own life. He knew it very well. And so
there are a lot of ways as we see David as an example of a
sinner saved by grace that he's to be emulated. The prayers of
David, the Psalms of David, the worship of David. Sometimes when
he acted wisely in his dealings with Saul, the Scripture says
several times he acted in wisdom there. And I pray God give me
the wisdom to act like I ought to act in areas of relationships
and dealing as a pastor and as a husband, as a father, a grandfather,
all of these things, you know. David's to be emulated in a lot
of ways, but there are other ways that David's not to be emulated. When it lists the failures of
David, all the failures of David, those are not listed there to
say, now see there, what a believer. can get away with? That's not
why they're there. And if that's what you think,
you have missed it royally, haven't you? I'll guarantee you if you
were talking to David today, he'd say, oh, no, don't be like
me. Look at my house. Look at my
family. Look at my children. Look at
my kingdom. What a mess I've made of it.
And yet, God has made with me a covenant That's ordered in
all things ensured. No, David's not an example of
how a believer can get away with sin. And that's what people think.
If you use David as an excuse to sin, even in his submission
to the sovereignty of God, somebody says, well, it doesn't matter
if I do it or not. God's sovereign. He's in control. If that's what
you think, you've missed it. And listen, you say, well, then
I just can't figure that out. Well, you know my stock answer
to that question, don't you? Everybody know? Join the club.
Because you're not going to figure it out. What I want to do tonight
is give you some biblical answers. I don't want to give you any
philosophers or any discussions or any opinions or anything like
that. I just want to tell you what
the Bible says. Now, it's there. Take it or leave it, you know.
That's the way it is. We're celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Well, the
Irishman said, you pays your money, you takes your choice,
you know. That's the way it is. It's there.
God's people are going to submit to it. They're going to bow to
it, even when we don't understand it all. Now that's so. And you
know what that's called in the Bible? That's called faith. We
believe it because God said it. God said it. We've seen David
at his lowest in the flesh. Again, where he's not to be emulated.
Right here in 2 Samuel 24, numbering Israel. This was a matter of
pride for David. That's what it was about. We'll see that
in just a moment. We see him in the way of true
godly sorrow over sin and repentance. That's something that we all
need to promote in ourselves by the power of the Spirit. Read
Psalm 51, David's repentance, his sorrow over the sin. Look
over at 2 Samuel 24, verse 10. Look at verse 10. It says, And David's heart smote
him. You ever had your heart smite
you? What happened? That's conviction,
that's sorrow. Oh, I've done something I shouldn't
have done. Oh, I've sinned. He said, after that he had numbered
the people. And David said, O Lord, I have
sinned greatly in that I have done, and now I beseech Thee,
O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done
very foolishly. I acted like a fool. That's his
heart smiting him, coming to repentance. Now David was truly
a man after God's own heart. This chapter here is another
episode of David's life where he goes from one of his lowest
points to one of his highest. And you think about it, you see,
to the world, to the world, it looks like he goes from the highest
to the lowest. You think about it, any good king would count
his people, count his provisions, count his horses and know what
he's got. What's wrong with David doing,
man? I'll tell you exactly what's wrong. David's hope and strength
was to be in the Lord God. Not in how many people he had. No strength in numbers when it
comes up to God. It's like when I was a teacher,
I used to tell my class, I said, now our classroom is a democracy
and we're going to vote on everything. And I'd give them a choice of
whether we were going to, like, study English today or we were
going to play a game. I'd say, now, how many of you
want to play a game? Whatever hand in the room went up except one.
Mine. And I'd say, how many of you
don't want to play a game and study? And I'd say, well, looks like I win.
And they'd say, well, that's not democracy. We're more than
you. And I'd say, oh, no, you're not.
I'm the teacher. You're the student. I'm more than you. And that's
the way it is with God. See, however many millions you
have, God has more because of who He is and His authority and
His position and His nature. And that's the way it was with
you as a teacher and me as a teacher. We had the authority. We had
the power. It was given to us. We earned it. We did. That authority. Well, see, God earned it and
deserves it because of who He is. He didn't have to go out
and do anything to earn it. It's just who He is. He's God. So you see, the world would say,
well, that's the highest. But now when He comes down to
the sorrow and He says, my heart's my, that'd be the lowest. But
you see, the Bible teaches us that when God brings us low,
what does He do? He lifts us up. When we get it
all proud and all full of ourselves, what does He do? He brings us
down. That's the way of God. Here he says in verse 1, the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. Now the Lord's
anger is a way of stating his aversion to sin. Now you really
cannot, I'm not going to get too theological here tonight,
but you really can't equate or attribute emotions to God because
emotions are change and God never changes. And I cannot explain
that to you. But I know the Bible says it's
so. In fact, it really connects God's immutability, the fact
that He doesn't change, with our salvation. He says in Malachi
chapter 3, I think it's verse 6 if I'm not mistaken, He says,
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. If God changed, we'd be consumed.
And the Bible says it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not
consumed. But this is a way of talking
to us. talking to us. Now, we ought to be able to grasp
something of that. How do you know your children,
they're born, they begin to grow up, and you talk to them in certain
ways as a child that you don't talk to them as an adult when
they grow up? You see what I'm saying? Because you know their
understanding is limited when they're a child, and you have
to talk to them in terms that you can communicate with a child
who can't understand the high concepts that an adult can understand. And that's the way it always
is with us and God. God is so high above us, and
therefore in the revelation of Himself and His ways, He has
to talk down to us. You ever have an adult talk down
to you? You don't like that, do you?
I don't. when an equal. If an equal talks down to me,
I don't like that at all. And you know, like Debbie, there's
a husband and wife. She don't like when I talk down
to her, and I don't like it when she talks down to me, you see. Because
we're equals. But now, what about God? He has
no equal. Christ has no equal. And if he's
going to talk to this sinner, you know what he's going to have
to do? He's going to have to talk down to me. Just like I have to do to
my little grandson now. I have to talk down to him. And
so, this is what's happening here. His anger. His anger. His anger is not like your anger
or my anger. And don't think that it is. You
know, this is the problem with a lot of people when they're
trying to understand God. They don't read the scripture.
They read themselves. And they say, well, if I'm like
this, God must be like this. No, no, no. Don't ever think
that. And that's why we have to stick to the Bible. We have
to stick to the scriptures. So when it says God's anger was
kindled, it's a way of describing to little children like us, to
whom God has to talk down to, something of his hatred and aversion
to sin and rebellion and disobedience, so as to treat it with punishment.
Punishment. It's God's displeasure with sin.
It's contrary to God's nature. It's contrary to His law. It's
contrary to His glory. God must punish all sin. And He tells us that all sin
deserves what? Death. Eternal death. And all
sinners who spend their lifetimes and who die in their sins, which
means they die without Christ, they die without mercy. They die without a mediator.
They die without the blood of the Savior. They die without
His righteousness. They die in that state. They
will perish eternally, the Scripture says. That's the just punishment
of sin. And when God exercises that sovereign
right, He is doing the only thing He can do. And He's doing the
only right thing. And He's always just. and he's
always fair in his dealings. There'll never be a sinner who
perishes eternally in damnation who doesn't deserve to be there.
And I'll say it this way, there'll never be a sinner who's saved
eternally and goes to heaven who doesn't deserve to be there.
The difference is, the sinner who goes to heaven, his deserts,
the reason he deserves it, is not in himself. and not for his
own works, it's because of Christ. And that's it. He's my dessert. I deserve it because of Him.
It's mercy and grace to me. Now, sometimes God sends here
on earth manifestations of that future eternal wrath upon the
wicked. You think about the flood of
Noah. Think about the Tower of Babel. Think about Sodom and
Gomorrah. In fact, we could talk about
every disaster, what we call natural disasters, which Isaiah
the prophet called the evils which God sends. That's what
he called them. Not that God is evil by nature,
and not that God is the author of sin, but that which we, from
our own point of view, see as evil because it would do us harm.
That's what he's talking about. But see, all such disasters and
manifestations of God's wrath upon the wicked due to sin, and
they're given. And you know, Christ set all
that in order. He said the reason they're given
is not that you who escape such things could be puffed up and
say, well, ha ha, they got what they deserved, and I didn't get
what I deserved. Listen, He sends those things that all men everywhere
should repent. Scripture says, seek the Lord.
saying it's of the Lord's mercy that I wasn't wiped out in that
hurricane or that tsunami or whatever it is. Why did God spare
me? It's not because I deserve it
or earned it. So what should I do? Repent,
he says, or perish. Seek the Lord. Seek Christ. Now, as you know, the sins of
all of God's elect people, that's what the scripture calls them.
The world today doesn't like to hear that, but I like it.
In fact, everyone who believes in Christ is commanded of God
to give diligence to make their calling and what? Election sure. Now, I'm glad you said it. I
want you to know the scriptures. That's what we're commanded to
do. And the world hates that term. And they try to finagle
around and make it something that it's not. Well, as you know,
all the sins of all God's elect, spiritual Israel, Christ's sheep,
His church, have been fully punished at Calvary in the person and
death of our Savior. That's what David was talking
about in 2 Samuel 23.5, that covenant that's ordered in all
things and sure. That's a covenant that's ratified
by the blood of Christ. And in that sense, to God's elect
people, there is no punishment for sin. I mean absolutely none.
Our sins were totally paid for. There's no wrath from God. And
we're to look upon these other manifestations of God's wrath
upon the wicked with a heart of conviction and thanksgiving,
knowing that if God left us to ourselves, we would deserve worse
than what they got. But for God's people here on
earth, there's still the reality of chastisement for sins. Now,
this is what's going on here in 2 Samuel 24. There's still
that reality. Suffering the consequences of
sins so as to teach us, to test us, to correct us, and mainly
to convict us and drive us more and more to Christ, more and
more to His Word. More and more to prayer. That's
what they're for. We see examples of this in God's
dealings with David himself. You think about it back in 2
Samuel 12. You remember how the prophet
Nathan came to David after he had exposed David's sin of of
committing adultery and having Uriah the Hittite killed. That
man who's mentioned up there in verse 39 of 2 Samuel 23 is
one of David's mighty men. And you remember what Nathan
said to him there, I believe it's in verse 9, he says, Wherefore
hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his
sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and
hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with
the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore, Nathan
said, He said, Now therefore the sword shall never depart
from thine house. You see that never depart from
thine house because thou hast despised me and has taken the
wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. That's the chastisement
of God. Now, that's the now Nathan is
talking to the same man who said God has made a covenant with
me that's ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my
salvation. And all my desire. And out of
that illicit, sinful, decadent affair came the son Solomon,
through whom the lineage of, in the house of Judah, the promised
Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, came. Wow. Now, what's going on here? Is
God confused about this whole situation? I mean, does He need
me to set it right for Him? No, wait a minute, God, that's
just not the way to do it. No, He's on the throne, the Lord
reigneth, still in control. He overruled the evil of David
and brought good out of it, and yet He's not the author of sin.
You got a mathematical equation for that one? I don't. Nobody does. We cannot say, now
listen to this, we cannot say that every sin we commit is visited
with specific acts of God chastising us. We can't say that. First
of all, if that were true, we wouldn't be able to lift up our
heads in this life. Do you know that? Because we're
continual sinners. I know people don't like to hear
that, but it's so. So we have to be careful, we
have to be very reserved in our judgments of these matters, especially
when it comes to other people. Looking at somebody else and
saying, well I know why that fellow is suffering, or I know
why that girl is suffering. Look at what they did. Now you
know who you join in the church of Job's miserable comforter
friends right there. That's what they were trying
to do. That's how they messed up. And they knew a lot of truth. A lot of things they said about
Job were true, but they missed the boat by a million miles because
they didn't just simply bow to the sovereignty of God in those
matters. We know that there are certain
sins that have their built-in consequences, but we don't have
the kind of wisdom and knowledge it takes to make judgments in
all these areas. So what should we say about it? Nothing. Don't say anything. Just pray for them, seek their
recovery, love them in spite of themselves, and hope that
they'll do the same for you. Whenever we see a brother or
sister who's fallen, what does the Bible tell us to do? Seek
their recovery, recognizing who we really are. What am I capable
of? My friend, I'll tell you what,
if you're a child of God, the moment you look at somebody and
say, well, I could never do that, You better hold on to your hat.
The Lord may just show you some things about yourself. Because
you know, he's going to convict and correct his children. Don't
condemn them. Just seek their recovery. But
we're God's children. David was a child of God. And
he's our father. So there must be chastisement.
Because that's the relationship of a father to his children.
Hebrews chapter 12, verse 5, let me read this to you. And
have you forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children? My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth,
he what? Chasteneth. So if you're without
chastisement, what does that mean? It means there's no love. He said, he scourgeth, that means
whips, whips every son whom he receiveth. And if you endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, children. For what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers. We are in, this is part of our
fellowship right here, our chastisement. Then are you bastards and not
sons. You see that? That's pretty clear, isn't it?
We see examples of this in God's dealings with the nation Israel
under the Old Covenant. That's what's going on back here
in 2 Samuel 24-1. God's anger was kindled against
who? Israel, the nation. Now, it's
not that God changed his mind or that he was getting hotter
and hotter or madder and madder. He hadn't changed his purpose.
But showing again God's hatred of sin. God hates sin even in
His children. Did you know that? Just because
we're no longer condemned because we have Christ as our Savior
and our righteousness, just because we're washed in the blood of
Christ and clothed in His righteousness and never, never under any danger
of hell and wrath and judgment, that doesn't mean that God, well,
He said, well, I'll just take you as you are and I'll put up
with that. Oh, no, no. He still hates sin in His children. Still requires chastisement. This right here in chapter 24,
it doesn't really say exactly why God was angry with the nation,
but it was probably because of their prior rebellion against
David, and ultimately against God. You remember Absalom? He led the whole nation in rebellion. And then Sheba, he led a good
part of them against David. And you say, well, that happened
a long time ago. Well, now listen, listen to me.
God's dealings with sin does not always come immediately. God is long suffering. And you
know, there's no greater show of that than the death of Christ,
not only for the sins of people under the new code, but under
the old code. Let me show you that. Turn to Romans chapter
three. He speaks of being justified
here in verse 24, Romans 3, being justified freely by His grace,
Romans 3 and verse 24, by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ, whom God has sent forth, literally foreordained,
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. That's
the sins of God's children under the old covenant. Their sins
were put away the same time our sins were put away on the cross.
And he says, through the forbearance of God. Listen, now think about
it. Why didn't God immediately just
snuff out Adam when he fell? He let Adam live, didn't he?
Adam lived a good long life. Why didn't he immediately just
stamp out Abraham when he went into Egypt and lied about Sarah
being his wife and said she was his sister, put her in danger?
Why didn't he just immediately just snuff out Noah when he got
drunk coming off the ark, planted the vineyard, grew his grapes,
made wine, got drunk? Why didn't he just take care
of old Lot and Job and the rest of them? Why? His forbearance. They were chosen
before the foundation of the world, given to Christ, justified
in Him. And their sins were dealt with
on the cross of Calvary long after they themselves were dead
and buried. That's the purpose of God. And
you know what? God was in control of all of
it all along. The fact that God does not punish
all sin immediately does not mean that God is unjust or unfair
or that He may not punish all sin at all, but it means that
God does it His way and in His time, according to His purpose. Now, we may be chastised in the
present for past sin, but if we are in Christ, all our sins,
past, present, and future, have been fully paid for and cannot
condemn us. There is no condemnation in Christ.
Now, how did God choose to chastise Israel? Well, it says here in
verse 1, it says, he moved David. Look at it. He moved David against
them to say, go number Israel and Judah. Take a census. That's what we're doing these
days. I got mine in the mail the other day. We're taking a
census. What was sinful about taking a census? Well, David
had done it before. He'd taken a census before. It
says that David numbered the people that were with him. in 2 Samuel 18 and verse 1 and
set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them.
He took a census back there and it wasn't bad. God didn't punish
him for that. What's the difference? Well,
back there in 2 Samuel 18, David took a census for the purpose
of mustering or organizing his troops for a battle against the
enemies of God and the enemies of the king. The cause and the
motive for the census back then was for the honor and glory of
God. But here, it was merely for the
purpose of feeding his own selfish pride and self-importance. David
himself was lifted up with pride, and he took a census. I want
to know how many people I have. Proud look that God hates. Now
how did God move David to do this? Well, 1 Chronicles chapter
21 verse 1 says it this way. It says over there, and Satan
stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. Well,
what's going on here? Are God and Satan working together
in this thing? Absolutely not. That's blasphemy. What does it mean? It says here,
Satan incited David to take this census, and the Lord sovereignly
used Satan to accomplish his will. That's what this whole
thing means. God is not the author of sin.
He's not the author of evil. The Bible says in James chapter
1, we remember that, verses 13 and 14, it says, let no man say
when he's tempted that is tempted to do evil. I am tempted of God,
for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any
man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his
own lust and deceived." Satan tempted David, drew him away
of David's own lust. Satan took what was naturally
in David, of the flesh, and used it to incite David to do something
sinful. And yet God was in control all
the time. God was moving, it says, all
the time. He moved, David. What happened there? Well, think
about this. Sin and evil are realities in
this world, and God is in control of this world. The Bible says,
Ephesians 1.11, He works all things after the counsel of His
own will. We quote this all the time, and even, listen, even
false professors quote this verse. Romans 8.28. All things, and
we know that all things, work together for good to them that
love God, who are called according to His purpose. See that? Well,
how do you think all things work together? Do you think it's just
some kind of a fake? Some kind of a chance? Some kind
of a, as the Arabs would call, the Muslims would call, kismet?
Is that what it is? How can all things work together
for good. All things work together for
good. All things good, all things bad, all things work together
for good. How can these all things work
together for good? I'll tell you how. It's because
somebody's working it. And he's the Lord of glory who's
on the throne and who's reigning. That's how. He's working it. Someone asked the question, well
then how then can God hold any of us accountable? Here comes
the question of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Both
are true. We can't always jab them together.
But they're parallel truths. They may not meet in our logic
and in our minds, but they're true nonetheless. Well, let me show you how it
works. Look back at Genesis chapter 50. I'll just show you a few
scriptures here as I close this down. Look at Genesis chapter
50. This is kind of like a passage
in an episode that just says it all, really answers all the
questions. But, you know, we're so sinfully
curious sometimes that we're not satisfied with those simple
answers that God gives as He talks down to me and to you,
children. You know, as they grow up, they
begin to ask the question, why? Why? Why? Why? And look here in Genesis chapter
50 and verse 19. Now this is where Joseph, do
you remember what happened to Joseph? His brothers sold him
into slavery. They wanted to kill him. But
Reuben interceded and spared him and they sold him into slavery,
went down to Egypt. You know all the story of how
it happened to him. And then later on here, he meets his brothers
again and they're afraid because they know what they've done.
And they think Joseph is going to flat put it to them. And in
any other man's world, that's what would have happened. But
listen to what Joseph said in verse 19, when he tells them,
he says, don't you be afraid. He says in verse 19, and Joseph
said unto them, fear not. Now listen to this. This is the
biblical answer. He says, for am I in the place
of God? Now what that literally means
is this, I'm where God put me. That's what Joseph is saying
to his brothers who wickedly put him there. They were the
instruments. He says, well, you look at verse
20, but as for you now, now here's man's responsibility. Now there's
God's sovereignty. I'm where God put me. But now
here's man's responsibility, but as for you, you thought evil
against me. You meant it for evil. You're
responsible for your evil motives, your evil thoughts, your evil
actions. But God meant it unto good. Now, listen to me. Think about
Joseph's brothers here. Somebody says, well, how can
man be held accountable? Think about Joseph's brothers.
Now, when they sold him into slavery, what were their thoughts
and their feelings and their motives? Was it to do good? Did
they look up and say, well, I know we're fulfilling the sovereign
purpose of God in doing this. No. They hated Joseph. They were
jealous of Joseph. They wanted to get rid of Joseph.
Their motive and their thoughts and their actions were sinful
and evil, but God meant it for good. And let me tell you something.
There's only one who can control and work things and order things
and mean those things for good, and that's God. You can't do
that, and I can't do that. And so if we go about thinking,
well, I'm just going to do evil because it's well within the
sovereign confines of God's purpose, My friend, you don't have that
kind of power and wisdom, and that's wicked. You see, I rely on one verse
in Deuteronomy 29, verse 29, heavily on this. The secret things
belong to God. God knows what He's doing. He
lets us in on some of it. He reveals some of it to us,
but not all of it. But now the revealed things belong
to us. What was revealed to Joseph's
brothers as to their responsibility? Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love your brother. Do not murder. Thou shalt not
kill. That was their responsibility.
But he says, God meant it unto good to bring to pass as it is
this day to save much people alive. You see, whenever a person
uses God's sovereignty as an excuse for sin, what they are
actually doing is elevating themselves to be equal with God. Did you
know that? Oh my soul, that's wicked. And
then look at Acts chapter 2. Now, I've got more verses. I'm not
going to be able to read them all because I'm running out of time.
But there's more verses here. Sometime this week, read the
first two chapters of the book of Job. That's real pivotal. I'm not
reading when I come back next time. But read the first two
chapters. You know, that's where Satan
come to God and God said, have you considered my servant Job?
And God told Satan, you can have him, for what? Except his soul.
You can't touch his life. And Job went through all that.
Job said, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be
the name of the Lord. He said, shall the Lord give
us good things and not evil things? And all that he did not sin against.
Read the first two chapters of the book of Job. That's a biblical
answer too. But look here in Acts chapter 2, verse 22, Peter
preaching at Pentecost, you men of Israel, hear these words,
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles
and wonders and signs. Which God did by Him in the midst
of you as you yourselves also know. Him being delivered by
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now who delivered Him?
God did. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. That's why Christ went to the cross. He was fulfilling
the sovereign will and purpose of His Father to save His people
from their sins. Now, what was man's responsibility
in this matter? He said, you have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. We meant it for evil. God meant it for good. And then
look over at Acts chapter 4 and look at verse 26. It says in Acts 4 and verse 26,
the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against His Christ. For of a
truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, and the people
of Israel were gathered together." Now what was in their hearts
and in their minds to do? To stamp him off the face of
the earth. To kill him. To murder him. That
was the evil. But look at verse 28. For to
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done. Whose hand? Whose counsel? God's. You see what I'm saying here,
back here in 2 Samuel 24? Yeah, God moved David against
them to say, go number Israel and Judah. And God allowed Satan,
he used Satan, he used Satan to incite David to do this evil. And David was fully responsible,
and David himself says so in this chapter. He doesn't blame
God. He's like Job. Job didn't blame
God in the least. He questioned God. And he lifted
himself up and defended himself even under self-righteousness.
But he knew God was in control. Joseph! Why, man, you'd have
thought he would have just taken those brothers and lopped their
heads right off. He said, don't be afraid. You
meant it for evil. Now you're fully accountable
and responsible. You have to live with that and you have to
deal with it. Just like David's going to have to deal with this
sin of numbering Israel. And how's he going to deal with
it? I'm going to show you next week, but it has to do with the
picture of the cross. It's a picture of Christ and
Him crucified. But you see, God's in control.
Now there's a comfort there for God's people. Because I know
that God is going to save me and keep me and bless me in Christ
and in spite of myself. How about you?