I want to begin reading in verse
15 and read through the end of the chapter. So the Lord sent a pestilence
upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed. And
there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba 70,000
men. And when the angel stretched
out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented
him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the
people, It's enough. Stay now thine hand. And the
angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Arunah the
Jebusite. And David spake unto the Lord
when he saw the angel smote the people and said, Lo, I have sinned
and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they
done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be
against me and against my father's house. And Gad came that day
to David and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord
in the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. And David, according
to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. And Arunah
looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him.
And Arunah went out and bowed himself before the king on his
face upon the ground. And Arunah said, wherefore is
my lord the king come to his servant? And David said to buy
the threshing floor of thee to build an altar unto the Lord
that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Arunah said
unto David, let my lord the king take and offered up what seemeth
good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt
sacrifice and threshing instruments and other instruments of the
oxen for wood. All these things did Arunah as a king gives unto
the king. And Arunah said unto the king,
The Lord thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Arunah,
Nay, but I will surely buy it to thee at a price. And the Chronicles
account says a full price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So
David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of
silver. And David built there an altar
unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was
stayed from Israel. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. And Lord, how we desire thy presence
and thy spirit and thy blessing that we might be enabled to worship
thy blessed son and sit at his feet. Lord, let us hear from
you for the Lord's sake. Forgive us of our sins for Christ's
sake. And Lord, give us grace to believe
your gospel and to love one another as you gave us commandment. Oh,
that we might be found in Christ, be with all your people everywhere.
Lord, we pray for those with physical afflictions, that you
bless them and use them for your glory and their good. Lord, we
pray for our nation, that your mercy might be upon us. In Christ's
name we pray, amen. 70,000 people killed. Now I think it's very interesting
that I've listened to quite a number of messages on this and I've
read every commentator that I could find on this. I've read a lot
of commentaries trying to find out what people thought about
this. And not one, not one message
or commentary mentioned what the Bible says about this. Turn
to Exodus chapter 30. beginning in verse 11. And the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, and remember, David had a copy
of the Bible, so did a lot of other people. This is the Old
Testament Scriptures. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel
after their number, when you take a census, then shall they
give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, talking about
the shekel of the sanctuary, the atonement money, when thou
numberest them that there be no plague among them when thou
numberest them. This they shall give everyone
that passeth among them that are numbered half a shekel after
the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is twenty gears, and
a half a shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Everyone
that passeth among them that are numbered from twenty years
old and above shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall
not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel,
which they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement
for your souls. Now, he's saying when you take a census, there's
only one way people can be truly considered the people of God,
the atonement of Christ. That's the only way. And when
David bypassed the atonement, He was saying people can be looked
upon as the people of God without the atonement. Now did he mean
to do this? No, I don't think he did, but
he did it. And God killed 70,000 people as a result of David simply
passing over this old soul. The only way I want to be seen
at all times is in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he was bypassing that at this time. And God said plainly, if
you take a census without the atonement, there'll be a plague
among the people. He said that directly. And David let it pass
by. I couldn't help but think of,
remember, Uzzah. He touched the ark. Only the
priest could carry the ark with the staves. He touched it. God
killed him immediately. Why? He was bypassing everything
God said. And that's what was going on
here. David just neglected the atonement. Now, back to our text. Verse 16. And when the angel of the Lord
stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented
him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed the people,
It's enough. Stay now by hand, and the angel
of the Lord was by the threshing place of Reunah the Jebusite. Now, I'm thankful for scriptures
like this. You know, the scripture says regarding the Lord, he's
not a man that he should repent. He never changes his mind. He's
immutable. He's perfect. If he would change
his mind, that would mean there was something wrong with the
thing he thought in the first place. He doesn't do that. He's God.
But I'm thankful for a language like this. I think of, particularly in Jonah,
where the king of Nineveh said, who can tell? You know, God said,
I'm going to destroy you. He said, everybody put on sackcloth
and ashes. Who can tell? Who can tell? Maybe the Lord will repent and
have mercy on us. And the Lord did. Aren't you
thankful for scriptures like this? Lord, I know His purpose
and will's gonna be done, but I'm always gonna ask Him, Lord,
do this for me, do that for me, deliver me from this, don't let,
all these different things. And I'm thankful that the Lord
repents. He repented of the evil He was
going to do. And it was at the threshing place of Arunah the
Jebusite. Now this is interesting. 2 Chronicles
chapter three, verse one tells us that this place was also Mount
Moriah. the place where Abraham was to
sacrifice Isaac. This place is also, when David
bought this place, it was actually the highest point in Jerusalem,
and it's where the temple would later be built by Solomon, right
here. And there's so much significance
to the temple, you know, praying toward the temple, representing
the Lord Jesus Christ. Most people believe that this
actually was Mount Calvary, Mount Moriah, the temple, and Mount
Calvary. This has a big place in the history
of the scripture. Verse 17, and David spake unto
the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said,
Lo, I have sinned, and I've done wickedly, but these sheep, notice
he calls them sheep, these sheep, what have they done? Let thine
hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house.
Now we know from this opening verse of this passage of scripture
that these sheep had done something. As a matter of fact, all this
was done as a judgment against them. Look in verse one of chapter
24. And again, the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to
say, go number Israel and Judah. This was done as a judgment and
a chastisement because of their sin. The scripture points out
that clearly. But David says, I'm the one that
committed this sin. These sheep haven't done anything.
Let your anger come upon me. Let your wrath come upon me and
my father's house. Now, what do you think of when
you hear that? You think of this as being a type of the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ took my sin and owned it as his sin. He didn't say this is the sin
that Todd committed. Put your name in there. He didn't
say this is the sin that... He owned it as His sin. God would be unjust if He punished
Christ for somebody else's sin. He punished Christ because my
sin became His sin. Now, this is mysterious. It's
glorious. I almost feel scared talking
about it. But my sin actually became His sin. He owned it as
His. And these sheep, what have they
done? They're perfect. Now that's the
gospel. That's substitution is what it
is. It's substitution. It's the very heart and soul
of the gospel. And he can say concerning his
sheep, because my sin became his, he owned it as his. He said,
my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden, they're
too heavy for me. He said that. And now he says
to the father, as the surety of God's elect, let your wrath
come upon me for my sin. Verse 18, and Gad came that day
to David and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord
in the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. And we know this
is Mount Moriah. We know this is the place where
the temple was built. Second Chronicles 3.1 tells us
that. This is the place where they
actually built the temple. Verse 19, and David, according
to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. And Arunah looked and saw the
king and his servants coming toward him. And Arunah went out
and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
I believe he was afraid. He's thinking, why is he coming
here? Have I done something? Am I in trouble? He was afraid at
the coming of the king. Verse 21, And Arunah said, Wherefore
is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy
the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord,
that the plague may be stayed from the people. Now, why are
you here? He was afraid. And David said,
to buy this threshing floor, that the plague may be stayed. Now, there's only one way. Oh,
may God give us all the grace to hear this. There's only one
way the plague is going to be stayed. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Nothing else. Don't try to bring
your works. The sacrifice of Christ is the
only way the plague will be stayed. Don't look to anything you do.
The sacrifice only. In the Chronicles account, he
said, I want to pay the full price of this. He didn't say,
can you give me a discount? This is for religious purposes.
No. He said, I want to pay the full
price, the complete price. I remember when I was in the
printing business, people would always come up to me and say,
do you give a discount to churches? I'd say, no. I like saying that
for some reason. No. Uh, he said, I want to pay
the full price. Verse 22. And Arona said unto
the David, let my Lord, the King take an offering. up what seemeth
good unto him. He wanted to give it to him.
Behold, here are the oxen for burnt sacrifice, and a threshing
instrument, and other instruments of the oxen for wood. And all
these things did Arunah as a king, and gave unto the king. And Arunah
said unto the king, The Lord God accept thee. And the king
said unto Arunah, No, no. But I will surely buy it to thee
at a price. And like I said, the Chronicles
account tells us the full price, the full price. And look what
he says next. Neither will I offer burnt offerings
unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing
floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver, And David built there
an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was
stayed." Now there are a couple of things I want to bring out
of this verse. I will not offer unto the Lord
that which cost me nothing. Christ did not offer to the Lord
that which cost him nothing. He offered unto the Lord that
which cost Him everything. Free to us, but so costly to
Him. Now listen real carefully. That
is why it is such a blasphemous, sacrilegious, and irreverent
thing to offer God your works. There isn't anything you could
do that's more evil than that. Because you're saying what Christ
did is not enough. He offered to God that which
cost Him everything. And for me and you to offer something
to God is saying what He did is not sufficient. And that is
the greatest insult you can give to God. Now where the remission
of these is, Hebrews 10 18, where the remission of these is, there
is no more offering for sin. If I said to you, I want to give you my house and
all my life savings, and you said, now I don't want
to be your debtor. Here's a nickel. How much would I be insulted
by that? I'd be very offended. I mean, that's all the value
you put on that? Offering to God your works is
a whole lot worse than offering that nickel. You're saying to
God, I need to do something to complete it. It's not enough,
and you're showing God how little you value. Really, you don't
value the atonement of Christ at all if you offer anything. And that is the greatest insult. That is the chief sin. I wonder how much we believe that. Turn with me to 1 Chronicles
for a moment. They say almost the same thing,
but 1 Chronicles 21. Verse 24, and King David said
to Ornan or Arunah, same person, nay, but I will verily buy it
for the full price. For I will not take that which
is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. I don't want, first of all, to
offer to the Lord that which is yours. Now, what do I mean
by that? Well, I'm thankful for the gifts
of this church. Somebody says, we've given so
much to missions, we've given so much to spread the gospel,
and we've put a value on it, whatever we give, $350,000 a
year, something like that. That's good. What have I given? Not what has my church given. I given to the cause of Christ? What have I given? Now, what
have you given? What have I given? And I love
the way David says, I will not offer to the Lord that which
costs me nothing. I can't help but wonder if I've
really given a gift that cost me something. You know, people generally, when
they give, well, after the bills are paid, after vacation's taken
care of, after entertainment's taken care of, what we got left,
we'll give. We give the leftovers. That's
not the way to give. That's not the way to give. Giving
comes first. It's what is to be given before
anything else. And David said, I will not give
to the Lord or offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.
You see, if it costs you nothing, it is of no value. And if it's
no value to you, it's of less value to God. I will not offer
to the Lord that which costs me nothing. Now turn with me for a moment
to 2 Corinthians 8. Verse 1, Moreover, brethren,
we do to you to wit, we want you to know of the grace of God
bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. They were very sound in the doctrine
of grace. They believed in total depravity,
unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace,
and perseverance of the saints. And they could spout it off and
they could argue for that. He doesn't mention that. When
he talks about wanting you to see the grace of God, I want
to show you the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of
Macedonia, he speaks of their giving. What does love do? It gives. God so loved the world that he
gave. Now that's what love does, love
gives. And that's what he spake of when
he talked about the church at Macedonia. As a matter of fact,
two whole chapters are devoted to this thing of giving. Giving
is so important. Look in verse seven of this chapter. Therefore, as you abound in everything,
In faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and all diligence,
and in your love to us, see that you abound in this grace also.
I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness
of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. What speaks of
the sincerity of my love? I never will forget reading this
somewhere, and it made such an impression on me. If you looked at people's love
by what they'd say, what came out of their mouth, the confession
they made, you'd think they love a lot. But if you looked at their
love by virtue of their giving, it would seem that they love
little. Which one is the accurate barometer of your love? What
you say or your giving? David said, I will not offer
to the Lord that which costs me nothing. I say once again,
this makes me wonder if I've ever given. If I've ever given. I wouldn't say confidently that
I have. You know, I give more than so and so. What's that mean? Nothing. Less than nothing. I will not offer to the Lord
that which costs me Nothing. Look in verses 6 and 7 of chapter
9. But this I say, 2 Corinthians
9, 6, but this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also
sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully. I've heard people say about some
people who give, they say they give to a fault. They're generous
to a fault. Is that possible? Is it possible to be generous
to a fault? Of course not. You sow sparingly, and this is
talking about giving. You'll reap sparingly. You sow
bountifully, you'll reap bountifully. I know this is abused by preachers.
If you give $100, God will give you $1,000 back. He might not
give you anything. It might be you got to do without
because of what you give. Wouldn't that be a blessing?
Wouldn't that be a blessing of grace for the Lord to allow you
and enable you to do that? This is not about material gain. Oh, if you give, you cannot give
God, you give 1,000, he'll give 10. You know, put it in there.
This is an investment. No, no, no. That very kind of
thinking is sickening. It's sickening. It's anti-gospel,
anti-Christ, and anti-grace. You hear a preacher talk about
that health, wealth stuff, tune him out. He's a wicked man. He
doesn't even know God. But still we have this saying,
He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which
soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according
as he purposes in his heart. How much should I give? However
much you purpose in your heart. That's what the Bible says. Well,
what about 10%? How much do you purpose in your heart? Might
be 50%. Whatever you purpose in your
heart. Whatever you feel led to do. That's how much you ought
to give. How much do I give? I'm not going to give you a number. I'm
not going to give you a percentage. You give as you're led. Go on reading. Every man according as he purposes
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, as a duty or
necessity, because I know it's my responsibility. For God loveth
a cheerful giver. Didn't the Lord say, it is more
blessed to give than to receive? It's more blessed. The Lord said
that. And I love the way Paul, when
he's talking about the ministry in Acts chapter 20, talking to
the Ephesian elders, the pastors, this is where he ended it. I've
coveted no man's silver or gold. He said, I want you to remember
the words of the Lord. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. Now I want to be this cheerful
giver, don't you? I want to be this person who finds it a delight
and an honor to give. We don't We don't give to pay
the preacher or pay the missionaries or keep the lights on. We give
as unto the Lord. May the Lord enable us to do
that, to give as unto the Lord. David said, I will not offer
to the Lord that which costs me nothing. May the Lord teach
us what it means to be a cheerful You know the word cheerful is
where we get the word hilarious from. You laugh in joy at the privilege
of doing this. A cheerful giver. Verse 25 of our text. Last verse. This is... The last story about
David before he hands over the kingdom to Solomon. You know
something? I told Lynn while I was driving over here, do you
know there's no record of David's death in the scripture? I started
looking for it and looking for it. I haven't found it at any
rate. I thought that's glorious. You know, the great record of
the of the son of David's death is so clear in the scriptures,
Old Testament and New Testament. For some reason, the scripture
remains silent about his death. But this is the last big event
of his life. And look what verse 25 says.
David, he's an old man at this time. He's getting ready to die.
You go on reading in the first part of 1 Kings, that's what
we're gonna consider next week, how he's well stricken in years.
That means he's just got a few days. His life is no longer measured
in years and months, but days. Now, he built there an altar
unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
The only way peace comes is from the burnt offering, the consumed
sacrifice, the accepted sacrifice. So the Lord was entreated for
the land and the plague was stayed from Israel. Why was it stayed?
One reason, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. May God
give us such a view and a sight of the glory and the awesomeness
of the sacrifice that our living Lord gave when he died on Galilee
Street. Amen.