Sound Doctrine

Host: As we bring our series in 2 Samuel to a close today here on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff reminds us that we have an enemy out there and his goal is the same it’s always been.

Jeff Johnson: When you come to that point of giving it full price, the enemy will let you do a lot of things. He'll let you go to church, he'll let you play games, he'll let you do this, he'll let you do that. But when it comes right down to you saying, "Lord, I want to be that sacrifice. I want you to just take all of me. I want to pay the full price. I want to be that living sacrifice," he'll do anything to stop you. Anything. That area that's holding you back this morning, the Lord's saying it's time to let go. It's time to give it to me.

Host: You've picked a good day to join us as we're about to wrap up our series in 2 Samuel here on Sound Doctrine. Pastor Jeff Johnson has been offering highlights from the life of David over the last couple of months, and we've seen many highs and lows, victories and defeats, sin and its consequences. But through it all, the Lord refers to David as a man after God's heart, and that should be an encouragement to all of us. Even though we blow it, God still sees us through Christ-colored glasses. Let's join Pastor Jeff in 2 Samuel 24.

Jeff Johnson: David wanted to worship God, didn't he? He wanted to love God. Remember one of the prerequisites of being a mighty man of God was, as we looked at it in chapter 23, verse 16, when David poured out the water that was gotten to him from Bethlehem from his men? He said, "I can't believe you did this and risked your lives." And he took it and he poured it out to God. And we said there that one of the last prerequisites of being a mighty man of God is to be like David who worshipped the Lord, who poured his life out to the Lord. So David was a worshipper of God. He was willing to give his life to the Lord.

But here David knew that a sacrifice was to be a sacrifice. And if it didn't cost anything, it wasn't a true sacrifice. And that's what David is saying here. Notice in verse 24 he says, "Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God that which doth cost me nothing." God requires our best. David is saying, "I'm not going to give God my leftovers." It's amazing how so many times we think, "Well, we're not using it anymore. Why don't we bring it down to the church and dump it off in the back of the helps committee?" You can't believe the junk we get back there.

People's cast-offs. "Well, we're not using it. Let's give it to the church." Please. We've got enough of that. We're hauling it away because even those that we're giving clothes to wouldn't even touch some of that stuff. That's how bad it is. May God help us. We're not to give our leftovers, to give over those things that we no longer need. It's like giving the lame and the blind to God. No, you wouldn't give a sacrifice that is lame and blind. They tried to. They tried to get away with it. No, without blemish and without spot. That's why they had the priest go over all the sacrifice and they had special ones that were without blemish, without spot, you could buy. They had to be perfect.

There was an old story about this guy that had a farm and he had this cow that was great with calves and actually had two calves. The guy was out there all night long and you could hear finally the neighing of the calves. He ran into his wife and he said, "Honey, honey, I am so excited! God has blessed us tremendously. He has given us two beautiful calves. I'm so excited, I feel so good, I'm going to dedicate one to God." And his wife said, "Boy, honey, that's great! Yeah, let's get it dedicated to God."

Well, as a few months went on, one night he was up all night and there was a sickness going around and he was wrestling out there all night long with one of the calves. His wife in the morning got up and said, "Honey, what's going on?" And he came running back in the house. He said, "You won't believe this what's happened! The Lord's calf just died." We're not to be a freeloader spiritually, and David didn't want to skimp on what he gave to God is what he's saying here. Now, it's interesting here, in this area, it says that he bought the threshing floor for 50 shekels of silver.

Then if you're following the story over in 1 Chronicles chapter 21, it says that he bought the area there for the full price which was 600 shekels of gold. Now, why is this different? Well, here he's buying just the threshing floor and the instruments. Over there, he bought the whole hill and the house and everything that went with it for 600 shekels of gold. The Hebrew there is in a different way as far as what he bought and so it makes the difference there. David gave sacrificially as the widow we see in the New Testament.

Do you remember when Jesus was interested in how people gave? He sat there and watched people give their money. He's interested on how we give. Somebody said if the Lord's got your pocketbook, he's got your heart. I think we need all just search our own hearts. Does he have my money? Then he's got my heart. But Jesus wanted to know what these people are giving. Then he watched this widow put in these two mites and he said, "Oh, man, let me tell you something, this widow put in more than all these guys together." And they said, "What do you mean?" Well, she put in of her want. She sacrificially gave, where these guys gave out of their abundance.

And that's what David is talking about here, being able to give sacrificially. Over in 2 Corinthians, there's a whole chapter on this giving sacrificially. In chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians, it talks about how the churches of Macedonia were blessed by their giving. And it says that in a great trial of affliction, through the abundance of joy and their deep poverty, these churches got together and gave of their monies to help the others pull through. And it says that they were willing of themselves, that we should receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering of the saints.

They gave their own selves first to the Lord. And then it says he encourages them and says that you abound in all these things, in faith and diligence and all this. Then he says that you also abound in this grace also, the grace of giving. It'll prove the sincerity of your love for the Lord as you give unto the Lord. And though he was rich, he said yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. Therefore, they gave their gifts and there was a readiness to will and there may be a performance also out of that which you have.

And there was first a willing mind, and then they began to give of their abundance and they began to meet their need. As it is written, it says in 2 Corinthians 8:15, "He that hath gathered much has nothing over, but he that hath gathered little had no lack." And so we see a little picture of what that sacrificial giving. They were going through poverty themselves, yet they dug deep and they gave out of their poverty. And the church was blessed, they were blessed. They gave out of the little that they had and they had plenty then, it says.

It's amazing how God does the bookkeeping. We think one way and God's thinking totally a different way. And we need to just say, "Lord, help me to get into this whole thing of sacrificial giving. I want to get involved in it. I want to be a part of it. I want to be blessed." And so David was stern in this. "It must cost me. I'm going to pay the full price." And this was right on the very place of the temple and where it was to be built. This was going to be a place of worship and praise, and so his heart was giving.

Not wanting to say, "Well, I'll give. Can you give me a receipt for this?" You know how we are sometimes, "Well, if I just get a receipt." But he just wanted to do it, to give. He didn't want to get it for free. Save a few shekels, man, I could save a few shekels. If I could just get this free, and then when I get it free, I'll just turn right around and I'll give it to God. Wow. And it really cost you something then, didn't it? He didn't want to cheat the Lord. Listen, I think David was just saying, "I've blown it in the past but my heart's towards the Lord now, I am devoted towards God now, I want to do this right, I won't give unless it costs me."

Now, if you remember, there's a difference between his heart and Saul's. And who wrote the Psalms? David. How many Psalms did Saul write? Zero. Why? He didn't have a heart towards God. Outwardly he was very impressive. He was actually using the things of God to exalt himself where David used himself to exalt the things of God, and there's a big difference there. David wrote the Psalms and those beautiful love letters because he loved the Lord and his heart was turned towards him. And when you think about it, in your situation, what would you have done if you were David?

How would you have made this deal? Would you have taken it for free and then turned around and given it to the Lord or would you have sacrificed and paid the full price? So first David, I want you to see, he humbled himself before the Lord. He got right with his God and then he says, "I want to do this thing right," and he said, "I want to pay the full price," and he bought the whole hill. Notice verse 25 now. "And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel."

So number one, he built the altar and the altar speaks of sacrifice. And when a sacrifice was made, what took place? The plague was stayed. Jesus died that you would not perish but you would have everlasting life, that many would be saved from sin, that God's sword would be put away. I found a scripture and you know I mentioned this last week that in 1 Chronicles chapter 21, this same story you can go over and there's a few differences and I tried to bring those differences out to you.

But it is interesting that in 1 Chronicles 21:27, it says, "And the Lord commanded the angel, and he put up his sword," after David gave the sacrifice, "again into the sheath thereof." He took the sword that the angel had out and he took it and he put it in the sheath. You see, when you receive Jesus Christ, you're not appointed unto wrath anymore. Sin always brings punishment. Jesus took my punishment. When I receive Christ, he puts the sword away, I'm appointed now unto salvation through Jesus Christ my Lord. I love that.

So this altar would be, I believe, the very spot where the Holy of Holies would be set up and where the temple would be built. Today, I know there is many people that see the Mosque of Omar. That you always see, when you see pictures of Jerusalem, you see that golden dome and there's the Mosque of Omar. Supposedly, right there in the Temple Mount where the temple was. And a lot of people look at that, especially Christians who are following prophecy, and they say, "We've got to get rid of that Mosque of Omar because as soon as that Mosque of Omar is removed, then the temple can be rebuilt."

And so we've got radical people that go up there once in a while. There was one guy that strapped himself with dynamite and he ran up. He caused a real problem up there. Temple Mount's already uptight, and here's this guy running around with dynamite going to blow up the Mosque of Omar. What do you want to do? Start a Jihad, a holy war? I mean, can you imagine if somebody went up there and blew that up, what a holy war we'd have on our hands? It's called a Jihad. But this future temple that is prophesied in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus mentions it.

Recently they had put down in the Temple Mount some sonar equipment and they also did some incredible digs down there that we are allowed to go in today that are incredible. Last year was the first time we went in with our group and what an incredible sight as we walked right down to the temple walls, right into the area where the Holy of Holies really is. And it's incredible to be able to see all the different things that they've found. There is a man called Asher Kaufman who found over 50 signs, different things in physical signs in the earth and all.

He lines it up from the Mount of Olives that the real Temple Mount is not where the Mosque of Omar is. That that rock that they have there is not really a threshing floor rock. It was never used for that. But when you move over 322 feet to the North of the temple, you have what is called the Dome of the Spirits and they believe that that is the very place where the Ark of the Covenant is buried and where the Holy of Holies was at one time. In fact, the rabbis today believe that they know where it is and when they need it, they're going to get it.

Now what's exciting about this, this new find, is that if that is true, then Ezekiel 42:20 is also true and let me read it to you. Ezekiel 42 verse 20 and it says this: Ezekiel was measuring the temple and it had round about 500 reeds long and 500 broad to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place. So wherever the sanctuary is going to be in that future sanctuary, that future temple is going to be, there's going to be a profane place by it. Then I found over in Revelation 11, Revelation chapter 11 and verse 2.

"But the court," as John looks at the future temple, "which is without the temple, leave out and measure it not," he says, "for it is given to the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." The outer court will be given to the Gentiles. What many are seeing here is that, hey, we are getting peace in the Middle East and we're really working hard at it right now, aren't we? Everybody's working overtime on it. And they really want it, everybody wants it real bad. And they're willing to give up this, that, and the other.

Look what is happening. They have just now formalized their peace with Jordan. What does that open up to us but the city of Petra? And for those of you that know anything about the city of Petra, the Jews are going to be going there, so it'll be a direct expressway there. And then not only that, if they're going to have peace in that area, then that means that they could go ahead and build the temple at the same area and the same place over on the side of the Mosque. So they can both dwell there in peace and everybody's going to be happy.

And that's what is coming down, that's what it's coming down to. And so we have that interesting look at Mount Moriah in these final days. Everything is being set. In fact, when you really study into this, you see that they have a Civic Temple where they're actually training the priests to sacrifice animals again. They are actually making all the instruments for sacrifice today, now. They're finished with all of them. The robes of the priest, separate robes, special robes. All the instruments of sacrifice, everything is set.

The menorah, everything. But the ark they know where it's buried, see? They're going to go get that when they need it, and they've already said that. But everything is set. Even the stones and the building blocks are beginning to come in from all over the world. We're living in incredible days watching all of this come together. The question is this: have you been to Mount Moriah? Because when you look at the whole mount, first of all, there's Calvary. What does Calvary speak to us? Of forgiveness, of cleansing. Then you go to the Temple Mount which speaks to us of the presence of the Lord, that you might be in that place of worship and praise to God.

I think what'll happen is that once you come close to that point of giving your life to the Lord totally, when you come to that point of giving it full price—the enemy will let you do a lot of things. He'll let you go to church, he'll let you play games, he'll let you do this, he'll let you do that. But when it comes right down to you saying, "Lord, I want to be that sacrifice. I want to be, I want you to just take all of me. I want to pay the full price. I want to be that living sacrifice," anything he'll do to stop you. Anything.

That area that's holding you back this morning, the Lord's saying it's time to let go. It's time to give it to me. It's time to let me take the flesh hooks and here's something that I thought was interesting. They used to take the meat, and if the meat was stopped burning, they would take these flesh hooks, grab the meat, and put it over into the flame better so the flame would just burn it up and make it ash. So, Lord, take this flesh and take your flesh hooks, grab it, and put it over into the flame, Lord. Strike your fire up on me that I might be just ash and to your glory.

Over in 1 Chronicles 21:26, beautiful scripture after this was all done. It says that David built there an altar unto the Lord, and he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and he called upon the Lord, and then here's something interesting that it's not in the portion that we read. It says that he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. The Lord answered his prayer by fire falling from heaven. The power that David received, God's answer was fire from heaven.

Matthew 3:11 says that when he shall come, he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire to burn away those things of the flesh in our lives. To those who yield and surrender, to those who pay the price, he's going to give power to stand. God sees our hearts this morning as he saw David's heart. You can't hide anything against him. May he convict us of being cheapskates. May he convict us of our giving and giving our leftovers. It's the whole thing of, "If I have time, I will serve at the church," or "If I'm not doing anything... I've got a project I'm working on right now, and my movie's on, and when it's over, maybe I'll be able to get down there and we can do some ministry, we'll go out and do this and do that."

May God help us not to be outwardly like Saul was. No moral sin, hey, that's great. You say, "I'm not as bad as David, I didn't do any of that kind of stuff." Great, that's good. But he sees our hearts. And if you sing the songs and you say, "I'm devoted, Lord, I'm devoted to serve you with all of my life," then is that what you're doing? And there's the question. If we're living sacrifices, we must be willing to give everything at a full price with my time, my energy, then with my money. Everything. Firstfruits unto the Lord.

This is the man that is after God's own heart. This is what David did, who being chastened of the Lord, sought the Lord with his whole heart. He said, "I want to give the burnt offering unto the Lord," and he gave it to the Lord. Can you say that today? That you give the full price? Father, we speak to you, Lord, and we thank you for the life of David. And we see his heart toward you. Lord, help us to have that same kind of heart, that heart that says, "I want you more than anything else."

Lord, that we may be able to be your servants and that we may give all of our life and that it may be used of you. Lord, take the flesh hooks and put it back on the altar, Lord. Burn us as ash before you. Let us decrease so that you may increase in our lives. Convict us of our cheapness, Lord. Help us not to be freeloaders in the kingdom of God, taking in all the benefits but giving little. Lord, we love you and we want you to change us, from the inside out. In Jesus' name, Amen.