Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Do you trust God enough to put your life completely in his hands? Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: Notice his answer. Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great. And let me not fall into the hand of man. David still knew it’s better to trust in God than to leave man to bring your judgment because he knew about man and how cruel and how ruthless man can be. And yet he knew how merciful and loving God could be.

Guest (Male): Thanks for being with us today for Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson, presented each day by Calvary Chapel Downey. Today we continue our verse-by-verse series through 2nd Samuel. This book centers on the life of David. And it’s amazing to see where David was at the beginning of the book and where he is now as we examine the final chapter.

David was a mighty king, but he had ups and downs that would make just about anyone’s head spin. But he was also a man after God’s own heart. Here’s Pastor Jeff with a study in 2nd Samuel chapter 24.

Jeff Johnson: Notice verse 11 now of chapter 24. And when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, "Go and say to David, thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee." So Gad came to David and told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or that there will be three days of pestilence in thy land? Now advise, see what answer I shall return to him that sent me."

David confesses his sin and is forgiven, but he is not pampered here. At the right time, God sends a prophet. He’s always right on time. Now, I don't know where you’re at today, but he does. The Holy Spirit does. At the right time, he sits you in front of a man of God who is teaching the word of God. And if you have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying, the Lord is going to deal with you and you’re going to leave here rejoicing this morning. If not, you’re going to leave not prospering, bummed out, going nowhere. No change.

It’s up to each one of us. It’s up to me to be faithful to the word, to give you the word that the Lord has laid on my heart, but it’s up to you to respond to it, isn't it? It’s a two-way street here. So God speaks through Gad the prophet, the seer, the guy that was there to help David along in the ways of the Lord. So God gives him three choices of punishment here. And David is to reap now what he has sown. The outcome, of course, would be for forgiveness. And that’s the whole thing here, is that punishment must come and then you’ll be forgiven. It’s okay, it’s over.

Now, remember, Jesus hasn’t come yet. We’re still in the Old Testament. He hasn't come to make atonement for the sins of the world. When we sin today, punishment has already been paid. In fact, over in Isaiah, Isaiah the prophet makes it very clear about what Jesus has done. He says, "Surely he has borne our griefs, he carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded," Jesus died, "for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes, we are healed."

Now, he will chasten us to get us to confess our sin. The Holy Spirit is here to go after the children of the Lord to keep us straight. And he will go after you and he will get you to confess what you’re doing is wrong. Why? Because he wants you to be cleansed. He wants to have fellowship with you. If you walk in the light as I am in the light, we'll have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse you from all your sin. God’s desire is to have fellowship with us, to walk with us. But he can't if you’re walking in sin. You’ve got to deal with the sin.

And then once it’s dealt with, the blood forgives and forgets. Would you turn with me for a moment, hold there 2nd Samuel 24 and let’s turn in the New Testament to Romans chapter 8? This is so beautiful. Romans 8, and we know that in verse 1 it says there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ. Turn to Romans chapter 8. No condemnation. We’re not under condemnation if we’re in Christ. Blessed is the man that knows this. Even David in Psalm 32 said, "Blessed is the man that knows his transgressions and iniquities have been forgiven."

But you’re washed in the blood of the Lamb that Jesus said, "It is finished." Do you know what that means? In the Greek, it’s "paid in full." Our sins, paid in full on the cross by Christ. Does that mean that I have to pay for my sins? No. Does that mean that I'm not going to go through something if I do something? Well, sometimes we have to reap what we’ve sown. But what about the forgiveness? I believe God is doing a quick work. And you’re going to see this in a minute about what David chose and what God did with the whole situation. It was a quick work.

See, God wants to restore us. God wants to renew us, refresh us. And all the stuff that I did in my past life before I came to the Lord, I should have reaped a lot more than I’ve reaped. God’s been merciful, and I'm sure a lot of you will say the same thing. He is truly merciful. Same here. Notice it says in Romans 8:31, "What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall we not with him also freely give us all things?

Do you see what he’s saying? That God is for me. How do I know that God is for me? He gave his son to die on a cross for you. That’s how you know. Jesus died for you. Verse 33, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies." Who’s going to lay anything to my charge? Who’s going to try to bring guilt to me? Satan, right? He’s going to try, isn't he? He’ll try his hardest. "You jerk, you think God’s going to listen to you, you idiot? You’re nothing. What are you doing going to God? You’re filthy." He’s always lying.

How do I know that God doesn't judge me? Well, because he justified me. Because of his son on that cross and me believing in what he did for me, he made me like I’ve never sinned. I'm cleansed. He’s justified me. Then notice verse 34, "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." Who’s going to try to condemn you? Well, you’ll try to condemn yourself. Some of us really work hard at it, don't we?

And I'll tell you this for sure, that the enemy will try to condemn you. And even others will come up to you and condemn you, right? They don't even think anything about it, just leave it on you. They want to condemn you. Sweethearts, aren't they? But if God doesn't condemn me, how do I know that? Because he’s praying for me. It says right here, he makes intercession for me. He doesn't condemn me, he prays for me that my faith would not fail, that I would steady on and receive the goodness of the Lord, the forgiveness of the Lord.

And then over in verse 35, he says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, or peril, or the sword? There is no separation. Nothing is going to separate us. In the last part of verse 39, he says nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I am not going to be separated from my God’s love and forgiveness for my life. Nothing’s going to do it. No one’s going to condemn me. He doesn't condemn me. I don't care who says they’re against me, he’s for me.

And then he says in verse 31, "What are we going to say about these things?" and I think we just have to say, "Awesome." Our God is an awesome God. He is too much. His grace is definitely amazing. So our position today in Christ is different than David’s is here prior to Christ’s atonement. Notice God gives to David, let’s go back to our story now, he gives to him three punishments. The first one was one year, a long time, of famine. Famine can be horrible, can't it? Thousands, we’ve seen it in Africa, millions can be touched by famine and perish. It’s terrible.

Then he gives him the second punishment. He says, "Well, or you can have three months of your enemy just prevailing against you and nailing you." Wow, that’s really bad, to have the enemy chasing you and killing you. And then finally, the last one, the third one, is three days of pestilence, of disease. Which one is it going to be, David? Look at David’s answer, verse 14. David said unto Gad, "I am in a great strait. I am so confused. This is terrible. Look at what my sin has done. Look at the situation that’s set before me. Look at the choice I have to make. This is terrible."

And that’s really what he’s saying. I don't like this. No one does. And then notice his answer. "Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man." David still knew it’s better to trust in God than to leave man to bring your judgment because he knew about man and how cruel and how ruthless man can be. And yet he knew how merciful and loving God could be. So he says, "Well, Lord, famine or pestilence, your choice. I leave it up to you. I'm just going to put myself in your hands because I know you’re a God of mercy and a God of grace."

Verse 15, "So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men." And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, it says the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed the people, "It is enough, stay now thy hand." And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite, or in 1st Chronicles it says Ornan. The threshing place of Ornan.

So God chose for David and gave him a quick work. It was a pestilence, a disease that went throughout the land and it did what David dreaded. It wiped out 25 percent of his fighting force. See, God was touching that which he counted on. 25 percent. And it says that the Lord repented. But then you say, "Wait a minute, God can't repent. He’s not a man that he would lie or he doesn't change." God doesn't change his mind. How’d you like to have a God that says, "I just changed my mind on that one. Wait a minute, didn't you write it down? Yeah, but I changed my mind."

What confusion we’d be in. We have a God that never changes. So what’s going on here? Sometimes it’s hard to put into English, because we are finite, he is infinite, what God is doing in the scriptures. It’s hard to put a word to it. The translators put "repented." Some have even put "relented." What does that mean? I know when you read this, it looks like he changes his mind. I mean, he stayed his hand, so it looks like God was going to destroy Jerusalem and now he’s not.

No, here’s the real sense of the text here. It’s that he never was going to destroy Jerusalem. That’s the whole thing behind this. He never intended to strike Jerusalem, but he always intended to spare it. And so the translators put down he repented. But he was always not going to touch Jerusalem. Notice verse 17, "And David spoke unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people and he said," David saw everything that was going on and he said, "Lo, I have sinned, 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."

So David hears another statistic that would really make him sick, that seventy thousand have died in the pestilence. He didn't want to hear this number. Some numbers you want to hear. "Yeah, 1.3 million strong." Then they run back and say, "David, David, guess what?" "What?" "Seventy..." "No, I don't want to hear it." We don't want to hear that number. David didn't want to hear this number. And David said, "O Lord, I am to blame. These sheep," he says, "have done nothing. Nothing." The people did nothing?

No, these people are in sin. These people have revolted against David. These people didn't go exactly according to the law. They went on Absalom’s side and rebelled against David. These people weren't sinless. When David said, "These people have done nothing," that’s not really true. But David was just seeing what has happened now because of his decision. It was really tearing him up. "Why must they suffer for what I have done?" And here’s the second lesson I want to leave you with.

No one is an island. Your sin, you think just hurts you. No, it hurts everyone around you. You’re not an island. You’re not to yourself. And you say, "Well, I'm doing this but it’s not going to hurt me." No, it’s not. It’s hurting everybody else. And this makes it so clear. Know this, that whenever we sin, others are affected. And it is very, very humbling to see others suffer for what you have done when you see the aftereffects. And that’s exactly what David was going through. It’s way beyond any of us, folks, what takes place. Lives are in the balance.

I want to give you an example here over in Joshua chapter 7. You remember the story. In verse 11, it says, "Israel has sinned, they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them, for they have even taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and dissembled also and they have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies but turned their backs before their enemies because they were accursed. Neither will I be with you anymore except you destroy the accursed from among you," God says.

And then over in verse 20 of Joshua 7, it says, "And Achan answered Joshua and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done." Listen, buddy, you have affected the whole nation in what you have done. And God says they have all done it because he did it. Achan did the sin, but it came back on all the people. They went to Ai, they got wiped out. They couldn't even take the enemy. They lost some people’s lives because of this man and what he had done. Lives were lost.

And we say we don't affect anybody. Because of a leader’s sins, others pay big time. Let me give you a few illustrations with Jim Jones. How many laid in that jungle full of poison in their body? Let me give you David Koresh. How many were burned in that building? Innocent victims of a leader’s decision. Come on, let’s face it. And yet on the same side, the people sometimes because of their gross sin even control the leaders. Remember Pilate said, "What should I do? Should I just let this guy go?" "No, don't let him go. His sin be upon us."

He was just like, "Okay, democracy, you all really want it?" "Yeah!" "Okay, I'll just sign it. There you go." It’s a two-way street, isn't it? And yet that trickle-down immorality, I just can't get out of my mind the way the leadership are going of this nation, how it’s trickling down to the nation and vice versa. The corruption that’s within our society and the payment that is being paid of little babies being killed on the street. Parents looking at their children becoming of age and yet seeing their sins in their own children’s lives. It tears you up.

Dads making decisions that affect the whole family, thinking that it’s just him. No, come on. You affect the whole family. Not just your family, her family. Not just her family, your brothers and sisters in the flesh, their families. Not just that family, the family of God you affect. And it comes down upon us. It affects everybody. So as one yields to Satan’s trap and his temptation, not only will he hurt, but many will be hurt by the shockwaves of that decision. And we see it clear here.

Those that would be leaders, those that would be teachers receive the greater condemnation, the Lord says. Why? Because they’re leading others. You’re either going to lead them in the wrong direction or the right direction. But it’s a responsibility. Schoolteachers have a responsibility to those little hearts, those little minds, that what you’re teaching those children is going to bring them up in the ways of the Lord. And if you’re not teaching towards that direction, you’re affecting their lives. And your sin is going to affect them. Wow, it’s handing down.

Students, as you succumb, not only will you feel sin’s effects in your own life, but other students will also get burnt because they’re looking at you. And they look at what you do, you affect them. You say, "Yeah, but I made my choice, they’ve got to make their choice." That’s right. But if you’re a leader and you’re charismatic and you’re being used in that way, you’re going to lead a lot of people astray. And it’s on you. We’ve got to take heed to ourselves, for when one sins, many are affected. It’s a domino effect. And we see it.