David's Last Stand

-good morning everyone and welcome to NewSong.

-for the last couple of months we have been doing all sorts of sermon series, but for the past two weeks we’ve been kind of in between. Next week we will be starting a new one based on board games, it’ll be fun.

-but this week there was no “plan” per se but as I was thinking about this and praying about this I kept remembering one night we had with the students in which they went through crazy stories of the Bible because most people don’t know these stories anymore. Even a few weeks ago Luke was telling his mom about the stories he learned at Awana.

-so I thought maybe for today we’d have another story time in which I have a story and we can hear it and look at it a little.

-now, if you heard me last week I mentioned how sometimes there are very important things learned by looking at when something first appears in the Bible. I totally think that, but there can also be value to the last time something is mentioned in the Bible.

-so for this week I want us to look at the last chapter of II Samuel, the last full story we have of King David. After this they basically mention his death and him passing on the throne, but this is the last story of him really acting as king.

-and like I’ve done before I’m going to basically just tell the story and important verses to back up what I’m saying will appear on the screens.

-let me set this up for you:

THE STORY

-in the precious chapters, if you’ve read any of David’s story, his time as king is full of problems and turmoil, they had just finished with both a war and three years of famine. Then, for the first time in a long time, there’s peace. There are chapters of David’s song of praise and his last words, a list of his mighty warriors, things are going good.

-and in the midst of this good time, David decides to do something, it says the Lord’s anger burned against David and the Lord caused David to do something stupid. Take a census. [SHOW II SAM 24:1, NLT]

-now, I know we have all sorts of problems here and now with a census, but we have to be clear here. David wasn’t counting people so he could build better schools. David was counting his warriors. He wanted to know how many fighting men he had, and he had a lot. Over a million. [SHOW II SAM. 24:8-9, NLT].

-after the census and after David knows the number of fighting men, he realizes his sin and prays to God to forgive him. The next day God sends a prophet named Gad with a message. David has to choose one of three punishments for his sin, three years of famine, three months of being chased by his enemies, or three days of severe plague on the land.

-now I like David’s answer, kind of. [SHOW II SAM. 24:14] He says, “I am in a desperate situation, but let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is great.” He opts to go with three days of plague at the God’s hands.

-for three days, people are dying from a plague. 70,000 people. The death angel starts moving toward Jerusalem and God tells him to stop. David sees the angel and admits he’s the one who has sinned, the people are innocent, he should pay for this.

-so the prophet Gad visits King David again and tells him to go build an altar to the Lord where the angel stopped, on the threshing floor of a man named Araunah the Jebusite.

-David goes to Araunah’s place, fills him in and says he wants to build the altar. Araunah, a nice man, tells the king, “here it is, take it. Do what you want with it.”

-but David says no. He insists on buying it. [SHOW II SAM. 24:14] King David says he will not give a sacrifice to God that cost him nothing. So he pays fifty pieces of silver, or a little over a pound of silver, for the floor and the oxen. David builds the altar and gives God the appropriate burnt and peace offerings. Immediately God answers David’s prayer and the plague on Israel is stopped.

-and that is how the legacy of David ends according to II Samuel. The next time we hear from David he is a dying old man and the next king is determined. This is how David’s story ends. It’s a long way from Goliath, isn’t it?

-but I think there’s a reason this story is in the Bible, there are things we can learn from it.