Introduction:
A. Let’s start with a knock knock joke.
1. “Knock Knock” “Who’s there?”
2. “Census!” “Census who?”
3. “Census summer time kids don’t have to go to school!” Good news for kids, bad news for parents.
B. Maybe you have heard the old adage – we count people because people count.
1. How true that is and as a nation we have been counting people for over 200 years.
2. In fact our nation’s first census was begun in 1790, and took 217 people 9 months to finish.
3. What do you think the total population was in 1790? Answer: 3,929,214.
4. The present population of our country is 304 million.
5. Our next census will be taken next year – 2010.
C. So what is a census and why do we take them? A census is a very thorough survey.
1. A census is a way of finding out many facts about the citizens of a nation.
2. A census reveals things like total population, percentage of men and women, people of different ages, races, education, income – so all kinds of data is collected and analyzed.
3. Based on the information a census reveals, governments can plan programs and provide for the needs of their constituents.
D. Let’s compare some interesting information that was revealed in recent censuses about New York State, Onondaga County, and the cities of New York and Syracuse.
1. Population: NYS – 19.5 million, up 3% from 2000; NYC 8.2 million; up 2.6%; Onondaga County 453 thousand; down 1.2% from 2000; and Syr. 141 thousand; down 4% from 2000.
2. Persons per square mile: NYS – 400; NYC – 26,000; Onon. County – 600; Syr. – 5900.
3. Mean household income: NYS – $53,000; Onon. County - $49,000; Syracuse - $25,000.
4. Mean travel time to work: NYS – 32 minutes; NYC – 40 min.; Onon. County – 19 min.; Syracuse 17 minutes.
5. Language other than English spoken in the home: NYS – 28%; NYC – 48%; Onon. County – 9%; Syracuse – 13%.
E. So, why am I introducing today’s sermon with a discussion of census information?
1. Because David made a very foolish and sinful mistake that had to do with a census.
F. I wish I could tell you that age alone guarantees maturity and freedom from error, but that is not the case.
1. As we grow older, we do not automatically grow up, nor do we automatically grow closer to God, nor more like God.
2. We will never be immune from sin’s appeal, no matter how old we are.
3. Not until we are “with the Lord” will we be what we ought to be.
4. There is no such thing as outgrowing sin.
G. Here in 2 Samuel 24 and its parallel in 1 Chronicles 21, we are given a vivid account of a tragic example of this when David, in the latter years of his life, committed a sin that affected thousands of lives.
1. This event probably took place on the heels of a war between Israel and her age-old enemy – the Philistines.
2. David won this battle against the Philistines, which was his last, just as he had won his first battle, against the Philistine giant – Goliath.
3. After the battle and the victory, David was vulnerable.
4. As I said in an earlier sermon, we are often most vulnerable immediately after a victory.
5. That’s when Satan often sets his traps, and when we often step into them.
I. The Story
A. The Bible says: Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.” (2 Sam. 24:1)
1. The text doesn’t explain why God was angry at the time with Israel, but God’s anger somehow incited David to take the action that he takes.
2. The parallel passage from 1 Chronicles says: Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. (1 Chron 21:1)
3. I have to admit that this is a confusing passage, because there seems to be a contradiction - What is the relationship between God’s anger and Satan’s prompting of David to take the census?
4. I’m not sure, but I know that however it works, it is beyond my ability to understand.
5. I believe in a God who is altogether good and holy, who always does what is right and just.
6. God and His ways exceed our understanding; we cannot confine God to what we can figure out about Him. God is a sovereign mystery.
B. So David gives the command.
1. The Bible says: So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.” (2 Sam. 24:2)
2. It becomes obvious as the story unfolds that the “census-taking” was a flagrant sin.
3. Bible scholars suggest that David’s motive was pride – he wanted to see how vast his kingdom was and how impressive his army was.
4. The counting of soldiers was the opposite of trusting in God.
5. How interesting it is that earlier in David’s life he penned the words of this psalm: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” (Ps. 20:7)
C. At this point, David again received some wise counsel from Joab.
1. The Bible says: But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?” (2 Sam. 24:3)
2. Isn’t this something, even Joab, who is not noted for spiritual and moral sensitivities, objected to David’s order.
3. He certainly tried to do it in the most respectful and appropriate of ways – “Oh, David, I hope that God really blesses you, but please don’t do this thing you are proposing!”
D. Unfortunately, David ignored the warning.
1. The Bible says: The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel. (2 Sam. 24:4)
2. This verse suggests that Joab was not alone in trying to warn the king. The other army commanders also voiced their concerns.
3. But David overruled them. He had reached such a peerless position as the king of Israel that he answered to no one.
4. An unaccountable life is a dangerous life.
5. David basically said, “Don’t question me, just do what I tell you to do.”
6. So the census was taken.
7. The Bible says: After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand. (2 Sam. 24:8-9) [1.3 million men]
E. What happened next shows one of the reasons that I think David was considered a man after God’s own heart.
1. The Bible says: David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.” (2 Sam. 24:10)
2. After Joab reported the census numbers, the parallel passage from Chronicles notes that, “This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.” (1 Chron. 21:7)
3. So David was conscience-stricken.
4. Perhaps Joab’s warnings began to weigh heavily on him as he began to see Israel being punished.
5. All of this prompted David to confess that he had sinned greatly and was in need of God’s mercy.
6. Have you ever been troubled by something that you did? If so, what did you do about it?
7. Did you ignore it and just keep going, or did you come to a dead stop and say, “I was wrong, forgive me!”
8. When we honestly and sincerely face what we have done, then we are on our way to recovery.
9. David said, “I have sinned greatly and have acted very foolishly.”
F. After David’s genuine declaration of repentance, God did something very unusual.
1. God forced David to decide the appropriate punishment.
2. Parents sometimes do this with their children, but as far as I know this is the only time in the Bible where we see a person given the opportunity to choose the consequences for their wrongdoing.
3. The Bible says: Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ” So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.” David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men." (2 Sam. 24:11-14)
4. Wow – these were tough choices. Any one of the three would be awful.
5. All of this is a clear reminder to us that no one sins without some kind of consequences.
6. What a deterrent to sin it would be if, before the fact, we could be given a glimpse of its impact – the sorrow and grief it will bring to others – the toll it was going to take.
7. So David was in distress – which should he choose.
8. Certainly, he made the wisest of the choices – if we want grace, then we should put ourselves in the hands of God.
G. The Bible says: So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. (2 Sam. 24:15-16)
1. How terrible David must have felt knowing that his failure caused such pain and loss to others.
2. The angel’s sword was back in its sheath, but there were 70,000 fresh graves in Israel and 70,000 grieving families who were suffering because of David’s sinfulness.
3. Every one of us would do well to reread this story, often, especially we leaders.
H. Thankfully, the story does not end there – God had a plan.
1. God always has a plan for our redemption – God always has a plan for restoration.
2. In this case, God wanted David to build a memorial that would never be forgotten.
3. The Bible says: On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”
Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. O king, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the LORD your God accept you.”
But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the LORD answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped. (2 Sam. 24:18-25)
4. David obeyed God’s command – immediately – there was no hesitation…no questions.
5. Isn’t it amazing how obedient a person becomes after suffering sin’s terrible consequences – the consequences are always a wake-up call.
I. As David carried out God’s command and went to see Araunah, it must have pained him to receive such a gracious and royal reception.
1. Araunah knows nothing of David’s sin – he had no idea that David was the cause of this plague upon God’s people.
2. Araunah showed such trust and respect toward David – that should be a reminder for all of us leaders, that we should strive to be worthy of the trust others place in us.
3. Araunah’s speech is utterly breath-taking.
4. He offered David anything and everything.
5. There simply was no holding back of anything.
6. There was no excuse that it would ruin his livelihood.
7. There was no protest about his need to support his family.
8. Araunah was willing to relinquish all he possessed for the purposes of God.
J. To David’s credit, he refused the gift and said that he refused to offer a sacrifice that cost him nothing.
1. He could have charged in there with eminent domain – he certainly was the king and could take what he wanted.
2. But in this case, he didn’t have to take it by force, if was freely being offered to him.
3. But David knew that a sacrifice, wasn’t a sacrifice, unless it was a sacrifice.
4. There was no way he was going to “re-gift” this land and this sacrifice.
5. And so David paid Araunah handsomely, and with his obedience, the plague ended.
6. Wonder of wonders, the spot that David bought from Araunah was the very site on Mount Moriah where Abraham had offered his son Isaac to God 850 years earlier.
7. And it was the very spot where Solomon would later erect the most beautiful temple ever to grace the earth.
II. The Application
A. So what lessons can we apply to our own lives from today’s story?
B. You might recall that at the beginning of the lesson, I said that this story is a confusing and troubling one to many people.
1. Someone might say, “How can God do such things? 70,000 people died because of David’s sin! – That’s not fair – what kind of God would do that?”
2. But if we think about it and are honest with ourselves, we would have to be amazed at the fact that God stops where he does.
3. What is it that most of us really deserve from God?
4. Actually, we deserve none of the benefits that come to us – they come to us because of God’s magnificent grace.
5. If sinful folks like us got what we really “deserve,” there wouldn’t be many of us still around.
C. David’s experience offers us at least three warnings.
1. To live an unaccountable life is to flirt with danger.
a. Accountability is one of the things God uses to keep His people pure.
b. We all need to be held accountable by someone – our mate, our friends, our spiritual leaders.
c. Had David listened to Joab he would never have numbered the people and therefore would not have been the cause of such devastation.
d. To ignore accountability is to flirt with danger.
2. To ignore sin’s consequences leads to disaster.
a. The Bible is filled with the reality of the consequences of sin.
b. Our Scripture Reading today from 1 Corinthians 10 reminds us of some of these things – those who sinned by idolatry, or sexual immorality, or testing the Lord, or grumbling, all paid a terrible price.
c. They are written down as warnings for us.
d. If we play with fire, we will get burned. And if we aren’t directly harmed, those we care about may suffer because of our sin.
e. Sin is really a selfish act – it’s all about doing what we want to do and bringing pleasure to ourselves, without a thought about the toll it might take on us or someone else.
f. To ignore sin’s consequences is to flirt with disaster.
3. To assume we have outgrown the possibility of falling is foolish.
a. Back to our Scripture reading again – Paul wrote: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12) Proverbs, “Pride goes before the fall.”
b. If a man as great and godly as David could foul up so near the end of his days, so can anyone else.
c. That includes you, and that includes me.
d. We must never let our guard down – Satan will get us any way he can, and at any time he can.
e. Victory early in a person’s life, doesn’t guarantee victory later in life.
f. That’s why we must keep our relationship with God “up to date.”
g. We can’t sit back and rest on yesterday’s laurels, or yesterdays disciplines.
D. God help us all – help us to stay close to you always, to stay sensitive to your leading and correction, to stay accountable and ever vigilant and realistic about the power of temptation and sin.
Resources:
David – A Man of Passion and Destiny, by Charles R. Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1997.
David II, by W. Phillip Keller, Word Books, 1986.
I and II Samuel, David F. Payne, The Daily Study Bible Series, Westminster Press, 1982
First and Second Samuel, J. Carl Laney, Everyman’s Bible Commentary, Moody Bible Institute, 1982.
First and Second Samuel, Eugene Peterson, Westminster Bible Companion, Westminster John Knox Press, 1999.
First and Second Samuel, Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation, John Knox Press, 1990.
