The Purchasing Power Of Desire

THE PURCHASING POWER OF DESIRE

TEXT: l Chronicles 21:18-27

1 Chronicles 21:18 28 -- “Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.” “And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD.”

“And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.” “And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.” “Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.” “And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.” “And king David said to Ornan, 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.” “So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.” “And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.” “And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.” “At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.”

l. INTRODUCTION -- EVERY MINUTE COUNTS

-Every minute counts. Therefore, every minute must be spent consciously and without waste.

-Time is the coin of life, don’t let a fool spend it for you.

ll. THE STORY BEHIND THE TEXT

-The story of one of David’s mistake starts in the opening verse of l Chronicles 21. “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.”

-David was in the latter years of his life. He began to take inventory of the things that God had blessed him with. In the process of that inventory, David wanted to assess his strength.

-One must always understand that humanly speaking, we will never have enough strength.

-So David sent his men to number the armies of Israel. God had told him not to do this thing.

Psalm 33:16 18 -- “There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.” “An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.” “Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;”

-David found himself guilty of the most common sin of all, pride. In tempting David to trust in his own resources, Satan successfully tripped up the leader of the flock.

-Because David disobeyed God, there was some punishment to be meted out to him. So God gives him three choices:

Three years of famine.

Three months to be destroyed by the enemy.

Three days in the hands of God.

-Seventy thousand men were destroyed because of David’s numbering of Israel.

-In l Chronicles 21:16, we read that David saw an angel of the Lord, stretched out over Jerusalem, with a sword of judgment.

-In Jerusalem, a place:

Where God had planned a Bethlehem.

Where God had planned a Calvary.

Where God had planned a Pentecost. . . . . . . David had sinned.

-Every life has to contain those three elements of the Spirit:

A spiritual Birth (A Bethelehem).

A spiritual death (A Calvary).

A spiritual resurrection (A Pentecost).

-Because of the sin that David had committed, he desired to build an altar. At this particular place, a man by the name of Ornan, tried to give him a plot of land with a ready made altar.

-ll Chronicles 3:1 gives the geographical location of this particular place as that of Mount Moriah. Moriah was always a place marked by sacrifice, it was always a place where a price was paid.

This is the place that Abraham took Isaac to.

This is the place that David purchased an altar for himself.

This is the place that Solomon built a Temple.

-The spiritual principle here is one that is lasting. If you will build an altar of sacrifice, over the course of time that altar will become a Temple. Sacrifice will always refine worship. Sacrifice will always bring out the best abilities of God.