Free* | II SAMUEL

Intro

Coming to close on our Samuel series

CATCH UP - Last time we left David

He had gone on the run from his son, Absalom

Joab, kills Absalom, and David and his men return to Jerusalem and his kingdom is restored

David musters his men to extinguish Sheba’s revolt

Returns to his duties as king over Israel

>>> Then we come to this interesting chapter at the close of II Samuel.

David demands a military census

God is angry

Sends the prophet Gad to deliver David’s punishment. Given three options:

3 years of famine

3 months of fleeing from his enemies

3 days of a plague throughout the land

2 Samuel 24:14 NLT

“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

2 Samuel 24:15–17 NLT

So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.”

2sam24:15-

David has been humbled

He is no longer looking to the strength of his military for security

He is no longer boasting in the greatness of his kingdom

The king has once again become a shepherd

He pleads with God on behalf of the people

2 Samuel 24:18–25 NLT

That day Gad came 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 to do what the Lord had commanded him. When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. “Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked. David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.” “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.” But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen. David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.

2sam24.18-

I will not present what cost me nothing

ME

To often I look for cheap grace - bumper rails

Examples

WE

Haven’t you seen this in your own life?

Examples

Count the Cost

luk14

Luke 14:25–35 NLT

A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own. “Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”

So much for a church growth strategy...

Jesus said, don’t even begin until you count the cost.

We’re so quick to lead people in a prayer

We close out every message with an opportunity for people to respond to the Gospel—because we so desperately want people to experience the new life and new possibilities found in Christ alone

Yet, have our churches—all across America—in our zeal to win the masses, failed to help our everyday people count the cost?

Look at the headlines across the internet: Christian leaders renouncing their faith. — these are the big wigs!

He said, in comparison to our love for Him, our love for our family, our parents, our children, our friends, ourselves… should look like hate. If not, you might as well go home now.

That His followers are expected to pick up their cross and follow Him.

Jesus isn’t referring to a gold cross that hangs around your neck… the cross He is referring to is an execution device. One that is brutal and humiliating.

Free* Gift

Romans 6:23 NLT

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9 NLT

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That’s it? Yep.

You can’t earn it. You can’t buy it. It’s a free gift that you simply must receive.

“Ok, great! I’m in!!”

Super! Now, let’s talk about the cost.

“Cost? I thought it was free?”

It is.

etc.

Counting the C.O.S.T

It’s a free gift that cost you everything.

Romans 12:1 NLT

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Counting the C.O.S.T

Comfort

How much of your life is spent pursuing comfort?

I’m guilty to… stare at my phone in Starbucks line, do all my banking online, go through the self-checkout lane at Sam’s Club, etc… all to avoid having to carry on a single conversation with anyone.

Yet, this is quite the contrast from the life Jesus calls His followers into:

Peter was sent to the house of Gentile to share the Gospel

The Apostles are repeatedly thrown in jail for teaching Jesus was the Messiah

Members of the early church began to sell all of their possession to better care for one another

Persecution scattered the early church and these new believers began sharing the Gospel wherever they went

Matthew 10:24 NLT

“Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master.

Offering

Church shoppers - Imagine first century Christian leaving a church because they didn’t like the style of music!?

Don’t like the style of preaching? Too boring? The Apostle Paul was putting people to sleep.

Now, as soon as a dynamic speaker leaves a church, they close the doors.

Luke 9:58 NLT

But Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.”

We’re called to embrace the uncomfortable. Uncomfortable people. Uncomfortable situations.

To walk in and shine the light of Christ. To be the salt that preserves our everyday people.

Offering

My faith demands—this is not optional—my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference. —Jimmy Carter

1 Peter 4:10 NLT

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.

Time

Talent

Treasure

Surrender

Galatians 2:20 NLT

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Surrender my will, my dreams, my emotions, my proclivities, my habits, my addictions

I have died with Christ. I no longer live. Instead, it is Christ who lives in me.

Our lives are to be subject to Word of God.

“What’s your opinion about…?” It doesn’t matter what I think. Let’s open the Bible together and see what God has to say.

“That’s a little harsh. Maybe we should tone it down a bit so they’re not offended.” The Gospel is offensive, but it also the power of God unto salvation.

Testimony

Revelation 12:11 NLT

And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

Did you catch that? We overcome the world and defeat our enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by our testimony.

The most powerful witness you can offer to a world desperate for hope, is your testimony—a life given completely to Christ. The story of what God, through Christ, has done in and through you.

Yet, experience has taught us that there is rarely a testimony without a test.

John 16:33 NLT

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Your victory has already been secured. Your healing and forgiveness has already been paid for.

Will you trust Him in the now? In the present? In this moment?

Despite the illness, despite the setbacks, despite the doubt and confusion, despite the pain...

Following Christ means giving up the pen. I am no longer the author of this story. Instead, God is writing His-Story through me.

Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… (BSB)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

No One Higher

Because if I’m going to count the cost and surrender my life and my story, it ought to be to the One of who its said, “There is no one greater, no one higher, no one like our God. There is none more able, Christ our Savior, great and glorious.”

Only a God who is worth it all could implore His followers to count the cost.

Jesus is no sleazy salesman. He’s not trying to pull a fast one on you.

Instead, He demands we count the cost. Why? Because He’s worth it.

David understood that an offering given unto God that costs us nothing, isn’t worth giving.