The Price of Sin on Others
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We all sin, it’s part of our fallen nature.
Have you ever considered the cost of that sin?
Not the cost you pay, but the cost others will pay for your sin?
King David gives us an example,
Not only of the fact that others will pay for our sins,
But of the attitude we should have when we decide to repent.
Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”
As a boy, there was a comedian who had a tag line...
“The devil made me do it!”
I’m convinced that, most of the time, Satan doesn’t need to bother when it comes to getting us to sin.
Mankind in general seems more than ready to sin on their own, no prompting necessary.
Here, however, we see that Satan moved, or enticed, David to take a census of Israel.
It’s important to note, it is not the census that was David’s sin,
It was doing so without being led to by God.
David instructs Joab and the leaders of the people to number Israel,
“and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”
This was about David knowing how many people are in Israel.
And we’ll see later, how many fighting men were in Israel.
How big was David’s army?
And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?”
Joab has a bit of a mixed history.
He fought with David before he became king.
Where he won many battles,
Which led to him being named commander of the Army of Israel.
But things were not always rosy between David and Joab,
David had Joab place Uriah where he would be killed in battle.
Joab probably recognized this as a royal execution of Uriah,
Especially after David married Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.
Joab was not happy when David made peace with Abner after his attempted coup.
In fact, Joab found the opportunity to kill Abner,
Probably for killing his brother.
It was Joab that brought Absalom back to Jerusalem after he ran from his failed coup attempt.
And it was Joab who rebuked David for so publically mourning Absalom’s death and disheartening the troops.
Now, Joab sees that his king is making a mistake,
And he points it out.
As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
This is what I believe Joab is trying to do here.
If David trusted in the Lord, why does he need to know how many fighters he has?
Didn’t Gideon defeat an army with 300 men.
Didn’t Jonathan and his servant put the army of the Philistines to flight?
Why did David need to know?
However, David is king...
Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem. Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword. But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
So Joab did as David said,
Mostly...
He did not count the Levites,
Which makes sense, since they were priests not fighters.
But he did not count the tribe of Benjamin either,
Because David’s command was abhorrent to him.
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel.
Notice, God did not punish just David, but He punished Israel.
You may be thinking, “Thank God I’m not a king. I don’t want the responsibility.”
But each of us have people who are impacted by our decisions.
Families,
Co-workers,
Friends,
Even fellow congregants.
Sure, James warned us...
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
But all of us have those who will suffer the consequences of our actions,
Either for good or for ill.
So how does David react to the realization of his sin?
So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
David repents,
He recognizes that he has sinned and acted foolishly.
He asks God for forgiveness.
To take away his iniquity.
What does God do?
Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself, either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord—the plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.” And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
God offers David three punishments.
Notice, there still has to be punishment,
But God is going to have David choose,
Which, I guess, is another form punishment.
What are David’s choices?
Three years of famine.
That seems pretty harsh.
Three months of being defeated in battle.
OK, still pretty harsh, but probably easier than three years of famine.
Or three days of plague.
Ouch!
Notice, all of David’s choices involve the people being punished for David’s actions.
Three years of starvation and death,
Three months of battle and death,
Or three days of sickness,
Oh, and death.
You may think that your sins only harm you, but that is rarely the case.
I had a friend with an alcohol problem.
His sins impacted his family, his friends, and my family as well.
I had another friend who fell into sin.
It impacted not only him and his family, but my family and our entire church congregation.
Almost always, our sins harm more than just us.
And not just the sins, but the repentance and punishment as well.
David has to choose one of these punishments.
How did David make his choice?
And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
Of the three, David chose the plague,
Not because it was the lesser of three evils,
But because it meant he was in the hands of God, not men.
And God can be very merciful.
So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
As David had hoped, God relented of the punishment on Israel,
But not before 70,000 men had died.
Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. And David said to God, “Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”
Imagine the pain of seeing 70,000 people die because of your mistake?
Not men in battle, but simply people in the streets.
People you had sworn to lead and protect.
No wonder David asked God to punish him and his house, rather than those who were innocent of this sin.
But no matter who you are, your sins will harm others who are innocent.
Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground.
God commands David to build an alter where the plague was stopped.
So David goes to that location, the threshing floor of Ornan.
Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
David offers to purchase the threshing floor to build the alter God has commanded.
Think of what God has asked you to do in repentance of your sin.
That is the position David is in.
He’s been told to build an alter to God.
But what if Ornan won’t sell him the threshing floor?
Would the plague continue?
Would David have to watch more innocent people die?
But Ornan said to David, “Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all.”
Whew, Ornan will give David the threshing floor, and wood and wheat for a grain offering.
Sometimes, the answer you receive seems too good to be true,
And this in one of those times.
Then King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.”
Have you ever noticed how often we try to get someone else to pay for our charity?
Whether it’s taxes to feed the poor,
Programs to help the needy,
Do you know how many times someone has come to me with an idea to help a group of people, but expecting the church to do it for them?
David refused to give an offering that cost him nothing,
How often to we come to God with an offering that someone else has paid for?
So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering. So the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.
I don’t know what the going rate was for a threshing floor,
Somehow I guess 600 shekels of gold was probably at the top of the range.
But David built his alter,
And made his offerings.
And God relented of David’s punishment.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So what does a 3,000 year old story about a king of Israel have to do with our lives today?
As I said, this is an example for us.
As Moses told the children of Reuben and Gad at the bank of the Jordan river:
But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.
Your sins will find you out.
You may say to yourself, “That’s OK, I’m willing to suffer the punishment.”
But are you willing to make others endure that punishment as well?
I cannot think of a single sin that does not impact someone else as well.
So we should not be surprised that the consequences of our sins do as well.
Yes, God is merciful, and He has already forgiven your sins.
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences.
In this world where we tend to focus on the three most important people in our lives,
Me, Myself, and I,
Maybe we should consider the impact our sins are having on those around us.
And recognize that the one who will suffer for your actions, may not be yourself.