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4-0-4. We shall wear a crown, we shall wear a crown, and when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown, and when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Must I be carried to the skies on plowry beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas. And when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown, yes, we shall wear a crown, we shall wear a crown, and when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown, and when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Sure, I must fight if I would reign in peace, my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain supported by Thy word. We shall wear a crown, we shall wear a crown, we shall wear a crown, and when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Wear a crown, wear a crown, wear a bright and shining crown, and when the battle's over, we shall wear a crown in the new Jerusalem. Good singing. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day, and thank you for our church. I just pray that we would continue to be a church that's willing to fight your battles, Lord, and to stay steadfast during them. And just pray that you would bless the church service. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, for our second song, we'll go to 356, I Must Tell Jesus. 356, I Must Tell Jesus. Song 356, I Must Tell Jesus. Sing it out nice and loud on the first. I must tell Jesus all of my trials. I cannot bear these burdens alone. In my distress he kindly will help me. He ever loves and cares for his own. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus all of my troubles. He is a kind, compassionate friend. If I but ask him, he will deliver. Make up my troubles quickly and end. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. Tempted and tried, I need a great Savior, one who can help my burdens to bear. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, He all my cares and sorrows will share. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. World to evil allures me. Oh how my heart is tempted to sin. I must tell Jesus, and He will help me. Over the world the victory to win. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I cannot bear my burdens alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. I must tell Jesus, Jesus can't help me, Jesus alone. Please help them during their pregnancy. I pray that you would give them a timely birth and their babies would be well developed. I pray that you would just also help our church family with their various health concerns, health issues, that you'd help people to be healthy, recover, have strength. Those that are struggling with chronic issues, that you could just give them a miracle, give them health. I pray that you would just continue to use our church to reach the loss with the gospel, that you'd help us to be a bright and shining light to our friends and neighbors and those that we care about, that you would bring a soul winner into their lives, that you would help soften their hearts through hearing the word of God being preached. I pray that you would also just bless our church family with favor for all of their various prayer requests. I just thank you for all you give us and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Baby Shower is coming up November 19th in honor of Miss Karen Cooley and her baby girl from 1230 to 230 and RSVP to Miss Milstead, please. If you are able to bring a dish, please do, but nothing is obligatory. On the back we have the note about a couple of events. Upcoming Saturday we have our Arlington Soul Winning Blitz, so it's an extra push for soul winning. See Brother Jason or Brother Lugo about that. They have all the details and everything like that, but definitely a great place to go soul winning here. On Sunday we are going to have our Sunday Sundays again, so that will be a lot of fun. I think the weather is still pretty nice, so should still enjoy ice cream for now. October 31st, we have all been waiting for the Texas Chili Cook-Off. Definitely encourage you to participate and if you want to enter the competition, please bring your chili here by 5.30 so that way we can have plenty of time to get everything set up and get our judging established. Pray that we have good judges this year. So we need some people that enjoy the strong meat of the word. And then also we have the music recital on November 5th. November 10th through the 12th is the Matamoros Soul Winning Trip. November 19th is that Baby Shower we talked about. November 23rd is the Thanksgiving Desert Fellowship. And December 2nd is the Ladies' Christmas Party. Again, just a few church reminders. Please make sure your children are not running at all times in the church building. We want to make sure it's a safe environment for everyone. And especially since it can be very congested in here, it can be a little dangerous or hazardous if children are running around. We are going to have our ushers and men help us just to kind of facilitate that so they've noticed someone running. Please ask them to stop running immediately. Also, your children should not be really anywhere in the building unaccompanied or that you're not paying attention. Mother baby rooms are for mothers and their children only. And while you can, if you need to, take other children into the mother baby room, it is designed for that zero, one, and two-year-old, those that are the crawlers and walkers. Some of your older children make it kind of dangerous for the little babies to actually do their thing. So please, if you have older children that you're taking in there, make them sit down and still try to pay attention and try to train them for the services. Obviously, around 18 months it can be difficult, but by the time they're three, you've got to start training them, you know, if you haven't already. So, FYI. Also, please just help us with just trash and pick up in the sanctuary and everything like that. And sometimes it's your children that do it. So it's like, well, I didn't do it, but your children did it, so therefore you did it, okay? So just try to make sure that you're cleaning everything up. Don't be letting them. They love to get ice and just throw it everywhere, but let's please refrain from doing so. That's pretty much all I have as far as announcements. We are going to sing two extra songs. We're going to sing, or just two songs, one extra song. We're going to do our Psalm 146 again. And I think we're going to start trying to do a psalm every week where we do the same song, all three services, and start getting in kind of a habit of doing that so that way we can learn some of these songs a little bit better. So, Psalm 146, Psalm 146. You should have it in your white handouts there. If they're lacking, go ahead and share with a neighbor. Psalm 146. Let's do this. But not your trust in princes, Or in the Son of Man, In whom there is no help, Whom there is no help. Praise he the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. His breath goeth forth, He returneth to his earth, In that very day his thoughts perish, Happy is he that hath come, God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord, The Lord his God. Praise he the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. His earth the sea, And all that therein is, Which keepeth truth forever, Which executeth judgment, For the oppressed which giveth, Food to the hungry, The Lord looseth the prisoners. Praise he the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind, The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down, The Lord loveth the righteous, The Lord reserveth the strangers, He relieveth the fatherless, And widows. Praise he the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. But the way of the wicked, He turneth upside down, The Lord shall reign forever, Even thy God, O Zion, Unto all generations, Praise he the Lord, praise the Lord. All right, for our next song, we'll go to 301 Sweet Hour of Prayer. 301 Sweet Hour of Prayer. Song 301, Sweet Hour of Prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, Sweet hour of prayer, That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father's throne, Make all my wants and wishes known, In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft escape the tempter's snare, By thy return, sweet hour of prayer, Sweet hour of prayer, Sweet hour of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear, To him whose truth and faithfulness, Engage the waiting soul to bless, And since he beds me, seek his face, Believe his word and trust his grace, I'll cast on him my every care, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer, Sweet hour of prayer, May I thy consolation share, Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height, I view my home and take my flight, This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise, To seize the everlasting prize, And shout while passing through the air, Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. As the offering plates are passed around, Turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 24. 2 Samuel chapter 24. We'll read the whole chapter as is our custom. You can follow along silently starting at verse 1. 2 Samuel chapter 24, the Bible reads, And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, And he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. For the king said to Joab the captain of the host which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, From Dan even to Beersheba, And number ye the people, That I may know the number of the people. And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people How many soever they be and hundredfold, And that the eyes of my Lord the king may see it. But why doth my Lord the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, And against the captains of the host, And Joab and the captains of the host Went out from the presence of the king To number the people of Israel. And they passed over Jordan, And pitched in a roar, On the right side of the city that lieth In the midst of the river of Gad, And toward Jezer. And they came to Gilead, And to the land of Tatim-Hoshdai, And they came to Danjaan, And about to Zidane, And came to the stronghold of Tyre, And to all the cities of the Hivites, And of the Canaanites, And they went out to the south of Judah, Even to Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, They came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword, And the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. And David's heart smote him, After that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly, and that I have done. And now I beseech thee, O Lord, Take away the iniquity of thy servant, For I have done very foolishly. For when David was up in the morning, The word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things, Choose thee one of them, That I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, And told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, While they pursue thee? Or that there be three days pestilence in thy land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait, Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, For his mercies are great, And let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel From the morning even to the time appointed, And there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, The Lord repented him of the evil, And said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough, Stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Arana the Jebusite. And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, And said, Lo, I have sinned, And I have done wickedly, But these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, Be against me and against my father's house. And Gad came that day to David and said unto him, Go up, rear, and alter unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Arana the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, Went up as the Lord commanded. And Arana looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him, And Arana went out and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Arana said, Wherefore has my Lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor of thee, To build an altar unto the Lord, That the plague may be stayed from the people. And Arana said unto David, Let my Lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, And threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Arana as a king give unto the king. And Arana said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee, And the king said unto Arana, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price, Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God, Of that which dost cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, And offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, So the Lord was entreated for the land, And the plague was stayed from Israel. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father God, we ask for your hedge of protection, Lord, over this church and over our pastor, and I pray that you fill him with your Holy Spirit and help him to explain this chapter to us. We thank you for 2 Samuel chapter 24, and Lord, help us to pay close attention to the message so we can learn more about your word and be edified this evening. And we love you, and in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Amen. 2 Samuel 24, we're finishing up 2 Samuel. This is the last chapter of this book of the Bible, and what's kind of interesting is in 2 Samuel, it kind of does a chronology, but then kind of at the end it just kind of gives some recapping stories. It gives you a few different things that happen towards the end of David's reign. Now, I don't know exactly when this particular event happened, but obviously God put this in the Bible as kind of a conclusion to the book for a reason, and it kind of just symbolizes a lot of different things, but it's a very interesting chapter that I think there's a lot of different interpretations out there as far as how to interpret the events that are found in this chapter, and I'm going to basically give you what I believe the Bible does say about this chapter, but I don't think that there's necessarily just one right or wrong answer per se. There is a little bit of interpretation that can be extrapolated in this chapter, but it's interesting here in chapter 24 in comparison to 1 Chronicles 21 where it says in the beginning, And again, the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and Judah. So according to 2 Samuel 24, God is angry at Israel, and He causes David to number the children of Israel. Now, keep your finger here and go to 1 Chronicles 21. Just go a little forward in your Bible, 1 Chronicles 21, and we're going to see a parallel passage as far as this story is concerned, and I kind of want to compare 2 Samuel 24 to 1 Chronicles 21 quite a few times this evening, but I might kind of just keep that in mind as far as flipping back and forth. But look at verse 1, 1 Chronicles 21, verse 1, And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. Now, of course, an atheist would say, Oh, see, the Bible's full of contradictions because in one chapter it says God did it, and in another chapter it says that the devil did it. But the book of Job itself indicates why this is being mentioned this way is because the LORD was moved against Job, but we see that He did it through the working of the devil. And, of course, the Bible is just explaining the depth of the scenario how God wanting to accomplish His will is often done through the devil himself. And that's just kind of an interesting concept because if the God of the universe can use the devil to accomplish His will, how much less us, or how much less any unsaved person or reprobate or anything in the world. You know, God uses all these people for His glory and for His honor. That does not mean that every action that they take is for God's honor and glory, as the sick, perverted Calvinists like to suggest, that rape is actually what God wanted to happen or something like that. You know, of course, we realize that there are evil things that happen in this world and evil people do evil things, and that is not what brings glory to God. But just because they may have done a horrible act in the past or have done grievous sin doesn't mean God couldn't still use that person, individual, for His glory in some way. Even the devil is still used for God's glory and the God of the Bible has a purpose for everyone. Now, in this specific situation, though, we're not doing these things to give glory to God. God's using the devil as kind of a punishment in this scenario. So, in the book of Job, God is using the devil to afflict Job, but it's not because Job did anything wrong. I mean, the Bible is very clear. God said that He had moved against him without a cause. There was no reason that Job deserved that. But this chapter is different in the sense that the devil being used to provoke David is not unprovoked or it's not something that David doesn't necessarily deserve or some kind of consequence. It is a direct consequence to God being angry at Israel. God is upset with Israel, God is displeased with Israel, and very much David, I would assume, based on this context, because Israel is under his rule, it's under his authority. So, he's going to punish David and he's going to punish Israel and he uses the devil to do this. Now, if we go back to 2 Samuel 24, what is it that God is going to have him do? He's going to have him number Israel and Judah. So, at this point in time, there's still kind of the two divisions amongst the people. Israel is kind of like everybody but Judah and Judah is kind of on its own. And the reason why they're kind of divided this way is mostly just a sheer numbers perspective. Judah has been so blessed and has just had such a giant reproduction cycle that they've almost caught up to all the other tribes combined. I mean, they are smaller in number but it's only, you know, fractionally smaller. It's like Judah is about 50% or a little bit more than 50% of the men of Israel all in combination. That also shows you that just because you start small doesn't mean you couldn't be a big number very quickly. You know, think about this. They all started about the same rate but then Judah is just way bigger than everybody else. Kind of just signifies how reproduction and multiplication works. And even though our church maybe isn't even the biggest church in this area, you know, doing things right and doing things God's way, we could end up being a great host if we had God's blessing, okay? Now, verse 2, the Bible says, For the king said to Joab, the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number you the people, that I may know the number of the people. Now, again, in verse 2, we get a little bit of indication in the story why is it that David wants to number the people. According to the Bible, it's that he wants to know the number. He doesn't provide any other reason. He just simply wants to have a census so that he can know the number. I think that's important. Let's keep reading. And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people how many soever they be, and a hundredfold, and that the eyes of my Lord the King may see it, but why doth my Lord the King delight in this thing? So Joab says, you know what, I hope God gives us a hundred times more people than we have right now, but why is it that you just have to know the number? I hope God gives us more people, and having a multitude of people is a blessing, it's a good thing, but he's kind of hinting at why is it that you need to know this, or why do you want to know the number? It says in verse 4, Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host, and Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. Now this is what I think is important also, is understanding in verse number 4, nobody agrees with this decision except for David. Right? It's not like, you know, I've heard some people be like, well Joab is just this really righteous guy. And I'm like, where? It's like, show me that in the Bible. You can see all these examples where Joab does a bunch of bad things, a lot of wicked things, especially in the future whenever he sides with Adonijah. However, they'll say, oh well Joab was against David's statement. But let me remind you, everyone was against David's statement. So it's like, if even Joab realizes what you're doing is wrong, it must be wrong. It does not signify to me that Joab is just a really righteous person necessarily. Because again, it wasn't saying like, oh and Joab had this idea of this isn't right. It's like everybody says this is not right. Everyone, you know, it's a whole consensus. And even Joab is like, whoa buddy, I don't think this is right. That just kind of signifies that it's really not a good idea at all. Joab at times kind of tries to help David a little bit. He brings up the idea of him mourning for Absalom as being kind of an over the top reaction and how he needs to show his support of the troops that even risked their lives to save David from Absalom. And so he reminds him of that. He reminds him of going out and taking a particular city and not just being lazy and staying at home. Now of course Joab's a little over the top and saying they're about to name it after me. And it was like, no one said that Joab, okay. But it was still probably a good idea at least, right. Get off your butt, go out to work, you know, do your job David, right. So even though Joab's not that great of a guy, it doesn't mean that he's just always wrong or can't have a good idea or can't even side with the right side on occasion. Because people are more complicated than just always good and always bad. Sometimes people are a mix. And really that's the majority of us. If not all of us are pretty much a constant mix. You get good and bad. I mean even people in our church, they'll disappoint you at times. And there'll be people that have disappointed you in the past and then they'll surprise you and it'll be a good thing. So it's like you never really know what people are gonna truly be like and Joab is kind of a mixed bag. But if Joab is saying this is a bad idea, it's probably a bad idea. Not because Joab's such a stand-up guy, but it's like even if he realizes it's not good, probably there's some kind of an issue here. Why would everybody, I mean in the multitude of counselors there is safety as the Bible says. So is David really making a wise decision here if every one of his counselors, if every single one of his decision makers is saying I don't like this, you know that's kind of a red flag. And even in our church, you know, while I do try to run our church as a what I would call benevolent dictatorship, meaning that at the end of the day I get to decide whatever's gonna happen. Obviously I'm supposed to follow the Bible too, we get that. But someone's gotta make decisions around here. I will often take certain men aside or have meetings or whatever, and just basically present the idea to them and say hey, what do you think about this? Or you like this idea or whatever. If every single person I respect in this church tells me like no, I don't like that, that's a bad idea, well that's gonna be a good signal to me that something's wrong. Okay? Either A, I'm just, I'm out to lunch, like I've got a bad idea and I need to change my mind. Or maybe B, I'm not leading very well to help people understand why I would make the decision that I would make. But to me like something needs to be fixed before you move forward. Like it doesn't make sense to ask counsel of a bunch of people and then all disagree with you and then you just do it anyways. That's kind of just showing that you didn't even respect their opinion anyways. Like what's the point of me asking a bunch of people's opinion and then they tell me what I don't wanna hear and then I just do it anyways. It's frustrating to me, it's like being a pastor. People will come to me and ask my advice and I'll tell them like the opposite of what they really wanted to hear and then they just do it anyways and I'm just thinking like why'd you ask my opinion? You know it's like what's the point of asking someone's opinion if you're not willing to alter your decision making based on that person's opinion. Because if you're not willing to alter your decision making based on their opinion, it's almost like flattery or like a weird kind of issue when you suggest something like that. I even had a preacher like this one time where every time he would talk or preach, he would bring up this idea of like well I didn't check with anybody else, maybe I should have checked with somebody else before I preached this or whatever. And it's like well that's an insincere statement because if you truly believed you should check with someone else before you preach it, then you would have done it. But then by saying it, you're trying to appear like you're this humble person or you actually care what other people think but you really didn't because you just evidenced it by actually saying it. So it's like you gotta be careful what kind of advice you get, why are you even asking for the advice? And I think sometimes people don't realize it until afterwards. They kinda like ask the person's advice and they're like I'm gonna do it anyways and they start realizing like I didn't really care what your advice was anyways or I'm just asking for a rubber stamp for this kind of advice. And you gotta think about this, are you really even asking for advice anymore? If you're asking people for advice and you do not care what their opinion is, there's something wrong with that scenario. You should be getting advice from people with a willingness to change or don't ask that person for advice, right? Of course there could be someone out there that I really don't care what you think. Even if I ask you, no matter what you say, I'm still gonna make my decision because I have no respect under your opinion. But why would I waste my breath and waste your time asking your opinion if you're not even gonna follow it? I'm not perfect, I make a lot of mistakes and even I know my pastor friends make mistakes but it's funny to me when people ask our advice and then not take it because I'm thinking usually it's really easy for us to give you the right advice for you because it's not us, like we can just give you the right advice. But then it's just so frustrating every time I see these people just not following it and then ruining their life and then coming back to me and be like now what do I do? It's just like take the advice that I had last time. It's not hard to know what to do, honestly. It's harder to do it than it is to know what to do. And the Bible is the same way. It's usually not as hard to figure out what you should be doing. It's a lot harder to do it than it is to know what to do. David again is kind of not allowing the checks and balances of his kingdom though to help him from making a bad decision. If everyone in your life is screaming no, that should be a red flag. Here's another example. You're thinking about marrying someone and everybody in your life is saying no. You need to listen to that advice because frankly I don't really care like at the end of the day who you marry. I don't have to live with that person and your parents don't have to live with that person. But here's the thing. They're not going to make a decision for you about your marriage that would be bad. They're not going to think, if there's this really great person for them, I just want to hold them back from them. It's like everybody wants their children or friends or family members to marry a great person. It's usually when everyone's like no, no, no, no. It's because it's a bad person. And even your unsaved parents or even people out there that aren't necessarily new IFB, if they're screaming no about a particular person, often it's because there's a problem with the person. So you should think about and consider other people's opinion because often when you're kind of infatuated with someone or really like someone, it's easy to be blinded. It's easy to not make a real objective decision about who you should marry. And especially for young people who have not dated much or maybe their first love, it's very difficult to not marry the first person you kind of fall in love with because you've never really experienced anything else like that before. And you kind of have this feeling like, well, I'll never find love again or how do I go about life if I can't marry this person? I just have to have this person. Not realizing that if it's the wrong person and you move on, you won't care in hindsight. It won't be a big deal. And also it's frustrating because in middle school and in high school, especially in my days, everybody would be dating like real serious. You know, when I was in middle school, I mean, there would be people that would date each other for years. Like they would date each other in sixth grade and seventh grade and eighth grade and daddy and everything like that. But then, you know, by high school they didn't like each other anymore and they moved on. And it's like it's kind of silly because they're thinking about how many kids they're going to have, what names they're going to give them and all this silliness for a sixth grader, for a seventh grader. And it's like you probably won't even like the person. You know, me and my wife, we knew each other in sophomore grade of high school, but there was no way we were interested in each other back then, okay? But praise God that, you know, we didn't have to, you know, worry about that back then and then later we ended up liking each other. Because you never know, you're going to change your opinion when you grow up and you mature and you grow taller than her. She was a lot taller than me in sophomore year, okay? I was not mature either. So, you know, I guess that helped me, right? I grew up, I grew as taller than her and more mature all of a sudden it was like, okay, he's not as annoying anymore, you know? Still kind of annoying, right? But just not, you know, she liked it, okay? It worked. But at the end of the day, like even if you think that person's the one, check with everybody else, you know? Consider other people's opinion. And this is in every area of your life. Of course, if people are trying to get you to make a carnal decision over a spiritual decision, at the end of the day, we want to follow the Bible. But, in general, getting people to give you multiple opinions and having counselors is an important philosophy. We want to do this. It would have saved David and 70,000 men's lives from making, you know, from a horrible tragedy, you know, if he would just paid attention to what everybody was saying around him. It says in verse number five, And they passed over Jordan and pitched an auror on the right side of the city that lies in the midst of the river of Gad and toward Jezer. Then they came to Gilead, the land of Titham, Hodeshi, and they came to Danjem and about to Zidim, and came to the stronghold of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days. And Job gave the sum of the number of the people under the king, and there were in Israel 800,000 valiant men that drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men. And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people, and David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly, and that I have done. And now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. So they go out, they number the people, they end up returning as about 1.3 million soldiers. Now think about the number that we're talking about. We're not talking about people. We're talking about specifically the rank and file, those that are in the military, those are the valiant men able to go to war. So obviously the children of Israel are millions of people. I don't know what the exact number would be based on this, because I don't know what percentage of men were in the military. But you could just make safe assumptions. Even if every man was in the military, of a military age, I mean, there are probably minimum four or five million people as a group of people. And it's very likely that there's even other men that maybe aren't even in the military. In America, our military percentages aren't even that high. I think it's like less than 5% of able-bodied men in that age group are in the military. You could fact check me on this, but it's a pretty small percentage of men even in that capability of being in the military. And I think our age ranges in America are a lot smaller than like a biblical age range. The biblical age range is probably a little bit wider as far as who would be drafted, quote, unquote, or who would be placed into the military. But this is a serious army size. I mean, we're talking about 1.3 million troops, and especially at a time in history when technology is not really as advantageous in a military conquest. It's more about manpower and really just virtually strategy, way more than technology. They don't have aircraft, and they don't have some of the missiles and different devices like that, or even just guns because guns make a pretty big difference when it comes to a military situation where number of soldiers isn't gonna be as important. I mean, imagine you went against a million-man army and they all have pitchforks and you all have machine guns. It's like it really doesn't even matter as much how many men when we talk about the superiority of weaponry. But at this time, manpower is such a big and important factor. So by having a 1.3 million-man army at this time in history is almost virtually just saying, like, you can't be defeated. So you have to kind of think about the context here. You know, it's similar to how in America, you know, if we had competent leadership, there's virtually no chance that our military could be destroyed. Now, obviously, we have military leadership issues, and I get that. We have just leadership issues all across the board. But just from a pure perspective of, like, military equipment and soldiers and all that kind of stuff, no one can really compete with America right now. We're kind of just in a dominant perspective. And if we were to try and calculate this, usually what they do is they calculate how much we spend on defense. You know, we spend on military, right? And we spend, like, more than every other country combined, you know, that's, like, even equivalent of size or demeanor. And so we kind of brag about all of our military spending or whatever, and it's like, why do I care about how much money we're wasting on the military? Like, I don't, you know, I don't even know what that matters. Okay, but whatever. Oh, it keeps you safe. Safe from the domestic terrorists? You know, how's that going, right? Oh, you know, you need to stand for the flag and pledge allegiance to the flag and sing God bless America because the freedoms you have are from the military. And it's like, the freedom to not have bank accounts, the freedom to not be online, the freedom to what? What freedoms? Oh, well, the freedom, you know, it's like, how about all the domestic terrorists? Is the military going to stand up and protect me from the domestic terrorists in this country that are infringing on our constitutional rights? I mean, there's plenty of people right now that are political prisoners. Where's their rights? Where's their military standing up for them? You know, unreasonable searches and seizures. I mean, that seems to be trampled on. Oh, the Second Amendment. That right they gave me. The one where I can have the very specific gun with the very specific regulations enshrined with that. I mean, it's like, you know, of course I'm not against military. We need military. Every country has that military. Or you're just being baited and taken over. But at the end of the day, is it really the military that gives us our liberty as Americans? Or is it actually a spiritual issue? And I will suggest to you, and the Bible makes it abundantly clear, that military strength is meaningless when it comes to freedom. It's all about God. And even though you say, oh, well, we have David. Shouldn't we praise David? Shouldn't we get a flag for David? Let's get the Star of David. And let's put it on a flag. And let's worship David. I mean, he is the one that gives us our freedom. No, no, no. David won all his battles because God fought for him. Whoa, but they got a million men. Army. Okay, well, David and his armies and many of the children of Israel defeated million-man armies in the past. And it was through what? God's might. It wasn't through their might. Meaning that the only thing that matters is if God is on your side and if you're pleasing to God, not the size of your military, nor the achievements of your military. You know, I always get sick and tired of churches dragging up military people or having military people stand and be like, thank you for our freedoms. What a middle finger to the Lord Jesus Christ because you know what? The military didn't do anything. It was God that gave them any victory anyways. And how do you even know that those soldiers were even worthy of honor? Some soldiers go over into foreign countries and shoot innocent civilians and women and rape and pillage and then come back. Oh, or they get involved in the drug laundering scheme of the military. Or they were a coward and didn't even fight and didn't do anything and then do stolen valor where they go around and brag about all these accolades they had when they did nothing. But, of course, when we go to a public event, all military get to stand and we just give them all just praise, whatever. You know, you're in the military, you're a good guy no matter what. Right? I mean, you could be a Freemason pedophile, but if you're in the military, let's give you some honor, buddy. Right? I mean, isn't that how it works? But is that really the type of opinion, is that the type of spiritual viewpoint we should have when it comes to the military? I say no. And you know what? I'm not against having a strong military. I'm not against people being in a military, theoretically. Now, of course, our military has a lot of problems, so I would tell people to probably avoid that. That's probably not a wise decision to go down. But, at the end of the day, the military is meaningless when it comes to our safety in general. Our safety is always derived from God and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And what I believe is the issue here is that David, in his past, has never had a chance to really win a battle based on physical strength or might. It's always just he had to rely on God. It was just no other option. But now he's gotten to a point where you could say like, well, of course he's going to win because look at how strong they are. Look how many men they have. And they can start taking the honor and the glory unto themselves. Start looking like, well, I got 1.3 million troops. And I think after hearing the number and realizing how big the military is, he kind of is understanding the ramifications of his decision and saying, oh, wow, I shouldn't be trusting in the size of my army, even though it's great. You know, it's really a misplaced honor. It's a misplaced glory, a misplaced confidence in his military. Now, I'm going to look at a lot of verses to kind of explain where I'm coming to on this conclusion. Go back to 1 Chronicles 21, and let's see some other verses that are similar here. 1 Chronicles 21, look at verse number 6. But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them, for the king's word was abominable to Joab. So even in the process of counting, and there's a little bit different numbers in 1 Chronicles 21, which doesn't bother me because I'm sure it's just in the counting process there's different ways to look at the numbers. But ultimately, Joab was just so frustrated by this request that he didn't even count everybody. And specifically, he's saying the king's word was abominable to Joab. What was it that the king asked Joab to do? To number the people. Go and number the people, and I want to know the number thereof, okay? Verse 7, And God was displeased with this thing, therefore he smote Israel. Not only was the word abominable to Joab, but it says God was displeased. What thing? Him numbering the people. Verse 8, And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing. But now I beseech thee, do away with the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. So that's similar to what we read earlier. So it's like, number the people, Joab doesn't like the numbering of the people, God's displeased, and then David's very clearly saying, I've sinned, this is very foolish. So I think it's, if you're going to interpret this passage, you have to interpret it in a way to where the numbering of the people, there's something wrong with numbering the people, okay? Otherwise, you're almost just missing the boat with this entire chapter. Because the chapter's very specific about the numbering of the people. Let me even show you a little bit more clear verse. Look at verse 17. And David said unto God, Is it not that I, I'm sorry, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed. But as for these sheep, what have they done? So again, when David is like confessing a sin to the Lord, he says, isn't it I that numbered the people, okay? And he says very clearly, indeed, meaning specifically, he says that I have sinned and done evil indeed, specifically, okay? But the people, they're just getting numbered, right? I mean, how can you blame the people that are being numbered? It's really the person that wanted to number them. Go back to 2 Samuel 24 and look at verse 1 again. And again, the anger of the Lord is kindled against Israel and he moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and Judah. So again, God through the devil is telling David to number the children of Israel. Joab doesn't like the numbering. God's displeased. David confesses a sin and says, I'm the one that told him the number. So I think we can just say definitively, the Bible's making it very clear, numbering the people was bad. There's something wrong about the numbering of the people. But what does that mean exactly? Okay, well, let's look at a few verses. Let's go to Proverbs 14. Go to Proverbs 14. I will suggest to you that the numbering of the people, the real problem with it is not so much the physical numbering, the task itself. It's more the motivation, of why we're numbering the people. So it's not so much, and again, you have to understand this about sin. Sin is always contextual. Sin is always contextual. And what I mean by that is the context always determines whether something's a sin or not. Think about it this way. You could say a statement, and it's a sin or not, based on one thing. Is it true? Because if you lie, it's a sin. But if it's true, then it's not a sin. And you could make the exact same statement. It's the same word. So it wasn't the action of saying those words that's a sin. It's what's the motivation, the context of that, right? Two people going and having relations. According to the Bible, if you're married, not a sin. Not married, it's a sin. Even though it's the exact same action, even though all the same physical things are happening, it's based on the context of the situation. You know, marriage is honorable and all, and the bed undefiled. But whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. So again, it's not the action that's the sin. It's the context of the action that is the sin. Executing someone, or killing them in cold blood murder. It's the same action, okay? But the context determines which one's sin or not. Because executing someone according to the law, according to what the Bible says is a precedent, is lawful, just, it's righteous. Whereas killing someone, the same person, but not based on the law, just based on your own, just hatred for the person, is a wicked sin, you know? So again, all of these things are based on the context of the situation, okay? And you really, you could probably find some things that are just inherently a sin, okay? Printing a tattoo on your body. Really doesn't matter in the context of that one, okay? So that one's just a sin, right? Cross-dressing, sin, okay? There's gonna be certain things, men having long hair, that's gonna be a sin. You know, you have the exception of someone would say, well, what about Samson? I personally don't even think he had long hair, but even if he did have really long hair, obviously that's a clear exception because God just told him to do it, okay? Just like when they made the brazen serpent and put it on a stick, that's kind of a clear exception. But what I'm trying to illustrate is that sin is just always contextual, virtually. Not every time, just most of the time it is. So in the numbering of the people, I'm not saying that numbering the children of Israel is a sin, inherently. I'm saying the motivation, the context, the situation is what could potentially cause it to be a sin. Now, think about Proverbs 14, verse 28. In the multitude of people is the king's honor, but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. Now, we have to understand about Proverbs as Proverbs are just generally true. Whether that's a good suggestion for you or not is not necessarily always the case. Sometimes things that are true aren't necessarily edifying or beneficial to you in every circumstance or every situation. In this particular context, though, is making it clear that a king is going to have more honor and more glory the more people he has that he's ruling. You know, if you're a ruler of five people, that's not as impressive as ruling over five billion people or five million people or 500,000 people, okay? So by having a bigger, bigger number of people gives you more honor and glory. So is it possible that David wanted to know the number of his troops for what? For his honor? For his glory? Because, of course, the bigger... You know, David's cool when he's got 300 men, but isn't it a little bit different when you have 1.3 million? That's a pretty big difference. And wouldn't there be possible motivation for David to want to know that, just to think, well, how awesome is... You know, it's pretty cool. I got a 1.3 million-man army, right? So it's like, what's the motivation of knowing the number? Is the motivation to bring honor unto yourself? Look at Psalms. Go backwards. Go to Psalms 20. Psalms chapter number 20. And really, this is what I believe when it comes to the numbering, is that there's two bad motivations for someone to have asked for this numbering. And I believe it's probable that these are the case for David. Again, this is just my personal understanding of the passage. But number one would be honor. Number two would be might. And look what it says in Psalms 20, verse 7. So the Bible says that some people trust in their horse or their chariot over trusting in God. Meaning what? They derive their safety from their own might, from their own power, from their own circumstance. And again, was David relying on horses, chariots, or a multitude of army when he defeated Goliath? Or was he trusting on the Lord alone? And he even said that the Lord was going to deliver him into his hand and he was going to take his head from off of him. Because he defied the armies of the living God. So again, for David to end up numbering these people, what does that even matter? Would 1.3 million men matter if we go back to the exact same scenario where Goliath defying the armies of Israel and zero out of 1.3 million are willing to fight him? Does it really matter that you have 1.3 million? In fact, it's even more embarrassing. I don't know what the number of armies were at the time when David was there in the face-off of Goliath. Would the amount of men even matter in a single man-on-man event between Goliath anyways? No, because it's man-on-man. So what did David use to defeat Goliath? He relied on the Lord. He trusted in God. And really, you have to understand that no matter how mighty you get, or how strong you get, or how many resources you have, we don't want to derive our confidence, trust, or safety from the things that we possess, the safety protocols that are issued, but rather always have our confidence that the Lord is the one keeping us safe. And thinking, I need to be right with God to be safe not having 1.3 million men army, not having all these great horses and chariots. I don't even need to know that because it's meaningless how many soldiers I have. Me being right with God is the only thing that actually matters. So you've got to think about why is he wanting to know this number? Look at Psalm 33, verse 16. It's kind of a dual motivation, right? Not only do you get to drive your safety from it, but then you can kind of brag about it, or you can feel like you have a lot of respect. I have 1.3 million men army. But here's the thing. What did you do to get that, David? God just is the one that puts you in that position. God's the one that gave you that military, and God could take it away like this. Remember Absalom? Absalom just pretty much overnight took almost his entire army away from him. Everybody's just following Absalom. So it's like, does it matter to have 1.3 million men or be right with God? Because God could just smoke you out instantly. You could be like Zimrai, and everybody's like, you're a traitor, and then they turn on him, and he just has to burn the house down on himself. Being right with God is the only safety net you should have, not how many men army you possess. Psalm 33, look at verse 16. There is no king saved by the multitude of a host. A mighty man is not delivered by much strength, and 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 to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Notice what the Bible is saying. The Bible is saying, you know what's going to preserve you to the bitter end? God. Not how strong you are, not how much storeable food you have, not how much Infowars information you have in your head, not having the right rhino politician in office. It's funny to me how people literally think that the lesser of two evil Republican candidates is going to somehow make them safe. It's like, you know, I had people call me this week, and I was talking to them, and they're like, so you're going to vote? I was like, nope. And it's like, you know, I'm not casting my ballot, like I'm so afraid if I don't vote, you know, then Beto is going to come and take my gun away at my house. And look, do I want Beto to be the governor of Texas? Of course not. I hope he dies today, you know. He's like a reprobate, in my opinion, okay? Guy's a freak weirdo, all right? I don't have any sympathy for him, okay? But at the end of the day, you know, I feel safer with Beto as my governor and being right with God than having Arnold Schwarzenegger as my governor and not being right with God, especially not Abbott. He's not going to stand up for me ever. He doesn't stand up for any, he doesn't even stand up for himself. He's fake, guys. He's just, he is a creepy politician. He's not sincere. He's a Catholic. He'll take you to hell, just the same hell that Beto's going to, Abbott's going to. And why do I care, you know, how quickly we get there? You know, I'm like almost wondering, because I was thinking about this, like would it be better if we actually had Republicans take back the house and, you know, we have like some normalcy? Or would it be better if just like it was the most obvious election fraud and just like voter fraud or whatever and just like all the Democrats won and then just, it basically just forced everybody to do something about it rather than just a frog in a pot of boiling water that slowly gets cooked to death that it just became so extreme and so radical and so weird that people actually had to respond. Because, you know, it's like they can't turn up the heat too quick or everybody will jump out. So it's like they got to just kind of like slowly ease. I mean, what if the banks just turned everybody's cards off and just turned every... I mean, they would nuke themselves. You can't just shut everyone down and everything off all at the same time because then you just ruin everything. So they have to kind of slowly ease everybody into it. And it's like, of course, you know, these new Republican candidates, it's all a bunch of women, Carrie Lake and whoever. I mean, it's like why do I want a short-haired ex-news reporter to be my governor and think that that is somehow going to fix America? It's like you're so brain dead. There are so many independent fundamental Baptists in this country right now and they are hoping that the Republicans win for their safety. And let me tell you something. I don't care if every Republican loses. I would rather be right with God than to have Donald Trump and every other MAGA Republican in office right now. I don't care who it is. That's not going to get me safe. You know what's not going to make me safe this year? The midterms. The midterms don't matter. You know what's going to keep me safe? God. You know, and it made me think about this when we're singing, you know, song 404 and it's talking about, why don't you just turn there on your hymnal, all right? Turn on your hymnal. It's more inspired than the NIV. Win the battle's over. You know, this is what you need for all of your soft-soaked Christians today is the saying, win the battle's over. But look at 2, verse 2. Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease? You know what that is saying? It's saying, do I just get to have a cush life all the way into heaven? And then it says, what's the contrast? While others fought to win the prize and sail through bloody seas. So it's saying like everybody of the past, all the Christians of the past, I mean, they're having to be strangled at the stake for just, that you can even have a Bible in your possession. Parents are being burned at the stake so their kids can memorize Psalm 23 and you get ice cream all the way till Jesus comes for your kiddos, right? You know, it's like, what kind of Christianity do we even believe in? And if you read the Bible, it's like, why wouldn't we have to go through something tough, something difficult? Do I have to get carried up to heaven with the Republicans? Or do I have to fight the Democrats? You know, I have to fight through the bloody seas and actually have some real battle and actually have some real enemies and actually have to face a couple Goliaths in my life. And you say, well, I don't want to face them. Okay, well, you can quit at any time. You can go and just have fun doing whatever. But you know what? Be afraid at night. Be afraid that God will just go ahead and give you a stroke like John Fetterman and you'll sound like a retard for the rest of your life. And then, well, maybe you might get elected for a Democrat position after you can't even think straight because that's really all they like is people that can't even think straight. Just where do I press the button? Uh, uh, I'm a Democrat. Uh, I'm a Democrat. I mean, it's ridiculous. That's the country we live in. We live in a country where we have a fake doctor, a Muslim doctor, or a literal, incoherent, babbling person that's half-retarded now with a growth on the side of his head. I mean, that is the best representative for Pennsylvania? It's like, oh, well, we better trust and Dr. Mahalem Oz, you know, Dr. Oz! You know, not Dylan, okay, it's a different Oz, right? It's spelled differently. Oh, Dr. Oz is gonna save us! You know, why would I ever think that? Dr. Oz, on his show, is championing children getting surgeries to change their gender. Oh, but, you know, he's such a conservative. What?! How is that conservative? Having children come on his show and talk about... You know, you should never be allowed to be a doctor ever if you ever even thought that was even reasonable. For even just talking about it. I mean, he should just never ever be allowed to be on TV again. But, of course, that's the only people that are promoted on TV. You know, our safety is not derived from human means. And I know some of the men in this room are really strong physically, but let me tell you something, that's not gonna preserve you. If you think your muscles, if you think your gun, if you think your knife, if you think whatever, your dog, nuts to your dog, okay? The dog isn't gonna save you. The Bible says beware of dogs. It doesn't say go get a dog to be safe. If a horse isn't something to be trusted in, then Fido certainly isn't. Okay, your little chihuahua is gonna do nothing. Chihuahuas are annoying, okay? I don't even know why anybody owns a chihuahua. If you own a chihuahua, you know, sorry, but I'm never gonna say anything positive about it. Go to Psalm 147. They're ugly, annoying, and useless. And natural selection agrees with me. Because if it were for natural selection, chihuahuas never exist, ever. It is only because of pandering liberals that wanna breed the most useless rat that they call a dog and pawn it off as a chihuahua. Yip, yip, yip, yip, yip. I mean, anything so annoying, natural selection doesn't, I don't see how it ends itself now. But that's what Catholicism gives you, the chihuahuas, right? Okay. Go to Mexico or find a bunch. Psalm 147. Look at verse number 10. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse. He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, and those that hope in his mercy. So notice that God does not care about your legs. Oh, I don't skip leg day. Doesn't matter. God doesn't care. God is not gonna use your strength, because you know what? God doesn't get glory in flesh. God gets glory in the spirit. And you know what? God would rather have the most weak person that's incapable of doing anything for themselves that trusts in him, he'd rather preserve that person than the strongest person ever, or the greatest army ever. And you know, I think that Israel got a little too big for its britches, and so God has to knock them down again. And remind them who's the one that really gave them their safety. Who really gave you your kingdom? You know, it's a common theme in the Bible, where the children of Israel trust in the Lord, and then they get all this blessing, but then through the blessing they forget, don't they? Through the ease of life they forget where they got all of that blessing. It's like America has forgotten where it's gotten all its blessing. And it came from the Bible, it came from the Word of God. It came from being biblical. You know, and of course because we've forgotten that, now we're just degenerate freaks and weirdos, and nothing's gonna be preserved if we don't have a major change of heart. Go to Exodus chapter 30 now. Go to Exodus chapter 30. Now I wanted to explain that point before I got into this passage, because there is a passage in the Scripture that is instructing the children of Israel to number themselves. So, what I think is important though, is to understand that every sin is contextual, as I remind you. Picking up sticks is not a sin, but doing it on the Sabbath is. Right? Pulling your ass or ox out of a ditch on a Sabbath could be interpreted a couple different ways, but you know, if you're just doing it presumptuously to sin against the Lord, that would probably be a sin. If you're doing it because your neighbor's ass fell in a ditch, and you just want to help him out, you pull him out of the ditch. Because, you know, according to the Bible, you know, God cares about your heart. It's all about the heart, and it's all about your motivation, and it's all about, you know, why you're doing the things that you're doing, rather than doing them. That also means this. Showing up at this building is not what God's really after. You just making noises when the songs are going is not what God's after. Your eyes scanning the words on the page of the Bible is not what God's after. You know what God's after is your heart. You giving money to the poor is not what God's after. God's wanting you to, out of a cheerful heart, give money to the poor. You know, you'd be better off burning your money than giving it to the poor and then sounding a trumpet about it. You'd be better off just wasting it at, you know, Chuck E. Cheese or McDonald's or something than to go and give it to Ronald Donald and, you know, Charity House or whatever, and then bragging to everybody about how you gave all this money to them or something. Because it's meaningless. You know, God is not interested in you just being a robot and just, What button press? Which button do I press? Which button do I press? God didn't create robots. God created living beings with a living soul and he wants your heart to be knit to him. He wants you to actually sing praises because you actually love God. You know, if I want our church to sing better, because I've thought about this, it would be great. It's not about me telling you to sing louder. It's about you loving God more. Because if you actually love God more, then you'd want to actually sing and make a joyful noise and to sing and to shout and to praise the Lord. Because you just love God. You'd actually want to come to church because you love God. You'd actually want to read your Bible because you love God. You'd actually want to go soul-winning because you love God and you love souls. You know what? If I can't motivate your heart to want to do it, you'll eventually quit. And you can always see people that quit, it's because they have a bad heart. As evidenced by the parable of the sower, they didn't have that good soil where the seed was planted in. It's some kind of a heart issue. That's why they quit. People that quit on church and quit on God, they have a heart issue. It's not that they don't necessarily even know what to do. They often know what to do. They let the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, they get offended. Or whatever the problem is, they're just too prideful to humble themselves and to need something. But you know what? When you stop needing things, you're wrong with God. I don't need church anymore. You have a problem. I don't need money. You have a problem. I don't need anything. I got everything. Oh, okay. Do you have God? Do you have a heart for God? You know, blessed is he that hungers. You know, if you're not hungry for God, you have a problem. If you're not thirsting for God, you have some serious issues. Because the Bible is teaching, you know, without that desire and without that want, you know, you're just going to fall away eventually. If you sit here and say, like, I don't even care anymore, it's like you're pretty much in danger of just quitting on God at all, completely. Because it's too hard. It's too hard of a journey. But you know, that's why you need that hunger. You need that thirst. And we have to think about our mind and our heart and what we're doing. I mean, when God is giving us the greatest commandment. The greatest commandment wasn't an action. It was a heart issue. You know, love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, all thy strength. You know, you got to work on your heart. And in Exodus chapter 30, it has a commandment about taking this sum or taking this census. But I believe if you kind of pay attention to what's really happening, it's based on what we've been talking about. Look at verse 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them. When thou numberest them, this they shall give every one that passeth among them that are numbered. Half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is 20 gyros. And half shekels shall be the offering of the Lord. Everyone that passeth among them that are numbered from 20 years old and above shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. So notice that God is saying, hey, number the people, but when you number, you must take a half shekel from every single person, regardless of how much money they have, everyone has to give this half shekel. Now, not only have they given this money, though, the Bible calls it a ransom, that's how it's described, and then specifically what they do with the money, is they're supposed to give it to the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and it's a memorial. What is a memorial? A memorial is to remember something, to think about something. It's to put on the forefront of your mind. You know, when you have a World War II memorial, what is it? It's to remind yourself of what happened with World War II, or any kind of monument or something like that. That's the whole point of it, and God even has monuments in the Scripture. So what is God trying to do? He's trying to remind them of something when they do a certain activity. Now, to me, this makes perfect sense when you think about our context, because what can happen when you number your people is pride can creep into your heart, because you start thinking, oh, look how many people we are, look how great of a number we have, and then the second issue that can happen is you can start putting trust or confidence in the multitude of your host and the multitude of your army, and God does not want your heart to be attached to those things. Where does he want your heart to be attached to? To him. So you have to pay this ransom to the Lord, and you're putting your mind and your thoughts to the Lord, not to the number, not to the census, not to the count. So it's not like counting things is bad. It's not like God's against numbers. The Bible has tons of numbers in the scripture, but what he doesn't want is he doesn't want people's heart to be on the number. He wants them to have their heart on him. And it makes it even clearer that they have to do this in verse 12, that there be no plague among them when thou numbers them. Meaning if they don't do this thing right, if they don't have the right motivation and the right heart, God will start killing them in numbers. And of course, you know, you really only need census or these counting metrics when you have a big number anyways. When it's like 10 people, it's like, you know, it's 10 people, right? You're not that worried about it. It's more about when you get big and you've been multiplying and you have all these numbers that you're kind of in the scenario in the situation. And so you want to be careful. Why are you numbering people? What is the motivation that you have here? Go back to our chapter, 2 Samuel 24. So again, I believe when studying this passage, the problem is there was something wrong with the motivation in numbering. And God's attacking the pride that David has in his heart. You know, you could think of in Revelation chapter 3, the church of Laodicea, which says about itself, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. But was God pleased with that church? No, he was very upset with that church because they said those things. Now, was God mad that they had money? Was God mad that they were increased with goods? Was God mad that they had blessings? No, he wasn't mad that they had those things. He was mad that they thought they were so wonderful because they had those things. And David could start to think, oh, I'm such a great guy because look how much army I have or look how much abundance I have. But no, no, no, you don't make someone great if they fear God. That's what makes them great. Beauty is vain and favor is deceitful, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Meaning, you know, a woman could feel like she's a wonderful person because of how beautiful she is, ergo every celebrity. But does that really make a woman beautiful? You know, what makes a woman beautiful is trusting the Lord. You know, women obviously, like men, are going to age. And there could be a point in a woman's life where she's the most attractive, right? Whatever that number is, whatever that age is, and I'm not assigning that. But she could feel like, you know what, it's all downhill after I get to this point. You know, because my physical beauty is waning, that makes me less valuable or less desirable. You know, in the eyes of God, that was never your peak. Your peak is when you fear Him the most. And you know what, you could always increase that and you could be more attractive and of greater value to the Lord when you fear Him more. And even to a husband. You could be more attractive to your spouse by fearing God more in your life rather than reverse aging, which is impossible anyways, okay? Good luck trying. You know, it's a silly fool's errand to go after. You know, instead of worrying about our physical circumstances, we need to be more focused on God and His commandments and being right with Him. David obviously just wants, how many people we got? Well, verse 10, So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan, even to Beersheba, 70,000 men. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem, just as he did, he said, And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem, just as he did, he said, And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem, just as he did, he said, Stay now, thine hand, and the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Aaronah the Jebusite. And David spake of the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me and against my father's house. So, God ends up punishing the children of Israel, and he slays 70,000 men. If you notice in verse 1, though, it says, And again, the anger of the Lord was akin to Israel. So, in some regards, we kind of think, like, well, that's not fair. What did they do? But obviously, some of the children of Israel had a heart issue, too, or had some kind of a problem, that God was using David as a vehicle, used the devil, using David as vehicles for these things to happen, punishing all of them. Because God, I guess, is efficient, is a good way to word it. You know, when God needs to punish somebody, he'll figure out how to get everybody lined up and just knock all the dominoes down in a row, okay? So, he doesn't necessarily have to waste time dealing with everybody individually. And he can use a great example here. Now, it's no coincidence that they died from a plague, and in Exodus 30, it brought up, hey, make sure to pay the ransom or you're going to get plague. Now, I think, if this story had been read differently, you know, in a different situation, where it said, David said, hey, let's number the people to make sure that they are reminded that God is the one that gave us this great host, and make sure to collect the half shekel from everyone, it probably wouldn't have been the same story. But he didn't say that. He said, hey, I just want to know the number. Well, there is not a positive motivation there. I don't know exactly what was in David's heart or mine, but I'm just suggesting the two main issues with that typically are his own personal glory or trusting in his might and strength. So, it's probably what was going on in his head. And probably, the whole host, and they're all kind of glorying in how big their army is and looking at how many troops we got and whatever, and that's a typical bragging point for most militaries, anyways, is the number of military soldiers that they have. So, God's going to knock them down a notch. Hey, you want to brag about how many men you got? Let me just start knocking them over. You know, because this is a consistent theme in the Bible. Think about the king of Assyria and Rab Shaky coming and trying to put all this pressure on the children of Israel to surrender to them, and they're saying, look how great a host we have, and then what happens in the middle of the night, the Lord smites 200,000 of them, and then they return with their tail between their legs. So, it's a very common theme where people put confidence in their military, their might, their strength, whatever. So, God's basically knocking them back down a notch. And David is saying, hey, why don't you take all the iniquity of all Israel and put it on me? Now, that's going to be symbolic of something. How about the Lord Jesus Christ taking all the iniquity of all Israel and putting it upon himself, okay? And so we kind of have a picture here, verse 18, it says, And Gad came that day to David and said to him, Go up rear and alter unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Aaron of the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. And Aaron looked and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him, and Aaron went out and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Aaron said, Wherefore is my Lord the king? Come to his servant. And David said, To buy the threshing floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Aaron said unto David, Let my Lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him. Behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice and threshing instruments, and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Aaron as a king give unto the king. And Aaron said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee. And the king said unto Aaron, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price, neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God, of that which doth cost me nothing. So David brought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver, and David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was entreated for the land and the plague was stayed from Israel. So David is offered this altar and all the instruments and all the oxen and everything for free, but he says, No, no, no, I need to pay. And I like this phrase that he has, he's not going to offer something that's cost him nothing. And really, if you think about this, I like it because it is a sharp contrast between the God of the Bible and the God of Islam. Because the God of Islam, Allah, He just forgives. But there's no payment for that sin. It's just payment. And think about this, I guess hypothetically, couldn't God just decide, Okay, all sins are just gone, just done, but with no real payment for it. You know what, that's not how God orchestrated it. No, he said it has to be paid for, it has to be atoned for, and so he sent his son to pay the ultimate price. And you know what, Jesus' offering was not something that cost Jesus nothing, it cost him everything. It was a serious thing that he had to partake in. It was a serious payment that he had to make. And really, what's the beauty of the Gospel is that it shows that God is not only merciful and loving, but He's also just and righteous. Because how could you say that a judge is righteous if he's just letting criminals out? You know, like this John Fetterman, that guy in Pennsylvania, I'm sorry, I watched the debate so I know the facts. This half brain-dead individual is apparently letting out convicted murderers from prison. In Pennsylvania, he's like the lieutenant governor or something like that, just letting out convicted murderers. Not because of good behavior, not for any reason, just letting them out. And it's like, how could you say that that's just or honorable or righteous? You know, if someone killed your family member and the judge says, Oh, no problem, you would be mad at that judge. Oh, I decided just to forgive him for no reason. It's like, that's not an honorable person. But you know what, God the Father does not just say, you know what, no problem. No, He sent His Son to pay the ultimate price and someone did pay for that sin. All sin was paid for, period. Whether it was by the Lord Jesus Christ's substitution or by them burning in hell for all of eternity. But all sin will be punished, all sin was paid for, in a sense. And of course, Israel can't do it themselves, so David took it upon himself. It's like we can't save ourselves and Jesus took it upon himself to give us that salvation. But I want you to take the essence of this chapter and apply it to yourself and make sure you're not trusting in superfluous, carnal things. Well, I really like my church because of how many numbers we're running. I like my church because it's a big church. Well, is that a good reason to go to a church? Oh, look, our church must be great because of how many people we have in it. You know, there are so many pastors, there are so many churches today that they think their church is great because they're running thousands. Gateway, you know, running thousands. But you know what, it doesn't matter because most of the people, they aren't even saved. And they're not doing the work of the Lord. They're led by a bunch of false teachers and false prophets. They're not doing anything great for God. There's plenty of independent fundamental Baptist churches that they would rather their church be filled to the brim than to be right with God. They would rather have leaven in their church. They would rather, instead of exercising church discipline appropriately, preaching things that will step on people's toes, you know, go to these old independent fundamental Baptist churches and you know you won't find hard preaching against women having short hair. You want to know why? Because the vast majority of their congregation is elderly women that have really short haircuts. And you know who's going to be offended and leave? All of those ladies and all their tithe checks with them. But you know what, that church is going to eventually die and destroy itself anyways because they lost all the young generation anyways. Because they realize that the preacher is a compromiser and not preaching the hard truths anyways. You know, our youth is not interested in lies anymore. They're being lied to so much they like the truth. And you're going to have success when you just preach what the Bible says and you just let God be the one that gives you the victory and God gives you safety from all of your enemies. Oh, well I don't want to preach that online because then I'll get sued. Okay, well we're still here. Our church is still reaching new people. We're still baptizing people. We're still getting people saved. Well, but then you might lose your building. Well, then you get another one. Well, what if you lose that one? Get another one. Well, what if you lose that one? Eventually Jesus is coming back, okay folks? Okay. I mean, where is your safety? Is your safety in your building? Is your safety in your budget? Is your safety in the boomers in your room? Is the safety in, you know, what is your safety in? What is your confidence in? Why do you want to know the number of all the people in the room? You know, what is the motivation between your actions? And really it's a lot of just pride when you think that you're better than you really are. You know, the Laodicean church thought they were great because of how much money they had. And I'm sure a lot of churches will look down. Oh, y'all meeting a strip mall? Have you seen our building? Yeah, we'll see how it goes on Judgment Day, buddy. You know, pride is an excessive view of one's self, or conceit, and conceit's the same thing. You know, the rich man is very conceited because of his riches. But you know, our church, you know, we want to stay humble. And even if our church grows, you know, our church, even though we're not a big church, okay, in my estimation, we're bigger than a lot of independent, fundamental Baptist churches. And you know, honestly, like the average independent, fundamental Baptist church, probably running 75, 80 people. I mean, we're running like double or more than that on a Sunday morning. But you know what? Who cares how many people we're running if we're not actually having the right heart when we show up. If we're not here, you know, if we're here to just see how big our church can get, we have the wrong viewpoint. You know, I would rather our church shrink and stay right with God than to ever grow. And, you know, we don't need to get so wrapped up in numbers and get so wrapped up. You know, some people are like, why do I go to a church that's 35 people? Well, you're a carnal. Who cares if they're running 35? Oh, but I want to go, you know, in Oklahoma City, it's like they're running like 35, 50 people or something. And there's another independent Baptist church that's running 1,000, you know, Southwest. And it's like, yeah, but I guarantee if Southwest started preaching what we're preaching and exercising church discipline and emphasizing soul winning, they might go down about 35, 30 people too. They might even be less than that. It's like, so why do you even care? You know, it's like this guy that puts on a vest that makes him look like he has muscles, but he's really this scrawny pipsqueak or something. It's like, why do you care if people think you look strong with a shirt on? Covering that up. You know, wouldn't you just want to actually be strong? And why do you want to pretend to be something that you're not? And people that are so fixated on the numbers and the carnal thing, they're going to eventually just wash away or they'll just be a do nothing. You know, I'm not going to be carried on flowery beds of ease. Neither is this church, okay? But you know what? He'll be guiding us through those bloody seas. Let's be the David that's fighting Goliath, not the David numbering our troops. And we see that, you know, having a great host actually was a hindrance to him, not a blessing. You know, our church staying poor and not having all the things that we could have actually might help us. And I've said this to another preacher, another pastor, but I'm like, you know, the apostle Paul got a thorn in the flesh because of the abundance of revelations he had received. And I'll tell you something, I've learned so much from new IFB preaching that it's probably not even fair in comparison. Like, just the sermons I've heard from people like Pastor Anderson or Pastor Menes, I've learned so much knowledge and just reading the Bible and having a whole complete King James Bible. I mean, that's not even close to what people would have had in the 1500s, 1600s. They don't even know any Bible verses. And I get to have a wealth of information and knowledge. And honestly, you know, new IFB preaching ruins every other preaching. So much. And the people in our church are so much better than just every other people. Like, they're so much nicer and kinder. Our fellowships are free. Like, here's what I personally believe. I personally believe if we weren't being persecuted. Like, think about this. YouTube channel, no videos ever deleted. I've never lost a bank account. I've never had a lawsuit. I've never had any of this persecution. None of these problems happen. Our church might be running thousands or something like that right now. But you know what? It might make us all worse people. Because we might be really prideful and arrogant and thinking like, oh, look how awesome. Of course, why isn't everybody like us? I mean, we're just kicking the ball through the hoop. And we're just, you know, hitting home run. And we're just doing everything. Yes, you can kick a ball through a hoop, OK? Don't question that. We're just knocking out of the park. I mean, just everything is going our way perfectly. You know what could cause us to just be really prideful and really arrogant? And, you know, God used the thorn in the flesh to humble the apostle Paul. And maybe all of us just need to be humbled. And God's just saying like, whoa, guys, don't start thinking how great you are and thinking that y'all can do no wrong or everything's going to turn up roses for you. Realize you need me no matter what. And I preach this and say this because I believe that there could be a day in our future where it's going to start turning up a lot of roses. And we're going to see a lot of blessings poured out. And what I don't want is our church to turn into this prideful, arrogant group of people that thinks like, oh, look how great we are. No, no, we need to trust God no matter what our circumstances are. It's easier to say it right now than it is in the future. But I'm just saying like if God does decide to bless us, which may not even, you know, we need to test and challenge to see how spiritual we really are, we better stay humble. And we better remember where we came from and say, you know what, it's God that gave us these victories. It's God that blessed us and got us this far. Let us not stop trusting in Him and focusing on Him. Let's go to prayer. Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us the blessings you've already given us, the wealth of knowledge that we've gotten from the Bible. Thank you for giving us such a great church to be a part of and to worship and serve you. I pray that we would make sure our hearts are pointed towards you and they're pointed towards the things of God and that whatever pride or arrogance that we have and thinking about how wonderful we are, that you would remind us that we have all these gifts and blessings because you handed them to us. You gave them to us. They're not by our might. They're not by our strength. We're not anything special. What's special is you and what's special is putting faith in you, the miracles you perform when someone trusts in you. I pray that we would continue to trust in you, we wouldn't trust in our might, our strength, or our wisdom and that we would make sure that every church service is a memorial to you, not ourselves. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. For our final song this evening, we'll go to song number 37, There'll Be No Dark Valley. Song number 37, There'll Be No Dark Valley. Song 37, There'll Be No Dark Valley. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. To gather his loved ones home. To gather his loved ones home. To gather his loved ones home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. To gather his loved ones home. There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes. There'll be no more sorrow when Jesus comes. But a glorious sorrow when Jesus comes. To gather his loved ones home. To gather his loved ones home. To gather his loved ones home. There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes. To gather his loved ones home. There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes. There'll be no more weeping when Jesus comes. But a blessed reaping when Jesus comes. To gather his loved ones home. To gather his loved ones home. To gather his loved ones home. There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes There'll be songs of greeting when Jesus comes And a joyful meeting when Jesus comes To gather his loved one's home To gather his loved one's home To gather his loved one's home There'll be no dark valley when Jesus comes To gather his loved one's home