1Chron 21:1-12
Dearth, Disease, Defeat
I feel strongly that I should preach this message this morning
although I will tell you that I feel uncomfortable preaching it (the
reasons for such are not important). Have you ever gotten yourself
into a jam where there is no good way out? Sure you have. Have you
ever wonder what got you there? I hope you have. If you will pay
attention to this text this morning, you will find out.
In this text, David got himself into a place where there was no good
way out. Let’s consider the text from three perspectives.
I. \\#2\\ Refusal To Obey God.
A. The person that we are talking about this morning is King
David. Most know some thing about him.
1. Most know David loved the Lord. God called him a man after
His own heart \\#Acts 13:22\\.
2. Most know that David did great things for God.
a. As a youth, he killed a lion and a bear.
b. As a teen, he killed Goliath.
c. He wrote many of the Psalms.
d. He was Israel’s greatest and most godly general and
king.
3. And most know that David sinned. David lived a remarkable
life, but he was not perfect. The Bible records some of
his sins.
a. He sinned with Bathsheba and Uriah in his late 30’s.
b. And he sinned in the matter of counting Israel in his
late 70’s when he did this.
B. Let’s see what sin is in this story. This is an excellent
story to teach us what sin is. What is sin?
1. Sin is getting out of the will of God.
a. David’s sin was in numbering the people, but what was
wrong with counting people?
b. Actually, as far as we know, nothing was.
c. David’s sin was probably not the numbering, but either
the method David used to number or the motive that he
had for numbering he people that was sin.
(1) \\#Ex 30:11-16\\ tells us that the people were to
be numbered from 20 and older by giving a half
shekel for the upkeep of the tabernacle.
(a) There is no record of that kind of offering
being taken.
(b) Perhaps David disobeyed God in the method.
(2) But most believe that David was wrong in his
motive.
(a) David is now an old man and the figure he
wanted to have the people counted to give
him something to brag about. (i.e. Look at
this great kingdom that I have built!)
(b) People need to understand that it is not just
our actions that are sins but our attitudes
and motives are too—and the latter can be
more serious than the former.
i. God knows our heart.
ii. He sees our thoughts.
iii. He knows our reasons, our hopes, and
our goals—both those stated and those
kept secret.
iv. That’s the reason you can be doing the
right thing and still be guilty of
sin.
v. You can be doing the NO thing and be
guilty of sin.
2. So David sinned because he refused to do what God wanted
him to do.
C. Let’s think about the will of God for a moment.
1. It is not hard to know what the will of God for your life
and in most situations is.
a. People want to make out as though it is hard to know
what God wants.
(1) It is not.
(2) It may be hard to do what God wants you to do
because our flesh would rather do what we want
to do but it is not hard to know.
(3) What is the will of God for you?
(a) God wants you to be saved.
(b) God wants you to read your Bible and live by
it.
(c) God wants you to pray, worship, and
fellowship Him everyday.
b. How can you know what the will of God is?
(1) Read the Bible.
(2) Listen to the Holy Ghost.
(3) Attend a Bible-believing church where you can be
mentored.
2. Living in the will of God will make life simpler and
easier.
a. Living in the will of God, you don’t have all the
problems, the drama, and the choices that you have
outside of it.
b. If you don’t get anything else out of this text, you
should get this!
c. David’s life would have been a whole lot more simpler
and easier if he had not counted the people!
3. You can live in the will of God if you want.
a. You will need salvation.
b. You will need dedication.
c. And you will need determination.
d. With these three things you can live in the will of God
as much as I have done it. I speak this for this is
all I had when I determined to live in God’s will.
(1) I had no Bible heritage.
(2) I had no Bible.
(3) I had no Christian parents.
(4) I had no Christian course.
(5) All I had were three things: salvation,
dedication, and determination.
e. With these three things, God will help you live in His
will.
(1) He will teach you about His will.
(2) He will give your help and aid to live in His
will.
(3) He will protect you so that you can live in His
will.
1Cor 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye
may be able to bear it.
II. \\#7-8\\ Realization Too Late
A. I say all those things but then David did not, did he?
1. What happened to David? Did God fail him? Did God not
make a way out for David?
2. \\#3\\ Yes, God did. It was a man named Joab.
B. Joab was David’s general, over all the armies of Israel.
1. He was also a cousin to David.
2. He served beside David for almost 40 years.
3. However, David was also an evil man. The Bible recorded
that he murdered three men. (Absalom, Abner, and Uriah)
a. Maybe that is why David refused to listen to Joab for
two of those murders were against David’s specific
commands and one of them was David’s son!
b. \\#1\\ Or maybe it was just the devil got into David.
4. But one thing is certain, Joab was David’s way out.
C. Isn’t it amazing thing how God puts people in your life to try
to help you do right?
1. Maybe it is a parent, a relative, a friend, a preacher,
a co-worker, a neighbor—but God puts someone in your
life.
2. You probably call them annoyances.
3. That is probably what Joab seemed like to David as David
commanded Joab to do this thing and Joab kept protesting.
4. Yet, in the end, it was David’s choice and Joab had to
hush.
5. So it is with many preachers and Christians.
a. Like Joab, they are not perfect—but they are loud!
b. Like the annoying gnat or fly that buzzes around, those
Christians keep calling sin sin and urging you to turn
from it!
c. Every once in a while, you really hear what they are
saying, but mostly, they just annoy you.
6. So it was with David. He tolerated Joab and did what he
wanted—stepped out of God’s will—until it was too late!
D. \\#7\\ Notice when David realized how wrong he was. It was
when God started smiting Israel. Yes, David realized. He
just realized too late AFTER he got out of the will of God.
III. Reward Too High.
A. So David sinned; that is, he stepped outside of God’s will.
What happened next?
1. He had to deal with the consequences of his sin.
2. \\#12\\ God sent Gad, the preacher to tell David that he
could help chose the wage of his sin.
3. Notice the choices:
a. Dearth for 3 years
b. Defeat for 3 months
c. Disease for 3 days
4. Not very good choices, are they?
5. Someone asks, "Why did God make the choices so bad?"
a. Because the wages of sin is always death—always.
b. Friend, we just don’t realize how merciful God has been
to us thus far!
c. If God had given to us what we deserved, our choices
would be worse than these!
d. By the way, they will be. The wages of sin does not
change. It is always the same—death, sorrow, lose.
e. The only thing that has changed is that you have been
given more mercy than David was so that you can
repent before you have to give an account for you
sins.
f. But that mercy will run out and it could happen at any
moment!
g. So God was being gracious to David to let him have some
input into his wage for sin. That is not a choice
that most people get to make.
B. Remember, David did not have to be in this spot. He got there
by getting out of the will of God.
1. Once you get out of the will of God, you always have to
make choices and the choices are never good!
2. Strange, but a lot of people want to do exactly what
David did and they want to have exactly what David got.
a. They want to be OUT of the will of God.
b. They want MORE choices.
c. Once you step out of God’s, you definitely get more
choices.
(1) They are the same kind of choices David got to
make!
(2) The problem is that most people don’t realize how
bad their choices are!
(3) God says stay pure. They want more choices. They
get them.
(a) To we get married or not.
(b) Do we tell our parents or just run away.
(c) What about our education?
(d) What about our futures?
(e) Do we keep the baby or not?
(4) And on it goes.
(5) And it does not matter what the sin is, the
choices are always similar! They always sound
like dearth, defeat, or disease!
C. The question you might be asking is, "What can David do to get
a better option?"
1. Nothing!
a. Here is the thing about sin. Once you get involved in
it, you have to deal with its consequences.
b. You have to make some choices and none of them will be
good.
c. That is why you need to say in God’s will.
2. Then how do you make a decision between the bad options?
a. Repent, wholly and completely.
b. Seek to be filled with the Holy Ghost or seek the and
obey the counsel of someone who is.
c. Always chose to fall into God’s hands. Go with what
God says and not man.
d. Choose the most selfless decision possible.
e. Realize that after making one bad decision, it is
easier and more natural to make more bad decisions.
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