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The Sin of Pride

 June 10, 2007

Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

II Samuel 24:1-4

 

1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

2 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.

3 And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it : but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?

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.

 

David is well up in years.  As you read the above verses, and over in Chronicles 21:1, you will find out that the Bible says:

 

1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

 

When you go over to the book of Chronicles chapter 21:

 

1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

 

 Here we see the Lord allowing satan to come and to temp David to number the people.

 

There is a reason for that.  When you look and see what has happened here.  Israel has sinned as they have done many times.  They have sinned against Almighty God.  Satan comes along and says, "David, you need to go and find out how many people you have in your army.  You need to know how many people you have.  How many men you can put on the battlefield, on the frontline; you need to find out how many that you have."  David just simply listens to the wrong voice.  He listens to the voice of satan. 

 

He listened to that voice that gets us in trouble when we listen to it.  He calls Joab, “…get some men together and number the people over the whole land of Israel and then tell me how many mighty men of war that we have.”  Joab questions David, "King, what are you doing?  What are you doing?  What is the purpose behind what you are doing?"  Even the captains here questions what David is doing. 

 

Joab wants David to understand that if he has a million, or a hundred thousand they all belong to God.  God is going to be with them.  God is going to protect them.  God is going to take care of them.  It does not matter.  You will not find where David gives an answer.  You will not find where David explained himself.  He just said to go and do what I am telling you to do. 

 

Why was David doing this?  Why is a man that had killed a giant who was over nine feet tall with a rock and sling; why would he care how many soldiers he had in his army? 

 

Why would a man that had the victories that God had given him over the Philistines, he had killed thousands of them; why would a man that had trusted Almighty God for victory after victory, why would he want to know how many is in his army? 

 

Something changed here somewhere along the line.  There are times in our lives, when things change. 

 

David had to be thinking about what he was going to leave behind and what his dynasty was going to be and what was going to be said about him after he left.  He might have been thinking about Solomon.  He may have been thinking about getting some things in order here for Solomon.  Solomon was not a fighter.  He knew nothing about battle.  He may have been thinking about that.  I do not know what he was thinking for sure, but I know that he got very proud in himself.

 

He looks around at his vast army and he says, "Joab, I want to know how many I have got."  Instead of continuing to trust the Lord in knowing whether he had a few or whether he had many that God would take care of him, that God would defend him, God would stay him; he decided that he wanted to know how many he had. 

 

Pride is an awful thing. 

 

If you look over in the book of Proverbs 6, it is number one on God's hate list.  The sin of Pride, God hates.  Every other sin grows out of the sin of pride.  Pride is the soil that brings forth all kinds of other sins. 

 

David, even though he was a man that had believed God and trusted God, followed God, knew the power of Almighty God.  Now he wants to number the people.  Now he starts looking at numbers. 

 

I would rather have a hundred here as I would fifty, and I would rather have ten than five, if those ten want to do things for God; if they want to listen to the voice of God that is great.  What I am trying to say is that we get so hung up on how many we have. We get hung up on numbers.  We compete with different places.  We want to know how many we have, and I want to know how many we have.  I want to know how many is here.  If I did not, we would take the board down back there.  I want to know if we are gaining any or not.  I want to know whether we are losing any or not. However, the help that I need, the strength that I have, the power of God does not come because we have numbers. 

 

That is what God wants to show David and this nation is that above everything else, they needed God as their protection, as their strength, as to be all to them.  It was God that they needed, not a whole bunch of people in an army.

 

We get hung up on numbers.  We look around and see churches in America today that has almost fifty or sixty thousand people attending and we think they must be doing some fantastic things.  However, when we look at them for just a few moments, it does not take very long to figure out that they are not doing such fantastic things.  There are big churches that are doing some great things, but some of them are not, and some of them get hung up in numbers. 

 

David was hung up in numbers. 

 

For the next nine months and twenty days, Joab and his captains go over the land.  They look, search, and count the people.  They number all of the military people and they find out that they have almost a million six hundred thousand men that are able to fight; who are able to go to war.  That is a great big army. 

 

We remember the sin of Beersheba.  We remember the sin of having killed Uriah.  We remember all of those sins, but most had never thought about what David did, and how horrible a thing it was that David did here. 

 

What is so wrong with David going out and numbering the people?  David was trusting in numbers instead of trusting in Almighty God.  David was trusting in flesh.  He was trusting in what he had put together.  He was trusting in his following more than he was trusting in God.

 

The sin with Beersheba was about a fellow being lazy on a certain day, tripped up by lust then committed a horrible sin.  He gave into the sins of the flesh. 

 

Here is what David did that made this sin so much worse than the sin of what he did with Beersheba.  David is totally rebelling against Almighty God.  He sinned with his flesh with Beersheba, but with his spirit—he knows that he does not need to be doing this, he knows what he is doing is wrong, he knows his help is in the Lord; David knew all that yet he rebelled with his spirit against Almighty God.  That is a hundred times worse than many things that we look at today. 

 

Sin is sin.  The results of some sins are greater than the results other sins. 

 

It does not take very long until David figures out what he did.  It does not take very long at all until he figures out that he did something here. 

 

10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

 

David said, "...I have sinned GREATLY..."  If you read Psalm 51, when David is confessing his sin that he committed with Beersheba, he said, "...I have sinned..."  Here David is saying, "...Lord, I have sinned GREATLY..."  David is recognizing this sin to be so much greater than the sin that he committed with Beersheba. 

 

The sins that we openly, with our eyes wide open, commit have results greater than other sin.  I will prove that to you here. 

 

David has recognized that he has sinned.  He says, "...Lord, I have sinned GREATLY..." 

 

The Bible says:

 

10 ...and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

 

David did it intentionally.  It was not like the sin that he committed with Beersheba, (I'm not taking up for David, because what he did was totally wrong and he suffered drastically for it) but here, he sinned with his eyes wide open.  He knew what he was doing was wrong.  Yet, he listened to the wrong voice.  He did this and he numbered his people.  He was absolutely ate up with pride.  He does what he does then he recognized what he had done and he said, "...Lord, I have sinned GREATLY...take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly."

 

Now you would think that David repents and that is all the story, but that is not all the story. 

 

I heard a man say the other day - not talking to me, but to someone else - they evidently went to church, and he said if I want to do that I will just go ahead and commit that sin.  When I get through doing that; I will ask God to forgive me and that is the end of it.  That is what many people think. 

 

God may forgive us and He will forgive us when we ask Him, but that is not the end of it when we sin.  That is not the end of it.  That was not the end of it for David with Beersheba and that is not the end of it here with David and numbering the people.  Just because God has forgiven David, and David asked God for forgiveness, that does not mean that the end has come.  Sin brings devastating consequences in your life and in my life.  In a nation's life, sin brings devastating consequences. 

 

God sends a prophet to David and says, "David, I'm going to tell you something.  You sinned and I am going to let you choose the punishment." 

 

God says, "David, I'm going to let you choose.  I'm going to let you choose your own punishment."  That does not sound like God, does it?  When you look at the three things that He is going to allow him to choose from, all three of them are horrible.  When you read down in verse 12, the Bible says:

 

12 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.

 

David has sinned and he knows that he has sinned.  He knows that he allowed his pride to get the best of him.  He has numbered the people.  He is trusting in his armies instead of trusting in God.  He sinned greatly and he knows that he has sinned.  Now he is asking God to forgive him.  God has forgiven him.  Now God says, “David, even though I have forgiven you, chose one of these three for your punishment." 

 

11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

12 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.

13 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.

 

God says unto David, that you have three choices:

 

1. seven years of famine in all the land
2. three months of enemies chasing you and pursuing you everyday
3. three days of pestilence in the land

 

David, you get to choose.  That would be a horrible place to be.  What is going to happen is that the sin that David committed its going to affect more than just David.  It is going to affect the whole land now.  It is the whole land of famine, it is the whole land of David chased by his enemies, or it is three days of pestilence.  It is going to effect more than just David, even though what David did and his pride, nobody else was around, nobody else knew necessarily, nobody else helped him make that decision, even though Joab and his captains questioned, "David, what are you doing?" 

 

It does not hurt us to be questioned sometimes.  It does not hurt for somebody to come up and say, "Bob, why are you doing that for?  Why are you going this route?"  I appreciate when people do that.  I appreciate when people watches out for me, not for the purpose to second-guess everything I am doing, but to have a best interest of things in mind that they would be concerned about things to ask questions.  I appreciate people doing that.  It does not bother me at all when people ask me why we are doing this, or why we are doing that.  In fact, I applaud people that does that because that means that they are interested in what goes on most of the time.  When people ask for the right reason, I applaud that. 

 

David is going to choose.  What would you have done?  If you would have been David, you know that you are going to get to choose one of these and God is going to do them.  David knew God well enough that when God gave him three choices, David knew God was going to do one of them.  What would you have done?

 

David said:

 

14 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.

 

"I am in a mess. I do not know what to do.  Let me fall upon the mercies of the Lord, but do not let me fall into the hands of my enemies."  David spent a long time running in his life.  Do you remember when he was running from Saul?  The places where he hid and where he run, where the people were chasing him everyday.  He hid in caves.  He was always on the move day in and day out, week in and week out, month In and month out. 

 

I do not know if you have been chased or not.  Probably, some of you have been chased by dogs and some of you have been chased by other things.  David had been chased by armies with people that were trying to kill him.  David says, "Whatever you want to do Lord, but please do not let me fall into the hands of my enemies."

 

He might be selfish in his choice, but I would have thought if one of the choices would have been “David, you could die” then David probably would have chose that in a heartbeat.  David would have said, kill me in a heartbeat.  However, that was not one of the choices.

 

1. seven years of famine in all the land
2. three months of enemies chasing you and pursuing you everyday
3. three days of pestilence in the land

 

David said, "I don't know what to choose.  I don't know what to do.  I am just going to fall upon the mercies of Almighty God."  God sends the pestilence. 

 

15 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.

 

Seventy thousand people die because of S I N.  Pride.

 

When we read the first part of this chapter, the Bible says in verse one:

 

 1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel...

 

Now go and read I Chronicles 21:

 

1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

 

We will see where God is allowing satan to tempt David to number the people because of their sin.

 

We know that David's sin was horrible, and it was great.  Why God chose these three things, I do not have any idea.  I do know that because of Israel’s sin and David numbering the people that God is going to bring death to seventy thousand people.

 

We looked at the sin of Beersheba as being bad and it was bad, because we know that the child that was conceived at that time, died.  We know three other children of David, because of this event, died.  We know that David spent the rest of his life in misery because of this.  Here seventy thousand people died. 

 

I want you to understand how much God hates pride.  God hates the sin of us trusting in our own self.  God hates the fact that so many religions in America today want you to trust in something other than Him.  If we trusted anything else other than the Lord, Jesus Christ, then we are trusting in the wrong thing.

 

16 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 threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 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.

18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.

 

The angel that is destroying the people gets to the city of Jerusalem.  He is about to  destroy it when God says that is enough.  The prophet tells David, “…go up to this fellow's thrashing floor and build an altar.” 

 

20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.

21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

22 And Araunah 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.

23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

24 And the king said unto Araunah, 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 bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

 

He goes to where God tells him to go to the thrashing floor.  He comes up and tells the man that he wants to buy his thrashing floor.  "I need to build an altar because of this tremendous plague.  Many people are dying."  The man says here take it, I will give it to you, but David said, “If it does not cost me something, then I am not going to offer it to the Lord.”

 

There is a wonderful lesson in that.  We want to give many things to God sometimes that to us means nothing.  However, if it has come to us through sweat and blood, then the offerings that we bring to God are worth something to us.  If we are just offering God something that does not mean anything to us, then it does not mean anything to God. 

 

David wanted to buy it and pay for it and it was going to be something that he purchased because he is not going to offer to God anything that did not cost him anything. 

 

25 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

 

The plague stopped.  David repented and made an offering unto the Lord and the plague stopped. 

 

The sin of pride is a horrible thing.  The sin of pride, being exalted, thinking that we are better than other people, thinking that we do not need the hand of God, thinking that we can do this thing on our own, is a horrible thing. 

 

We have a week coming up that we cannot do it by ourselves.  We cannot save one child in this meeting this week.  We cannot do anything this week in our own power, that will bring glory to Almighty God.  We might do things that will make us feel good, if we are lifted up in pride.  We may do things where others may pat us on the back.  However, we cannot do anything that will bring glory to God if we are not depending upon Him.

 

Let us not depend upon our own strength this week.  Let us not depend upon numbers this week.  Let us understand that we need the power, hand, and strength of Almighty God upon every student, upon every teacher, and upon every person—that is going to pass out the food, those working in the market places, those that are going to be teaching, and those that are going to be doing all the activities.  We need the hand of God and the power of God.  If we have that, then this week of V. B. S. will be a tremendous success.  If you will allow God to bless you, then you can go down through this week and have revival in your own heart.  If you do not allow God to empower you and overshadow you, then you will just be a failure. 

 

Two great sins that David committed in his life were with Beersheba and numbering the people. 

 

Where David went here to this thrashing floor and bought this property was at Mt. Moriah.  Do you know what happened on Mt. Moriah?  That is where Abraham took Isaac to offer him.  This is the same place that David bought.  Not only that, but this is going to be the place that Solomon (the son that came from the relationship that was so horrible) is going to build a temple here at this particular place; at the same place that David bought.  He is going to build a temple here that is going to be magnificent where many people are going to worship and bring glory to God.  There is going to be a temple built on this very sight. 

 

Do not get wrapped up in the sin of pride.  Do not think that we can do things without the hand of God.  Do not think that because we have numbers that we have power.  Power and the strength comes from Almighty God. 

 

You can take a few people that are in contact with heaven and we can change the world because we have the hand of God upon our lives.

 

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