 But today we're in chapter 21. We're going to continue our study here in second Samuel and we've arrived at chapter 21 And we're going to look at verses one and two but go through the several verses here in chapter one today and and I chose to entitle this particular installment what shall I do? And you'll see that in just a moment now at verse one reading verses one and two There was a famine in the days of David for three years year after year and David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered it is because of Saul His bloodthirsty house because he killed the Gideonites So the king called the Gideonites and spoke to them Now the Gideonites were not of the children of Israel But of the remnant of the Amorites the children of Israel had sworn protection to them But Saul had sought to kill them in his zeal for the children of Israel and Judah and so Israel is experiencing three years of of famine that famine would have been associated with a drought Because when drought comes food is not produced and therefore this famine is really associated with with with the weather and It is dried up and so as they're experiencing these three years of famine David Obviously knows that God has something to do with this He believes that God may be behind this now the reason that David believes that it's because he knew that he worships the God of Creation David knew that God is not in nature He is not part of nature, but that God created all things and therefore God is the creator of nature There are some people today who believe that God is found in trees and in the wind and in you know All of the natural substance they think that that is God Well, God is not part of that God Created all of that all you need to do is read Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth to see that God is above all things he created all things and He is the one who is sovereign over all things in Psalm 102 verse 25 It reads of old you laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands So David knew that God is the creator and that God would use nature to fulfill his Purposes and he knew that the famine could very well be the result of God bringing judgment on the nation of Israel Because God would use nature when he brought judgment very often In Ezekiel in chapter 14 verse 13 We read when a land that sins against me by persistent unfaithfulness. I will stretch out my hand against it I will cut off its supply of bread send famine on it and cut off man and beast from it So God takes responsibility for those things God is the God over all nature. It's interesting in Matthew's gospel in chapter 24 How Jesus Christ was approached by his disciples who were asking him a question related to his return and The consummation of all things and when Jesus began to give an answer to them concerning the signs of the times That would pertain to his return He spoke concerning a few things. It's found in Matthew 24 verses 6 and 7. He spoke of wars. He said there'll be wars There'll be rumors of wars. He said nation will rise up against nation He goes on and he begins to speak to them and he says there also will be famines He says there are going to be pestilence and and he said there'll be earthquakes in various places earthquakes in various places The earthquakes and the various things that we see today I've been asked do you think that that may have something to do with the signs of the times my answer obviously would be absolutely Jesus Christ made it very clear that there would be these kinds of things just prior to his return So I do believe that indeed we can see the the amount of Things that are happening today and we can say, you know his his day of returning is very soon He's even at the door. There's no doubt about that I heard about a guy and some of you read about him in the newspaper or perhaps saw him on the news saw his story on the news He was in Haiti and he was there for that earthquake and so he survived and he said I'm getting out of here So he went to Chile. I will never travel anywhere with that man. I promise I promise you and Earthquakes is it possible that these are part of God's warning system? Is it possible that the Lord may be allowing these things to take place to awaken us to the reality of the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ? There's definitely a possibility. You see God does Create all things and God is the God of all creation and therefore David recognizes that this is something that God may very well be behind and and so what does he do? Well, he takes his concern before the Lord he inquires of God about it Because he knew that if it is of the Lord that in other words that God is doing this He knew that he could seek mercy from the Lord in Psalm 33 verses 18 and 19 It says behold the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him on those who hope in his mercy To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine And so David is inquiring of the Lord. What is it? Well as he takes it before the Lord God answers in verse 1 It's because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house because he killed the Gibeonites and So God says that I'm bringing judgment because of Saul killing these people who are referred to here as the Gibeonites So the Gibeonites were in the land prior to the nation of Israel occupying it The Gibeonites were there when Joshua came in some 400 years earlier And when Joshua had entered into the land the Gibeonites who were living in that area as he was taking Jericho and and AI and the various other places the Gibeonites being aware of what was taking place Deceived Joshua and his soldiers. You can see the story. It's found in Joshua chapter 9 And they deceived them what they did is they put on old clothing that was ripped and torn They put on old sandals that were well worn They came with their bags filled with bread that was intentionally let Become stale and moldy and and they came in they said we come from a far country And we've heard of what is taking place here And we wanted to seek peace with you and have a covenant a treaty so that you don't come and destroy us And so as they did that the the people they were speaking to did not realize that these people actually lived in the land That they were going to occupy and so without inquiring of the Lord without praying They made a treaty or a covenant with them and in doing so made a big mistake because they discovered later on that these Gibeonites indeed lived amongst the people that they were Subjugating at that time and and so what happened is Joshua had to make a treaty with them And the treaty was that they would live but they would become their hewers of wood and carriers of water in other Words they became subservient to the Jewish nation and had lived there for some time at the time of Second Samuel that this is referring to four hundred years or so had passed by The covenant was still in effect though God had never negated that covenant and and so what had happened is Saul the first king of Israel had gone and in His zeal had actually attacked them and killed many of them and the Gibeonites are very upset about that And God is upset also because an oath had been made and the oath should be kept In the book of Numbers in chapter 30 verse 2 the Bible says if a man makes a vow to God or Swear as an oath to bind himself by some agreement. He shall not break his word He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth Deuteronomy 511 says you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him Guiltless who takes his name in vain when you take the name of the Lord in vain. It's it's ascribing to the Lord's name a Weakness it's it's not valued. It has no validity to it. It's not just cussing and using God's name like that It's saying that God's name has no prophet and no power It's saying that that God himself is weak and ineffective and God says listen when you take my name in vain when you say I'm powerless and and Useless I'm not going to hold you guiltless you took your vows in the name of the Lord because the name of the Lord is great And therefore I'm to keep my vow that I have made in his name And so what had happened is a treaty had been made between the Gibeonites and the Jews But now Saul has violated that and that caused God to be upset over that and so what does he do? Well, he says this is what has happened well in verse 2 the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them The Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but the remnant of the Amorites the children of Israel had sworn protection to them But Saul had sought to kill them in his deal for the children of Israel and Judah Therefore David said to the Gibeonites. What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? the Gibeonites said to him We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house Nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us? So he said whatever you say I will do for you So he asked the question what shall I do for you and with what shall I make atonement that word atonement is An Old Testament word it speaks of a covering and the Old Testament atonement was made in the sense that sins were covered But they were not completely doubt with until Jesus Christ came died on the cross and was able to Satisfy the righteous demands of his father and so the question here is related to atonement. What can I do to make atonement? How am I going to be able to cover this and how am I going to be able to satisfy you in the New Testament? The word atonement can often be associated with the word propitiation the word propitiation speaks of satisfying anger And so he's saying how can I satisfy this and what can be done in order for you to No longer be so upset and notice how he says what shall I make atonement with what shall I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord? When that takes place when forgiveness actually takes place not only Are you able to release the debt? But you also are able to bless the one who was indebted to you In the New Testament forgiveness is portrayed by Jesus as as a debt Even said forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors Because it speaks of somebody owing me something you did me something wrong you wronged me in a way and Therefore I sense that you owe me something you owe me a request to forgive you You have done something to me you offended me and so what I can do is I can take that as a personal debt And so I can say this man owes me and Jesus taught us that we're to to forgive our debtors And and when you actually forgive those who have sinned against you You're really releasing them from the debt that that they owe you you're releasing them of their debt And one of the ways that you can know that you actually have forgiven somebody The way that you can know that is when you can bless them It's when you can actually pray God bless them now some of us pray for those who've heard us, but we have Old Testament prayers God smite them in the name of Jesus break their teeth. Oh Lord You know and some of us are very familiar with praying like that in the name of Jesus We do that sometimes we get upset and Lord in Jesus name may they be raptured immediately, you know We can be upset But the bottom line is is and this is a good way for you to know if you've really released a person is when you can actually Bless them in the name of the Lord when you can actually want to see God bless their lives Something miraculous has happened in your life. You've understood forgiveness We have been forgiven and we with the forgiveness that has been given to us Learned to extend that to those who have need of forgiveness and so David is saying what atonement can be made So that you'll bless the land of Israel Well notice what their response is in verse 4. It says the Gibeonite said to him We will have no silver or gold from Saul or from his house nor shall you kill any man in Israel for us So they said listen, we're not going to accept monetary payment and we don't want you to be the one to exact justice for us Money doesn't replace lives and not just any death is going to satisfy us And so David as he's listening to him is willing to hear more from them And so in verse 5 they answered the king as For the man who consumed us and plotted against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the territories of Israel Let seven men of his descendants be delivered to us And we will hang them before the Lord in Gibeon of Saul whom the Lord chose and the king said I will give them Now they want notice verse 6 let seven men of his descendants be delivered they want seven men Seven is not the amount of Gibeonites who were killed by Saul Seven is a number that often signifies something and seven signifies completeness or perfection And so what they want is this to completely satisfy them That's why the number seven is used here And they're saying we want to execute these men and when we execute these men justice will be served We will be satisfied this will remove God's anger over Saul's sin and will deal with ours And so that's what we want deliver unto us seven of his sons descendants Deliver them to us. Well in verse 7 The king spared Mephiboshet the son of Jonathan the son of Saul Because of the Lord's oath that was between them between David and Jonathan the son of Saul now you know that David and Jonathan were very close and When Jonathan knew that David was going to be elevated to to be the king He had David swear an oath to him that he would be merciful to his sons and descendants You see that in 1st Samuel chapter 20 verses 14 through 17 So because of that oath that he had sworn to Jonathan David knowing Mephibosheth is Jonathan's son makes a decision to not have him delivered But he has to deliver some so in verse 7 the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan the son of Saul because of the Lord's Oath that was between them between David and Jonathan the son of Saul so the king took Armonie and Mephibosheth the two sons of Rizpa the daughter of Aya whom she bore to Saul and the five sons of Michael the daughter of Saul whom she brought up for Adreal the son of Barzali the mehulathite and He delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites and they hanged them on the hill before the Lord So they fell all seven together and were put to death in the days of harvest in the first days in the beginning of barley harvest Now verse 8 Armonie became famous He made suits later on in life And actually that's just a lie Armonie and Mephibosheth Armonie and Mephibosheth were sons of one of Saul's concubines Her name was Rizpa and you see her in 2nd Samuel chapter 3 verse 7 But you have some who are referred to as the five sons of Mekhal Now Mekhal was David's first wife But these five sons were not born to her because it says here they were born to her sister a woman by the name of Marab Marab is the one who had married Adreal But she had died and so she left her sons in her sister Mekhal's care These are all put to death and they're put to death in open humiliation And I want you to see this is i'm going to develop an application in a moment I want you to see it verse 9 It says that they were put to death in the days of harvest in the first days of the beginning of barley harvest That tells us when this happened it happened in the month of april The month of april is the time when pass over takes place So it gives to us when this took place Now as it happens Verse 10 Rizpa the daughter of aya took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock From the beginning of harvest into the late rains poured on them from heaven The beginning of harvest is april the late rains is october She was there for six months She did not allow the birds of the air to rest on them by day Nor the beasts of the field by night David was told what Rizpa the daughter of aya The concubine of Saul had done And David went and took the bones of Saul the bones of jonathan his son From the men of Yves Gilead who had stolen them from the street of betshan Where the flistings had hung them up after the flistings had struck down Saul in Gilboa So he brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of jonathan his son from there And they gathered the bones of those who had been hanged They buried the bones of Saul and jonathan his son in the country of benjamin in zealot in the tomb of kish his father And so they performed all that the king commanded And after that god heeded the prayer for the land When david was told of what rizpa had done it moved him to compassion And it stirred him and he gave an honorable burial For these remains to saul and his sons It says that he went and he took the bones of saul and jonathan and all We remember that when saul and his sons had died their bodies were hung on the walls of betshan The men of uh, uh, Yves Gilead had taken the bodies. They cremated them. They buried the bones You see that in 1st samuel 31 Then they took the remains and buried them in an honorable way And so what happens is god heeds the prayer for the land and he ends the famine What i want to do at this point is i want to bring some points of application for us You read this passage is there's something we can learn from it that helps us to understand and know the lord Well first as we look at this It's interesting how this worked out to remove anger to obtain forgiveness and ultimately have a blessing When we see that god is angry god is over angry over sin God is angry because his word has been disregarded and has been violated A second thing we see is atonement Atonement had to be made to bring satisfaction and reconciliation We see that golden silver was not was not desired because only death would satisfy the anger We see that they were hanged on a hill as a spectacle in a humiliating way This took place around the season of Passover And the anger was satisfied on both man's part and god's part And as a result god heeded their prayer for the land the rain came and once again They're being blessed i want to look at this with you at each one of those things very briefly one God was angry because his word had been violated god was angry over sin God was angry over sin because the word of god was being violated god had said You have made an oath in my name, and you didn't keep it And that angered him because they were to take their oaths in his name and honor them And god said i will not hold the one guiltless who takes my name in vain Not honoring god's word is very typical and very common For us who don't know the lord when you don't know the lord prior to coming to christ It doesn't really matter what his word says It doesn't matter that he said thou shalt not to most people It doesn't matter because they don't even really believe that there is a god let alone one who communicates They don't even know how god communicates to us today. I mean you can ask people How does god speak and does he speak and and people have various responses? I was reading this just today The question was asked does god talk to people today and if he does how does he do that? And people on the street were asked this question One person said I think god speaks to us in some way You just got to listen close with all your senses Somebody else says and based on what I was taught as a youngster. Yes god speaks to people But how he does it. I don't know how do you know when he is? He can't be speaking to us all the time if that's evasive so be it Somebody else says well god speaks to us through symbols or signs My grandma died my dad asked If you can hear me if you are there. Can you give me a sign? A little butterfly came and sat where he was He was like that's a sign No, that was a butterfly Some say well god speaks to us through prayer Last night when the packers were losing so bad. I prayed And I felt warmth fill me And then they started to win They lost But it was wonderful how god responded to me And then somebody else says I think god speaks to us in a way from mother nature with weather and everything That's my way of believing in him And finally one said I personally don't believe But I guess he speaks to us through the Hebrew bible I don't believe but if god speaks at all he speaks through his word Now that's somebody who says I don't believe But if he's going to talk to us it's going to come through the bible now I thought that was the most insightful comment of all because that's the absolute truth If god's going to speak to you it's not going to be through a butterfly It's going to be through his word It's not going to be because your favorite team begins to win I've never experienced that i'm a Bruin fan I stopped praying a long time ago for them to win It's through his word And god had given his word to the nation of israel they had violated his word They had made an oath in his name And violated it and it caused god to be angry in leviticus chapter 18 verse 5 He said my statutes and my judgments Which if a man does he shall live by them I am the lord If a man does these things he will live he lives by them because these are These are statutes and and these are judgments from the lord that aren't just things out there that he he uses as some kind of Of a template in life What it is is is a person who lives by them has ordered their life to be pleasing to god And when you walk by faith you want to please the lord And so god is making it clear that you're going to live because you do these things because you actually live by these things Jesus in john 5 24 said i say to you He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life shall not come into judgment But has passed from death into life So god was angry because his word had been violated Also atonement had to be made and atonement had to be made to bring satisfaction and reconciliation In the new testament you see that that is called propitiation The word propitiation means to satisfy the anger of someone else Jesus christ dying on the cross is the one who satisfied his father's righteous demands God's word says do these things and live but we can't do those things Because i don't have it within me to even desire to do those things if god says this is black I say this is white if god says this is sweet. I say this is sour if god says this is evil I say this is good, and I have an argumentative spirit with the lord It isn't till i am broken by god and i understand what god has done That i could finally have a relationship with him and the way that i can have his anger satisfied at me Is not through righteous works that i've done but trusting into the one who satisfied the anger of his father Because i used to think that god graded on the curve I used to think that god perhaps would would see the good works that i've done and If i live long enough perhaps they'd outweigh all the bad ones at least be close to outweighing them And maybe god would give me some kind of benefit or a break and i'd be able to get into heaven based on trying to be good in my Older portion of my life I looked at the ten commandments because i was taught to to memorize them when i was seven years old And and as i grew older I realized That i had broken one by one nine of those ten commandments The only one that i did not break prior to coming to christ was i had not ever killed anybody Every other one i had violated and as i grew older i thought well perhaps the lord will give me Break and i could get in based on the fact that i you know i at least Didn't kill anybody and that's kind of where my heart was I didn't realize that god's standard was perfection and there was only one who could meet that standard And that's jesus christ and when jesus christ met the standard of his father That satisfied the anger of his father who demanded a perfect sacrifice Notice the third thing here golden silver was not enough They didn't want gold and they didn't want silver because redemption is costly We were redeemed but not by gold and not by silver Ephesians one verse seven says in him we have redemption through his blood The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grapes It's interesting how it speaks of these these men being hanged on a hill That word hanged means literally impaled What would normally happen is they would be put to death first and then their bodies would be placed on On a stake as an open Kind of exhibit to those who would walk by and see them and know them to have been people who had broken the law And it was a curse to be placed on this on on a tree like that And so they were placed on a hill And they were impaled In open and so the public could see and they were humiliated That's what happened to jesus when he was placed on the cross On a hill and people came by and they wagged their heads and spoke against him And so we see that god's righteous demands were met by jesus christ who suffered an open humiliating death This took place Right around the season of Passover And according to first carinthians 5 or 7 christ our Passover was sacrificed for us And when it happened god's anger was satisfied In first john 4 10 it says in this is love not that we loved god but that he loved us And sent his son to be the propitiation For our sins Now god hears the prayer and notice that in verse 14 he heeded the prayer for the land What he did is he brought rain and once again Crops were able to be Raised and the people were able to eat In the old testament when the children of israel were in egypt in bondage God was speaking to them and he said i've got a land i'm going to give to you You're going to enter into the land it has houses you never built it has crops you never planted And i'm going to give you these things he said now you're going to be coming out of egypt Egypt has the nile river It's a main water source there and is revered by the egyptians as a matter of fact They had a nile river god that they worshiped because they recognized the water that came from the nile As being so important for their survival. They actually worshiped it God says to the children of israel i'm taking you from egypt Where you have relied on the water of that river To a place that doesn't have a river like that when you go into the nation of israel they have the jordan river the jordan river is so So it's not a very large river at all. There are places you can actually jump across it Or it's not hard to get across it because it's that small So he said you're not going to be surviving on the water that comes from the jordan He says what you will survive on is the rain the early rain and the latter rain The early rain and latter rain were the rains that came so that their crops could be planted irrigated and come to fruit And it was a symbol of god's provision. He said when I bring the early and bring the latter rains It's a symbol that I am blessing you later on jesus christ spoke of god and his goodness when he said that God causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike What he was saying is god is gracious and provides because I might be a Farmer who who trusts the lord? I have a relationship with god I rely on that rain for my crops But my next door neighbor doesn't believe in god at all The rain doesn't stop at the border of his land and mine only falling on mine and not falling on his Jesus said look at I caused the rain god causes the rain My father brings the rain on both the just and the unjust alike and we see that as a symbol of the grace of god He provides for them and so this rain is a symbol of the grace of god And so when the famine is broken it's because god is bringing the rain again because god has been satisfied and god is a god who blesses Last week we had as you know ryan and and sonny here and And they're very special to us and we love them very much and Ryan I was talking to ryan on friday this friday He was in texas And he's losing his voice He said i'm talking so much That i'm losing my voice And I said i hope that happens to your dad. No, he said i'm talking so much that i'm losing my voice And he said but the lord is doing some great things and I said where are you now? He says i'm in austin He says i was in austin and i'm on my way to houston He says you know what happened last night He said i was in austin and we were invited By a church. He says i don't know the church. He said I think they call it an emergent church. He says i don't know what that is He says but They're kind of touchy feely. I said yeah, and he goes I was there He said and and they had invited us and told us they have a youth group of about a hundred kids Can we come and speak to them? And he said so we did when we arrived there He said there were a thousand kids there We gave our testimony and shared with them and over 700 of them came forward to give their hearts to jesus christ And and yeah, I think that's worthy of applause. Absolutely. Absolutely We heard the testimony just last week of a young man who had run from god His life was going down Downhill so fast God has a way of when his when his demands are met in the sense Jesus did that when we simply say lord jesus christ look at what you did I believe god will take that famine and that dryness from our life and he blesses us and that's what happened here That's what we are seeing taking place in this young man ryan and sonny and the others who are finally saying I'm tired of playing i want to be real I'm tired of being somebody who is only really extreme in in the evil things of the world Why can't I be extreme for jesus christ and what we're seeing is god move in that We're seeing god because god is a blessing god All he requires of me to do is to look at the son jesus christ because I realize that jesus is the one Who who has has forgiven me of my sins and just to receive from him Paul in romans chapter 8 verse 32 said this he who did not spare his own son But delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things When you gave your heart to christ god washed away all of your sin by the blood of christ Jesus was openly lifted up satisfied the demands of his father and as he died there in humiliation in an open fashion God's wrath was satisfied as god's wrath was satisfied. I as a believer now cast my cares on him Jesus said if i'm lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself and what happened is I heard the gospel I came to christ by life was changed and now it's blessed because of him That's how it works and god's anger was satisfied now. He pours out his blessings There are people who say how come my life isn't being blessed like those people It just depends on whether or not you've come to christ and whether you've you've you've opened your heart to him And whether god is your god Because god will work in your life god does forgive sin The bible says that if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin into cleanses from all unrighteousness all unrighteousness not just a little bit of it Not just the sins that I committed prior to coming to christ all unrighteousness past president even future Because that's what god does and when you begin to understand what god does through jesus christ Now he was openly openly killed in front of all those witnesses humiliated Impaled on that cross and he did that for you So that you and I that we can have a relationship with him and be blessed by god How wise it is for me to have turned to him when I did and look at what god can do in our lives And I'm watching this with ryan right now I'm watching what god has done in that young man, and i'm excited and blessed to see that But god can do that in whoever opens their heart to him God can wash away all of your sin cleanse you from all unrighteousness And god will bless your life That's what he does Jesus satisfied the demands of his father It just wasn't any death It wasn't just any man on a cross It was god's son on a cross satisfying his father's demands And that's why we turned to him Because he is the only one who could do that god doesn't grade on the curve His standard is perfection None of us is perfect jesus is jesus died to perfectly be that Sacrifice satisfied his father's demands And now all I do is in faith turn my eyes to him and say god be merciful to me. I am a sinner Forgive me for jesus' sake And god says I do Because you confessed that word confessed simply means to agree. It's a greek word homo lego. It means to say the same thing I have confessed my sin god I'm a sinner because all have sin and fall short of the glory of god And I agree with you that the demand for justice I ought to be perishing But you you love so much you gave your son so that I wouldn't perish but that I'd have everlasting life So I do believe in him. I trust in him and as a result of that My life has been transformed Absolutely and god blesses because that's how he does