 Alright, so keep your place there in 2 Samuel chapter 24, so we're going to look at this story and you're also going to need to go to 1 Chronicles chapter 21. So we're going to be looking at this story from the perspective of 1 Chronicles 21 which also tells the same story in the Bible. So 1 Chronicles and 2 Samuel line up with a lot of the same stories in the Bible. So we're going to look at this, it's kind of like the Gospels, you know we get different perspectives from different parts in the Bible. And before we get into the story, let me just say this, when it comes to people, you know we're King James only in this church. And when it comes to people who have ideas that the King James Bible contradicts itself in certain places, so in order to hit all those places in the Bible and explain those I would have to have a sermon series that was several sermons long. So what I've been doing over the last year is whenever we get to a story that has one of these supposed contradictions in the Bible, I just kind of explain it as part of the sermon. So there's three of them in this story that we're going to explain tonight. So tonight's going to be kind of a Bible study along with this train wreck that we're going to look at in the Bible. So first I need you to turn to James chapter 1 in verse number 13. So we might have to put your thinking caps on just a little bit tonight and let's just learn some of the Bible together. Turn to James chapter 1 and look at verse number 13. So I want to just introduce this idea for you before we get into the story in the Bible. But the Bible says in James chapter 1 in verse number 13, it says, So the Bible says that if you are tempted to sin, if you are being tempted in your life to sin, which you're going to be many times, that that temptation to sin does not come from God. Now, look at 2 Samuel chapter 24 and verse number 1. Look at 2 Samuel 24 and verse number 1. I want everyone to get there. Keep your place. You need to keep your place in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 for some Bible, just some, we're going to be going back constantly between those two chapters. Look at 2 Samuel knowing what we just read that God doesn't tempt you with evil. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 24 in verse number 1 and the Bible says 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 here it says that God moved David against Israel to say go number Israel and Judah. So we're going to get into this, but going for David to go and number Israel and Judah was a sin. And I'm going to explain that to you, but the Bible seems to say here that God caused David to sin. So if we had James chapter 1 and verse number 13 and then we read 2 Samuel chapter 24 verse number 1, we might be a little confused. But thank God that we have 1 Chronicles 21 and verse number 1 to explain things for us. So go there. Now this is the contradiction. People who are, and every single time there's a contradiction quote unquote in the Bible, it's people that don't, most people that aren't saved, they're surface reading the Bible and they're missing the deeper things of God. So I'm going to show that to you now. So look at 1 Chronicles chapter 21. So we know that God doesn't tempt you with sin. It's not God that does that. Second Samuel chapter 24. So just forget you know that for a minute. And let's look at 2 Samuel 24 and let's pretend we're unsaved surface reading the Bible here. Second Samuel 24 verse 1 says, I'll read it for you while you're turning to 1 Chronicles 21. And again, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. So first of all, the Bible says God's angry with Israel. And it doesn't just say he's angry with Israel. It says, and again, he's angry with Israel. And you're like, about what? Well about, have you ever read the Old Testament? About the same thing they always are doing. They're always just leaving him. They're always and going, worshiping other gods. They're marrying people from these other tribes and they're just forgetting about the Lord is what they're doing. And again, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. So look, God's angry with Israel. We know that. We're not happy with them in 2 Samuel 24. Look at 1 Chronicles 21. And the Bible says, see now we get the clarification about what happened with David. The Bible says, and Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. So look, numbering Israel is a sin. So who provoked David to do it? It was Satan. So you're saying, well, what? It says in 2 Samuel chapter 24 that God moved David against them. Well, here's how this works. God does not provoke people to sin. God does not tempt people to sin. Turn to Job chapter 1. A very similar concept happened with Job. Look, the Lord, if Satan does anything, it is because the Lord allows it. Satan operates in this world freely only as God allows it to happen. So everything that Satan does as he goes to and fro to the earth is God allowing that to happen. God allows Satan to operate on this earth. And it's not always going to be that way. Those days will come to an end. Look at Job chapter 1 in verse number 12. But the Bible says this in Job chapter 1 verse 12. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. So Satan and God are having this argument. And God is like, have you considered my servant Job? I mean, he's just this super great Christian, and he's serving the Lord. He loves the Lord. It's family. He's raising his family right. He's doing all these things right. And Satan's like, it's only because he has, he's so successful. It's only because you've just given him everything. It's only because you've just made him super successful. And God's like, OK, well, God allows Satan to test this theory, and God is going to show Satan that Job is truly faithful. And God says, all that he hath is in thy power. God gives him that power. All that he hath, all his stuff, all that he owns, only upon himself put forth, put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord. And of course, Job loses everything. But it was only because, and who took it away from Job? Satan did. Satan took all these things away from Job, but only as far as God allowed it. So anything that Satan does, or Satan is, well, however he is able to operate on this earth is through God allowing it to happen, period. Well, look, it was Satan that moved, that basically it was Satan that tempted David to number Israel. But 2 Samuel 24 is showing us that God was angry with Israel, and he removed that protection from David, and he just allowed it to happen. It's that simple. And look, there's a reason it says, and again, the anger of the Lord was tindled against Israel. God was angry at Israel again, proving once again that, you know, if God's angry at a nation, you're just going to have leaders that do stupid things. Once again, proven right here, even David, right? Even a godly leader like David, okay? So there's contradiction number one, cleared up, all right? So David numbers the people, okay? David, look at 2 Samuel 24, look at verse number three. David goes to number the people. 2 Samuel 24, look at verse number three. The Bible says, and Joab said unto the king, now the Lord God add unto the people how many soever they be, and a hundredfold, and the eyes of my Lord the king may see it. But why doth my Lord the king delight in this thing? Not withstanding, 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. So Joab, he tries to stop him, right? Joab tries to stop David from committing this sin. Now look, when Joab's trying to like correct you morally, you've got problems, all right? I mean, Joab is not the most moral person in the Bible, all right? Joab is known for just doing what he wants to do at the time, but even Joab knows. He's like, whoa, don't do it. What are you doing? Don't do this. So it was wrong for David to do it, and even, it was so wrong that even Joab knew that it was wrong. Turn to Numbers chapter 1. So the question is this. Why was it wrong? He's saying he's just taking a census, okay? Why was it wrong? Look at Numbers chapter 1, Numbers chapter 1. Numbers chapter 1 and verse number 1, we see another census happen in the Bible, okay? So look, I mean, census, they happen in the Bible. We're going to look at one right here. But there's a difference between this census and the one that David is doing, okay? Look at Numbers chapter 1 and verse number 1. The Bible says, And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tabernacle of the congregation on the first day of the second month and the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation. Who said that? Who said it? The Lord. The Lord commanded this census. From 20 years old and upward that are able to go forth the war in Israel though and thou and Aaron shall number their armies and wish you shall be man of every tribe and everyone ahead of his house and his father. Look, so God, look, God numbers the people. God took this census. God commanded it to happen. It's his job and he commanded it to happen. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Now first of all, the Lord did not command David's census. The Lord did not command David to go do this. David did it on his own, alright? Look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 and let's look at some other reasons that David or that David was sinning by taking the census. Look at Deuteronomy 7 and verse number 7. The second point is this, the Lord, the Lord does not need numbers. The Lord doesn't need 800,000 men that carry the sword. Look at Deuteronomy 7 verse 7. The Bible says the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people. For you were the fewest of all people. Look at Judges chapter 7. As a matter of fact, sometimes, I'm just going to show you next, sometimes God doesn't want the numbers. God doesn't want huge numbers and I'll show you why. Look at Judges chapter 7. Judges chapter 7 and verse number 2. This is Gideon. He's going to war against the Midianites and God is preparing him to go to war and he's got some 30 plus thousand men ready to go to war. Look at verse number 2 and the Bible says in Judges chapter 7 and verse number 2, the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands. Why? He's like that you have too many people with you. Why? Well, he explains it. He says, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me saying, my own hand hath saved me. Why do you want numbers when you're going to war? Because I mean, who wants to go to war and lose? Who wants to go to war against 15,000 men with a thousand people? Who wants to do that? Raise your hand. Nobody. But God said, no. He's like, if you go to war against the Midianites with 32,000 men, you might say you won the battle. So what does he say? Now, therefore, go to proclaim in the ears of the people saying, whoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead and there return to the people 20 and 2,000 and there remain 10,000. So look, we have 10,000 and 22,000 were afraid. That means there was 32,000 to begin with, all right? So look, first of all, most were afraid. Most people are cowards. Most of these people, I mean, these were warriors. These were men of war. Most men were afraid, 22,000 of them, two-thirds of them, over two-thirds of them went home and God told them to go home. So the brave are the few, unfortunately. And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people are yet too many, he's like, it's still too many people. He's like, I just lost two-thirds of my army, he's like, too many people. Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there, and it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, this shall go with thee, and the same shall go with thee, and of whomsoever I say unto thee, this shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. So he brought down the people unto the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, everyone that lapeth of the water with his tongue is a dog lapeth, him shall thou set by himself, likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were 300 men, but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, by the 300 men that I lapped, will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people go every man unto his place. Look, he didn't want the numbers. He came with 32,000 people, and God widdles it down to 300 men. I mean, you want to talk about the story of the 300, this is it right here. This is the real story, okay? These 300 men go up against this army of thousands, and God does it that way so he can say, look, you know what? I'm winning this for you. I don't want you saying, oh yeah, but we had these 32,000 of the best warriors that ever lived, and all this kind of stuff. No, he's like, I'm giving you 300, and I'm going to win, and you're going to know it was me. God didn't want the numbers because he knew that the men would be lifted up, that they would be lifted up in the Bible. But David, back to David, go back to 2 Samuel, verse 24, David does it anyway. He does it anyway. He goes and he numbers the people. And then God gives him three choices for punishment. Take at 2 Samuel 24 and verse number 13. The Bible says, so Gad, Gad is the prophet, is the messenger of God here for David, much like Nathan was. So Gad came to David and told him and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come into thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before none enemies, while they pursue thee? Or that there be three days pestilence in thy land? Now advise and see whatsoever I shall return to him that sent me. So here's another contradiction. Turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 21 and let's read the story again from that perspective. So we'll go over the contradiction real quickly and then we will go back to the story. So in 2 Samuel chapter 24, Gad comes to David and he says, here's your three choices. You've got seven years of famine. He's like, you're going to have, what does he say, three months? You can flee before your people. Much like he fled at Absalom. And then he says, or three days pestilence can come into the land. So we've got seven years in 2 Samuel 24, three months and three days basically are the two choices. Look at 1 Chronicles chapter 21, let's look at the story from that perspective. So Gad came to David and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord. So you notice that in 2 Samuel 24, Gad came to David and told him and said unto him. But in 1 Chronicles 21, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee either three years famine or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while the sword of the enemies overtake thee or three days of the sword, even the pestilence in the land. So which is it? The question is, which is it? Is it turned back to 2 Samuel chapter 21? Which is it? In 2 Samuel 24, it says seven years, but then in 1 Chronicles 21, it says three years. So which is it? That's a big difference. Look at 2 Samuel 21 and verse number one. The Bible says, Then there was famine in the days of David three years, year after year, and David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered and said, It is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the giving nights. So three chapters back, we see that they are already in this horrible famine. And it's been three years. Now guess what? Between 2 Samuel chapter 21 and 2 Samuel chapter 24 is about one year, time. So at the point of 2 Samuel chapter 24, they are already four years into a famine. You see? So look, the answer is it was both. It was both. You know, the exact words of God were spoken in 1 Chronicles chapter 21. So basically to break down how the whole situation, the conversation with David went, basically Gad came to him and he said, Look, he's like the Lord said, Either three years of famine or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thy enemies overtake thee, or else three days of the sword of the Lord. And then he simply makes the statement somewhere in there that is recorded in 2 Samuel 24, where he says, Shall seven years of famine come into the land? He basically tells him, he's like, Look, the Lord says, Pick three years, three months, or three days, pick. And then he says to them, Gad says to him, Look, do you want seven years of famine in the land? He's like, That will be seven years of famine in the land. Because at that point, they'd already been through four years of famine. To get to that punishment of seven years would be three more years. So look, there's no contradiction, but look, here's the funny thing. You want to find contradictions, go and look at new Bible versions and how they fix these contradictions. Right? I mean, I don't want to get too deep into it because I want to get back to the story, but basically the NIV smartly changes 2 Samuel 24 to three years. And then, you know, 1 Chronicles 21 says three years, right? But then in 2 Samuel 21, it says three consecutive years. So basically with the NIV, you lose the fact that there has already been four years of famine going on. You lose that. Even though, and here, here's the thing, even though the Bible says turn to the last part of 2 Samuel 24, what's the last thing that we see in 2 Samuel chapter 24? In 2 Samuel chapter 21, the Bible says the King James Bible never says that the famine ended. They went and they did this thing where they hung these sons and, you know, the Bible says that God wasn't treated, but it never says that the famine ended. Well, you say, well, what does that mean? No, look what it says at the end of 2 Samuel 24. The Lord was entreated for the land and the plague was stayed from Israel. Look, he ended it. He ended that plague. He said that he ended that plague that David chose. So look, it just gets all messed up when they try to fix what the Bible actually says, right? So back to the story, I mean, the story's a mess at this point. David has numbered Israel and he basically, you know, I can't really blame him, but he chooses pestilence, okay? He chooses the three days. I mean, I, you know, I can't really blame him. I probably picked, I mean, let's just get it over with. He basically says, you know, smartly, you know, David, think about this. David has been dealing with men his whole life. He's been dealing with fighting evil men his whole life. His own son overthrew his kingdom and he's been, he's been running from Saul hiding in the wilderness. He's been running from his own son, Absalom, hiding in the wilderness. And he's just like, he says, man, he's like, I just, just don't let me fall into the hands of man. He's like, men are terrible. He's like, men are terrible. Just don't, they have no mercy. He's like, men will just kill you with no mercy. And he's like, just let me fall into the hands of the Lord. He's like, the Lord is merciful. I mean, I like his logic, especially when you're David, right? Because how does David, I mean, look, did David, did David always do the right things? I mean, look, David made some big mess ups. I mean, this is a big mess up. David makes some big, but how does he respond? I mean, it comes back and they're like, you've got 800,000 men of the sort, which means like, you are super powerful. And he's like, I'm in a lot of trouble right away. He's like, I've sinned against the Lord. Look, there's no excuse making with David. He just, he, he just owns that thing right away. Every time. I mean, look, he falls on his face, but he gets up and he owns it. He owns it. So he chooses pestilence. It's the quickest punishment. You can't really blame them there. Look at verse 14. And David said unto Gad, I'm in a great straight. 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 pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed. And there died of the people from Dan even to bear sheba, 70,000 men. So Gad tells David to go to this threshing floor. And Gad came to David and said to him, go up rear and ultra under the Lord in the threshing floor of Oronah, the Jebusite. And David, you know, he's to buy, you know, he sees the actual angel of the Lord up there. Okay, he sees the angel of the Lord up there. And he just, he goes and he buys the threshing floor. Look at verse 24. And the king said unto Oronah, nay, but I will, because the guy's like, I'll just give it to you. And he's like, no, he's like, I will buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which the cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. Underlying that in your Bible too. So first of all, I mean, there's some contradiction. I mean, names between chronicles and kings are different because people just had different names, middle names, different spellings of names. They're just different names many times in the Bible. But that's normal. Those are not contradictions. It's just different names for different, could be a different translation of that name from the writer of chronicles to the writer of Second Samuel. But in First Chronicles 21, this man's name is Ornon. Ornon. So David basically goes to buy this threshing floor so he can make this sacrifice to entreat the Lord. At Gadd's advice. But look at the price. Here's another contradiction in the Bible. 50 shekels of silver is what he pays in Second Samuel chapter 24. But look what it says in First Chronicles chapter 21. And the David said unto Ornon, this is the same man as Oronah, nay, but I will verily buy it for the full price, for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord nor burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornon the price, gave to Ornon for the place, 600 shekels of gold by weight. So here we have these shekels. And in Second Samuel chapter 24, he gives 50 shekels of silver. Now let me ask you a question. Is there a difference between the price of silver and gold? I mean right now I think an ounce of silver is about 20 bucks and an ounce of gold is about close to 2,000 I think. Last time I checked. But look, so he gives him 50 shekels of silver which would equal just to be a few hundred dollars. But he buys, it says the threshing floor and the oxen in Second Samuel chapter 24. But in First Chronicles 21 it says he buys the place for 600 shekels of gold which is basically like $400,000. All right, so basically the answer and the explanation of this is in First Chronicles chapter 22, like one chapter over, look at verse number one. Because this place, this place Ornon's threshing for Ornon's farm basically has a very special place in the history of the Bible. And look at verse one of chapter 22 of First Chronicles. The Bible says then David said, this is the house of the Lord God. And this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. So look, was the house of God built yet? Was the temple built yet? No, First Chronicles chapter 22 talks about how Solomon, David's son, will build the temple. So what does David do? He can't build the temple. So what does he do? Does he just sit around? And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel and he set masons to hue rockstones to build the house of God. So here, David decides or David is told that this is going to be the place of the house of God. And David nicely knowing, he's told, you're not gonna be the one. You spilled too, I've seen you spill too much blood on this earth, God tells David. He's like, you're not gonna be the one that builds the temple, he's like your son, Solomon is gonna build it. But look, he bought all the land for the temple. And this is the place where the temple was built. In First Kings seven and eight, the Bible talks about there's, it's not just the temple. There's many other buildings that were there. I don't know how many tens of acres or a hundred acres or whatever this was. I'm sure people have theories. The Bible doesn't really tell us. But look, this is a large chunk of land here. So in Second Samuel chapter 24, we see what he paid for the oxen and for the threshing floor itself. In First Chronicles chapter 21, we see what he paid for the whole place. What he, he bought the farm. He bought the whole farm, okay? So that's the contradictions in the Bible. So what is the applications here? What is the application? So there's two reasons, two main reasons that David sinned for numbering the people. And the first one is, look, lack of faith in God. That's the first sin that David committed here. Now look, you say, is lack of faith a sin? Turn to Proverbs chapter three, I'm glad you asked. Is lack of faith, like if you have lack of faith in your life, I mean, is that a literal sin? Let's look at that. Look at Proverbs chapter three in verse number five. The Bible says in Proverbs three, five, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Look, trust means, you know, have total faith. Right, and look, if you trust in the Lord with all your heart, that means there's zero doubt there. Better. Right? Is the kind of faith that you need to have on Jesus to be saved? Right? You have to have total faith. It can't be 99.5% Jesus, 0.5% me repenting of my sins. Right? I mean, it doesn't work that way. It's total faith in Jesus. But look, is anyone gonna have perfect faith where they trust God with everything in their life even once they're saved? I mean, look, the Bible says that you should in Proverbs three, five, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto. So what's the opposite of that? Remember Proverbs is the opposites, right? It says, do this, but don't be this guy, right? It's always talking like that. It says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. That's where you wanna be. And lean not until thine own understanding. So leaning unto your own understanding is the opposite of trusting in the Lord. Okay, so if I'm sitting here and I'm like, you know, and look, I've committed this sin a lot in my life because I like to like overanalyze things, right? I like to be like, I got off this big plan and this is the way it's gonna go and all this. And like, oops, God's over here, right? So look, I mean, that is, but look, is it a sin? Is it a question? Turn to Romans 14. What if the Bible doesn't tell us? What if we don't know? Guess what? The Bible tells us everything. Look at Romans 14 in verse 23. Look, the Bible answers everything. And the reason for that, we're gonna talk about that a little bit too. But look, look at Romans 14, 23. The Bible says, he's talking about, you know, sacrifice and eating things that have been sacrificed, but look, just look at the statement though. And he that doubteth is damned if he eat because he eateth not of faith. For, this is the key one right here. For whatsoever is not of faith is what? Is sin. So like, look, if something is not of faith, something in your life, you're trusting something other than God, it is sin. That is sin. To not trust the Lord is sin. So the answer is, look, David had lack of faith in God. And yes, that one thing alone is a sin, okay? But look, it gets worse. It gets worse because what David really messed up on. And where you will really get yourself into trouble is right here, is when we take action out of lack of faith. David had a lack of faith. He wasn't in this place where he's like, whatever, if God has 300 men for me, that'll be good enough to win any battle. That's not where David was. David was leaning on his own understanding. He wanted to see how powerful he was and he took action on that lack of faith. And that is where God really came down on him. Look, this is where we could get ourselves in trouble too. Like, even look, think about Abraham and Sarah, even getting impatient with God. Go to Genesis 16. Even getting impatient with God in your life, you could go and you could make decisions that are decisions out of lack of faith. And then you will be in serious trouble. Look at Genesis chapter one and verse number two, verse number one. I'm sorry, Genesis 16 and verse number one. Now, Sarah, Abraham's wife, bear him no children and she had a handmaid in Egyptian whose name was Hagar. And Sarah said unto Abraham, behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee, go unto my maid and it may be that I obtain children by her. And then Abraham hearkened to the voice of Sarah. So, I mean, this begins all kinds of mess in the Bible right here. Look, they just, they had, they were impatient with God's plan for them. And so they decide to take things into their own hands and she's like, go into my handmaid and have children. I mean, it just, we don't have time to tell the whole story, but look, it's another train wreck, for sure. All right, I mean, the child doesn't turn out right. Hagar is hated by Sarah. I mean, because there's all this, I mean, just imagine, I'm sure there's jealousy and all these things involved. That's why, you know, like the whole multiple wives thing, guys, it just never worked out well at all. All right, at all. That's why God said, don't multiply wives. And nobody listened. I mean, who would want to be in that type of situation? But anyway, look, all sorts of trouble follow us from this. So the Bible is rife with stories of men, kings that are trusting on their own understanding and not the Lord's. And they just get themselves in their people. Look, David got his people into a lot of trouble here. All right, so the first thing that you need to do as application is you just need to, you just need to take things before the Lord. Just like Hezekiah did when he got that, you know, that letter from the Assyrian army, when he got that letter, the first thing they did was they laid that letter before the Lord. I mean, go to 2nd Chronicles, chapter 16. Let's look at somebody who didn't do a good job on this. 2nd Chronicles, chapter 16. Asa, let's look at King Asa. Asa, look, Asa was a good king. I mean, he was a faithful king. He did well for his life, but at the end of his life, he made a crucial mistake and he didn't trust the Lord. And in verse number 12, it says, And Asa in the 30th and 9th year of his reign was diseased in his feet until his disease was exceeding great, yet in his disease, he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. Look, I mean, it doesn't even really say that the problem was the physicians. If the problem was, he sought not the Lord. So, I mean, here, he operated outside of his faith and he just trusted something else and he just died. He died. I mean, remember Hezekiah, he asked the Lord and God gave him another 15 years. Asa just died because he didn't trust the Lord. Okay, so look, you need to keep doing what you're supposed to be doing. You need to pray, you need to lay it before the Lord. You need to let God work it out. Let the Lord lead you. But look, when we start taking matters into our own hands is when we will get led in a non-godly direction. Then we will find trouble. It's like when we try to force situations. Now the biggest example that I can think of this is people that try to force situations with like money or wealth in their life. Where they're like, you know what, I just need to just, I just need to make this kind of money and get to this point in my life. I mean, look, it's good to go to work and we're commanded to do all those things and all this. But look, where people are just like, if I just get to this point right here, then I can just serve the Lord with my life and then they just, they just, they forsake the Lord in this pursuit of this wealth that one day they're gonna use for the Lord or something. And they just leave God in the dust and it just never works out well. They get backslidden and you just never hear from Him again. Most of them. But look, the second reason, the second reason, so we see that lack of faith and taking action on that lack of faith was David's major problem, but the second one was this. His second major problem was his pride, was David's pride. Now, I understand that sermon series could be preached on pride. It's a huge topic in the Bible. But look, here's the thing, turn to Romans chapter eight. Turn to Romans chapter eight. Just think of the slap in the face to God that that was. You know, he had this lack of faith in God. God could do whatever he wanted and instead he acts on lack of faith but then he also just wants to know how powerful he is. He wants to know how powerful he is. But here's the thing. Here's the irony of that situation. Look at Romans 8.31. The Bible says, what shall we then say to these things? If God before us, who can be against us? Look, David, he's got the heart that everybody wants. He's got the heart that, he already had that heart. I mean, God was for him. God was for David. But he wanted to just show how powerful he was. He wanted the glory for himself. This is his pride. This is David's pride. And look, it cost him here. And it cost the whole nation. So you say, you know, I get it. You know, I understand what you're saying. You know, but as far as me, you're like, you know, God doesn't really lead me. God doesn't, you know, how am I supposed to have faith in God when God doesn't like speak to me audibly, right? So if God speaks to you audibly, first of all, you know, we need to talk or talk to my wife if you're a lady and God is speaking to you audibly, okay? But let me ask you a question. You ever thought about this? Cause like, look, God is speaking to Gad here. He's like, the Lord said this. The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, the Lord spoke to Moses. Go number the people. I mean, it was pretty clear, right? So why doesn't God speak to us audibly? I mean, haven't you ever wondered that? Why doesn't God speak to us audibly? I'm gonna explain it to you. But first of all, if God spoke to you audibly, I mean, how often do you read the Bible? You're like, you're trying to think of the last time that you read the Bible right now, aren't you? But the thing is, if God spoke to you audibly, would you ever read the Bible? I mean, why would you? If God just like has a personal phone call to me for like three hours a day, why would I ever read the Bible? Imagine how many individual conversations he'd have to have on a regular basis if he spoke to us audibly, right? But look, here's the thing. He gives us a Bible which is everything. Look, God doesn't have anything else to say to you other than this. What more is there to say? I mean, I was joking when I said like, hey, I wonder if the Bible tells us if that's a sin. Of course it does because it tells you everything. The Bible tells you everything. Look, he gives you a Bible which is everything. He's like, that's all I have to say to you. He gives you a church. He gives you Godly counsel. He gives you pastors. He gives you teachers. It's like, do you even use the tools that you've been given? I mean, look, I know the Bible, you know, but you'll never find a book that people claim to know so much when they've never even read even a fraction of it. It's crazy. I mean, it's the craziest thing in the world because like nobody would ever do that with any other book because it would just be stupid. It would just be dumb. Like if you've read like, you know, you're like, oh, you know, David Copperfield, this is such a good book. Who would walk into a room and start talking about like David Copperfield, it's like 800 pages long or something, right? I mean, who would ever read that? I'm just kidding. But I mean, the point is who would ever go into a room of people who have like read that book before and start talking about it like they've read it when they've never even read one page? Yeah, people do it with the Bible all the time. They just claim to know all about it. You know it. You go out soul winning. People claim to know the Bible so well and they know nothing about it. They're misquoting things, all the doctrines wrong. They're just regurgitating with some stupid false prophet has told them about the Bible. They've never opened it once. Most of these people. So look, this is how you know what to do. You see what I'm saying? But you have the responsibility to pray, bring your concerns before the Lord, lay that letter before the Lord and read what he's told you. Because he's given you. Look, he's like, he's said everything already. You know, all these men from the Old Testament, they don't have, they didn't have what you have. They didn't have God's complete word. Turn to Psalm 25. You're like, I have to read the whole Bible to understand like how to be, well, you know, you should know what the Bible says. That's your responsibility. Look at Psalm 25 and verse number five. The Bible says, lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day. Turn to first John chapter four. But how will he lead me? How will he lead me? Look, I used to have this friend who just, and we were both unsaved at the time, but we were religious and all this. And like this friend used to talk in a certain way that would just irritate the living daylights out of me. Because he'd always say things like, well, I just feel like the Lord is leading me to, you know, every decision that he made in his life, he's like, Lord just led me and you know, to go. Look, he's just taking what decision he wanted to make and just saying the Lord led me. You know, like he's got this, this branch and he's like, oh, you know, I mean, look, this is how the Lord leads you. And look, look at first John chapter four and verse number six. I mean, the Bible says the Lord will literally lead you. Okay, and I'm gonna show you how right now. This is how God leads you right here. First John chapter four, verse number six, the Bible says, we are of God. He that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth not us. Hereby, now here's the key. Hereby we know, hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So look, the Bible says that if you're saved and you're doing what you're supposed to be doing and you're reading the Bible, it's like God will show you the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So somebody comes and gives you like some advice that's not godly advice. The Bible says that you'll know it. That you'll know that that's the spirit of error. So look, I mean, pray and wait for this spirit of truth to guide you is the bottom line. Look, don't force situations on your own understanding. That's what David did. He was forcing a situation. He wanted to rely on himself and it was a major sin. Major sin. I mean, look, did you notice that Satan got him to do it? So what does Satan want people to rely on? Think about it. So when Satan took control of David, what did he get him to rely on? He got him to rely on himself. In this instance, not on his faith, his saving faith, but he got him to rely on himself for his strength, for his power instead of God. That's a nice step. Look, that's a nice step. If Satan can get you pulled away from God and just start trusting in your own understanding, he's doing pretty well against you, saved Christian. I remember when we first moved to Sacramento and it was one of the first times I ever met Vladi. I don't know if you guys know Vladi from Sacramento. All right, look, Vladi built, look, as far as go-getters, hard-working, get-or-done type of people, I've not met as equal. I mean, he built this pulpit. He built the stage that I'm standing on in like five minutes. I mean, it's like, done. But look, I remember I was soul-winning with Vladi one of the first times I met him and he said something that just stuck with me. And we were talking about soul-winning and all this. And look, Vladi, he's got a business. He's very successful by most people's standards. He works super hard. And you could look at a guy like Vladi and just be like, yeah, he's successful because he works super hard. But he said to me one day, we were talking about soul-winning and just finding the time to make sure we go soul-winning once a week. And he's like, you know what? He's like, it wasn't even a question for him because he's like, I can't afford not to, is what he said to me. Right, man. I mean, Vladi says to me, I can't afford not to go soul-winning because look, even as somebody who has accomplished this him as skillful, as motivated as him, he knows he needs God working with him. Right, man. He knows that. He's not gonna step out on his own understanding and just be like, I'm just gonna get this done myself. No, he was smarter than that. And he knows that he needs God working with him. So we need to be doing what we're supposed to be doing. We need to be out there doing what we're supposed to be doing as hard as we can possibly do it. But look, we need God with us. We need to not trust on our own understanding. We just need to do, because look, guess what? Getting out there, working hard and doing what you're supposed to be doing like he does, like a lot of you do, like I do. Look, it's what the Bible tells us we're supposed to be doing. But don't let that make you just think that you're doing it all on your own. Don't end up making this mistake that David, where he wanted to trust in his army and not the Lord. Because look, it's a huge mistake. And that's why this train wreck is in the Bible to show us that when you act out of unbelief, out of lack of faith, it's a huge error. And many people are gonna suffer from it, not just you, okay? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.