Take your Bibles with me and turn to 2 Samuel 24. 2 Samuel 24. We are looking tonight at the end. The last story in the life of David. The last story in this great book.

This morning, before I went to work, I took Audrey out to learn a very valuable lesson. You see, she's been driving my car. She's been going all week to healthcare camp at Sarah Bush, and last week, she drove to work several times. She's been driving a lot since she got her license.

And guess what happens when you drive a lot? You use up all your gas. So, she had never pumped gas before, and I took her to Casey's before her camp and she got to pump gas. But that wasn't the important lesson. The important lesson was she got to PAY for gas.

Her eyes got all big as she saw that number go up and up. And do you know what? I don't think she wants a Chevy Tahoe anymore. Because gas is expensive. Gas is costly.

She's going to learn, it's not just gas. It's insurance. It's food. It's healthcare. It's housing. Everything costs. Everything is expensive.

And in our story today, I really want to make one point - sin is expensive.

This morning Audrey learned that driving is expensive. And tonight we are going to see David learning that sin is expensive.

So I want to give you three points tonight, and the first point I want you to write down is this:

1. Sin is costly.

Look at our text. Let's read the first ten verses:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 24:1-10 - KJV

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 Beer-sheba, 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.
5. And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:
6. Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon,
7. And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba.
8. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
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.

I was talking to a guy the other day at work, and he told me a story. About ten years ago, one of the IT Workers at Rural King wrote a script that he was going to deploy to the network to make the computer's more secure. But he didn't check it. He didn't think it through. He just pushed this script.

What the script actually did was go through every single computer in every single Rural King and fry the hard drive. Literally, they had tech apocalypse. They couldn't process orders. They couldn't communicate. It was absolute mayhem.

In order to fix it, they had to replace every single computer or computer device they had. Every one. It costs them millions of dollars and my boss slept under his desk that week.

What seems to outsiders to be little mistakes, can actually be very costly.

What you see in this chapter may have been David's most costly sin. And what was it? He numbered the people. He enacted a census.

And if you are like me, you probably hear that and think "so what?" That's not a big deal. I mean, nations do census all the time. There is at least one instance in the Bible where God commanded Israel to take a census - so God isn't anti-census.

There are several lessons we can learn from these verses about the cost of sin.

The first lesson is that sin begets sin. Look at verse 1 again:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 24:1 - KJV

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.

God was angry at Israel. So God allowed this sin to happen. God had sovereignly removed his staying hands, God had removed the guardrails, and Israel went forward in this sin.

If you compare this passage with 1 Chronicles 21 - which tells the same story. You see this pretty clearly. Listen to verse 1 there:

[!bible] 1 Chronicles 21:1 - KJV

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

Wait a minute. Did you catch that? 2 Samuel 24 tells us that God provoked David. But 1 Chronicles 21 tells us that Satan provoked David.

Surely this is a contradiction if every one there was, right?

But I don't think it is. I think what happened here is God took his guiding protection off of Israel and off of David because of their sin, and allowed Satan to temp David. Satan can do nothing without God's permission.

Church, who knows what kind of sin we would be into if it wasn't for the protections of God? Who knows what kind of judgment we would invite into in our life if it wasn't for God's care for us?

Sin beget's more sin. But there is a second costly lesson in these verses, and that is that any transgression of the law is a serious sin.

What did David do here? He had a census. That isn't wrong. But God did have clear guidelines for how a census was supposed to be run. In Exodus 30:12 it says:

[!bible] Exodus 30:12 - KJV 12. When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

God had said that when Israel takes a census, they also have to take an offering. They have to give to God. There is no sign here that David did that. Perhaps that was His grave sin.

You and I wouldn't say it was a grave sin for Uzzah to reach up and steady the Ark when it was moving on a new cart - but you and I aren't God.

Sin is a transgression of the law. God makes the law. You and I don't get to decide what is serious and what is bad, that is God's job.

God's law is this perfect moral standard - and all of us come short of it. It's stops all of our mouths. If we understand God's law correctly, it doesn't fill us with pride, it fills us with hopelessness - because it shows us over and over again to be sinners.

And sin is costly.

• Sin begets more costly sin.
• Any transgression of the law is serious and costly sin.

A third lesson we can learn from these verses about costly sin is sin of the heart is still serious sin in God's eyes.

Again, we may be tempted to look at this and think "no big deal" but it was a big deal. What did David do? He transgressed the law.

What else did David do? He most likely acted in pride. He wanted to count the people so he could pat himself on the back, so he could take some glory for the success of Israel. Joab's words to David seem to indicate that.

Another thing David did here was act like what was God's was his. To treat God's property as his own. In ancient culture, the only one who has to right to count something is the one who owns it. And so David was acting like Israel was his - when in fact Israel is God's.

How often do we act in pride? How often do we go about our life like we, who belong to God, who are bought with a price, are our own property to use as we see fit?

• Sin begets more costly sin.
• Any transgression of the law is serious and costly sin.
• Sin of the heart is still serious sin in God's eyes

One more lesson we can see in this story, is that God always gives us exits for sin, and when we blow past them, there will be costly consequences.

In this story, Joab had the courage to stand up to David and say they shouldn't do this. God was giving David an exit. David went on anyways. He pushed right on by.

It's like the person who is driving down the interstate and the check engine light is on and they think "I can make it further".

Look, this census took 10 months. David had 10 months to change his mind. But he pushed on. He kept driving past the exits.

If you push past the exits God graciously gives you - don't be surprised when the whole thing blows up.

Sin is costly. That is my first point. Are you ready for my second point?

Go ahed, write this down.

2. Sin is costly

You heard that right. The second point of this story is the same as the first.

Let's keep reading. Verses 11-17

[!bible] 2 Samuel 24:11-17 - KJV 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. 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. 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 Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. 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.

What happens here? God sends a prophet to give David three choices:

• 7 years of famine.
• 3 months of defeat by their enemies.
• 30 days of disease.

Now, think about this: what would you choose?

They had just come out of a famine. I think David was very wise in choosing option number 3. Let me explain why:

In a famine, the rich would do ok. They could stockpile food. Very likely, David and his family would be completely untouched.

In a war, David likely wouldn't go out to battle. He was too old. So none of this punishment would personally affect him.

But a disease hits everyone equally. And a disease is directly in God's hands. So David chose door number 3.

Now, God's wrath came upon Israel here in the form of an angel bringing pestilence - and before the angel was done 70,000 people had died. This is awful.

That's thousands of mommas bereft of their sons. Thousands of wives losing their husbands. Thousands of little boys and girls being raised without a mom. This was an atomic bomb of God's judgment.

And listen, I do not understand it. But it was just - because God is just. It is actually exactly what God said would happen in that passage in Exodus 30. LIsten to that verse again:

[!bible] Exodus 30:12 - KJV 12. When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

God warned there would be a plague - and guess what? There was a plague.

Do you know what the wages of sin is? It is death. Sin is always costly.

Old timey preachers used to say "Sin will take you further than you want to go, make you stay longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay."

When Adam ate that fruit - do you think he thought of the consequences!?

• Do you think he thought of the evil consequences of sin?
• Do you think he thought of the communists starving and executing millions of people?
• Do you think he thought of the warlords in Africa murdering mommas in front of 8 year old boys then conscripting them into their army?
• Do you think he thought of the hundreds of thousands of precious girls who have been taken and drugged and forced into a life of slavery?

Of course he didn't - because sin always has consequences!

The plague of sin and death has ravaged our world since that day, destroying lives. Sin is costly.

So point 1 was sin is costly. Point 2 is sin is costly. Anyone want to wager what my third point is going to be?

You guessed it...

3. Sin is costly

Let's read the rest of the chapter. Starting in verse 18.

[!bible] 2 Samuel 24:18-25 - KJV 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. 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. 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 ripped through the land, killing 70,000 people. But that didn't satisfy the wrath of God. Sin cost more than that.

What did satisfy God's wrath? God told the prophet to tell David - go meet to where the angel had stopped, and offer a sacrifice.

Sin is costly - and sin can only be satisfied, it can only be propitiated - by a sacrifice.

David went out to this specific place - the threshingfloor of Araunah - where God told him to offer an offering.

This man, Araunah, offered to just give the place to David, but David said no - an offering has to cost something. David paid a high price for that land. He paid a high price for the sacrifice - and made it there in the threshingfloor.

Because sin is costly.

But do you know what - I think there is a reason why this book ends with this sacrifice on this threshingfloor. It's very significant.

1 Chronicles tells us another name for this place. It tells us this place was called Mount Moriah. When Solomon built his temple, the place where sacrifices would be made - he did it at this very spot.

And do you know what? That's not the only time we see this place as a place of sacrifice - way back in Genesis Abraham brought his son, his only son Isaac up this very same mountain and would have offered him there - but God brought a sacrifice.

And of course - the ultimate sacrifice would happen at this place. It was at this place where God the father would offer His only begotten son - as the ultimate and most costly sacrifice for costly sin.

Jesus didn't offer something that cost Him nothing - He offered His life, His blood, His very self as the final payment for our costly sin.

Conclusion

"As I close tonight, I want you to picture something with me. Picture that threshing floor on Mount Moriah. Picture David placing costly oxen on that altar, paying a high price to stop the plague.

Now picture Abraham, centuries earlier, walking up that same mountain with Isaac, trusting God to provide a sacrifice.

Picture Solomon's temple, built on that very spot, where thousands of lambs and bulls would be offered year after year.

And finally, picture a hill outside Jerusalem, on that same mountain, where the Father offered His only begotten Son. Where Jesus - the Lamb of God - paid the ultimate cost for our ultimate sin.

Sin is costly, church. More costly than we can imagine. But praise God - He paid the bill.

The next time you're tempted to take sin lightly, remember the cost. Remember the 70,000 who died. Remember the cross. Remember that Someone had to pay.

And the next time you're tempted to offer God leftovers, remember David's words: 'I will not offer to the LORD my God that which costs me nothing.'

He gave everything for you. What will you give for Him?"