Title: Telephone Wealth
Contents
Sunday day sermon
Text: 1 Chronicles 21:1-27
Title: Telephone Wealth
When a person who is very desperate does not get discouraged, but rather overcomes all the difficulties one by one and succeeds in recovering, we usually use the term "resurrection". David, who appears in today's text, also faces great difficulties due to God's wrath while counting the number of soldiers because of his hardened heart, but he immediately realizes his mistake and repents before God, and instead obtains greater blessings from God. you can see
All human beings living on this earth in the flesh are bound to be weak. Moreover, Adam and Eve fell under the serpent's temptation and became Satan's servants. Therefore, human beings in the flesh cannot but have greed on the earth, and because of their greed and greed, they cannot easily defeat Satan's schemes, which always bring things from the earth and approach humans in high or low numbers.
As we read the text today, we need to pay attention to Satan's schemes. In 1 Chronicles 21:1, "Satan arose against Israel, and stirred up David to number Israel." But 2 Samuel 24:1 The verse says, “The LORD was again angry with Israel, and he moved David to strike against them, saying, Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
First Chronicles records that Satan arose and stirred David's heart to number Israel. In 2 Samuel, it is recorded that the Lord moved David's heart. How should readers of the Bible understand and accept these two passages? From a literal point of view, this is a really difficult passage. But once you know the truth, it's too easy. The meaning is expressed in two ways, but in reality they all contain one meaning. It is the same as saying that the Lord moved David's heart to make it happen, and Satan stirred David's heart to make it happen.
In 1 John 3:8 there is a verse that says, “He who sins is of the devil...”. God never allows man to sin. It is only the devil that makes us sin. So, to say that the Lord touched David's heart means that he allowed it to Satan. After receiving Jehovah's permission, Satan immediately stirred up David's heart and made him count the number of Israeli soldiers. An example of this is also found in the book of Job. It is written that Satan afflicted Job as soon as the Lord allowed him to strike him. And when David realized his mistake, Satan had already taken a step back from David's heart. However, once you have committed a crime before God, you must pay the price.
So why did God allow David to commit such a terrible crime? Judging by the human mind, this is a part that is hardly understood. Many people today are trying to receive God's blessings for free. Unless human beings are sinners, it would be natural to seek God's blessings for free. However, those who realize that all human beings are sinners should never seek blessings for free. Although David, who appears in today's text, was a man worthy of God's heart, God allowed Satan to have his heart and made him number the soldiers of Israel.
Did God really let David sin without cause? Judging only from the contents of the text, it is clear that David's greed was a mistake. But what we need to realize here is that God allowed David to be brought into the crime scene in order to give David something greater. Of course, David's mistake caused tens of thousands of Israelites to die, but David repented of it and obtained the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan), where he could offer burnt offerings and peace offerings to God.
The threshing floor of Arauna is the very place on Mount Moriah, where Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac, which he had at the age of 99, as a burnt offering at the command of the Lord God. In order to never forget such a place, and to give the Israelites a new temple site, David is now having David offer a burnt offering at the threshing floor of Arauna. David later laid the foundation for the construction of the famous Solomon's Temple there, so it would not be an exaggeration to say that David was the person who laid the touchstone for the Jerusalem Temple. Remnants of this temple remain to this day, attracting many tourists.
How are we living in the present? One day, when misfortune strikes us, we are very upset and do not know what to do. Of course, we will be embarrassed by the sudden misfortune, but we should be able to calmly examine ourselves there too. And rather than resenting or grieving for the misfortune that has come, we need to develop the ability to deeply reflect and reflect on ourselves. David, by his mistake, put the people of Israel in great trouble, but soon realized that it was his mistake, and through deep repentance, he was able to obtain greater blessings from God.
If we put our minds to it, we can obtain as many blessings as David did. It is emphasized repeatedly, but before God gives blessings to humans, he always causes them to suffer misfortune first. Job and Joseph are such people. However, many people today know that blessings will come automatically if they call on the name of the Lord only with their mouths. Such blessings are more likely to be the blessings that Satan gives to deceive people rather than the blessings that God gives them. The reason is that we are all living in sin. This is because it is so self-evident that God's blessings are given only after humans living under sin have first paid the price for their sins.
A wise person will understand why a person who lived with all kinds of wealth and honor on earth today cannot go to heaven. It is also important to discover where you are now if you remember the rich young man in the Bible who, despite his hard work of faith, did not give up the wealth and honor he had built up on earth, and eventually went to the world without following the Lord it will be one day