King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Friday, May 22, 2020
Chapters: II Samuel 23-24, Psalms 97-99
Message: Sinner Saved By Grace
Hello My Friend,
Another song came to mind as I read the chapters for today, A Sinner Saved By Grace, this is the first verse and chorus, [If you could see what I once was, If you could go with me, Back to where I started from, Then I know you would see, A miracle of love that took me in it’s sweet embrace, And made me what I am today, Just an old sinner saved by grace. I’m just a sinner saved by grace, When I stood condemned to death, He took my place. Now I live and breathe in freedom with each breath of life I take, Loved and forgiven, Back with the living, I’m just a sinner saved by grace.] When you stop to think about your salvation, it really ought to bring tears to your eyes at the thought of Jesus not being in it. After all, without Jesus we would not be saved at all. God makes it simple, He has always made it simple to be saved, even the people of the Old Testament knew.
[Psalms 98:2-6 The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. 3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. 4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. 5 Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. 6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.]
[his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.] God leaves no one out, He gives all an opportunity to believe in Him, and receive Him as LORD. If they reject Him, then that is of their own freewill, but no one in hell will tell you that they never had the chance to be saved when they were alive. Throughout his life, David had his fair share of ups and downs with God, he would find himself in trouble quite a bit toward the end of his life. It was David that penned down most of the Psalms, David recalls his life, reflects on God’s hand being in all of it, and reminds himself that it was not of his own righteousness that he was saved.
[II Samuel 23:1-5 Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2 The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.]
[Now these be the last words of David.] These were not the actual last words David spoke, these were the last words he spoke as a Psalm. [and his word was in my tongue. ] The Holy Spirit is always our mouth that speaks of the goodness of God, as well as our conscious. [ Although my house be not so with God;] David knew that not all of his heirs would worship God, in fact, he knew not all of his own living children did not either, and that even he was a sinner saved by grace. Salvation has never been about works, but of grace by faith, [Genesis 15:1,6 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.]
As I was reading this chapter it occurred to me that David knew he did not have, for the most part, a godly and prosperous kingdom on his own, it took several godly and faithful men and women to do that. An account is given to the leaders of David’s army, he lists them with a little overview of how they helped David succeed.
[II Samuel 23:8-12 These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time. 9 And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away: 10 He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil. 11 And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory.]
[and the LORD wrought a great victory.] Behind every victory for the Christian is God, even if the world is involved, it is blessed because a faithful, saved, born again Christian aided in its success. They are just too blind to see that, that is until it is too late. Perhaps one of the greatest testimonies that shows God’s salvation by grace in the Old Testament is when David numbered the people and he had to choose the punishment himself.
[II Samuel 24:1-2,8-12 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. 2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. 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. 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.]
[And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel,] First of all, do you see this? God was angry at Israel, and He is the one who allowed David to be tempted of the Devil to number the people. Why was this a sin? Pride. David prided himself on his great army, it was only them that David had numbered. [And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people.] While the devil has no more power to force us to do wrong than God has power to stop us from doing it, he can keep nudging us until we sin against God. That is immediately when the Holy Spirit gives us a kick in the backside. As soon as David has the people numbered, he realized what he did was wrong, and he seeks forgiveness from God. [I offer thee three things;] This time David’s sin had repercussions on the entire nation, and David had to choose the punishment himself. How would you like to decide what your punishment would be? David decided it best to have three days of disease on the land rather than himself be hunted for three months or the nation suffer a seven year famine.
[II Samuel 24:15-17,21,23-25 So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 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. 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. 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.]
[seventy thousand men.] Sound familiar? We are dealing with this pandemic right now, this time it is all over the entire world, and as of today the number of deaths is eighty-five thousand people so far. We do not really know why God was angry at Israel, perhaps it was because of the way they treated David or the mess with Absalom, it never did get addressed. Nevertheless, it was happening, and this was only nine hours of the first day, but there was one way to stop the spread of the disease, and it was not isolation, it was repentance. [Lo, I have sinned,] As David watched the angel about to hit the people in Jerusalem with the disease, it grieved him greatly, and while David did sin, we must understand that this was not all his fault, there was sin in Israel. When David sacrifices his own life to save the people, that was when, [the LORD repented him of the evil,]. Keep in mind that this is not the same as feeling sorrow over sin, God repented, meaning He changed His mind from the disease taking any more people. [threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.] This is exactly the place where Abraham stood when he was about to offer Isaac, [Genesis 22] and God would use this place to purchase salvation for the people. [but I will surely buy it of thee at a price:] Salvation is never free, it is always bought with a blood sacrifice. The animal sacrifices never made salvation permanent because they never actually removed the sin, what they did was remove God’s anger toward the sinner and gave redemption to them through their admission of sin, [Hebrews 10:4-7,10 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Every day I am amazed that no matter how slothful I get or how many mistakes I make You still love me, You have not forsaken me, and I still have a place with You. Lord, Let me never lose hope of the day that Your Son comes to get me, not for the good that I have done, but because I am protected and preserved by His precious blood. I know that I am just a sinner saved by grace, and not of my own works. Thank You God for everything You do for me, whether times are good or bad, happy or sad, You are always there guiding me in the right direction. Lord, Lead me and guide me, give me Your power to be a living sacrifice, giving You all the glory as You bless me in obedience to You. Search my heart, see if their be any wicked way in me, and if there be, resolve to help me repent of it and remove it from my life. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
Copyright © 2020 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.