Let me introduce you to a man today by the name of Uzziah. Uzziah was 16 years of age when Uzziah became king. He became king at age 16 because of his father’s death. His father was killed, King Amaziah, therefore, became king. Uzziah reigned for 52 years. Uzziah sought the Lord, and as long as he sought the Lord, Uzziah became extremely blessed.

In fact, we learn from the scripture that Uzziah won many great victories, and many great battles, and it seemed like the Lord took his fame and just spread his fame even into distant lands. But listen carefully, when Uzziah became great, he fell. Did you hear those words? When Uzziah became great, he fell.

The Bible tells us in 2 Chronicles chapter 26, verse number 16 these words about Uzziah. “But when he became strong, he grew arrogant and it led to his own destruction. He acted faithfully against the Lord, unfaithfully against the Lord His God by going into the Lord’s sanctuary to burn incense on the incense alter.”

Here was Uzziah. When he got strong he became arrogant. He thought he could make his own rules. He thought he could negotiate what God had said before. And it literally led to his own destruction. The Bible tells the story that when he entered the temple, and began to try to offer incense upon the place of worship, that king, excuse me, that Priest Azariah, as well as 80 other priests told him to leave immediately. He chose not to. He decided that he was not only going to be king, but that he was going to serve as a priest of which God had forbidden. And when he did that, and he refused to leave, and he refused to listen to the spiritual leaders of his day, God struck him with a disease on his forehead. And as soon as he was stricken with the disease on his forehead, he was ushered out of the place of worship quickly, and he was quarantined for the rest of his life, quarantined into loneliness.

God judged him. God judged him because he thought he was invincible. He thought that he was above the rules. He thought that now that he was successful and prosperous that he could try to negotiate with God about what God was saying, and God said, “No you won’t.”

You see he had the same problem many of us have. We’ve all had it from time to time. We see ourselves as being invincible. We may not even understand what the word means, but that’s the way we see ourselves. So what does the word invincible really mean? The word invincible means that you are too powerful to be defeated, or to be overcome. You see yourself as being incapable of being conquered. There are times in life, there are times in my life, your life, whereby we are successful, or we’re on top of things, or some might would say powerful or mighty, and we’re too powerful to be defeated. Or we do not see ourselves as being able to be overcome. When someone says you better be careful or you’re going to get yourself in trouble, we basically just ignore it, and we see ourselves of being incapable of being conquered. That’s exactly where Uzziah was.

Uzziah felt that he was beyond being defeated. He was beyond falling. And when he thought that he created his own rules, and he got himself in trouble. Over these 3 weeks together we’re talking about, “How the Mighty Fall and You Do Not Have To.” Last week we talked about Solomon’s life, and we talked about pride, and how pride led him into a great fall. Such a fall, that even after he had chased after everything this world had to offer, in the last of his book of Ecclesiastes, after he had said he had run after the wind, the wind of the world, the wind of wine, the wind of women, and the wind of everything else, he said, “I’m empty and I’m basically void of anything meaningful in my life, and it is because I have not been fearing God in my life, and not been keeping God’s commandments.”

Today we’re going to talk about David. King David came to a point whereby he felt he was invincible. He felt that he would deny the risk or the danger that was before him. He knew what God had said about a certain subject, but he chose not to obey what God had said about a certain subject. And when this began to happen in his life, he became vulnerable. And when you become vulnerable, you can fall easily.

You see David struggled with this spirit of invincibility. He thought he was too powerful and too victorious to go down. But you’re never too powerful, you’re never too victorious, you’re never too great, you’re never too sufficient self-wise that you will not go down.

One day King David looked down at the army at which he had built. This great and mighty army in which he had built, and he all of sudden began to think about all the accomplishments that the army had done, and he all of a sudden he decided that he was going to make a decision to do something. And listen carefully; knowing God didn’t want him to do it, he did it. Knowing better, he did it. Knowing God had forbidden it, he did it! Just like sometimes we do it in our own lives. And my friend, it cost him. It cost him greatly. It cost his army greatly, and it cost the nation greatly, which is a word that we need to hear today. No sin we ever commit is committed in isolation. Our sin can cost not only ourselves, it can cost our families; it can cost those that we love, and cost our church. It can cost our testimony. It can cost even the kingdom of God around the world.

The Bible talks about David’s situation over in the book of 1 Chronicles. And I want you to look with me into the reading of the scripture today into 1 Chronicles chapter number 21. In 1 Chronicles chapter 21, I want you to look with me, and follow along as I read the passage beginning in verse number 1.

“Satan stood up against Israel and insighted David to count the people of Israel.” Now what Satan had done is that Satan tempted David. And David bought into the temptation. He accused David, and David bought into his accusation, what he really did was that God used Satan at that moment to expose to David the pride in his heart, and the arrogance in his life, which at that time he obviously was blind too, just like we can be blind as well.

One of the real keys to understanding the passage we’re going to talk about today, if you have a pen you might want to circle the word, and it’s the word “count.” Count. Look and see what he says in verse 2. “So David said to Joab,” now Joab was the leader of the army. He said to Joab, “And the commanders of the troops go and count Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and to bring a report to me so, to me so we can know their number. Joab replied, ‘May the Lord multiply the number of his people a hundred times over. My lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my Lord want us to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?’ Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel and then returned to Jerusalem, and Joab gave David the total of the registration of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 swordsmen, and in Judah itself 170,000 swordsmen. But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count because the king’s command was detestable to him. And this command was also evil in God’s sight. And He,” that is God, “because of what David did was going to afflict Israel. So, David said to God, ‘I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now because I’ve been foolish, please take away your servant’s guilt.’

Now look at verse number 17. “David said to God, ‘Wasn’t I the one who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned, and acted very wickedly but these sheep, what have they done? My Lord God, please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s family but don’t let the plague be against your people.’

Now there is an Old Testament book by the book of Numbers. In the book of Numbers God told them to count the people of God and they counted the people of God. But here in Chronicles, God did not tell them to do that. And God had forbidden them doing that, except with the one exception in which He had made as recorded in the book of Numbers.

Well the only reason this was done was because David had looked at the vast army in which he had built, and he wanted to know how big the army was. How great the army was. Why the army in his mind had experienced so many victories, and what he was doing, he was counting to prove his invincibility. That he was too great to fall, too mighty to fail, there was no army in the world that could ever come against him and win.

But the insight into the entire passage showing this grave sin is discovered in one simple word, and the word is “count.” The Hebrew word for count is the word “limnoth.” In English it is transliterated l-i-m-n-o-t-h. But the Hebrew word is pronounced limnoth. It is the word whereby we translate count in this passage. Now you would think the word count would be used many times, but not this specific word. This specific word was used only 5 times in the Hebrew Bible. It was used in verse number 1, and then again it was used in verse number 17. It was used in 1 Chronicles 27:24 when reference was made to Joab failing to count, or to number, all of Israel, and the reason is all was in reference to 1 Chronicles 21.

The other time this word limnoth is used was in Psalm chapter 90, verse 12, when God said, you remember when God said, “I number your days…” It’s the same word limnoth. The final scripture usage of the word we translate count from that word Hebrew is limnoth, which is over in Genesis chapter 13, verse number 16 which gives us the direct insight into understanding this passage in 1 Chronicles. In Genesis 13:16 the scripture says these words, “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth.” This is God speaking. He said, “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth.” Who is He speaking to? He’s speaking to Abraham. “So that if one could count the dust of the earth then your offspring could be counted.”

Now let me ask you a question today. You think about all of the dust on the earth, who can count the dust of the earth? Who can do it? None of us can do that. But who can do it? God can. God is the only one who can do it, and that’s what God was telling him. He’s saying, “I’m going to make your nation so great that you will not be able to count them, but only I’m able to count them. So don’t try to count them!” Again, it’s that same word, limnoth.

When you look at the Hebrew language and we learn from the references made in 1 Chronicles 21 to count. What you see here is 1 Chronicles 21 the word count is in direct opposition to what God says no one is to do except Him alone in Genesis 13:16. In Genesis 13:16 God is promising, “I’m going to multiply your nation. It’s going to be so great that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, other than Me, that they can count it, but since they can’t count it, I’m the only One that can count it.” Now why is that insightful? Here it is. When David commanded the census, he was relying on his own strength. He was relying on his own power to accomplish only what God Himself said that He was going to accomplish. It was God who was going to fulfill the ultimate promise given to Abraham. It was not David that was going to be used to fulfill that.

And what David did, when David did that, David was basically trying to help God along the way. And David was no longer trusting in this covenant loving God, this Yahweh God, but David began to trust in his own ability, and his own power, in his own army, in his own strength, and his own glory, and God said, “Oh no. No. You can’t do that.” And what God did. Listen to what God did, God exposed to David what God I promise you is committed to exposing in your life and my life today. That any time we trust in anything other than God, we are basically worshipping an idol. God was exposing to David his heart of idolatry. That there really is more that we trust in other than God alone.

And you see it doesn’t matter what it is we trust in, we can be trusting in the heart of Baal worship like Solomon did when he tried to worship God at one time, at the same time worship Baal which is impossible to do. It doesn’t matter whether we’re worshipping some false God like that, or we’re out here and we’re worshipping the sports, we worship sports or we worship entertainment, or we worship our addictions, or we worship our substance abuse, or we worship our sexual sin, or we worship our alcoholism, our consumerism, or our materialism. Any time we seek life, and we seek identity in anything other than God, it’s idolatry. It’s wrong.

And David sought at this time in his life; he sought his identity in the size of his army rather than seeing his identity as being in God, and God alone. And when David did that, let me tell you what he was doing. He was pronouncing, “I’m invincible! I have built this army! Look at what I’ve done! All of these victories that have been won, well look at me. Look at what I’ve been able to do!” And I told you this last week, you hear me today, God does not share His glory with anyone, not anyone, and Joab who was his right hand man, who led the army, he warned David, and you know what David did? David ignored his counsel.

Listen carefully. There’s a great principle here. When a Godly leader has a Godly man beside him, that Godly leader needs to listen to that Godly man. And if that Godly man does not, leader, does not listen to that Godly man, that Godly leader could be leading himself into a fall.

Well what happened when David was so victorious? I’ll tell you what happened to him. He got puffed up. He got proud about it. He got arrogant. He got to where he thought he could control most things. He got to the point where basically he just decided in his own life that, “Hey, I really want to know this. And I know the Lord doesn’t want me to know this, and I know it’s not that important to God, but it’s important to me.” Therefore, what David did, he took the size, or he took the pride in the size of his army and guess what God did when David took pride in the size of his army? Are you listening today? God decreased his army.

Listen my friend. Anytime you take pride in something in your life, you’d better be real careful because God will decrease that which you take pride in in your life. David took pride in the size of his army, and God said, “Okay. I’m going to decrease your army.” He took pride in his spiritual convictions. He took pride in all of that, and God rebuked David because he was building, he was trying to build God’s people, rather than bring glory to God and let God build His people. You see invincibility is dangerous. This sense that we cannot lose, this sense that we cannot fail, this sense that we’re too powerful to be overcome. This sense that we will never fall. It captivates all of our hearts from time to time, and it overcomes us, and we become deceived in our lives whereby we don’t see it many times, but I’m telling you it’s been there. It’s there in my life at times. It’s there in your life at times. And we’ve got to be real careful or else it doesn’t matter how powerful we may become in our minds, or how successful we are with life, and all of life’s stuff. We can fall.

Because you see, invincibility declares the following: Invincibility declares:

(1) The size of your accomplishments more than the size of your God. That’s what invincibility does. That’s exactly what David did. David declared the size of his army. He wanted to know the size of his army rather than talk about the size of his God. Here is a man, listen to what I want to say to you now, listen, here is a man that God said something about that He had said not about any other man to this day. He said, “David is a man after My own heart.” And here’s man who failed. Here’s a man who had a heart that was chasing and running after God, and even though his heart was chasing and running after God, my friend, what was happening? He all of a sudden began to glory in all of his accomplishments rather than glory in the God who gave him what he had. And I want to ask you today to look at yourself and ask yourself: What do you boast in in your life? What do you glory in in your life? What are you pointing other people to in your life? Who are you pointing other people to in your life?

What David wanted to say, “Hey look at my army.” And what David should have said, “Hey look at my God.” What are you pointing to? What are you boasting in? What are you exalting? What are you trying to bring attention to your God? Or do you try to bring attention to yourself? Anytime in life we take the glory away from God, anytime we point people to anything we do in life, it doesn’t matter how good it is, if we take it away from the One who gave it to us in our lives.

You know I’ve said this along the way of life to you and I’m not sure we all get it, but I want to say it again to you today, you have what you have, you are what you are, you possess what you possess, and you experience what you experience only because of God, and not because of you. That doesn’t take away from the importance of hard work and faithfulness, but what it does, it puts all of that into perspective that it’s about God and the One who gave it to you rather than about you.

But you see invincibility also declares that:

(2) Your spiritual convictions are more talked about than obeyed. You see David knew God was the One who gave Abraham the covenant. But guess what? He just thought God needed his help. And there are times in life when we just kind of think that God needs a little help along the way, don’t we? And what that always leads to is the same thing it led to in David’s life. He disobeyed God, and David thought he was above it! And there are times in our lives when we just think we’re above it! We just think that the rules don’t apply to us, and we rationalize, and we justify, we put on blinders, and we just act like it, like it’s no big deal, but ladies and gentlemen, it is a big deal. And I have a question for you today. Do you talk more about your spiritual convictions, or do you obey them? Do you try to project those spiritual convictions upon other people, and you beat them on the head with your spiritual convictions, but yet you yourself, you don’t obey them?

You see invincibility believes it’s all for other people rather than for me. There’s a common phrase that comes in our lives even though we may never say it, but even though we probably all have said it along the way. And that phrase that exposes that, that invincible mentality, that I’m not going to fail mentality, that, that thought that it’s going to, to, to I’m above all that is the phrase: It won’t happen to me. It won’t happen to me.

Many times we’ve said to ourselves, “That won’t happen to me.” We see somebody goes out here and they mess up in their marriage, and we say, “Boy that won’t happen to me.” We see some woman that leaves her husband, “Oh that would never happen to me.” Or we see some way some children are treated, “Oh that will never happen to me. I would never treat my children that way.” Or somebody loses much of their resources, and “Oh that could never happen to me.” Oh I want to tell you something today. It could happen to you. You remember what I said a moment ago? You have what you have, you are what you are, you possess what you possess because God gave it to you. And if you glory in all that stuff, He will take it away from you a lot quicker than He ever gave it to you.

There’s a passage that I read last week and I read it again today, and I don’t read it again today because I’m going senile, and have forgotten that I used it last week. I do it because we need to get it, and I’m not sure we have gotten it. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12 do you remember what was said? “Therefore whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.” Whoever thinks he stands had better be careful not to fall in his life! David thought himself to be invincible. He thought that his sin he could overcome. He ignored it. But I want to tell you David faced horrific consequences for what had occurred in his life.

And what was his sin? A common sin that every one live with everyday, relying on ourselves. Relying on ourselves. That was the essence of his sin. And that’s what God rebuked greatly from his life. You see, but we must understand when he relied on his self, himself in his life, it was a mere prelude to the judgment of God that happened in his life. Which reminds me that Jesus the Son of God let Himself be conquered through death that in Him we can be more than conquerors.

And what we must understand today is that our wisest business decisions, our strongest structures, our vast arrays of, of gifts and our talents, our rolodex, our files of powerful people that we might now, our friends that we might know that have influence, none of those things make us invincible! None of those things! But if we will be slain by Jesus Christ, and we will live like we have been slain by Jesus Christ, and we will die to ourselves, then through Jesus we are invincible, and through Jesus alone! Otherwise, we can all fail, and otherwise we can all fall.

You see, I believe a little great word all of us need to remember is greater people than us have fallen. Greater people than us have messed up. Greater people than us have blown it. I mean, you say, “Well give me an example.” Well, I already gave you one. David. He was a man after God’s own heart. Has God said that about you? It wasn’t a popular vote like you know our opinion polls in our culture today. It wasn’t the Gallop Poll that existed back then. They said, “Oh David’s a man after God’s own heart.” 55% believe he is, 45% believe he doesn’t. No, that’s not what happened. No. God said David’s a man after God’s own heart. That’s what He did. And yet here’s this man after God’s own heart commended for his greatness on one hand, and on the next hand here’s a man who had fallen into sin. So in all of that, when that happens to you, and that happens to me, and we begin to be reliant upon ourselves, and we begin to trust ourselves, and we begin to put all this stock in ourselves, and it’s all about us in our lives, then what’s the result. What do we do? What now?

Well, you know what? David’s a great illustration not only of a man who failed, but I personally believe he is a greater illustration of a man who knew how to get back up once he had fallen. And I want to say to everyone of us today, we know a whole lot more about falling than we know about getting back up once we have fallen. There is not one of us who has ever been changed by the grace of God through salvation in Jesus Christ alone who have not messed up in our lives somewhere along the way. And rather than letting Satan beat up on us, and make us feel completely guilty, basically worthless, and then we live like it the rest of our lives, that’s the not the will of God!

We must understand there is a way to get back up! And God has given us a way! And through David’s life he shares with us that way. So what did David do? That’s what we need to do.

(1) Repentance. We need to practice repentance. Verse 8, what does David say? David said I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Take away my guilt! The Holy Spirit evidently just absolutely slew David when the reality of what he had done came upon him. And he said Lord I have sinned greatly! I have done this thing! Take away my guilt!

I want you to notice something, you can tell David did not live in America, because if he lived in America, he would have said, “Oh they caused me to do that!” Or, “You know I wouldn’t have done that but this happened over here.” Or, “You know, I mean, Jews are discriminated against. Therefore, you know, I mean, hey, you know it’s not all cool.” Oh no, no, no, no. Understand David owned his sin! And I want to challenge you – you need to own your sin! We live in a culture in America where everybody feels like they’re a victim. I’ve got one word for every one of you that feel like you’re a victim. Get over it! Grow up! Own your own issue! You can live in all of that and cry and weep and commit yourself to a pity party for the rest of your life because of what’s happened to you, but nobody’s going to come to your pity party! And you’ve got to learn to grow past that in your life. And you don’t grow past it because you get up one day and you decide I’m going to live a better life. No, you grow past it because you get before God, and all starts with repentance. Repentance! Repentance!

Repentance is not something a person does just when they come to Christ as Lord and Savior. Repentance has got to be a way of life for every follower of Jesus Christ! I have sinned. I have messed up! And I’m going to change by God’s power. And that’s what repentance is all about. David wanted God’s forgiveness. David wanted God’s forgiveness. I’m asking you today, what do you need to repent of in your life today? What are you boasting in, in your life today? What are you pointing people into your life today? What are you shouting about in your life? Everybody says give me a shout out. I tell you what we like to shout out about is all of our stuff, all of our greatness, all of our accomplishments, all of our successes. Who are we pointing people to? When you’ve got to remind everybody how educated you are, or how rich you are, or what all you’ve accomplished in your life, or you’re the one that made that decision that really took your company to the next level. Or you’re the one that did this. When you’ve got to remind them of all that, let me just tell you buddy, you have a big issue, and you need to repent. And you may be as blind as a bat from singing, but that’s the way Satan wants you to be. But God today wants to expose it for what it is in your life, and He wants you to repent.

What did David experience?

(2) Judgment. Judgment. What now? Well repentance comes; surely if we repent there is no judgment? Now let me give you a word here. Are you listening? When you repent and receive God’s forgiveness, you are free from the eternal consequences of your sin. But you’re not always free from the contemporary present issues that result because of your sin. You see, sometime we want to be free from the temporary problems that come because of our sin. Oh no. No. Many times that’s not true. God. Thank God He takes away the eternal future of judgment, but thank God He does that. But I want to tell you; He always doesn’t remove the present judgment from our choices in our lives. He didn’t in David’s life in this case.

In fact, God came to David, and He said, “Okay David, I’m going to give you a choice. I’m going to judge you. That’s no choice. I mean you knew better. You chose not too. You know the will of God. You knew the will of God, and you chose to disobey the will of God. David, you’re a leader, and you’re not going to get away with it, and I’m going to give you a choice. You can be judged in one of three ways.” And you know what He told David? Listen to this. He said, “David, your people can go through three years of famine. Or David, if you don’t want to be judged by three years of famine, then I will let your enemies judge you for three months. And David if you do not want to go through three years of famine under that judgment, or you do not want to go through 3 months of devastation by your enemies, then I’m going to give you one more choice.” What’s that God? “Well I’m going to judge you for three days.” For three days I’m going to judge you myself. And He asked David, and He said, “Okay David, which one do you want?” And He let David determine his own judgment.

I wonder what David said? Well he used great judgment. Look at what he says in 1 Chronicles chapter 21, verse 13. “David answered God and said I have great anxiety. Please let me fall into the Lord’s hands because His mercies are very great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.” And you know what God did with David? Now remember what happened. David sinned. David owned his sin. David repented of his sin. But not only did David pay for his sin, the very thing that David was proud of in his life, God stripped him of, and He sent plague for three days and 70,000 soldiers died in and with the plague. The very thing that brought him pride is the very thing that God decreased in his life! I’m telling you that’s exactly what’s happening in America today! The very thing we have so proud ourselves on for years and years, our own sufficiency, our own independence, our own financial wealth and stability and strength, and God is saying, “Shame on you America!” And He’s stripping you one layer at a time, stripping it! Moving it to a point of giving us a side from our self-reliance, and trying to get us pointed toward Him.

I said it last week, and I say it again, our issues are not with Wall Street, our issues are with God. When we get our hearts right with God, God will take care of the rest. God will take care of the rest. David had a vision, and the vision was he saw this angel standing between heaven, and between earth, and as soon as he saw that angel, David fell to his knees and his face before God. And David said to God in 1 Chronicles 21:17, “Wasn’t I the one who gave the order to count the people? Oh God judge me, don’t judge them. I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? My Lord God please let your hand be against me and against my father’s family, but don’t let the plague be against your people.” I want to say to you today your sin never happens in isolation. Friends pay for the sins that you commit. Family members pay for the sins that you commit. Children and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren pay for the sins that you commit, and our church pays for those sins! Our testimony, your testimony pays for those sins. The kingdom of God pays for those sins!

I am one choice away from destroying my life! One choice! I’m one choice away from literally influencing this church in a negative way for an entire generation! One choice! I’m one choice away from making the kingdom of God become embarrassed. One choice away. And if there’s anything that we cannot live in our lives is this thought: Not me. It could never happen to me. Oh listen, it can happen to you in a quick, quick moment.

And when we rely on ourselves we’re in trouble. We need to repent and we will receive the judgment of God in what we’re going and ultimately let me tell you there’s something else there for you and it’s:

(3) Mercy. Oh thank God for mercy today. David experienced the mercy of God. You know what happened to him? When God spoke to him, David built an alter. He bowed on his face to the ground, and he offered his all to God. At this very spot where God exhibited the mercy of God to David, God built the temple to represent the mercies of God given to all of His people.

The great news for you and me today is regardless of the magnitude of your sin, regardless of the depth of your sin, or the height of your sin, or the width of your sin, mercy abounds, and mercy flows endlessly! And I want to challenge you today to run to the mercy of God!

That’s really amazing about David’s life and doing what he did, he knew so much better for his life. His own testimony rebuked him. Psalm 33:16 and 17 he said, “A king is not saved by a large army. A warrior will not be delivered by great strength. The horse is a false hope for safety. It provides no escape by its great power.” Just think, the very opposite of what happened in 1 Chronicles 21 isn’t what he testified about in his life. He didn’t even let his own life live his own spiritual convictions sometime, just like we don’t.

You see my friend we must understand today that it’s not in how large our lives become, or how large our influence, or how large our resources, or how large our greatness, or how large, whatever we’re so proud of in our lives about ourselves, most of us are proud of our opinion more than we are of anything else. That’s why we want to give it all the time. I mean the thing is, is that all of this, no matter what it is, it’s not a large army, and it’s not in our own great strength, and it’s not on a horse, and it’s not in our power, but it is in God and God alone, and it’s from His seat that mercy runs, and it’s to His seat that we must run to receive that mercy.

You see what’s really amazing and what is really miraculous is what happened. At the very place where God extended His mercy to David, once he repented, and once the plague had ended, at that very place, God told him to buy the property for the future temple. When he approached the man to buy the property, the man knew he was king, and he said, “Oh I’ll give you a deal. I’ll just give it to you.” David said, “No you don’t, you’re not going to give it to me! How in the world can I take that which, which God wants us to have to lift up a temple for His glory without that costing me something in my life?” Now if he was an American businessman he would have negotiated with God just like periodically I have friends in my church who try to negotiate the tithe and the offerings with me. They pop off and say, “Hey I’ve done this and this.” He said, “Okay and I don’t do this.” They, they, kind of for fun, but they do it.

But David didn’t do any of that! David said oh no I’m paying full price because man I want to be a part of something that’s great for God. And on that very land, on that very land God built the temple. On that very land God one day will rebuild the temple. And just think about it, look at the scripture. Just due north of that spot, just outside the city wall, where his own self had experienced the mercy of God, and where the people of God for a period of time experienced the mercy of God at the temple, just outside that city wall all of the world can experience the mercy of God, because one day some 2000 plus years ago, on that place outside of the wall, there was a man who was crucified for the sins of the world. And He was crucified. Every drop of blood that was spilled, every moment that was, that His breath was leaving His body, it was evidence of the mercy of God given to you and me. And I want to share with you today it doesn’t matter what your past is, how much you’ve messed up in your life, the mercy of God is greater than all of that. And today, run to the mercy of God in your life! Run. Run! Run to the mercy of God.