0:00 Thank you. Amen. Amen. I'm sure all of you can say something, but for those who shared, that blesses me to know that, the Lord is doing a work in this place every single week. And that's no different in our final session in this book.
0:14 We can anticipate and expect the same. So maybe you're already there. If you're not, meet me in second Samuel 24. This will not be a full on bible study, so you don't have to be nervous. This will be a shorter one.
0:29 In second Samuel 24. And, Lord, we do give you all the glory for every testimony that was spoken, unspoken, and we know that there are things that you have done that we might not remember but are shaped by, and we thank you that you are always working. And when we submit ourselves under your word, lord, we can anticipate transformation as long as we yield to the spirit. And so even tonight, give us ears to hear your thoughts, your final thoughts, what you have ordained for us to know through this final snippet of the story of David. In Jesus' name we pray.
1:08 Amen. What are the final thoughts that the Holy Spirit longs to imprint in our hearts as we come to the finale of this epic story? That was my question when I came to this latter portion of second Samuel 24, And that is what we will seek to understand, the mind of God, the clear themes that he has established in this, not just for us to know deeper insights, but for us to take away something as we transition from this book and move on to whatever the Lord has for us next. There are obvious instructions here by way of example, by way of testimony that are meant to be held onto on our bosoms and to be kept with a firmness in our memory and more importantly in our practical obedience. And so as we come here, we realize that David has been given to us in the scriptures as a model for many things, and that is no different with this.
2:02 Near the end of his life, at the end of this portion of his life in this book at least, there are nuggets of truth that we can anticipate to enrich our fellowship with the Lord. And so I want us to begin in verse 15 here. Let's look at what the Lord wants to say through a man who has been crowned with the exaltation of someone being after God's own heart. Verse 15. So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.
2:37 And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, it is enough. Now stay your hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people and said, behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done?
3:05 Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house. So you come to this point where the curtain is about to close, and we get this final glimpse of one of the most highly esteemed figures in, not just the scripture, but redemptive history. And what is what is it that we see in this closing text concerning this man? It's not the most encouraging thought. It's not a high note, especially as we're planning to depart from this this narrative.
3:36 What you and I are facing concerning David right before the credits are about to roll is him sinning. David sinning. You would think that there would be a greater climax. You would think that there would be a greater end to the story, but instead, we find something that is dark, something that is disheartening, and there is value in it. There is value in it.
3:57 There's there's warnings in this for us to know how to finish well, to be vigilant and concerned and aware all the way until the finish line. We can we can learn that, and we learned that last week. But I'm not sure if that is the primary point that the holy spirit wants to highlight concerning David as we face him before we turn away from him, so to speak. Perhaps the spirit's desire as a takeaway is more of seeing David as a repentant man than a sinning man, and there's a big difference. A man who knew how to return to the Lord, despite the many seasons he had where he remained close to the Lord in those moments where he fell short, veered off, turned his back.
4:45 What you see even at the final moments of his life is a failure, yes, but also a success. A man who knew to confess his wrong, a man who knew to call out to God for restored relationship, a man who understood the nature of sin and its violation of primary offense. If there's anything that made David so special and unique, it was not so much his victories. The favor that he experienced was not because of his faultless record. I believe what it is is a willingness to humble himself every time he did do wrong.
5:24 He knew how to part his heart with a passionate desperation. He knew how to be broken before God, and he actually pursued change following his confession. That's what made David David. Psalm 51. Right?
5:40 Those different Psalms of confession and contrition and absolute shattered soul like pleas before his maker. And that's what we see David doing here, a man who understood that what made his sin so ugly and vile and disturbing above everything else was that it fractured something with his fellowship with God, and he knew how to, at least, as soon as possible, seek that relationship to be restored. And so I look at this and I think, Lord, what are you trying to say? Why are you showing me David in this kind of a light? And I believe in one way, it's for him to instruct us of how to live repentantly before god from beginning to end.
6:26 Learn this thing about your god, that he cares for you, not just when you're doing good, but even when you fall short and disappoint and fail to meet the standard. And know that the same God who kept accepting David, restoring David, though consequences might have remained, the heart he had for David is an invitation for you and I to realize that though I may stumble between now and where I meet the Lord face to face, I can have the confidence that when I truly repent, he will truly receive me, all the way to the end. I mean, you would think after all that you experienced that by the end, you would be spick and span, you would be absolutely spotless, you would be shining, and yet you still got dirt on your feet. You still were you still managed to mess up when you're about to to leave the earth, because in first Kings one, he does leave. He enters into glory.
7:21 And yet, this is the portrait we have of the man. And God wants us to know that when he comes broken before him, he he supplies, he provides mercy, and he will for you. His love is patient, and it endures until the end. I look at David here, and I get that inspiration. Look at the quality of his repentance.
7:38 Look at verse 17. Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people and said, behold, I have sinned and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, against my father's house, and against my father's house. Did you remember verse one? Is what David saying what he's saying here, is it completely accurate?
7:58 What have these sheep done? It's not completely accurate because verse one tells us that Israel kindled the anger of the Lord again. And we came to the conclusion that even David being incited to sin was the instrument that God used to bring discipline to the nation as you brought up earlier. So if there's anybody who's more at fault, if you wanna if you wanna see it that way in this circumstance, it's actually Israel. They clearly did something before David numbered the people, and David's numbering was actually, again, the means by which more discipline would come to the nation.
8:33 Though David was without it's not that he was without fault, but to say that these sheep have done nothing is not entirely true. They did do something. God's just not just pulling a random stunt here. He's clearly showing something in light of a specific act that needed to be chastised. And David here, though, at the same time, he still he still sees his fault.
9:00 Because we have the evidence to say, well, it's really Israel's fault, and Israel should be the one that's pleading instead of David. But you know who doesn't make that argument? David. Look at his look at his confession. He doesn't charge anybody else.
9:13 He doesn't try to escape from the equation. He doesn't point fingers. He he realizes that he has a part to play in it, and that's enough for him to come openly before the Lord saying, I'm wrong. I'm wrong. I'm wrong in this.
9:31 You don't find people confessing like that even if the evidence is there. The ademic nature in us likes to twist, and turn, and justify, and excuse. And even though you might not be able to evade your involvement, you try to at least esteem others as more guilty than yourself. Isn't that how we confess when we're confronted? Nothing of the sort with this man.
9:57 Doesn't even include Israel. He he sees himself completely guilty in all of this, and he says, I'm guilty. Just deal with me. That's the kind of repentance that this man had. That's the kind of quality of confession that he conveyed, and that is the kind of repentance that God honors.
10:13 And so I see here that true repentance is not me spending time looking at others' people's wrongs, but primarily holding yourself accountable if it if it's required of you. But there's something else here in verse 17 that I think is insightful. Right? He has a sympathetic intercession. He wants to take all the blame for himself.
10:30 He wants to be a leader who has this compassionate care for his own. But look at this heartfelt and noble deed and see it as a request, a request that God didn't answer. This is a prayer. What is his request? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.
10:50 Did God answer that prayer? Essentially, what he's saying is wipe me off the face of the earth, me and my dad's house. Just get rid of all of us if it needs to be. If it's between me and Israel, then take me out. That's a prayer.
11:04 Words that carry weight, words that have been inscribed in the scripture, words for us to consider. And I look at this, and I and I couldn't help but step back and kinda chuckle when I read it and meditated on it. Because what you have here is yet another example of how the Lord and his goodness does not answer all your prayers. He does not, no matter how pure, how sincere, how selfless your request might be, that doesn't determine whether or not God should answer it or not. This is a this is a a very humbling thing for David to do, and yet God doesn't move upon it.
11:43 You should thank God. If you wanna reflect on anything at the end of this book, you should also reflect on your own life and thank God that he didn't say yes when you wanted to say yes. And he didn't move the way you wanted him to move. You should you should've you should be thankful. You should be thankful.
11:58 And that seems to conflict with the bold invitation we have throughout the Bible of radical prayer. Things like James five seventeen where in a new covenant context, we're given the illustration of Elijah who prayed. And when he prayed, it didn't rain for three years and six months. And when he prayed again, heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. How much more extreme can you get of an example to pray radically?
12:23 And we love to go to James five seventeen to encourage people in prayer, but we don't consider other factors of Elijah's praying to instruct our prayer. Oh, what do you mean? Have you ever meditated upon the prayer Elijah made that God didn't answer? Do you know which prayer I'm talking about? Can I show it to you in first Kings 14?
12:42 Excuse me. 19 verse 14? Excuse me. 19 verse four? First Kings 19 verse four.
12:50 This is what happens when you do a quiz with all these references. First Kings 19 verse four. This is a prayer that Elijah makes. After a very mountaintop experience, no pun intended, there's a very low point that meets him. And he says this when he's threatened by Jezebel, first Kings nineteen four.
13:12 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree, and he asked that he might die saying, it is enough now, oh Lord. Take away my life for I am no better than my father's. What's his request? Kill me. I'm done.
13:33 I'm I'm done. I'm done. I'm finished. I'm I'm submitting my two weeks notice. Thank you for calling me as a prophet, but this is it.
13:42 I can't see any more future in this. I wanna retire early. Beam me up. Kill me. This is his request.
13:53 Destroy me. Does God answer that prayer? Does God answer that prayer? No. Not only did he not answer that prayer, he did the exact opposite of it.
14:02 Does Elijah ever die? Let me ask a question again. Did Elijah ever die? No. He didn't die.
14:12 Doesn't God have a sense of humor? He sends a chariot of fire and brings him up, And some people believe that Elijah is still to return. God doesn't have to answer your prayer no matter how passionate, no matter how consistent, no matter how strong it might be. Now you might think then what's the point of praying? What's the point of praying then?
14:39 If God has a will, what does my dedication to supplication, what does that really determine? And I say to you, this shouldn't discourage you from praying. It should only encourage you to pray even more radically. Because in your request, as crazy as they might seem, as bold as they might seem, you are assured by a good God that he'll never give you something that you will regret, that he'll never give you something that will diminish his glory, that he'll never do something that will disqualify you from fulfilling his ultimate will for your life. The goodness of God, the wisdom of God are the guardrails to our honest but misguided desires.
15:29 So I look at David and I look at Elijah, and I go, what's the point of praying? I go, okay. Wow. God, you are so good that I can spill my soul in your presence, thinking that this is exactly what I need, exactly what you should do, and yet you are so kind to me that you will not you don't work like a genie in a bottle. You are so kind to me that you will refrain from doing and acting upon my foolishness in the moment.
15:54 And yet when that prayer does come and it does align with your will, you will be more than willing to not just do it, but do abundantly more than I can ask or imagine. That's the security we have in prayer. That's the assurance we have in intercession. David says, cut off my house. Cut off my father's house.
16:14 The lord doesn't answer. Instead, he sends a prophet. And this prophet has a better way, a better will, a better purpose. Verse 18 of second Samuel 24, and Gad came that day to David and said to him, go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So David went up at Gad's word as the Lord commanded.
16:40 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. And Araunah said, why has my lord the king come to his servant? David said, to buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the lord, that the plague may be averted from the people. Then Araunah said to David, let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him.
17:08 Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, oh king, Araunah gave to the king. And Araunah said to the king, may the lord your god accept you. But the king said to Araunah, no, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the lord my god.
17:30 That cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver, and David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel. I have one main why question with this portion of scripture. It's no surprise to me that the solution God gives to David in order to stop the plague from continuing is to provide a sacrifice.
18:04 That's no shock to us. But my why question is the location of the sacrifice. Why was he instructed to go threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite? That's what I want to know because that seems very random. We're never introduced to this person.
18:19 We never see anything of this person unless you go back to first Chronicles. And when you move forward to first Chronicles, you realize that he goes by another name, the name Ornan. But beyond that, there isn't much evidence, at least to the immediate reading, of why it is that the Lord is instructing David to go to this precise piece of real estate to perform this duty. But the faithful reader, when you continue to go through your bible and you come to a text like first Chronicles that seems to repeat things that you've read in Samuel and first Kings and second Kings, you are rewarded for your faithfulness, and there is suspense added to discovering the answer when you carefully realize that there is there is enough to point to God's mind for this. Well, let's go to first Chronicles 21, and and let's add to our suspense.
19:11 Something occurs in first Chronicles twenty one twenty six. In first Chronicles twenty one twenty six. It says here in the same account, but a different perspective, more added details. And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. Then the Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath.
19:51 So David performs a sacrifice, and something amazing occurs. The heavens open, fire comes down, and consumes the sacrifice on that altar. That kind of manifestation has only occurred a few times in the Old Testament, and it was a statement of divine approval, something that you could not disagree with, something that you cannot challenge. Remember what Elisha did? Before all the nation of Israel and the false prophets of Baal, he sent fire from heaven to lick up the water and that burnt offering on that altar.
20:27 And so David is seeing this, but there's something deeper behind this. It's it's greater than a sign of divine approval. There is a message, and this man David is enabled to interpret the message. There's a conclusion that David comes to based on this, and the conclusion that he arrives to would have generational consequences. And that's what we see in first Chronicles, not 21, but 22 verse one.
20:55 What judgment does he make? It's this. Then David said, here shall be the house of the Lord God, and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel. We're not talking about the tabernacle. We're not talking about the tent.
21:11 David, you remember this study, desired to build a permanent house for the Lord, an established edifice that would be much more dignified and much more beautified for God to receive greater honor and greater worship. And David sees this. Right? He he he's there. He performs his sacrifice.
21:33 Fire falls from heaven. He goes, this is where it's supposed to happen. This is where it's supposed to be built. This is where the foundation is supposed to be laid. Now from a human standpoint, we can understand why he might come to that conclusion.
21:49 With something like that, how much more do you need of a sign off for the project? But it's not until, again, you faithfully read your bibles, and not first Chronicles, but second Chronicles, you realize god's viewpoint in all of this, god's strategy, god's reasoning for it to be at this specific address. Look at second Chronicles now. Turn over to second Chronicles chapter three and look at verse one. Second Chronicles three verse one.
22:21 This is when David's successor, his son, executes the project. He's been called to do it. David had the desire. Solomon would implement it, and here's what we read. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on where?
22:40 Mount Moriah, where the Lord now just to call so just just in case you don't think that there is a different direction that took place between first Chronicles twenty two and second Chronicles three, the Holy Spirit and his wisdom clarifies where Mount Moriah is, where the Lord had appeared to David his father at the place that David had appointed on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. The threshing floor of Ornan or Araunah the Jebusite was on Mount Moriah. Now it makes sense. Because in all of the scriptures, there is only one other place where Mount Moriah is mentioned. Who knows it?
23:19 Abraham in Genesis 22 when he was called to sacrifice his son Isaac. That is the only place in all of the Hebrew scriptures where Moriah is mentioned. Moriah in Genesis 22, Moriah in second Samuel, rather second Chronicles three one, clarifying second Samuel twenty four and first Chronicles 22. Moriah. That's interesting.
23:46 What does Moriah signify? Well, Abraham in Genesis twenty two fourteen gives it a different name. He called that place what? The Lord will provide. Jehovah Jireh.
24:00 The Lord will provide. And so that mountain symbolizes the provision of God's mercy, ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. But the message is there from Genesis 22. The Lord will provide a covering. The Lord will provide a sacrifice.
24:23 The Lord will provide grace. The Lord will provide mercy. And then many, many years go by, and David experiences it on the same mountain. Here's a plague that's unleashed. He comes to the very same location.
24:38 He performs a sacrifice, and God provides mercy. Now tie this together. What does this symbolize further? The foundation of God's house is built upon that revelation. God's meeting place with man would be founded upon the provision of mercy.
25:02 Man and God will meet upon that truth that He made a way. He provided a way. And it is no different today for the church of Jesus Christ. The true and the fulfillment of the meaning place, the ultimate desire of God's meaning place, your heart and mine. It's not founded upon anything different.
25:27 It's founded upon the realization and the truth that God provided something for that to be possible. God's mercy makes a way for men and him to meet. And to even add to that truth, think about it. Araunah the Jebusite, who later would occupy space on Mount Moriah, was he a Jew? No.
25:48 He was a Jebusite. The Jebusites were found in Jerusalem before Israel came in and conquered. So one person said it so cleverly that it was the the territory of someone who was a stranger to the promises that would be the very meeting place between God and man. So you even have a picture of the Gentile who will also be able to meet with the same God. The God who was primarily and exclusively the God of Israel would now be also willing to meet with Jebusites of the future.
26:22 Isn't the Bible deep? Isn't the Bible incredible? This is where the truth of God's house will be built upon, that foundation. You don't have that foundation, you don't have a place to meet with God. You don't have the mercy of God provided, you have no chance to have a relationship with God, to come close to his presence.
26:41 No chance. But God provided. And that would be the message for the house of God to be built upon Moriah. I can meet with him because he provided mercy. But I wanna give you another practical point because Moriah doesn't just symbolize mercy.
26:58 The two occurrences where Moriah is mentioned, a specific act took place. What act took place by the hands of Abraham, by the hands of David? What did they do? Sacrifice. Sacrifice.
27:08 Very good. Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Moriah also points to sacrifice. Now let's stay in the lane of God's house.
27:18 God's house would not only be built upon the foundation of his provision for mercy. God's house would be built upon the principle and the attitude of sacrifice. Abraham was willing to sacrifice. David was willing to sacrifice. And it was upon that willingness to give that God's house would be able to be built.
27:42 Is it any different for God's house today? Answer, no. It's not different. If there's anything in the name of Christianity, in the name of church, that would truly host the glory of God, it will not happen unless there is a collective willingness to sacrifice. To say, Lord, whatever it is that you're asking of me to contribute to the building of your name, your glory, your meeting place, so be it.
28:17 It's no different today. The principle has not changed. If God's house is going to be built anywhere and truly contain substance, the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ, then each of us have to be willing to say, what is required of me? Abraham was willing to give up Isaac, and when David was given the opportunity to sacrifice, excluding personal expense, he shut it down. He shut it down.
28:47 He goes, there is no way that I'm going to worship without it costing me something. You're gonna give me something, and I'm gonna give it to God? I can't do it. That's not worship. In fact, the way he says it in first Chronicles adds a greater depth to it.
29:04 In first Chronicles, he says in verse 24 of chapter 21. First Chronicles twenty one twenty four, but king David said to Ornan, no, but I will buy them for the full price. And this this touched me so deeply. I will not take from the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing. I will not do what?
29:34 Take for the Lord what's yours. I want to reach into my pocket and give something from myself. I'm not here to take from you, and then by taking from you, claim that it's something from me. That's not gonna happen because that's not true worship. And yet, if we're not careful, we can fall into the trap of assuming that we're really giving something to the Lord when in reality, we're doing what David said he would not do.
30:12 So when it comes to contributing whatever is asked of us to building God's house today, many people have esteemed their sacrifice of almost doing God a favor by barely being there when the people of God meet. Right? They interpret their sacrifice as being in an environment or being present or just taking from others while not giving and being satisfied with that standard. So there's more there's a there's a greater calling to me than saying, I'm going to just receive from another person's gift and experience the blessing of their gift, whether that gift is music or preaching or any other kind of ministry, and me receiving that gift, that being my act of worship to God, it could be, but you can also miss out by not doing what David said he would do, and that's, say, okay, now what do I give to the Lord? What do I give to the Lord?
31:19 And so what a way to end the book of second Samuel to be challenged with the quality of our sacrifice if we are truly a people that want to do something substantial for the building of God's house of our day, which is the church of Jesus Christ. So here's my one here's the the one tip of the arrow that I just wanna just launch into your heart as we close this book. Do you realize the high calling and the great honor it is that you get to play a part in giving something to the house of God? Of of actually being involved with the the growth and the strengthening of God's house today. Never mind a temple with gold and colors and symbolism.
32:08 We're talking about people from different tribes and tongues and races that can come together and experience the presence of God. You have that calling in this life. Name something better than that apart from your personal walk with the Lord. Name something better than that. I don't care how much money you make at the job.
32:26 I don't care about the promotion. I don't care where you get to travel. I don't care the vehicles you use to travel. I don't care about the fashion style. I don't care how you chisel your body over time.
32:37 Nothing can come close to the high calling of knowing that I get to actually be part of building something that will be ultimately eternal. How can you not give something to that cause where moth and rust can't destroy, where thieves can't break in and steal? How can I be casual? How can I be distant? How can I reach for the bare minimum?
33:02 Why would I not wanna excel? Why wouldn't I wanna orbit my entire life around knowing that I've been invited to participate in something that will remain for the ages? That's the I want you to think beyond I want you to think about what it is that God has called you to as we close this book. David was actually offended by the thought, of just giving something cheap to the Lord so that he can satisfy his conscience. No way.
33:32 This is too awesome for me not to be totally invested in. This is too great for me not to not to consider this the purpose of my life. It's it really saddens me when I meet believers, when I look at others, and you can tell that they're distanced from the purpose of God in the building of God, the church of Jesus Christ. I I I look at them and I don't envy them one bit. My heart breaks for them because they're missing out.
33:59 They're missing out on on having something so significantly done through their hands, and their heart, and their participation. And so if the if there's any meditation to leave off with in these final verses is, Lord, thank you for allowing me to, one, be part of your house, be a living stone in this house, but also to be invited to do something about it concerning its growth, concerning its effectiveness, its fruitfulness, its fragrance on the earth. And so if there's anything to self reflect on, it's, Lord, what am I giving you that cost me something? Costless Christianity is powerless Christianity. It's cheap.
34:47 It's empty. It does nothing for you, and it does nothing for people around you. And the next time you feel like your walk with the Lord, your participation as a member of the church or another church, you feel like it's actually demanding something of you, don't complain. Rejoice. And knowing that costly worship is true worship, and knowing that investing in this way actually will make a difference for those around you, for yourself, ultimately for the pleasure of God.
35:21 And so the way I at least ended this personal experience through second Samuel is just with that. I felt many, many times in my walk with the Lord that serving the Lord cost me something. Anything from my time or a lunch. Right? And yet, I want to ask the Lord, and I want you to ask the Lord with me to say, no matter what it does cost me, I wouldn't have it any other way.
35:52 It would be a greater cost for me not to give something worthwhile for the cause of Christ. See it that way. See it that way instead, that it's not really a cost. It's not really a price. It's a privilege.
36:06 It's a privilege to go home tired that week. Why? Because you served the people of God. Because with your free time, you could have done a thousand different things, but instead because of the joy of loving the Lord and loving his people, you spent yourself giving something costly to him. This is not punishment.
36:26 David's not like, oh, I better do it or else this plague might go on if it's not genuine. That's not his op that's not the way he's thinking. If you want proof of that, you read the end of first Chronicles, and you see the rejoicing David had when he knew that he can enter into his personal treasury and dump it all out for Solomon to have something to build with. The guy was just over the moon knowing that he can go into his personal bank account and withdraw every single penny knowing that it would go to the glory of God beyond his life. K.
36:54 That's an old covenant man with a very blurry, though a prophet, a blurry understanding of what you and I have clear vision of. So as believers, may we not squeal, may we may we not murmur, may we not complain. Tell me something greater in your life than contributing to the cause of the gospel moving forward. Tell me. Tell me.
37:18 Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And we're willing to do it for other things. We're willing to go overtime for our extra bonus. We're willing to go overtime for overpay.
37:25 We're willing to do all that stuff. But may it be that what we do for the Lord outshines anything else that we do for ourselves, for our income, for our vacation that we wanna go. May it be that we have this kind of heartbeat that David had for the house of God. That's our prayer, Lord. Thank you for this powerful thought in such a powerful book.
37:51 Thank you that the truth of your house being built is built upon the truth of mercy and also the need for personal sacrifice. And so, Lord, may we be sobered, may we be shaken, not unto condemnation or guilt, but unto the realization of what a great honor it is to know that you would include our sacrifice in the grand storyline of redemption in this world. And when we lose sight of that, Lord, remind us of David's heart posture, who would did not dare miss the opportunity of giving something that would glorify you and bless others. We worship you now for this book. We worship you for these past years, few years in first and second Samuel, and we give you all the glory for the things that we've learned.
38:50 May we retain it, Lord. May you help us retain it, and may it get into our actions, our reactions, our interactions, that you may be glorified in it all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, with one song left to sing tonight, sing with all your might, rejoicing in that we have completed yet another book in God's holy word.
39:15 He's been good to us. He's been so good to us. Well, why don't we stand and worship the Lord?
