Chronicles — 1 Chronicles 11-13

0:00 So I'd go ahead and turn to first Chronicles chapter 11. If you didn't read ahead of time, that's okay, not a proleimo. We just thought we'd give that to you if you wanted to read ahead of time and just go over those passages. Very good. Let's pray and then we'll we'll get into it.

0:20 Father, thank you for your holy and blessed word. We we come at your word with great reverence and respect knowing that this is your inspired inerrant perfect word. And you have given us your word to instruct us and to bless us. And we pray that the Holy Spirit would be our guide today. In Jesus' name, amen.

0:43 Amen. Alright, one Corinthians... One Chronicles, I'm sorry, one Chronicles chapter 11. And before we read, it's important that we talk about it so that as we start to read, you can understand what's going on. As you know, King Saul had just died before we read this portion.

1:02 But before he died, he was a very worldly man, a very jealous man, very angry man, and he was constantly pursuing King David, well he wasn't King yet, David and trying to to kill him and he was he was also very worldly in that he went and he sought a witch, a spiritist when he had a problem rather than seeking God and it's noted in the Bible that he there was a great evil on his part to do such a thing. And so so Saul was was very disruptive. The the the nation wasn't united. There was a lot of problems. Then he dies and after he dies, David then became king where where did he become king at first when he was 30 years old?

1:52 Where was he? He was in. Hebron. Hebron. Very good.

1:56 He was in Hebron and he was around 30 years old but he did not become king over all of Israel. Only became king of Judah and that was for how long? How many years? How many years? Seven.

2:08 That's right. Seven years. Alright. So, for seven years, then he was reigning in Hebron and as we enter the story here, it's the end of the seven years. During that time, before this this came to be, there was a lot of fighting.

2:27 The the leftover remnant of those who were falling following King Saul were at battle with David and his men and his followers. Unfortunately, there was a lot of people who died in these skirmishes, cousins killing each other and such. And seven years of it. And finally, as we enter this passage, they say that that's it, we're done with that. No more.

3:08 So let's read then the first three verses of first Chronicles chapter 11. Then all of Israel gathered to David at Hebron and said, listen to what they said, behold, we are your bone and your flesh. They couldn't use a more personal, more intimate term than the term that they use right there. In times past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led who led out and brought in Israel and the lord, your god said to you, you shall shepherd my people Israel and you shall be prince over my people Israel. So, all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel according to the word of the Lord through Samuel.

4:05 Samuel had prophesied that David was going to be king over all of Israel. So basically I want you to understand this, this whole chapter we're going be looking at, we're not going to read every verse, but it's all about unity. The Moody Bible Institute commentary would agree that the whole thing is about them coming together and saying no more war, no more killing each other, no more fighting, we're coming together and we want to be united as one. And so the first thing they had to do was the elders, that is the leadership, had to come to King David and say to him, we are all in with you. We're all in with you.

4:52 We're not half hardly in with you. We're completely committing to you. Which is David is is the his greater son, Jesus, is the one that was prophesied that came after him and our everyone of us should be saying and since we're still just beginning 02/20, lord Jesus, the the Messiah, the the great son of David that came. We are all in with you. We want to serve you not half heartedly.

5:25 We're not going to fight with you but we're totally committed to following you lord Jesus. Behold, we are your bone and we are your flesh. Well, you know, the Bible says that we are in Christ. The Christ in you, the hope of glory. So, indeed, when it comes to the lord Jesus, he we cannot be any closer and more intimate than him.

5:49 You know that Adam used the same term when when god introduced Eve to him, you are bone in my bone and flesh in my flesh. In other words, he was saying, I'm receive you. I receive you and so when when Christ comes into our life, that that could be said is true of us because we we are in Christ. He is now taking up residence in our lives. In fact, look at Rome, hold your finger there, and look at Romans chapter seven and look at verse two.

6:17 Look at Romans seven and two. I'll turn there real quick. I love the terminology that is used here and the imagery, which is that of marriage. And then notice how he's using this illustration to show how we are now united with Christ. For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living.

6:46 But if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then if while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. Now, don't miss that. Now, look at the connection in verse four.

7:11 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ that you might be joined to another to him, to Jesus who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for god and so so again, we see this this imagery of that when you get saved, you get joined to Christ. Right? And so, it goes on to say in Revelation that we are the bride of Christ and so the relationship between the believer and Christ cannot be any closer and and I can actually say, lord Jesus, I am your bone and your flesh. I I am fully committed to you. By the way, do you know that the lord is fully committed to you?

8:00 He is committed to you, right? Until he takes you to glory. He will began a good work, will be faithful to complete it. And so it's not a question of of Christ saying I'm committed to you because he's already committed to me. It's a question are you all in with Christ?

8:19 Are you committed to him? Because he's committed to you. Amen? And so, I want you to examine your heart and ask yourself that question. Alright.

9:04 It was time to come together. No more fighting. No more division. In order for there to be victory, we must be all in. And we must come in peace.

9:18 Now I want you to notice chapter 12, turn the page, notice chapter 12, and not only were the elders committed to David, the leadership, but then different tribes different tribes and different of of all of Israel came to him physically offering their their abilities, right, and saying to him verbally, we are with you. Now, I want you to see it because this is important. Look at chapter 12 then. We're going to start with verse 16. Then, some of the sons of Benjamin, now now this is important because the sons of Benjamin were were of King Saul.

10:02 And Judah came to the stronghold to David and David went out to meet them. Verse 17, twelve seventeen, and answered and said to them, if you come peacefully to help to me to help me, my heart shall be united with you. But if to betray me to my adversaries since there is no wrong in my hands, may the god of our fathers look on it and decide. And so so David knew that if they were going to be united, if there were... The war was over, then he needed to hear from them verbally as they came to him, are you with me?

10:42 Because if you're not, god is going to reveal that I am innocent, right? And god is going to judge. But you need to join me not with any kind of different motives but you're going to just join me because we're going to become one. Then, notice how interesting that the holy spirit falls upon this guy named Amasai in verse 18, then the spirit came upon Amasai who was the chief of the 30 and he said, well, now watch this. We are yours, oh David, and with you, oh son of Jesse.

11:17 Peace. Peace to you and peace to him who helps you. Indeed, your God helps you. Wow, this is so important. Of Benjamin and of Judah, they come and David poses a question, are you with me?

11:33 Are you with me? Because God's going to judge. My hands are clean. You, I didn't do anything wrong. And and what was the response?

11:43 The Holy Spirit put it in his mouth. Yes, King David, we are with you. Notice how how important it is. We are yours. We are with you, son of Jesse.

11:54 Peace, peace to your notice and peace to him who helps you. Indeed, your god helps you. Yes, we are fully committed to you. God helps you and we're going to come along and we're going to help you. What does the local assembly need?

12:11 People that come and say we're with you and we're going to come along and we're going to help you. We're going to help you. We must come be convinced that the assembly is the way we're going to go and then come alongside and serve. God can do none other than bless when we are fully committed. As a unit, no competitive spirit, no jealousy, no comparison.

12:38 We just want God to get the glory and the praise, not to undermine the direction of the decisions of the local assembly. And we want God to bless. This is what it takes. I want you to notice that chapter 12 and verse 33. Of Zebulun, there were 50,000 who went out in the army who could draw battle formation with all kinds of weapons of war and they helped David, notice, with an undivided heart.

13:13 So, first, Amazai came with his group and they said, we are with you. We are with you. We're not against you. We're going to help you. We're going to bless you and then here comes the second group and they said, David, we are with you and we don't have a divided heart.

13:29 Our heart is fully with you. Full commitment to helping you out. And notice that they brought their men and all their abilities with them, with them. So important. So they came to him directly and said, here we are with an undivided heart and notice in chapter 12 and verse 38.

13:52 If you want, you can read later the the top verses but all the different tribes came to him and they said in verse 38, all of these being men of war who could drop in battle formation came to Hebron with a perfect heart to make David king over all Israel and out of the rest also of Israel were one mind to make David king and so again, now we have different men come and notice they came with a perfect heart. With a perfect heart. Emma said, we're with you. Peace to you and anybody who helps you. The second group came with an undivided heart, full commitment.

14:35 The next one says, they came with a perfect heart. In other words, they were all in. They were all in. David, we're with you. We are with you.

14:43 We're not going to talk bad about you. We're not going to oppose. We're not going to be jealous, but we're with you to help you and we bring all of our talents to bless you and to help you out. And notice chapter 12 and verse 32, and the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were 200 and their kismen were with... At their command.

15:10 So then this other group comes and these men particularly knew what needed to be done so that they could succeed. In other words, these men brought their talents and their abilities and they came alongside and they said, here's what we're going to offer. We're going to... We know what we need to do so that we could have victory. So they offered their abilities and their talents.

15:34 See, they come alongside of the elders, of the shepherds and say, look, we know what we can do, we can be a blessing, we're going to help out, and here we are, to be a blessing to you. And then notice in verse 40, moreover, those were the those who were near to them even as far as Issachar and Zebulon and Nephthali brought food and such. The last phrase and there was joy indeed in Israel. Why was there joy? Because people after so many years of ungodliness, so many years of division, of civil war, they come together to David and say, it's over.

16:14 Now, we're united. Now, we're with you completely. A perfect heart to serve you. We're bringing our talents and we're gonna be one. And God could do none other than bless as you know.

16:29 As you know. So they were all in with Jesus first, right? With Christ. Then they were all in with David and with the the with the country of the nation of Israel. Right?

17:28 So there was an acknowledgement that when Saul was king, they were not seeking god. It was a very fleshly, very worldly leader. As you know, full of anger, full of cursing, jealous, and he did nothing but damage the country. And then now, they say look, he didn't even seek God, but now we're going to start seeking God and we're going to make the right steps. We're going to correct these things so that god then will bless us.

18:03 And so they start to bring the ark, right? So notice verse five, David assembled all of Israel together from Shehor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jirim. Verse six, the second part, to bring up from the ark of God the Lord who was enthroned above the cherub where his name is called. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab and Uzzah and Ahio, instead of Ohio it's Ahio, right, drove the cart and so forth. And then verse nine, And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the ark because the action nearly upset it.

18:54 And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah. So he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark and he died there before God. Then David became angry because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah or Uzzah, how you pronounce it. And he called that place, Perez Uzzah, to this day. And David was afraid of God that day saying, How can I bring the ark of God home to me?

19:24 Now, you can understand as you look at the text they were all excited. We're at peace with you David. Everybody came and verbally said it. No more animosity, they were united. They said, okay, now let's start making the right steps.

19:37 What do we need to do? We need to get the ark of God and bring it to Jerusalem. That was a good thing and they're all excited, a lot of enthusiasm. Yeah, let's do things for god. Let's get it done but as they were doing it, they they were doing things outside of the revealed will of god.

19:56 Now, I want you to realize this. Yes, the the Philistines made a cart and put it on a cart and why didn't they die? Because they weren't saved. They didn't know. They didn't have the law to go back and not see it.

20:08 And so God consequently didn't just burn them up. But the Israelites had the law. They had the instruction what God wanted and they totally ignored it and they they put it on that new cart and they're dragging it along but that wasn't what God wanted, was it? Alright. So even though we do things with great enthusiasm, if we do things outside of the revealed will of God, God will not bless.

20:39 So they didn't pay attention to detail because it said in Numbers four fifteen, you are not to touch the ark, but you're supposed to put poles through it and only the Levites are supposed to carry it on their shoulders. They knew that. Now, what I was thinking of was that the Holy Spirit will bring conviction if there's a sin to be confessed and repented of. And we as elders have examined our hearts and resolved to walk in integrity and without reproach. And so my question then here is, are you living right?

21:19 Are you living right? If not, the Holy Spirit will point out to you what needs to be confessed so he can bring blessing. Notice chapter 15 then and verse two. Then David said, no one is to carry the ark of god but the Levites for the lord chose them to carry the ark of god and to minister to him forever. Ah, very good.

21:43 Very good. See, first, they were just doing it crazily out of enthusiasm. Now, they're doing it biblically and correctly. Amen? Amen.

21:51 Alright. So, they understood. Alright, we made a mistake. God brought holy discipline. They corrected it and then now, they're doing it according to the holy writ and god can't but bless when we do things according to the Bible.

22:08 And so, notice verse 13. It says, because you did not carry it at first, the lord our god made an outburst on us for we did not seek him according to his ordinance. So that the priest and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the lord God of Israel. And the sons of Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles thereon as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord. And so number four is when we make corrections and we do things biblically, God's blessings flow.

22:49 And so they realized then that it had to be the Levites with poles. There was little slots to slide the pole, carrying their shoulders. They were going to do things right. And when we are all in, when we sense the presence of God and his grace, peace and joy are evident, and then there's singing. Notice what it says in verse 16.

23:14 And David spoke to the chiefs, Levites to appoint their relatives, the singers, with instruments of music, harps, lyres, loud sounding cymbals to raise sounds of joy. So what do we see then? That they were full of joy because they were doing things correctly, God was blessing. They brought the ark. They brought it to the place where it was supposed to be the right way, and they were just full of joy and rejoicing.

24:05 We we already said that Christ is all in with us. He will never leave us nor abandon us. He won't forsake us. He committed to us for a lifetime when he saves us. We are his and that's all there is to it.

24:17 He is fully committed to me. So the question is then, are you all in with Christ? I want you to think about that for a minute. And maybe the lord will speak to you and you can say in your heart, yes lord, I I want to be all in with you. Next, I want you to ask yourself the second question and this is, are you all in with the elders and with this assembly?

24:47 We have really enjoyed meeting with a lot of you, talking with you, and we hope to continue to meet with everyone and just hearing from you, together, it's been great. It's been a beautiful experience and we wanted to continue. But we realize that unless you're all in, God's not going to bless. There can be a civil war, there can be tension, there can be talking and and and ugly speaking. Are you all in?

25:19 And if you are, God is going to bless this place and we're going to see salvation of souls. The next question, are you living right? Are you living right? We saw that God came an outburst of anger, which is holy discipline upon a man because he was... He did the wrong thing.

25:44 And so if you're living right, God is so gracious. We come and we confess and we repent and then God will restore us and he will use us. And the Holy Spirit then will point out those areas in your life that need to be cleaned up. So are you living right? And then finally, I guess this is for all of us together starting with me.

26:10 Are we as a body experiencing God's joy and singing praises? Are we singing? I like what you said, Andy, a while ago. Are we singing with joy? Right?

26:25 I'm one of those that can't sing good. I don't have a good voice for singing. Right? I can talk my way out of China, but I can't sing my way out of it. But you sing with joy.

26:38 Why? Because you're right with God. Because you're all in with him and with the assembly, and there's nothing to come from that but joy and blessing and peace and singing, right, and singing. So where are you? Let's just take a few minutes to be quiet.

27:00 And I would just want you between you and God just just talk to God. Number one, are you all in with Christ and if no, why not? Why not? What's keeping you? Are you all in with the elders and with this assembly and if not, why not?

27:17 Give us a call, meet with us. Let's talk. What what is it that's bothering you? And let's get it out. Like they came to David and said, David, no more war.

27:29 We're all in with you. Are you living right? It's between you and God. He'll point out to you what needs to be cleaned up and and Lord willing, hopefully, we're experiencing God's joy and we're singing praises to his name. So just just be quiet for a minute.

27:54 Think about these four questions. I'm going to pray for the first one. Father, we want to be all in with your son, the lord Jesus. We don't want to be half committed but with with our full heart we want to serve him. We want to worship him.

28:18 We want him to be exalted amongst us. Forgive us Lord for many times not being all in with Christ. Are you all in with the elders and the assembly? Lord, I pray that we would be one, that we would be a unit, that there would be no tension and no civil war. We'd put it into that and we'd be a unit together for your glory.

28:53 And Lord, for the third one, if if someone's not living right, we pray that the Holy Spirit would be working right now in the heart to bring conviction so that sin could be repented of and and put away. Finally, you Lord that you do speak to us and you do fill us with your joy and with your presence. Now as we go home, we pray that that joy will remain and that song would be there throughout the day and throughout the week. Father, glory to your name. We bless you.

29:30 In Jesus name we pray. Amen.