2 Sam. 24: “David Numbers His Men And Incurs God’s Wrath”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1.INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapter 23.

1.1.1. In this chapter we first of all read what is called “the last song of David,” which was written at the end of his life.

1.1.2. Then, we read the stories about David’s mighty men which was really an eternal memorial and commendation of them, and we saw that there were some interesting principles that we can glean from these men.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapter 24.

1.2.1. We will see in this chapter how that David decides to have all of his men in Israel numbered, however in doing so he sins and thus inflames God’s wrath against him.

1.2.2. We will look at the events of this chapter as well as the character of David from many different angles and thus we will be able to learn many principles from it.

1.2.3. The Lord by His nature is very different than we are as people, and for us it is very difficult for our finite minds to understand a God who is infinite in His wisdom and understanding. This chapter provides us a unique look into the nature of God as well as the ways in which He has revealed Himself to us.

1.2.4. In this story, we see from David as an example of God’s people how that but by the grace of God any man or woman is capable of acting in absolute madness.

2.VS 24:1-2 - “1 Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people.”” - The Lord in His anger incited David to number the men of Israel and Judah

2.1. Here in these verses we immediately are left with some perplexing questions about the Lord and how He works in our lives, and in our study we will attempt to answer these questions. These questions pertain to an understanding of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. Here we see that the Lord incites David to number the men of Israel and Judah because He is angry against Israel, and yet we find out later in the chapter that David sinned by doing this numbering :

2.1.1. Why would the Lord incite David to sin in numbering the men of Israel and Judah?

2.1.2. Why would the Lord hold David accountable for numbering the men of Israel and Judah when it was He Himself who incited David to do this?

2.2. “Why would the Lord incite David to sin in numbering the men of Israel and Judah?”

2.2.1. To answer this question we have to look at the fact that the Lord sometimes chooses to use evil and wicked spirits in high places to accomplish His goals.

2.2.1.1. Notice that in 1 Chron. 21:1 it states that Satan (not God as it says here) provoked David to do this numbering, “¹ Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.”

2.2.1.1.1. By the way, why would Satan try to provoke David to number the children of Israel? All of Satan’s activities are designed for the purpose of bringing as many people to spend eternity in hell as possible, plus to cause God’s people to lose their testimony for Him in this world. Satan is not stupid and realized that David would be sinning in numbering the men in Israel and Judah and thus he evidently was hoping to bring David into disfavor with the Lord thus taking away the Lord’s hand of blessing from Israel which would cause many to fall to perdition.

2.2.2. The Lord was angry against Israel because of their stubborn and wicked hearts in rebelling against Him by following Absalom in his insurrection to attempt to wrest the kingdom away from his father, as well as their following of the wicked man Sheba when he also caused a revolt to cause the 10 tribes of Israel to break away from Judah. The Lord chose to pour out His wrath upon rebellious Israel by inciting David to commit the sin of numbering the men of Israel.

2.2.3. David had strayed away from the Lord in his heart, and we will see that I believe the root cause of this was his pride. Thus, the Lord had further chastening to do in David’s life, and this numbering of the men of Israel and Judah provided the opportunity for the Lord to further chastise David.

2.3. “Why would the Lord hold David accountable for numbering the men of Israel and Judah when it was He Himself who incited David to do this?”

2.3.1. Like all men, David did not need really need any prompting in order to go astray from the Lord in His heart. The Lord merely had to remove His restraining influence from David’s life in this area in order for David to choose to commit this sin of numbering the men.

2.3.2. When every wicked man or woman stands before the Lord in judgment, he/she will have no one that they can blame, including the Lord, for their sin and rebellion against the Lord. It was they and they alone who are responsible. Interestingly, when every one of God’s people stands before Christ to receive rewards for good deeds that they have done while upon the earth, each one will give the glory to the Lord recognizing that it was only God’s grace working within them that caused them to be able, desirous, and willing to commit that good deed.

2.3.3. God’s ways are incredibly high and beyond figuring out. Wanting to pour out wrath upon rebellious Israel for their sin, the Lord uses Satan to incite David to number his men, but also sends Joab to try to dissuade David from his following of number the men of Israel and Judah, but in the end David incurs His wrath for going through with the sinful deed.

2.4. We now have to consider the question of why David was determined at this point in time to number the men of Israel and Judah?

2.4.1. 1 Chronicles chapter 20 ends by saying in verse 8, “⁸ These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants,” and then we read in verse 1 of 1 Chronicles 21 about how that Satan provoked David to number the men of Israel and Judah. So, this verse reveals to us that there was an underlining connection between these events forming David’s motive. David’s motive involved having gotten puffed up in pride at his great conquest.

2.4.2. David now wanted to know the full extent of the strength of his army because he presently felt invincible.

2.4.3. Even though David was now an old man, he lost sight of the fact that it was the Lord who had given him all of his victories, and when the Lord fights the battle for you it does not matter how many men are in your army.

2.4.3.1. Has not every one of the miraculous ways in which David has conquered his enemies revealed one thing, that it was not his strength, intelligence, or abilities that enabled him to prevail but only the Lord Himself working on his behalf?

2.5. Another challenge for interpretation of this chapter is that although it reveals that David knew that he had sinned in numbering all of the men of Israel and Judah, the chapter does not really tell us why it was sinful for David to do this. So, we ask the question, “Why was it sinful for David to number all of the men of Israel and Judah at this time?”

2.5.1. We can say first of all that it was wrong for David to do this simply because the Lord had not told David to do this. Interestingly though, on an earlier occasion the Lord had told David to number the men, however at that time Lord was just trying to encourage David by obtaining this number. On a couple of different occasions Moses was told to number his men.

2.5.2. It took away from God’s glory because it was not numbers that caused David to win his battles. Rather, it was the Lord and the Lord alone who gave him victory. Again, how many were with and behind David does not matter when the Lord fights your battle.

2.5.3. David’s was motivated to do this by his pride, and regardless of what good thing a person might attempt to do, if his motive is wrong then he is not going to please the Lord. David wanted to gloat in his strength not realizing that without the Lord he could do nothing.

2.5.4. Doing this made David step outside of being totally dependent upon the Lord, and this is the place that God would always have us to be.

2.5.5. There is a law that is found in Exodus 30:12 that stated that if a census was to be taken that for each one that was numbered a small ransom had to be collected for the Lord, however David had not provided for this ransom amount and thus violated God’s law, “¹² “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.”

3.VS 24:3-9 - “3 But Joab said to the king, “Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon, 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the number of the registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.” - Joab unsuccessfully tries to dissuade David from having the men of Israel and Judah numbered then finally goes and takes the census

3.1. In these verses we see that Joab, the general of David’s army who is devoid of spirituality and has now become a ruthless renegade fulfilling his own agenda instead of that of the king’s, realizes the folly of David going about and taking this census of the men of Israel and Judah. It is a sad thing when even those who are unsaved and not even spiritual at all realize our actions as God’s people are morally and ethically wrong.

3.1.1. Joab even tells David that if need be that the Lord would add 100 times as many men as David presently had in his army.

3.2. Joab’s reasoning is practical. He argues that there is no reason for David doing this thing that might provoke the Lord’s displeasure and judgment against Israel.

3.3. These verses reveal how that when God’s people get off track from following Christ how they become utterly senseless and can do some of the stupidest things.

3.4. David here though has hardened his heart against the Lord and is determined that come hell or high water he is going to have the men of Israel and Judah numbered.

3.5. Joab yields to king David and against his better judgment goes to number the men of Israel and Judah. However, notice that when Joab goes out to number the people that he initially goes to the most remote places in Israel. It is as if he goes away to hide out in hopes that king David will come to his senses and avoid this madness of numbering the men.

3.6. It takes Joab and those with him almost 10 months to complete this census of the men of Israel and Judah.

3.7. Note that during this entire 10 months period that David remains dead set that he must have the men of Israel and Judah numbered. He does not realize or admit that he has done any wrong in ordering this numbering. During the census taking David was out of fellowship with the Lord and probably not a very happy camper and not too much fun to be around.

3.8. There are some discrepancies between the parallel account of this numbering in 1 Chronicles 21, and skeptics always use these types of discrepancies to try to discredit our Bibles, however the tolls of those sets of numbers do not define identical chategories of men.

3.8.1. In the 1 Chronicles 21 account the numbers of the men who “drew the sword” are listed as 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah.

3.8.2. In this chapter 24 of 2 Samuel those listed are 800,000 from Israel who are ‘valiant men who drew the sword’ and then 500,000 men in total from Judah. So, evidently 300,000 men of Israel who drew the sword weren’t valiant fighters and of the 500,000 men of Judah there were 30,000 who did not draw the sword.

4.VS 24:10 - “10 Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”” - After receiving the total count of the men of Israel and Judah from Joab, David became convicted that he had done wrong by ordering this numbering

4.1. One of the proofs that a person is truly a son or daughter of God is that after an episode of sinning and even madness that he/she eventually comes to their senses and doesn’t continue on in their hardness of heart against the Lord.

4.2. Notice here the steps that a person takes to get his life right with the Lord:

4.2.1. He first comes to his senses and with a repentant heart admits his sin to the Lord.

4.2.1.1. Arthur Pink states that, “genuine repentance is a taking sides with God against ourselves.”

4.2.1.2. When a person repents he makes a 180· turn in his life and goes back in the opposite way he was going.

4.2.2. He asks the Lord to take away his iniquity and forgive his sin.

4.2.2.1. Sin causes defilement of us and the Lord must cleanse us from that defilement of sin in order to again be in proper relationship and fellowship with us. 1 John 1:9 tells us that, “⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

4.2.3. Finally, there must be a sacrifice that is made in order for sins to be forgiven (we will see in a minute that the prophet Gad comes to David to encourage him to make a sacrifice for his sin).

4.2.3.1. The only sacrifice which can take away sins is the one sacrifice for all time that Christ completed upon the cross of Calvary.

5.VS 24:11-14 - “11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the Lord says, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.” ’ ” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”” - The prophet Gad comes to David and tells him to choose between one of three judgments from the Lord because of David’s sin

5.1. These verses show us that though the Lord forgives our sins, we will still have to suffer the consequences for them.

5.2. The Lord in His graciousness allows David to choose his punishment from the Lord, and is given three choices :

5.2.1. Seven years of famine.

5.2.1.1. The land of Israel had not too long before this undergone three years of famine, and David had seen the devastation caused by just three years of this. He definitely did not want to have all Israel experience seven more years of famine for this would bring about utter destruction.

5.2.2. Three months while David had to personally flee from his foes.

5.2.2.1. David had experienced 10 years of Saul continually hunting for him as he and his men hid out in the wilderness. Plus, recently David had to flee from his son Absalom when he formed an insurrection to take the kingdom away from David. David really did not want to have to flee for three more months.

5.2.3. Three days of pestilence.

5.2.3.1. The Lord would cause the plague to spread among Israel and David knew that many would perish because of it.

5.3. David, who has now come to his senses and gotten right with the Lord, makes a good decision. He doesn’t really choose between any of the three, he just trusts himself and Israel to the Lord’s hand to do what He thought was best. David bargained upon the fact that the Lord was gracious and filled with lovingkindness and mercy, thus he reasoned that to leave it to the Lord would be the best outcome of all. David just asks that he not fall into the hands of men, for he would rather fall into the hand of the Lord.

6.VS 24:15-16 - “15 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” - The Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel causing 70,000 men from ‘Dan to Beersheba’ to die, however the Lord relented from sending the angel of death to Judah

6.1. The men of Israel had deserved the justice and wrath of God because of having followed Absalom and then Sheba in their rebellions, and we already mentioned that the Lord incited David to do this numbering so that He could judge Israel.

6.2. Justice was appropriate. Joab had gone and numbered the people from Dan (in the north) to Beersheba (in the south), now the angel of death goes from Dan to Beersheba causing the plague to take people’s lives.

6.3. There is another intriguing aspect to this story found in these verses that again has to do with the nature of God. We see here that the Lord ‘relented from the calamity’ that He had originally planned in executing justice upon the men of Judah. The scriptures teach us in several place that God is “immutable” which means that He never changes, yet how come it is here that the Lord changed His mind? Doesn’t this contradict what we are taught about the Lord?

6.3.1. It is true that scriptures teach that the Lord does not change, for instance:

6.3.1.1. Numbers 23:19, “¹⁹ “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

6.3.1.2. James 1:17, “¹⁷ Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

6.3.1.3. Hebrews 13:8, “⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

6.3.2. We have to realize that when the Lord reveals Himself to us as people that He often reveals Himself in “anthropomorphisms,” that is, in ways in which we can relate to Him as people. God is so much greater than mankind in so many ways that if He did not try to relate to us in these sorts of ways that we would be totally in the dark as far as understanding His nature.

6.3.3. The Lord in His meting out judgment is impacted by man’s response to His forewarnings. The Lord will relent judging men when they humble themselves in genuine repentance and surrender to Him, and faith in His word.

6.3.4. There are some places that we find in the scriptures where the Lord gives an oath (or swears) that He will not change His mind concerning His judgment. In these instances when men or women have gone too far in their rebellion against the Lord. There are a few examples of these instances from the scripture, including:

6.3.4.1. Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because of striking the rock.

6.3.4.2. The entire generation of Israel, those 20 years and up when they left Israel with Moses, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, were disallowed to enter the promised land.

7.VS 24:17-25 - “17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.” 18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. 20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be held back from the people.” 22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 “Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 24 However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.” - David intercedes for Israel and under the direction of the prophet Gad offers a sacrifice for his sin

7.1. In the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 21:16-17 we see how that David had a vision of an angel about to destroy Judah before the Lord relented of doing this, “¹⁶ Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. ¹⁷ David said to God, “Is it not I who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.””

7.2. Here we see that David makes the transition from being a wayward sinner restored to the Lord into an intercessor for his people, the men of Israel. This process that David goes through is the exact process that a person should go through when he wants to intercede effectively before the Lord for people. First, confess and repent of your sins to the Lord. Second, ask God to forgive you and remove your iniquity. Third, by faith trust in the application of the blood of Christ sacrificed for you in order to forgive your sins. Fourth, ask the Lord to work in His mercy on behalf of those whom you wish to intercede in prayer for.

7.3. To “intercede” for someone else means “to make entreaty for them” to another.

7.3.1. Leviticus 26:40-42 speaks of how to become an effective intercessor for another on behalf of the Lord, “⁴⁰ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— ⁴¹ I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land.”

7.4. Now that David is right with the Lord, he tells the Lord to take out His justice and wrath upon him for he is the one who has sinned not the men of Israel and Judah.

7.5. David prayed this prayer of intercession on behalf of Israel, and on the same day the Lord directs the prophet Gad to come to David so that he can tell David to make a sacrifice to the Lord for his sin (the sin of numbering the people).

7.6. Normally, the priests were the ones to make sacrifices for sins for people, however the Lord is clear in His word that He chooses the way in which people might come into favorable relationship with Him, and here the Lord chooses to have David offer his own sacrifice for his sin.

7.7. Gad tells David to go and to make a sacrifice upon the threshing floor of a Jebusite whose name was Araunah.

7.8. Why David was directed by Gad to go to the threshing floor of Araunah, of all places, to offer the sacrifice we have no idea, but he was. We will see after this chapter however that it was on this very place of the threshing floor of Araunah, which is located on Mount Moriah, that it was revealed to David that the temple was to be built (David’s son Solomon will build the temple on this site).

7.9. When David comes to Araunah to request that he might make this sacrifice upon his threshing floor, Araunah tells David to use the threshing floor and he even offers David the animals to be sacrificed.

7.10. David refuses to receive as a gift that which he would sacrifice, so he insists upon buying the threshing floor for Araunah and paying for his own animals to be sacrificed to the Lord for his sin.

7.11. David tells Araunah, ‘I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.’ David realized that in order to give a sacrifice to the Lord that would please Him that it must cost you something.

7.11.1. This speaks volumes to us as Christians in regard to that which we give unto the Lord of our substance in offerings, of our time, and in our service. We must never be people who are trying to get a “free ride” when it comes to our service to the Lord.

7.11.2. I fear today that many people in the church only give to the Lord out their excess and thus what they give to the Lord costs them very little. These verses show us that what we give unto the Lord must be costly.

7.11.3. In Luke 7:36-48 the story is told of a woman who took an alabaster vial of very costly perfume and anointed Jesus’ head and then wiped his feet with her hair and tears, she truly showed that those who have been forgiven much love much, “³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, ³⁸ and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰ And Jesus answered him, “ Simon , I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” ⁴¹ “A moneylender had two debtors : one owed five hundred denarii , and the other fifty . ⁴² “When they were unable to repay , he graciously forgave them both . So which of them will love him more ?” ⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly .” ⁴⁴ Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman ? I entered your house ; you gave Me no water for My feet , but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair . ⁴⁵ “You gave Me no kiss ; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet . ⁴⁶ “ You did not anoint My head with oil , but she anointed My feet with perfume . ⁴⁷ “For this reason I say to you, her sins , which are many , have been forgiven , for she loved much ; but he who is forgiven little , loves little .” ⁴⁸ Then He said to her, “ Your sins have been forgiven.””

7.11.3.1. When we as God’s people realize just how great a debt of sin the Lord has forgiven us, then our response of love and gratefulness will be to try to give much back to Him, to give back generously to Him.

7.12. In 1 Chron. 21:26 we read that the Lord accepted David’s sacrifice made here by miraculously consuming it by fire.

8.CONCLUSIONS:

8.1. As we consider this story of how David stumbled after getting puffed in pride after great successes in battle, and then he went and numbered his fighting men in Israel and Judah to show the strength of his might, we too must be careful to always be aware that it is the Lord who fights the battle for us. When we have great successes we must always give all of the glory to God and realize that the victory had nothing to do with our strength, intelligence, or even faith. It was all the Lord.

8.2. As a reminder, we must always be aware in the church that it is the Lord who is going to build His church and our own efforts in the flesh to help God out are just going to hinder His work. Our focus needs to be upon trusting in the Lord and His power and directing our prayers to Him to bless our work.

8.3. We Christians are sometimes going to slip into the flesh and even carry out madness to some degree, just as David did, however let us be quick to repent and not let 10 months elapse before we admit our error. Likewise, when those who are unspiritual or unsaved correct our lives with the truth, such as Joab did, lets be committed to waken out of our stupor and get our lives right with the Lord in the same way that David eventually did in our story.

8.4. We don’t want to miss the fact here in our story that as soon as David confessed and repented of his sins, asking the Lord to forgive him and take away his iniquity, and the sin sacrifice was applied to his life, he was right with the Lord. Though David had to suffer some chastisement after this point because of his sin, remember that this occurred from the loving hand of the Lord, not because God was still angry with him. As we have seen over and over again, all of God’s chastisement of His people occurs from His loving hand.

8.5. Do you need to get right with the Lord today?

8.5.1. Confess and repent of your sins.

8.5.2. Ask the Lord to forgive you and cleanse you from your sins.

8.5.3. Trust completely in Christ’s full payment for your sins on Calvary’s cross, and do not lean upon your own righteousness or good works to gain you favor with the Lord.

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