If you don't, there's some in the back. Lessons from the life of David. Here, some copies. Thank you, brother. Distribute. Lessons from the life of David. We're nearing the end of David's life. But there's still some good. Mic drop. Yes, mic drop. Mic S dropped for sure. OK, we're back. So there's still some good lessons to learn, amen? David's wise decision is the title of this morning's lesson from 2 Samuel, chapter 24, beginning in verse 10. But before we get into that, let me say a few words of introduction. Last week, we talked about David's sinful folly, his decision to number and count his fighting men. Joab had asked why. Why, David? Job had some good, I don't like Job at all, but just FYI, but Job had some good questions. Why, Job asks, there's no battle at hand. Why do we need to number the fighting men? There's no enemy, Job says. And looking at this from just a very reasonable point of view, numbering, counting your fighting men that count, has a very short shelf life. I mean, it's not like, okay, we got a million and we're good to go forever. You know, fighting men are a very transient commodity. I mean, they get sick, they disappear, they're not loyal anymore, or they just are out of shape. I mean, you gotta train, train, train if you wanna be a good fighting person. So, and besides, Job says, there's some risks here. Risks, David. You might anger the gods. And I have that with a small g. I think Job was a religious man. He was not a righteous man, but he was religious. He believed that there were some gods out there that you could anger. I mean, the Greeks were all about, you know, gods who got angry. You know, when they threw lightning bolts or pounded their big hammers, did whatever they were going to do. And Job says, David, be careful. Be careful here, you might, I mean, don't rock the boat, David. Things are going pretty good right now. All our enemies are taken care of and we have wealth and prosperity. David, what are you doing? Rocking the boat, don't stand up in the canoe. Stay down low, David, keep your head down. But David's king. David's king, and his word, his orders, prevail as king. Joab reluctantly follows the orders, despite the fact they were abominable to him, as tells us in 1 Chronicles. They were abominable, abominable. I mean, Joab should have said no. So Joab bears some responsibility in all this, just as David did. Joab should have said no. What was? the sin in numbering his men. Scripture doesn't tell us, so we have to dig a little bit. And we can't be exactly sure what the sin was, but almost certainly, David was giving into his pride. Almost certainly. He was counting his wealth, so to speak. You know, we could do that, too. Count our wealth. David wanted to know, how many fighting men do I have? You know, how many do I have? I sometimes count my tomatoes out there. You know, but never count a tomato until it's harvested. Until it's safely in the ladder, inside the house, locked and secure. Because you know, you can count your tomatoes, you come out the next day, and there's less. There's less. Something got them during the night, you know? I mean my tomatoes. So don't count your tomatoes before they're harvested. And David here is counting his fighting men. So pride, perhaps. David had no command from God. We don't see any orders or requests from God to number his men. Neither did David ask. David could say, hey, Lord, what do you think about numbering my men? I mean, David never asked the Lord's direction in this matter. There's a third problem with David's sin here, or concern, that commentators bring up. David erred in how he counted his men, how the count was taken. You see, this is by way of introduction, but there's still some good material here. God's Word explicitly describes a ransom. Those are the words in the KJV, a ransom that was to be collected. It was a shilling required of every man. It wasn't a large amount, but when you counted your fighting men, you were supposed to take a small amount of money, the same. from each man, regardless of wealth or privilege or status, the same amount, because all had sinned equally before God. All needed a ransom. That word is found in, that command is found in Exodus chapter 30. Verse 12, David should have been knowledgeable of this requirement. Here's Exodus chapter 30, verse 12. When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. Whoa. I mean, that's what happened. A plague is coming, David. You know, just a note on that, a lesson, if you would, in our introduction. When we ignore the requirements of God's divine laws, we court disaster. When we ignore God's law, we court disaster. How important is it that we be familiar with God's law, familiar with God's law, with his words, that we be careful to obey God's law. I mean, David here was careless in how he counted his men and he courted disaster. David's conviction, point one in your outline, verse 10. And David's heart smote him. After that, he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned. greatly in that I have done. And now I beseech thee, O Lord, take away the inequity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly." We see, first of all, David's heart was stubborn. David's heart was stubborn. For nine months, pride had deceived David. Pride of heart. We see that just in the verse before that. two verses before that, verse eight. So when they had gone, this is Job and the men, his captains, throughout all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and 20 days. Almost 10 months, David's conscience had slumbered. Job's delay, I mean, David said, you know, why is Job taking so long? I mean, he's taking his own sweet time, isn't he? Yes, he was. Yes, he was, because it was abominable to Job. He didn't even count Benjamin. He said, we see that in 1 Chronicles, because they were like Saul's men. So he said, they can't be trusted. So he didn't count Benjamin. He did not count the Levites. Of course, that was according to God's law. But the delay struck no warning bells in David's mind. The Lord was giving David an opportunity to repent. But David repressed any misgivings, concerns that he had about Job's reluctance, about his captain's reluctance. They'd all said, David, don't do this. But David went ahead. Consider, just for a moment, his heart was stubborn. This was David. This is David we're talking about. This is the one who was favored of God, a man after God's own heart. I mean, this was David. It's a giant killer. David, the man who had won the acclaim of the people when they said, David, Saul has killed his thousands. David, his tens of thousands. This is David, the man who trained his elite guard, a fighting force like we've never seen, perhaps, since then. This was David who had written so many Psalms. David. Wow, one who had diligently striven to honor God throughout his life, had been through so many experiences and had sweet communion with God. Now, in his latter years, why? David, what's he doing in such a deplorable and protracted lapse of faith and communion? What is David doing? Nine, 10 months. Wow. What's David doing? Well, you know, I don't know if you've done any stock market investing, but if you've done some, you can look up different companies on there, and you can see their performance. And you can see, well, this company, you know, I'm tracking a chart. Here's dollars, you know, the value of the stock, and here's time. And you can see, watch the stock, you know, it's doing this kind of stuff. But you're thinking, hey, this is a good stock to invest in. I mean, it's going up. You don't want to invest in this guy. I don't put my money there. Put your money where it's kind of going up. I looked at quite a few of them in my younger years. Stocks going up and trying to think, well, what's a good stock to invest in? Google has been going up for quite a while. I'll put my money into Google. There's a fine print at the bottom. I don't know if any of you read that. But they're required by law to put that fine print at the bottom. It says, past returns. are no guarantee of future performance. Past returns are no guarantee of future performance. You had a stock that was going toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, Gone, what happened? David, what happened? Well, past returns are no guarantee of future performance. The believer, in other words, cannot rest on his laurels. You know, I've been pastor of this church for 35 years, I think I've earned my place. Really? No, no, it's, as the words of John Bunyan, it's drawn, in Pilgrim's Progress, it's drawn swords to the gates of heaven. Drawn swords, you know, keep your sword out because you gotta keep fighting. All the way, David, past returns. are no guarantee of future performance. David here has lost his balance. David has, his heart was stubborn. His heart was stubborn. Anyone. Anyone can be backslidden, regardless, age of maturity or no guarantee, little lapses, you know, like, hey, I'm, you know, don't feel so good today, so I just don't think I'll go to church. I mean, don't come to church if you're feeling bad or if you're sick, but don't make excuses, you know, little lapses. We see that, sadly, you know, and I'm sure it really strikes a pastor's heart, a missionary's heart, when you see men and women who were faithful, and now they're missing a service here or there. You know, you call them up and find out what happened, there's something happened, some problem, excuse, but then they're missing a few more services, and a few more, and then they're only there maybe Sunday mornings, and then they're gone. You know, little lapses add up. The drifting is always a possibility. We learned about drifting in Hebrews 2, verse 1, when we studied that a few years back. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. I mean, drop your anchor. Don't drift. and put your anchor on the Lord Jesus Christ. David's heart was not only stubborn, his heart, praise the Lord, was smote. It says David's heart smote him, smote him. That means afflict, strike. It means even something stronger, whack or wallop. David's heart was walloped, walloped. It was like, you know, they put you on one of those two little sticky pads, you know, and your body's jumping. I mean, that's bad if you're the person laying on the ground. But it's good, they got those sticky pads there to revive you, a shock. That's a sure sign here that David is a believer. Sure sign, he's a regenerate soul. The Lord is here, is giving him some CPR. His heart was walloped. But just a simple bare fact here is dated in 2 Samuel, David's heart smote him. We get a few more nuances in 1 Chronicles 21, verse 7, the same scene where it says, it reveals what aroused David from his spiritual stupor. It was the Lord who put those paddles on David's heart. God was offended. It says in 1 Chronicles 21, verse 7, that God was displeased with this thing, the numbering, with this thing. Displeased is sort of like a mild way of putting it. God was offended. God was offended. God's law, after all, had been completely disregarded. No ransom was collected. No command was given. David's heart was perhaps driven by pride. Therefore, God smote Israel. Therefore, he smote Israel in 1 Chronicles 21. This was before David's confession. It was before the plague fell upon the nation. smote David's heart. God smote David's heart. You know, we just got to pause there for a moment. Because this, this, may I say, is sovereign grace in action. Sovereign grace in action. I mean, David, spiritually, is laying there dead on the floor. Somebody come to his aid. I mean, no one even knew David was, I don't mean spiritually dead, dad, because obviously if you regenerate, you can't be dead, but David is in need, and the Lord came to his aid. The Lord came to David. Grace in action. The Lord, after all, had not forsaken David. The Lord had not forsaken Israel. The Lord was at work. The Lord made David feel his displeasure. I don't know if you felt the Lord's displeasure. You know, it's not pleasant, shall we say, not pleasant to feel the Lord's displeasure. David felt the Lord's displeasure because his heart was walloped, whacked here. And David says, I've sinned. I've sinned greatly. I've sinned greatly against the Lord. The Lord would not allow David to remain indifferent to his sin. Graciously, the Lord brought, wrought both conviction and contrition in his heart. David, in his conscience, his conscience was seared, as with the hot iron. And now he sends him a quick to the Holy Spirit. He says, Lord, what have I done? It's a great, great sin. Note especially, just a few notes before we move on to point two. Note especially, that what David had thought and imagined in his mind would bring him great pleasure. I mean, if I can only know the count of my men, boy, that would be great. I can sit back and feel secure. And I have got millions and millions. The count was, I'm sure, a bit of disappointment to David. But it also caused him great pain. Instead of pleasure, David experiences pain. Notice also, instead of being gratified at the numbers, David now grieves over his folly. Instead of being gratified, David grieves. You know, when we listen to Satan's temptations, and David was indeed tempted by Satan, we find that in 1 Chronicles chapter 21, I think it was. When we listen to temptations, we court trouble. And David didn't do that. You know, the bait was dangling in front of David. You know, if you take that bait, using the fishing analogy, you're in trouble. It led to his downfall. That dangling bait David's downfall, because he took it. He didn't have to. We already talked about that. Just the fact that the Lord was determined to judge Israel, but David didn't have to fall into that trap also. David didn't have to take that bait. The Lord would have found another way to judge Israel. Job didn't have to go out and do the count that was abominable to him. We don't have to sin. We don't have to sin. David's contrition. David's conviction is contrition. Repentance is a stronger word, and really the more correct one, but I wanted to stick with the C. So that was my pride. My pride has smoked me just now, but I stuck with the C. David's confession, because I wanted to say his conviction is conviction, confession, and his correction. But David's contrition. I got that wrong. I said confession here. I want to say it should be contrition. David's contrition. David's contrition. Point two, you can change that in your outline. David's contrition. First of all is recognition. David acknowledges his sin. He calls this by its true nature. He says it's a great sin. David said, Unto the Lord I have sinned greatly in this that I have done. Wow, he calls it a great sin. It's more than a simple realization, more than just remorse here. David unsparingly condemns himself. He doesn't make any excuses here like, hey, Job talked me into it. That would be a lie. That'd be another sin, really. He doesn't make any excuses about people, lust, you know, I wasn't feeling so good, Lord. He doesn't even blame Satan. I mean, after all, Satan, the Lord had allowed Satan to tempt him. He doesn't say, hey, Lord, he did it. No, David takes complete ownership. His pride now becomes the fuel for his repentance. His pride becomes a fuel for his repentance. It's a fervent prayer. He says, I beseech thee, oh Lord, can't you just feel the fervency in that prayer? David seeks God's forgiveness. He determines, by God's grace, never again to repeat this folly. I'm not gonna do that again. Unfortunately, we do other things. There's plenty of things out there to sin, but David says this, I'm not doing this again. He says, take away the iniquity of thy servant. I've done very foolishly. That's his request. Take away the iniquity of a servant, of thy servant. Point 2B on your outline, David's request. He blames no one but himself. The sin was very great. Because he now sees the sin, his sin, in numbering the people in the light of God's holiness. Now he sees it in the light of God's holiness. He says, boy, it seemed like such an innocent thing in the beginning, just counting the people, but now David sees it in a different light. I've done very foolishly. It was vain for David to take pride in his people. It's fighting men. After all, they were God's fighting men, not yours, David. It's vain to take pride in your subjects if they're God's people. It's vain and insane, I might add, vain and insane for us to take pride in the gifts and the graces that the Spirit of God has bestowed upon us. If you have a gift, and you do, everyone has a gift. Use it for the Lord, but don't take pride in it. You know, even the pastor has to struggle with that. I mean, if you preach a message and the altars are full, you think, boy, I nailed that message. I did it. Yes. Maybe it's better if the altars aren't full. You know, and you can say, Lord, help me to do better. Help me to preach with more power and conviction. You know, and if the Lord convicts your heart, you should come up to the altar and pray. I know you can pray in your pew, but come up to the altar. Amen. Encourage your pastor. Not too many of you, so he doesn't get prideful. Anyway, do what the Spirit of the Lord would have you do. Amen. Yes, Sister Angela. Yes. I'm not saying our pastor would think that, but yes, in every opportunity that pride is knocking on the door, there's an opportunity also to give glory to God. Let's open that door, all right, and say, Lord, Thank you, Lord, for helping me to prepare this Sunday School lesson. Amen? Amen. OK. I done very foolishly, David said. His request here is really a plea for God's pardon. He says, take away the inequity of thy servant. Take away its guilt. Take away its power. Take away the penalty, if it be possible. Well, I beseech thee, I beseech thee, if we confess, Matthew Henry said, oh, it's a pithy comment from Matthew Henry. If we confess our sins, then we may pray in faith that God will forgive and take away the iniquity. I think Matthew Hendry got that from the Bible. Don't you? That sounds like a paraphrase. If we confess our sins, then we may pray in faith that God will forgive and take away the iniquity. David's correction, his conviction, his contrition, his correction, point three in your outline. God's design, David's sin was indeed great. After all, pride is number one. on the list of sins that God hates. Proverbs 6, verse 17. Because, you ask why? Why is pride such a big deal? Well, it brings dishonor upon God. Pride does. It's a chief sin. I think pride, in some respects, is probably involved in every sin. Pride, in some respect, in every sin. David's sin must be corrected. And yet, Maybe, you know, if God didn't correct anything, it would just be like our police force who is failing to and force red lights. I see people going through red lights like all the time. I mean, the light turns red and some guy is going down the road at 40 miles an hour and boom, right through that light. I said, hello guy, person, driver, person, what are you doing? What are you doing? I mean, you had plenty of time when it turned yellow to slow up. before it turned red. I know that technically you were only five feet from that stop line when it turned red, so you were almost there. Whereas if there's no policeman there, if the policeman was there and he, boom, they got a ticket, pretty soon people wouldn't do that anymore. But they're not enforcing that red light for whatever reason. And so that's the same, if God never enforced sin, there were never any correction, pretty soon we'd all figure that out, won't we? Hey, there's no correction. No one's enforcing this. The Lord is gonna correct the sin of David's. But the punishment, must fit this in. David was kind of proud of his numbers, so guess what? They're going to be fewer, fewer. Whoa, 70,000 fewer fighting men. And secondly, The people must have a share. In fact, the people must have a large share because God's anger was kindled against Israel. That was in verse one of 1 Samuel chapter 24. God's anger was kindled against Israel, after all. Israel was, David was the vehicle that God used, but Israel was where God's anger was. God's design is fourfold, according to Matthew and Henry. First of all, the humble David, that he might be more careful in the future. Certainly, he will be more careful in the future, I guarantee that. To upbraid him for his conceit, David had thought of himself as a proud ruler. So the Lord says, proud ruler, you choose your punishment. I don't want to be that kind of a proud river. Choosing my punishment, none of them were good. I mean, Lord, isn't there door number four? How about another choice? Number three, to get David some encouragement. I mean, David has to choose his punishment, but now David has a choice. Which punishment do you want? The Lord has. And to enable David to endure, seeing you picked your punishment, You chose, you picked it, David. Now bear with it, bear with that punishment. A fifth one I might add is to test David's heart. Give him an opportunity that we're gonna see in just a few minutes to exercise his faith. The Lord's anger against Israel explains some of the puzzling passages, puzzling aspects of this passage. Why such a small action, we put that small in quotes, but such a small action on David's part, which so greatly displeased the Lord." Well, God was angry with Israel. It also explains why the Lord was angry with David after allowing Satan to tempt him. I mean, the Lord said to Satan, come on in, and there's David, go to it. Well, and then the Lord's angry with David. Well, the Lord's anger against Israel. explains a portion of God's anger here, and why the judgment was so heavy. David, after all, had confessed his sin. I believe it was a sincere confession. He repented, he sought forgiveness, and then boom, the judgment falls. Why was it so heavy? Well, the Lord was angry, not only with David, but with Israel. Israel. David's decision, it was a wise decision, may I say. The Lord had a grievance with Israel, you see, that could be not averted by David's prayer, David's prayer of confession, David's prayer of repentance. This is a governmental judgment upon Israel as a nation. You know, God judges nations just as he judges individuals. God judges nations. We've seen nations throughout history that have fallen, collapsed. We see the rise and the fall of the Roman Empire. There's been empire after empire after empire that have come under God's judgment for their wickedness, for their evil. And the prophet Gad presents David with three choices. Verse 11, for when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, go and say unto David, thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things, choose thee one of them, so I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, verse 13, and told him and said unto him, shall seven years of famine come upon thee in thy land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies while they pursue thee? Or that there be three days pestilence in the land? Now advise and see what answer I shall return to him. that sent me. Wow, three choices. None of them are good. None of them are good. Israel had just endured three years of famine, and now the prospect of seven more years is a little daunting. David had already seen what three years had done to devastate the country. The Philistines, in judgment number two, had only recently been subdued with the, again, pillaged the land for three months, three days' pestilence. Well, that seems like the easiest choice from a human perspective. I mean, let's just get this over with surgically. David only objects to the sword. Verse 14, David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great. And let me not fall into hand of man. And David seemingly only objects to the sword. I'm in a great strait. A great strait. I mean, hello. How did you get in this strait, David? A great strait. Matthew Henry said sin brings men into straits. You know, we think, This is a big problem. Well, where did it come from? They made some bad choices, sin. Matthew Henry goes on to say, wise and good men often distress themselves. by their own folly. Sin brings men into great straits. David here is in great straits because of his own sin. I'm in a great strait. He doesn't explicitly choose pestilence, but that's a judgment that most closely corresponds to falling into the hands of the Lord. After all, the sword and the famine, the first two choices, the famine and the sword, they devour all. Well, not quite all. Because the sword and the famine, often those who are wealthy and privileged, escape the sword and the famine. I mean, hello, David is wealthy and he's privileged. David, no doubt, would escape. the judgments, the first two judgments, the sword and the famine. He'd probably eat well for seven years. After all, he's a king. And he'd probably be safe from the Philistines pillaging the land. I think David casts himself, himself and his people into God's hand. I mean, no one is safe from the plague. No one is safe. We saw that during COVID. No one is safe. Anybody can get the plague, even the president. You think the president ought to be the safest person there is from the plague, even the president. You know, the plagues years before, I remember there was a pope, somebody or other, who had tried to avoid getting the plague, and he sequestered himself, and he had fires burning on his left. and on his right, and in the smoky middle was the Pope trying to stay safe from the plague, because he thought the fire should keep him away, and the black plague back in those days. Hey, you know what? David, I think, puts himself on an equal par with the people. He's not going to be safe from the pestilence. David casts himself into the God's hands knowing his mercies are great. This is God, David's wise decision. It says, David said to Gad, I'm in great strait. Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord for his mercies are great. Let's not fall in the hand of the man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning, even to the time appointed. And there died of the people from Dan into Beersheba 70,000 men." Whoa, that's a lot. We already described that last week. I did a rough count. If you proportion that in our country, our population, it'd be like two and a half to three million people, three days. Boom. I mean, and this plague was not like COVID. I mean, it started in China. You know, we tried to close down our airports, or at least quarantine Chinese visitors. I guess that's all we did. But it was too late already. Hello. The plague had spread from China. You could track it to Italy and to Washington State. And here it was there in New York City. And next thing you know, I heard it was in Sugar Land. And you know, wow, but this plague's different. This plague started everywhere. Three days, I mean, it didn't start up in Dan and Mudeber, Sheba, and it was, three days, phew, it was like everywhere, everywhere, plague. David's wise decision is proof that David has recovered from his folly. He's returned to his ways of prudence. When we judge ourselves for our sin, and take our place in the dust before the throne of grace, then we're brought to a greater realization of God's mercies. I don't believe the plague actually lasted the entire three days, but we don't know for sure. I mean, the commentators don't believe that either. The plague may not have been three days. God called it short. when he came to Jerusalem. We'll read about that next week. The Lord had dealt with David's conscience. He brought him into conviction first, then into contrition. And now the Lord gives David an opportunity to display his faith. David gives the Lord an opportunity to display his faith. And what a grand exhibition of faith that we see. Wow, David, let us fall into the hands of the Lord, David says, his mercies. are indeed great. David's faith now, boy, it shines. And David, you know, like the phoenix, rises up from that ashes of sin and folly, and David is now standing tall. He's ready to face God's judgment. And David knew what men are capable of from personal experience. And they're untreacherous. They're treacherous. They're cruel. They're unstable. And David says, don't let me fall into the hands of men. Steps of restoration. Just a summary on your outline. There must be contrition first. David's heart smote him. It must come first. This is basic, indispensable. This is the first ingredient. If we're gonna be restored, if we're following the recipe, look for ingredient number one, self-judgment. Self-judgment, contrition. Step number two, confession. I've sinned greatly, says David, humbling ourselves before the Lord. No more excuses. accepting full blame. This is true repentance. It really is taking sides against us with God. Taking sides with God against us. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. God never forgives a sinner or a saint where there is no repentance. I'm not saying you can lose your salvation, but you're not going to experience God's forgiveness for that sin until there's repentance. You need to repent of your sin. Seek God's face with humble confession, and then you must submit to the consequences. Take away the iniquity of thy servant, a guilt and defilement are always blotted out and cleansed when there's restoration. David says, take away the iniquity of my servant, I beseech thee. Take away my guilt, take away my defiance, defilement. Take away my guilt, take away my defilement. But the consequences are dealt out as best suits God's eternal purposes. The consequences are dealt out. God often gives us some solemn tokens of His displeasure, His disapproval of our sins, by making us to suffer the painful effects of those sins in this life. David himself, well, we don't know if it's David for sure. I think David wrote most of Psalm 119, but his name's not on it. It was compiled by someone, maybe David, we don't know. But Psalm 119, verse 71, the psalmist wrote, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. I'm convinced that David We're saying that at this point in time. It's good for me that I've been afflicted. I might learn my statutes. And we're going to finish up next week with the last of 2 Samuel, chapter 24. We've still got a few more things to study in the book of Kings, but then we'll be finishing David's life. After much prayer and consideration, I've decided that we would, as a Sunday school class, we would begin to study 1 and 2 Thessalonians. And after we finished Life of David, for a couple of reasons, one is I've never studied 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, so I said, hey, that would be a good one for me to learn. Secondly, I haven't heard many messages from those two books. I'm not faulting anyone. I just haven't, don't remember many of them. I don't remember hardly any. So I'm thinking, hey, If it's a neglected book, we ought to focus on it. We ought to spend some time. And then it talks about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a theme in both messages. I thought, well, that's an appropriate topic. So we should be looking for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's also one of Paul's earliest books to the church in Thessalonica. He was only in Thessalonica for a short period of time. He never returned that we know of. But he wrote them an epistle. what a blessing that was to Thessalonians when they received that epistle from the Apostle Paul.