doing our study of the prophets in the Bible and we have made our way to look at two prophets mentioned during the time of David and Saul in that those two men are Gad and Nathan. They are mentioned more than once and we have a few things about them that stand out to us. I I shall not name names but for those of you online, it was brought to my attention that it may be for you EGAD. But we'll remain nameless on that one. We're going to look at GAD first of all. And we'll start, as it says, it will be in 1 Chronicles, so you can turn over there if you haven't already, 1 Chronicles 21. But Gad lived during the time of Saul and David, but is only mentioned in connection with David, which is kind of interesting because the Bible says that Saul reigned for almost 40 years. And Gad was active speaking to David. God was sending him to David, but Nowhere in the Bible do we see that God sent Gad to Saul. Samuel, of course, dealt with Saul, but then after Samuel's death and Saul's rejection of God and God's word, Saul pretty much cut the ties there. And as we saw a week or so ago, he was so desperate to get word from God that he tried to call Samuel back from the dead. in order to find some word from God. So Gad was not used to speak to Saul. He was used when speaking with David. What is interesting about Gad is that he is referred to as both a prophet and a seer. 1 Chronicles 21 and verse 9 tells us that it says, Now, it is true that the terms prophet and seer are basically interchangeable. And if you look at 1 Samuel 9, we looked at this a few weeks ago as well, we have the explanation for this, the terms changed. And here, in 1 Samuel 9, this is when Samuel is about to meet Saul and tell him that God had chosen him to be the first king of Israel. But in verse 9 it says, Before time in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer. For he that is now called a prophet was before time called a seer. So it is true that they were a basically interchangeable word. But the way these words are used in 2 Chronicles 29 and verse 25 indicate a slight difference in meaning. And we'll go over there and see that. 2 Chronicles 29 and verse 25. Now the context here is speaking about Hezekiah and his reign, which is many, many years after the time period at which we're looking tonight. It mentions these two terms. In verse 25, it says, So there's an interesting difference made there. It doesn't say Gad the prophet and Nathan the prophet, or Gad the seer and Nathan the seer. One's a seer, one's a prophet. A seer has the connotation of one who receives revelation, while a prophet would signify one who speaks. And again, the difference is pretty fine here, but it is still there. It seems Gad was more one who would receive revelation and give it, and Nathan was used by God to speak the truth, as many of you, I'm sure, are aware of. We'll see here in a little while. That's exactly what he did. So that's kind of an interesting note about Gad. The first time he appears, though, is in 1 Samuel 22. And this is after David has just been on the run from Saul. He just started his life of exile as a refugee. And in 1 Samuel 22, in chapter 21, he comes to the priest, Himalek, and gets Goliath's sword and some of the showbread that was there and leaves. And then he departs. And in verse 1, he went to the cave at Dulem, and his brethren went there. And verse 2 tells us all the people that were discontented, had debt, were in distress, they all came to him. And there were with him about 400 men. And David, verse 3, went thence to Mizpah of Moab. And he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me. and he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold, depart and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed and came into the forest of Herod." So, the first time that Gad appears, he gave advice to David and his 400 men that did not appear to make sense. Why is that? Well, The Hebrew word used here for hold is what it's printed there on your lesson, and I'm not going to pronounce it. Those of you online can, yes, I'm sorry. But its meaning is a castle, fortress, or stronghold. And as you can see, the Metsoda or Matsu, whatever, it's very similar to Masada. And that's why I put in here, some scholars believe that this was the stronghold of Masada, which Herod later made a fortress, and where many Jews made a last stand against the Romans. It's actually pretty famous in secular history. as almost impossible to defeat. Of course, the Romans did, just because they're Roman. They just boom, boom, boom, boom until it falls. But it took them a very long time to do that. So that's kind of an interesting point there. And the whole reason for putting that in there is to say that whatever this was, this was a very safe place for David. It was a very advantageous position for him and his men to be in this place. So for David and his men to leave their safe defense and return to Judah, where Saul can harass them much more easily, required faith. Faith in God's Word, faith that Gad was telling them the truth. Because that just doesn't make sense from a common sense standpoint. David, in his exile, Saul's tried to kill him already. He's made it clear he wants David dead. The last place David should then be is where Saul can easily get to him. And yet, Gad tells him that's exactly what he needs to do. He needs to do that. Don't stay in the hold. Go back to Judah. It's also interesting to note that not once is it recorded that anyone in that group protested Gad's instructions. There's over 400 people here. But there's no record here of anyone saying, wait a minute, let's rethink this, okay? Here's what he's saying, but here's the facts, all right? Here's reality. We're on the run. We're here in this place because Saul was giving us problems in that place. And this guy says we want to go back to that place? Nobody said that. And that there indicates, it reveals that he was a very respected and very trusted man of God. They knew that what he said was the truth. It was God's Word, in other words, and they were going to trust it. This action of his also reveals his courage in that he deliberately sought out David, a man on the run, hunted by King Saul, in order to give David God's message. And why was it dangerous for him? Well, if you continue on in chapter 22 here, verse number 7, then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Here now, ye Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that showeth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse? If you know it, why do they have to show it to you? He's just having a pity party here. He's just getting making sure everyone knows what a horrible position he's in and how bad he feels. If you already know it, you don't need them to show you. "'And there is none of you that is sorry for me, "'or showeth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant "'against me to lie in wait as at this day.' "'Then answered Doeg the Edomite, "'which was set over the servants of Saul, "'and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, "'to Ahimelech the son of Ahithob.'" And that's what we mentioned back there in chapter 21. "'And he inquired of the Lord for him, "'and gave him victuals, "'and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.'" And you can read the rest of it. Saul calls the priest there, and he chews him out. Says, how are you conspiring with the son of Jesse against me? And this poor guy had no clue. He didn't know. David told him he was on secret business for the king, and he had to leave fast. And that's all he knew. And he told the king that. He said, I didn't do anything for him that I wouldn't do for anybody else, really. I didn't know anything about this. I'm innocent of all this. In verse 16, And the king said, Thou shalt surely die of him, elect thou and all thy father's house. And the king said unto the footman that stood about him, Turn and slay the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me. Well, that wasn't true. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. To their credit, And the king said to Doeg, turn thou and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned and he fell upon the priests and slew on that day four score and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings and oxen and asses and sheep with the edge of the sword." That's what would happen to anyone who tried to help David. And Gad was willing to do that because God said, tell David this. You see, it reveals his courage that he was willing to do that. Some verses came to my mind about this example of Gad. We know Proverbs 3, verses 5 and 6, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. That's a perfect verse to describe David's situation, David and his men. What looks good to them, we stay right here. We're off Saul's radar. He doesn't bother us and we're just fine. We have a good place to defend. We can get supplies as we need it. This is the best thing. This is what makes sense. God said no. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him. In other words, if God says it, do it. I don't understand it. Nowhere in the Bible does it say you must understand what God says before you do what God says. You're supposed to just do what God says. Well, I don't know if I can do that. Why not? He's perfect. He can do no wrong. If He tells you to do something, it's right. Right? Exactly. It's right. You don't have to question it. You don't have to worry about, well, I hope this is the right thing. If God said it, do it. Don't trust you. Trust what God said. In all thy ways acknowledge him in what? He shall direct thy paths. I don't know about any other situation, but this situation that David was in right here, he could use some direction from God. And so many times we get direction from God, and instead of being like David and doing what he says, we wanna critique it and say, well, that doesn't sound good to me. Well, I don't know about that. If God said it, just do it. Trust in the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5, 7, what does it say? For we walk by faith, not by sight. We walk by faith. Blind faith, I had, I don't know how many guys tell me that when I used to work in the shop. You just believe you'd go on by blind faith, you don't have anything to back that up. Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no, no, no. I don't walk by blind faith, I walk by faith in God's word. This is reality here. This is a solid foundation. This isn't the nebulous, whoa. He's gonna just take a leap and hope something good happens. That's not what faith is. That's foolishness, but it's not faith. No, no, no, we walk by faith in God's word, not by sight. And then if you go to Psalm 37, I'm not quoting that because I don't have it memorized. Psalm 37 in verse five, we could look at a whole bunch of verses just in this Psalm, but it says here in verse five, commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Commit, commit thy way. Now when David and his men followed the word of God from Gad, that was a commitment. That was a serious thing to make that decision and go because they were leaving behind their defense and trusting God. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. And in New Testament we have an example in Acts chapter 5. Acts 5 and verse 29. We read this and say, boy, the apostles were really something. Well, they were, but they were only really something because God's really something. They were just vessels that God used. And this is when they were brought before the Jews a second time. In verse 28, the Jewish leader said, Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, And that's what we see with Gad, his determination to give the message to David that God told him to give, even though it was very dangerous for him to do so. He knew, I obey God. I fear God before I fear man. Now, it's later on in David's life that we see Gad mentioned again, and that's in 2 Samuel 24, and we'll go there. It's also mentioned in 1 Chronicles 21. And here, this is one of David's, how shall we say it, not so brighter moment. 2 Samuel 24, it's good we don't have those. 2 Samuel 24, verse one, it says, and again, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, go, number Israel and Judah. For the king said to Joab, the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people." Now, we don't have time to go to it, but you can go back in the Old Testament and see that God made it clear they were not to number the military, because when you do that, what do you do? You start trusting in your military. Wow, we got that many people? Yeah, nobody's gonna mess with us. God knew that's exactly what would happen. He said, don't do it. You're not trusting in your military, you trust Me. I will protect you, I will deliver you. Trust Me. You don't need to know how many soldiers you've got. I know how many soldiers you've got. That's all you need to know. He made that clear. But here David is determined, I want to know how many we've got. Verse 3 says, And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it. But why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel." And what happens? Well, they go through, they number them, they come back and they give the sum of the people, and verse 9 says, there were in Israel 800,000 valiant men that drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000 men. In verse 10 says, and David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And would that our heart would smite us before we do really dumb things like this. Even though it is trying to and tell us, hey, you don't wanna do this, but we do it anyway. And then when we're done, oh, I shouldn't have done that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we shouldn't. 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 iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. 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, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto 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 thy land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait. That's where we always end up when we do foolish things we know we shouldn't do. And let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of 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 even to Beersheba 70,000 men. 70,000 men. He gave David three choices of punishment. because of his presumptuous sin in numbering the people. It was deliberate. There's just no excuse for it. This sin was so blatantly wrong that even Joab tried to resist it, but to no avail. That says a lot. If you are a Bible student and you know the life of Joab, we're not talking about a Sunday school teacher there. Joab was a murderer. He was a deceitful murderer. I mean, for Joab to say, you don't want to do this, this is wrong, that puts you in a very bad light. That's what we're trying to say here. It was so bad that even Joab tried to resist it. And the Bible says the captains of the host, they tried as well. But David was not to be deterred. He was going to do it. But what's interesting is that as we continue on here, we'll finish this, it says, but it was also Gad who told David what to do in order to stay the plague. He was the one who brought the three choices, but he was also the one who brought the solution to the problem. Verse 16 says, and when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed the people, it is enough. stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite. And David spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the people and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? So Gad was the one who brought the punishment to David, but he was also the one who told him what to do in order to satisfy the Lord. And of course, we know it was, they built an altar there and offered to the Lord. So, we see a little bit about what the Bible says about Gad. Now, Nathan is called a prophet, and while Gad was with David earlier in his, before Nathan was, there is more said about Nathan in the Bible than there is about Gad. The first thing we see is in 2 Samuel 7, and that is where he encouraged David to build the temple. but then went back to tell him that God said no. This is interesting to me. Beginning in verse 1 of 2 Samuel 7, it says, And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies, that the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. The obvious meaning here is that this isn't right. God, we should have a house for Him. He's just intense right now. In the Ark of the Covenant, that's where it was. Then Nathan said to the king, verse 3, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. And it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord. Shalt thou build me in house for me to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. And in all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me in house of cedar? Now therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep coat, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel. And I was with thee, whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as before time. And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee in house. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. And he shall build in house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. It's interesting, even though his advice was good, he immediately corrected it so that it was in submission to and in line with God's will. You know sadly there are a lot of ministers and preachers who would not do that simply because it would require them to humble themselves and lose face. It's true. That's hard to do for a lot of people. I've done it so much it's pretty easy for me. That's another story though. He didn't have a problem with it at all. He gave advice to David and said, yeah, do it. It's going to be, this is a good idea. And yet that night, God says, no, I don't want him to do that. You go and tell him he's not going to do it. There would be a lot of people who would really be hesitant to go tell the king, what I told you yesterday was a good idea, isn't it? Because God said it's not. There would be a lot of people who would have trouble getting those words out. But Nathan, he didn't have a problem at all. He immediately corrected his statement so that it lined up with what God said. There's a lot of things going on in churches today that people do because so-and-so says instead of what God said. That's where we've gotten into a lot of trouble in a lot of places. Well, we do it this way because brother so-and-so says in his book that's how we need to do it. Well, that's fine for brother so-and-so and the thing that he's doing is maybe not a bad thing. but that doesn't make it scripture. That doesn't put it on the same plane as, thus saith the Lord. What has happened is that too many people have taken so-and-so's statements and made them equal with, thus saith the Lord. That's where we get into trouble. And Nathan was not one of those people. He did not see his statements to be in competition with God's statements. He immediately was in submission to God's will on that. He most famously confronted David with his grievous sins, and that is 2 Samuel 12, one of the more familiar passages of Scripture. You know what is sad here is that we have the same situation, chapter 11. You ever stop and look and see how many, quote, speed bumps God put in his way to try to keep him from getting into this mess in the first place. Look at it says, it came to pass in chapter 11 after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that's the first one, he was where he wasn't supposed to be. There was something for him to do and he needed to be there and do it and he wasn't. That David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Raba, but David tarried still at Jerusalem. Here's another one. I don't know who this person was, but... He was right on here. I think what he was doing was doing his best to try to make it clear to David, you don't want to do this. You don't want to do this. Why? Because if you look in the list of David's mighty men, you will see that Eliam was one of David's most trusted mighty men. Bathsheba was his daughter. On top of that, you have Uriah, the Hittite. one of David's most mighty men, most loyal men, who was married to Bathsheba, the daughter of one of his most loyal, most mighty men. And she, Bathsheba, is the granddaughter of David's most trusted counselor, Ahithophel. You ever wonder why when Absalom rebelled and Ahithophel went with Absalom like that? Clears it up now, doesn't it? Yeah, you can fully understand why when David is run out of town by Absalom, by Hithophel, says, yeah, now he's gonna pay for what he did to my family. Of course, David's God's anointed. And because David repented, as we'll see, Nathan said, thou shalt not die. And it was just too much for Hithophel. He couldn't see his revenge. And he went and got his things in order and hung himself, hanged himself. Such a mess. But how many things did this person right here, it's as though this man is doing everything short of waving red flags and flashing a red light and saying, danger, no. He's trying to get David to get the right perspective. Hey, this woman you're looking at is one of your best soldiers' daughter, who is married to another one of your best soldiers. Verse 4, and David sent messengers and took her. Once again, there is no excuse for this sin. Just like the one we looked at a moment ago. No excuse. And this goes on for something we know. Of course, she ends up pregnant. He covers it up by getting her husband killed. And there's some time that passes. And then we get to chapter 12. The Lord sent Nathan unto David, verse 1, and he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds. Pardon me. But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him. Here we see, first of all, he told a parable that brought David to pronounce his own guilt. Nathan knew how David's mind worked. And he used this parable to get us to verse number five. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, that the man that hath done this thing shall surely die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had no pity. David's the one who pronounced his own guilt here. And he doesn't even know it yet. And that's when he boldly proclaimed to David's face his sins before God. And Nathan said to David, thou art the man. I have no idea how Nathan said that. There are some people who think he just, you know, roared it out and started ripping into him. I don't know, he could have. But I don't know if it would have been more more of an impact for him to just simply look at him and say very simply, thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed the king over Israel. and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. What is God saying here? Simply this, God is perfect, he is good. Whatever he had given David was enough. You ever count how many wives he had before Bathsheba? I can't tell you the number right now, but I can tell you it was enough. There's no excuse for this. And that's what God's getting him to see. Look, if you were in such a position where you had to have something and it was a real need, I would have given it to you. How many times are we in that same position? We think, how come I don't have this? Or how come I can't have this? Or we're trying to do this because it's what we want. And why doesn't God see that? That's because God sees and knows we don't need it. Or worse, knows that if we had it, what would happen? This is an excellent biblical example for us to trust God. Well, it's not fair. Life's not fair. It's not. God is. God is fair. And yet, when somehow we're experiencing some unfairness, who do we blame? The one who's fair? That's not how it works. God makes it abundantly clear, David, I did everything for you. I put you here in this position and I have given you way more than you could ever possibly want. Why? Verse 9, wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? Thou, thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with a sword. Why could he do that? He wasn't even there. God says he did. and has taken his wife to be thy wife, and hath slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. And then he gives him the punishment. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. Absalom. And I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this Son. For thou didst it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the Son. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou shalt not die. How be it? Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. The child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. You remember what David said in his reaction to the parable up there? Verse number 6, he shall restore the lamb fourfold. You know, Uriah died, but Nathan lost, or David lost how many kids? It's a sad thing. He didn't die, but several of his children did. You cannot sin against God and expect your life to be just fine. It can't happen. And here Nathan is used of God to bring that sin before David's face. And David, to his credit, repents. And what's really interesting about this is that even though the child dies, David, Bathsheba, they have another child. And in verse number 24 it says, David comforted Bathsheba and went in unto her and lay with her and she bare a son and he called his name Solomon and the Lord loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet and he called his name Jedidiah because of the Lord. Jedidiah simply means beloved of the Lord. The same prophet who brought the sin and punishment before David is the same one God used to encourage them and bless Solomon. Sin is a serious business and the prophet of God needs to be serious about his business in making it clear to the people. Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 1. These are just a few of way, way many verses we could look at. Isaiah 15, verse 1, God says here, Why is it then that the overwhelming majority of churches are not preaching against sin? Because they don't want to show people their sin. Because that's not how you get a lot of people. Yet we have God's Word here very clear, show my people their transgression. How can people turn from their sin until they know what it is? How can they see it until it's explained? Many people don't even know a lot of what they do is sin, especially in our heathen, hedonistic society. There is so much going on that is simply culture to most people today that is sin, according to God's Word. Cry aloud. Show my people their transgressions." And that's exactly what Nathan did. Micah chapter 3. Micah the contemporary of Isaiah. Micah chapter 3 and verse 8. Here's what he says. He said, "...but truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin." To declare it. to make it clear. That's what the prophet is supposed to do. Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. Very familiar passage. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. In order to do that, we need to know what's right and what's wrong. And the man of God is to faithfully teach that and preach that from God's Word. That authority is from Almighty God. It's His Word. And for those who have been called to teach it and to preach it, they need to do that. They need to do it. Look at the result it had in David. He repented. I know a lot of people don't repent when they hear the truth. David did. And as you go through the Bible and you see that, for example, in Ezekiel and in Jeremiah, God told both of them, they won't listen, they won't repent, but I'm still giving them the chance. I'm still giving them the opportunity. I know they won't, but I still give them the opportunity. Now, again, to human thinking, well, if you're not gonna do it, then why even waste your time? Well, it's not a waste of time because God is not willing that any should perish. They still need to have that opportunity. With David, he repented because Nathan was willing to show him his sin. Something else about Nathan. He worked to foil Adonijah's plot to seize the kingdom and was instrumental in seeing Solomon established on the throne. 1 Kings 1 tells us this. It is very discouraging, really, when you read about David and his relationship with his children. It was almost like there was a complete disconnect there. He just almost went out of his way, it seems, to not have a relationship with his children. and it caused him a lot of problems. Amnon, of course we know he forced his half-sister Tamar. Absalom, her brother, that's how that started, planned his revenge for a long time and got it, killed Amnon. The second child was by Abigail. We don't know what happened to him, but then you have Absalom who tried to take over the kingdom and was killed in the rebellion. And then after him, next in line was Adonijah. In 1 Kings 1, David is old and he's close to death and they know it. But verse 5 says, Then Adonijah the son of Haggath exalted himself, saying, I will be king. And he prepared him chariots and horsemen and fifty men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time, and saying, Why hast thou done so? And he also was a very goodly man, and his mother bare him after Absalom. And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest. And they, following Adonijah, helped him. But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rehi, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. So he gets everyone together, they have a big feast, and he pretty much declares himself to be the new king. In verse number 10 it says, But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty man Solomon his brother, he called not. Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggath, doth reign? And David, our lord, knoweth it not? Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon. Go and get thee in unto King David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then doth Adonijah reign? Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words. And that's exactly what happens. And as the plan unfolds, David tells them, get Solomon, put him on my mule and have him anointed king and we will officially turn the kingdom over to him and he will sit on the throne. And that's exactly what happens. So Nathan here really is the tool that God used to make sure that Solomon would be the next king and foil Adonijah's attempt to seize the kingdom. It is clear that Nathan was not only a prophet but also a true close friend of David because in 1 Kings 4 and verse 5 we see something interesting. In Solomon's reign it starts listing the princes which he had. And in verse number 5, it says, And Azariah, the son of Nathan, was over the officers. And Zabod, the son of Nathan, was principal officer and the king's friend. Nathan was more than just a prophet who occasionally showed up and told David what God said. Nathan seems to have been a close friend of David and a true friend. of him." Now both men wrote histories. Gad wrote of David, 1 Chronicles 29 tells us that. Nathan wrote of David and Solomon. That got left out of there. But you can see that in those two verses. Both were very involved in organizing the order of service for the priests. And that brings us back to 2 Chronicles 29 where we looked earlier at the beginning. 2 Chronicles 29 and verse 25. We want to look at this with a little different focus now. This again is in Hezekiah's time. Hezekiah did a whole lot of revival work in getting things back where they need to be because his father Ahaz did everything in his power to pull it away from God and worship false gods. But it says in verse 25, He set the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet. Both of them were very instrumental in working with David to set up the courses of the priests and all of the order of the services. So they were very involved in that. And both were used by God to confront David's deliberate sins. Very heavy messages to bear to a king who has absolute authority. David could have easily said, I don't want to hear it, you know, off with their heads. That could have happened. But they were willing to take God's Word to the king himself, even though that was not a message David would want to hear. In Acts chapter 20 Paul kind of sums up his life there serving the Lord and that's kind of what he brings out here as he knows he will not see the believers again there in Asia that he had been so familiar with. He says in verse 26, Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. all the counsel of God, not just the love of God, not just prophecy, not just how to get money and use God to be your genie, not just little things here, pieces of the Bible that we focus on and only preach on, the whole counsel of God, the love of God as well as the judgment and righteousness of God. the things that we need in our life, we just saw in Titus 2, the things we are to speak and rebuke and exhort with all authority, all of God's Word. Take heed therefore, verse 28, unto yourselves and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. Remember, Jesus told Peter three times, feed my sheep, feed my sheep. The prophet today is not one who tells the future outside of what God has revealed in His Word. He's not one who tells the future. He doesn't receive special revelations from God today because they're all here in this book. What he does do, if he's going to be a true prophet of God, is speak the whole counsel of God, and he's going to speak what God said, not what he thinks, not what people like or don't like. It's the Word of God. And as we go through, we see these prophets, and we read about them over and over again, we see that standing out, those men who simply served God and told it like it was. told the truth and told people God's Word. Gad and Nathan are two excellent examples of that. And we can learn a lot more from them. We studied their lives more, but just these few things tonight are enough to dwell on, I think, to trust God and do what God says, whether we understand it or not. I just don't see it. I just don't understand it. You don't have to. Is it not enough that God sees it? It should be. That's the whole point of us trusting Him, because we can't trust ourselves. We can't trust what it looks like. He is above it all. He knows it all, He sees it all. And when He says, do this, okay, I'll do that. Well, why are you gonna do that? That doesn't make sense. How are you gonna do that? Well, I'm not gonna do it. God is, because that's what God said. And that's what we need to get back to with God's Word. I can't live a life, if I lived according to what the Bible really said, how many people, I wouldn't have any friends. Yeah. That's a pretty good bet right there. Yeah, that's true. That's very true. I don't remember the name of the one martyr of the early church, but he was before one of the councils and they were just, berating him and saying, don't you know that the whole world is against you? And his very simple response was, well, then I'm against the world. I'm against the world because I'm not budging, because I'm standing on the word of God. So the whole world can be against me, but I'm not changing. That didn't make sense to anyone sitting in that room, but it was the truth. It was the truth. Yeah, it does. Will you walk by faith? Walk by faith. Obey God's Word. That's what we need more of today from those who know Christ as their Savior. A simple, simple trust and faith. God said it. We need to believe it. Bow our heads for prayer. Again, if you're listening to us tonight or you're here and you don't know Christ as your Savior, the Bible is clear. Jesus Christ is the only way. there is no other option for us. We need to come to Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, the Bible says. We can't trust us. We can't trust man. We trust Christ. Repent of your sin. Confess your sin to God. Ask Him to forgive you and save you. Christian again, God has blessed us so much in giving us the complete Word. It's here. It's here to guide us. We can trust it. Yet so many times we don't. We must learn to trust God and walk by faith and not by sight. And make that commitment, commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him. He shall bring it to pass. Lord, I pray you would help us. Thank you for the examples again that you have given us in your word. Help us to learn from them. Help us, Father, to draw closer to you through your word, through prayer. Help us to trust you. Just simply trust you and to follow your word. no matter what is going on around us, no matter what it may seem or what it may look like, we would just have that peace that can only come from simply placing ourselves completely in your hands and resting in your word. Thank you and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.