October 5, 2025
Dr. Rex Yancy
I hope you brought your imagination today. We are visiting II Samuel Chapter 21, the first 10 verses.
We’re taking a trip. We’re going to the airport and flying to Atlanta (even to go to heaven in the south, you must go through Atlanta). We fly across the pond to Paris, then fly to Tel Aviv in Israel. The bus is waiting to take us to the Hill of Gideon. Picture an amphitheater. We see a host of characters before us. King David – we know it’s him, he’s good looking, dressed in purple, no doubt a king known for his wisdom and wealth, without rival, unmatched in popularity. We ask why he is here. He tells us I am here because of a famine. God is responsible and he told he the reason, because Saul broke his covenant to the Gibeonites. The greatest need today is restitution, making a wrong right. This is a characteristic of a child of God, he wants us to repent. David was a great sinner but was also a great repenter. David prayed for forgiveness (Psalm 51). Because of his sin, he felt dirty though he could afford the finest baths, linens and perfumes.
A girl wrote a letter to Walmart “I stole gum from your store. I have been saved and I am sorry. Enclosed is the money for the gum.“
The greatest need in the church is for forgiveness. This past week I celebrated 60 years in the ministry. I have seen discord in many churches, people with hate in their heart that needs to be eradicated. Bitterness is a terrible sin. The longer bitterness is in your life, the longer it takes to get rid of it. We need to forgive each other. By being bitter, you have done more to Jesus than anyone can do to you.
At a revival, a number of people were saved, even in the parking lot. Two men, both deacons, once friends, had been on the outs with one another for years. They met at the front during that revival and got right with each other and eventually fished together again. We need to be able to work things out. It affects our family, our life and our prayers. Do you need to forgive someone? Leave your gift at the altar go and make amends.
Back to the amphitheater, seven men impaled on sticks, dead. We ask “what did they do to deserve such a punishment? The answer “they are not there because of something they did but something their grandfather did.
At one time Saul got too big for his britches, became proud. A man at that same revival in Atlanta came forth and said I just received my doctorate and got too proud. I ask God to forgive me. We are hindered by pride. Kids today are on drugs, alcohol, involved in casual sex. They learn from their parents. Most families today are dysfunctional, divided. Your testimony goes on after you die. Children follow patterns. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Daddy had a little boy.
His soul was white as snow;
He never went to Sunday school
‘Cause Daddy wouldn’t go.
He never heard the word of God,
That thrills the childish mind.
While other children went to class
This child was left behind.
As he grew from babe to youth,
Dad saw to his dismay,
A soul that once was snowy white,
Became a dingy gray.
Realizing the son was lost,
Dad tried to win him back.
But now the soul that once was white,
Had turned an ugly black.
Dad even started back to church,
And Bible study too.
He begged the preacher,
Isn’t there a thing that you can do?
The preacher tried, but failed and said,
We’re just too far behind.
I tried to tell you years ago,
But you would pay no mind.
And so another soul is lost,
That once was white as snow,
And Sunday school would have helped
But Daddy wouldn’t go.
At the amphitheater is a little old lady. You’re out of place. You shouldn’t be here. She said, that boy there, and that one – they are mine. I will not leave this place until the winds rattle their bones. I will ward off the birds and the beasts. She stayed there for three months. She loved those boys. Not far away, on the hill of Calvary, Jesus could have called angels to deliver him but he committed to taste death for every man. What love!
So we fly back from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt, then to Atlanta and finally Jackson, back to this sanctuary. If someone, a thousand years from now, asked us to relive this service, would you say you were there for restitution? Is there someone you need to forgive? Someone I wanted to be an example for because I love the Lord.