I do like the light in here now. I like a lot of light when I'm
doing stuff. I like a lot of light. I don't
like working in the dark. The title of this lesson, A Worship
Service Gone Wrong. That's what we have. We'll see
here as we go through this. Here's a worship service led
by a man who knew better. He knew better. And he turned
this thing upside down. But God corrects him and corrects
the service and we'll see this here as we go along. Now this
is concerning the Ark of the Covenant, and you know that Ark
pictured the Lord Jesus Christ, and it represented God's Presence,
and it was taken by the Philistines during a battle. It's interesting,
you know, the children of Israel, they were losing the battle,
that's over in 1 Samuel Chapter 4, but they were losing the battle,
and they thought If we go get the Ark and bring it to us, we'll
win. And what's sad is they turned
that into a superstitious religious item instead of God saving us
and God delivering us and God helping us win the battle, they
took this superstitious attitude over the Ark and they took it
from where it was resting, where it's placed. And the Philistines
took it. They captured the Ark and they
took it. But when they took it, God's hand was heavy, heavy upon
them. So they put it on a new cart,
and I'm just summarizing here. They put it on a new cart, pulled
by two milk cows. And by God's providence, those
two milk cows went straight to Bathshemesh. And the men of Bathshemesh,
out of curiosity, they looked inside the Ark. No one was supposed
to do that. They just out of curiosity, you
know, just lifted it to look inside of it. God KILLED, listen
to this, you don?t mess, we don?t mess with the Gospel, we don?t
mess with those things that represent God. You know, those types of
pictures were to be just as God made them, and they were not
to be tampered with. And they opened that ark and
God killed 50,070 men. Think about it, 50,000.
You know, when we lived in Ashland, at its height, it was like 40,000
people there in Ashland. God killed a city bigger than
the one we lived in. 50,070 men. And I thought of the Scripture
that the Gospel is a saver of life unto life to some and a
saver of death unto death to some. Well, the Ark was removed to
Kirjath's Serum and is taken to the house of Abinadab where
it stayed until the days of David. And now we come to 1 Chronicles
13. That's just a brief summary. And David wants to bring the
Ark back to Jerusalem. He wants God's presence with
him. That's good. That's good. Nothing wrong with that. I want
God's presence here this morning. And the only way we can have
God's presence with us is through the Lord Jesus Christ. If He's
left out of it, we're not going to have God's presence. So he wants God's presence, so
let's look in verse 1 here. David consulted with his captains
of thousands and captains of hundreds, and with every leader
he already starts out wrong. These things will jump out at
you as we go along. David consulted with the wrong
ones first. His first consultation should
have been with God, His consultation should have been with God and
then tell the people this is how we're going to do it But
he didn't you see it's God's ark and God's presence that he
wanted Let everything be done by prayer
and supplication especially in this matter of worship and Desiring
God's presence. I want God's presence here this
morning And I'm confident that I sure
better not leave Christ out of it if I want His Presence. If God's Presence is to be among
us, how can that be? How can it be? Well, it can only
be through the mediation, the blood, righteousness, sacrifice
of Jesus Christ. That's how God can be among us.
In verse 2, David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If
it seem good unto you, that it be of the Lord our God, if it
seem good to you, and if it be of the Lord our God. If it seem
good to you, it should have been left out of it. I mean, why would
you say if it's good to you and if it's the Lord's will? If it's
the Lord's will, that's it, isn't it? That's it, if it's the Lord's
will. David sought the will of the
people before he sought the will of God in this matter. It should have been if the Lord
will we will go bring up the ark to us period. It doesn't
matter what my will is. Our Lord said pray this thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven. And then he said in verse three,
let us bring up the ark of our God to us. Well, the wrong us
is now going after the ark. Let us, let us all go down. Let us just all go down and bring
the ark up. Only the Levites were to carry
the ark. God set that up a long time ago.
They were the only ones to carry the ark. Only the priest who
represented Jesus Christ, our high priest, were the ones to
bring the ark. Nobody else. You see, Jesus Christ,
our High Priest, is the only way to God. It's the only way
we can have God's presence, and we can't change that. We cannot
change that. We do not change the way that
God comes to us, and that's through the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't
change it. We must have God's Priest, You
must have the BLOOD, you must have the SACRIFICE in order to
worship God. And the thing seemed right in
the eyes of all the people. Well, there's a scripture for
that, isn't there? There's a way that seems right to man, but
the end thereof is destruction. It seemed right to them. It was
right in the eyes of the people, but not in the eyes of God. WE SHOULD HAVE LEARNED FROM EVE
ABOUT OUR EYE PROBLEM. WHAT TROUBLES WE MEET WITH WHEN
GOD IS LEFT OUT OF IT AND THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE IS CONSULTED. WHAT TROUBLE WE MEET WITH WHEN
WE DO THAT. BUT WHAT WE HAVE HERE IN THIS CHAPTER IS A WORSHIP
SERVICE GONE WRONG. It's gone completely wrong. See,
David gathers all Israel together, he gets everyone involved. He's
acting more like a politician and not like a king, not like
God's king. And the Ark of God is carried,
in verse 7, in a new cart. I think it's strange that they
carried it the same way the thieves that took it. They made a new
cart. God didn't give that. God did
not give that. They left out the priest who
represented the Lord Jesus Christ. He left the Levites out of it.
Here's the problem. He KNEW BETTER. He knew better
and the Levites knew better. At least you'd think one of them
would have stepped up and said, Wait a minute, David, this is
not the way it's supposed to be done. But they didn't say
anything. See, this is a real good picture
the Lord has given to you and me. You can't leave the priest
out of it. You can't leave Christ out of
it. You can't leave Him out of it. We do not need a new cart
or a new way to help us in worship or to have God's presence among
us. Christ is enough, isn't He? Christ is enough. We need God's
appointed way. and worship and to have His presence
and the way God's appointed way is Jesus Christ. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know I sit in the study and
I study to come out here and preach but I study and look for
the Lord Jesus Christ in my studies. I'm not looking for an interesting
message. I'm not trying to come up with
something new, a new cart. I'm not going to bring a new
cart out here to you. It's the old way, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Ark was to be carried by
the Levites and not some dumb animal. That's the way God said
it. It was to be carried by men CHOSEN
of God with two staffs covered with gold, and listen, up on
their shoulders where the people could see it. They were to carry
it before the people. Christ is to be carried, and
I thought about this because this is a serious matter with me.
He's to be carried by His ministers for all to see. Not just anyone
is going to stand in the pulpit. I'm not going to just, you know,
I'm going to go out and preach, so I'm not going to just call
upon anybody, you know, take turns. No, we're not taking turns. I pray about it. And not just
anyone stands in this pulpit. God has appointed His pastors
and teachers for the edifying of the church, perfecting of
the saints. The Lord Jesus Christ used to
be carried by His ministers in the pulpit for all to see. God
did not appoint a new cart and David knew better. David knew
better. In verse 8, they were all dancing
and singing. I mean this thing really looked
like God was in it the way it was carried on. Everything seemed
great, everything felt good. They had the Ark and they were
coming back with it, until God said, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I?M GOING
TO PUT AN END TO THIS FOOLISHNESS! Almighty God put a stop to this
ignorant zeal in a convincing way. You see, God's established
the way and it's not to be trifled with. And the ox stumbled. God tripped him up. God tripped
those oxen up, exactly what he did, because he going to put
an end to this foolishness. And Uzzah, Uzzah and I don't
have his name written down here, but another man, Ohio, I think
it was, They were driving the car and Uzzah reached back and
to steady the Ark. I mean to steady it when it was
rocking because they stumbled and he reached back and put his
hand on it to steady it and God killed him. God killed him. The Lord, the anger of the Lord,
verse 10, was kindled against Uzzah and the Lord killed him
because he put forth his hand to steady the Ark and there he
died. Brother, this thing of worship, this thing of the Lord
Jesus Christ is solemn, it is serious business, it is serious
business. No one was to touch the ark but
the priest. You say, but Uzzah did not mean
anything by it, he just did not want it to fall over. Well, it meant something to God,
God killed him, God killed him. We are not at liberty to change
the order God set. And David, and this is an amazing
statement here in verse 11, David was displeased with the Lord.
David was angry with Him. How can I be displeased with
the Lord, really? How can anybody be displeased
with the Lord? He does nothing wrong. Everything He does is right. But his displeasure, there in
verse 12, his displeasure turned to fear. He realized, he realized,
now he realizes, I'm in trouble. Number one, I'm the leader of
this. I've made a mess of this. I've made a mess of this. He might be the next one. You
know, God's no respecter of persons. You remember he told Moses, if
he didn't circumcise his son, he's going to kill him. You think
God would have killed him? He would have killed Moses if
he hadn't circumcised that boy. And then verse 12, David finally
asked the right question. Boy, I wish we weren't so hard-headed.
But now he asked the right question. In verse 12, How shall I bring
the ark home to me? How shall I have, listen, how
shall I have the presence of God? Now turn over to chapter 15.
Now we have a worship service going right. It went wrong, cost
a man his life, but now it's going to go right. How shall I bring the ark home
to me? This question now is going to
be answered. In verse 1, David builds himself houses and he
prepares a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for
it. The first time we do not read of David preparing a place
for the ark, he s just going to go down and bring it back.
But here, HERE he prepares a place for the ark. And I thought about
this. I mean, this thought came to
me as I was going through this. I thought our hearts ought to
be prepared to receive Christ every time we come to this worship
service. Did you prepare your heart this
morning to come here and receive? And I mean, when I say receive,
receive the instructions, the very spirit of this worship service. You know, there is preparation
that goes into worship, there is real preparation that goes
into worship. We do so in preparing our hearts
to come to the worship service, we do so by seeking the Lord
in prayer first, in due order, in due order, we seek Him first,
we seek the Lord first. In verse 2, David now acts like
a king, he tells the people. He finally acts like a king,
acts like God's a king. He tells the people how the ark
is to be carried and who's gonna carry it. And he doesn't ask
anyone's opinion this time. He doesn't seek the will of the
people, the leaders. He said, this is who's gonna
carry it. This is how it's gonna come back
to us. And he didn't ask the people's
opinion. We don't need many voices. We
need God's direction, God's Spirit, and God's Word, don't we? That's
what we need in this service. That's what we need. It's the
duty of pastors to lead in the worship service and not get everyone's
opinion about the worship service, but to get in God's Word, to
get in God's Word, see God's face, and lead the worship service
according to the Word of God, in ORDER, there s order in a
service, there s order in worship service, it s not chaotic, there
s real order in it. Now David In verses 4 through
12, He gathers the right people this time to carry the Ark and
conduct the service. He gets the Levites. He gets
the Levites and He says to them, Sanctify YOURSELVES! There in
verse 12, Sanctify YOURSELVES! John Gill said they did so by
washing their bodies and clothes and abstaining from their wives.
Set yourselves apart for their service. THEY WERE ABOUT TO GO
GET THE ARK, AND HE'S SAYING, SANCTIFY YOURSELVES! SET YOURSELF
APART FOR THIS! WE'RE ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING VERY
SOLEMN HERE! YOU'RE GOING TO CARRY THE ARK! YOU LEVITES ARE
GOING TO CARRY THE ARK! And verse 13, FOR BECAUSE YOU
DID IT NOT AT THE FIRST, THE LORD OUR GOD MADE A BREACH UPON
US. AND HERE'S THE REASON WHY, FOR THAT WE SOUGHT HIM NOT AFTER
THE DUE ORDER. WE LEFT HIM OUT OF IT. How can
you have a worship service and leave God out of it? How can
that be? How can I stand here and preach
to you and conduct a worship service and I never pray and
ask the Lord to be with us? To bless my efforts, to bless
the preaching, to send it forth in power. I ask the Lord to do
that every time I preach. SEND FORTH HIS WORD AND POWER.
And I ALWAYS, I ALWAYS ASK FOR THE LORD'S PRESENCE IN EVERY
SERVICE, BECAUSE WITHOUT HIM THERE'S NO WORSHIP SERVICE. THERE'S
NO WORSHIP SERVICE. And I KNOW THIS, IN THE WORSHIP
SERVICE, CHRIST IS THE CENTER OF IT. HE'S THE CENTER OF IT. Oh, He said, For that we sought
Him not in due order, We get it wrong when we don't seek the
Lord. We'll get it wrong every time, every time. And this time in verse 15, the
right people carried the Ark. And the children of the Levites
bear the Ark of God upon their shoulders with the stabs thereof,
as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord. They got it right. They got it
right. and the right people led the
service. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint
their brethren to be the singers, not just everybody just carrying
on. He appointed the Levites as they were supposed to. He appointed them to be singers
with instruments of music and psalteries and harps and cymbals
sounding by lifting up the voice with joy. There was appointed
singers, those Levites, they were appointed to carry it, they
were You know that every one of you whom the Lord has saved
is a Levite. Has He not made us kings and priests unto God?
Every believer in here is a priest. Everyone in here who believes
God, He's made us kings and priests. That's why we lift up our voice
together here this morning. We'll lift up our voice together
and we'll sing and Jason will play the piano and we'll give
THANKS AND GLORY TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IN A PROPER MANNER! In a proper manner. In verse 25, So David and the
elders of Israel and the captains over thousands went to bring
up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of the house of
Obed-Edom with joy. You know when there's true worship
and it's done right, there's joy. It's not It's not boring,
it's joy. There's real joy in the heart
when the worship service is conducted right and Christ is preached
and we have God's presence. There's real joy in that. Man,
I remember, I remember back before my dad learned the gospel, he
was a pastor in a church. I couldn't have been over six,
maybe. People walking up down the aisles,
Shouting Passing out one lady. I want man. I just remember I
don't have what age I was I was old enough to remember it made
an impression on me. She passed out Just it was it was wild It
was wild No order to it whatsoever People stand up testify and then
it's one particular man He would walk he'd hold his ear and he'd
walk up and down the aisle. I just like are you ever gonna
stop? It was crazy. I'm telling you,
it was crazy. It was out of order. It was out
of order. But now there's order. Now there's
order. And now we have God's presence.
Now we have the priest, we have the blood. Because it goes on
here in verse 26, and I'll wind this down. I'm trying to cover
a lot of material in a short period of time. But I hope you
get what I'm saying. I hope I'm not trying to go too
fast. In verse 26, It came to pass
when God helped the Levites. Well, now you've got a worship
service. Now you've got it right. God
helped the Levites that bear the Ark of the Covenant of the
Lord. And notice what they had this time they didn't have the
last time. They offered seven bullocks and seven rams. Not
only do they have the Ark, they have the blood, the sacrifice.
You got the Levites carrying the Ark, you got God's presence.
Now you got it right. Now you have it right. We must
have the blood of Christ in our worship services. Time has not
changed the way, and this is important, time has not changed
the way in which we approach God. Time hasn't changed the
way in which we worship God in spirit and in truth. And let us never be guilty of
putting the gospel on a new cart, trying to deliver the message
in a different way or a better way or, you know, different methods. No, just stand and preach the
gospel with the Word of God, open, open. IT IS PLEASED GOD BY THE FOOLISHNESS
OF PREACHING TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE." Now, how are we to
safeguard ourselves from going wrong? We can, you know. David did. David, a man after
God's own heart, God's anointed king, sweet psalmist of Israel,
got it completely wrong. I mean, messed it up and cost
a man his life. Here's how we can safeguard ourselves
from going wrong in the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the worship of God. First of all, first of all, PRAYER. Remember, David sought not the
Lord in due order. He didn't consult God. PRAYER. Seeking the Lord first before
every service. I hope I HOPE YOU DO THAT, I
PRAY AND BELIEVE YOU DO. I HOPE YOU SEEK THE LORD BEFORE
EVERY SERVICE, AND I SEEK THE LORD BEFORE EVERY SERVICE, TO
BESEECH HIM TO BE HERE AND TO BLESS HIS WORD AND TO SEND FORTH
HIS WORD IN POWER, AND BROTHER, WE'LL HAVE A WORSHIP SERVICE,
WE WILL. Secondly, BE WELL ACQUAINTED
WITH THE WORD OF GOD. WE ARE GIVEN THROUGHOUT THE SCRIPTURES
HOW GOD IS TO BE WORSHIPED IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. AND THEN KEEP WORSHIP A SERIOUS
MATTER. A LOT OF THESE PLACES NOW THEY
ADVERTISE, AND SOME OF THEM DO THIS, THEY'LL HAVE TWO SERVICES,
ONE THE OLD WAY, THEY CALL IT THE OLD WAY, AND THEN THEY'LL
HAVE THE CONTEMPORARY SERVICE WHERE THEY'VE GOT ALL THE MUSIC
AND ALL THE HOOPLA GOING ON. You know, however you like it,
we'll do it, basically is what it comes down to. KEEP WORSHIP A SERIOUS MATTER. You know, being a serious matter
doesn't mean there's no joy in it. Seriousness doesn't take
the joy out of it. And then last of all, PREPARE
OUR HEARTS BEFORE EVERY SERVICE. If you're praying, if you're
truly praying, you're preparing your heart. If you're acquainted
with God's Word and you read God's Word, you're preparing
your heart. And if you keep it solemn, if
you sit down and meditate and think about what you're about
to do, you're preparing your heart. Son, I've solemnly said, keep
thy heart, for out of it are the issues of life. All right, I hope you got something
out of that. I felt like I was trying to cover too much material
in that, I got something out of it. I got something out of
it. I think you did too.