pleasing God in and by Christ. You know, we sometimes sing a
hymn called God Works in Mysterious Ways His Wonders to Perform.
And that's true. You know, as we read the Bible
and we see some of the things that are happening, you know,
it's kind of baffling to us, perplexes us, and we know Scripture
says God is so much higher in understanding than us. And as
we grow older and we see things happen in life, you know, we
wonder why and wherefore, all the things going on. Sometimes
we may read a passage like this here in 1 Chronicles 13, and
we see the strictness of God. God is a strict God. Strict disciplinarian,
you might say. And we wonder, we might think
on a human level, and even on a sinful level, and it is, you
know, well, God, why were you so strict there? Why were you
so, even we might say, humanly speaking, why were you so mean?
Well, he's not mean. I think about that verse in the
book of Proverbs. I think it's Proverbs chapter
three where it says, trust in the Lord, and lean not into your
own understanding. And these are certainly issues
that we're called on in these mysterious ways to trust in God. Trust Him. And here's what we
trust. We know that whatever God does,
whatever He does, it's according to His sovereign purpose. It's
not a mistake. It's not even a reaction. I often
use the analogy, I have two analogies I use there, that God is not
some kind of cosmic chess player up there. You make your move
and he makes his counter move and we'll see who wins out in
the end. God is not some kind of cosmic janitor. We mess it
up and he comes behind us sweeping up and making it right. That's
not the God of the Bible. The Bible is one who controls
all things, who is in charge of all time and all events. He's
working all things after the counsel of his own will. And
so we know it's according to his purpose. Even things going
on in our world today that perplex us and make us sad. This war
in Ukraine, I mean, it's an awful act of evil on this Russian ruler. And yet, God's in control. And God's not the author of evil.
Many times we have a hard time thinking about that and trying
to put that together in our little minds. But trust in the Lord
and lean not to our own understanding. His thoughts and His ways are
higher above our thoughts and ways. Secondly, we know that
whatever God does, now listen to this, whatever God does, it
is right. He never breaks the law, he never
does anything wrong. I've heard preachers actually
say this, that God is so high, he's above his law, and he can
break it if he wants to. I don't believe that. The law
is a reflection of God's nature, and he cannot go against his
nature. You know, people talk about, well, can God do anything
he wants to do? Well, yes. But what he wants
to do is determined by his nature. And you've heard that silly old
question that people ask, can God make a rock that he can't
move? Stuff like that. Well, the answer to that is no,
because if there's anything God cannot do, that would question
and go against his omnipotence. He's all powerful. But God cannot
do anything against his nature. That's why in salvation, he must
be a just God as well as a merciful God. A just God and a savior. He's a merciful, loving, gracious
God. But he's also just and righteous
and true. So however he shows mercy to
a sinner, he's gotta do it in a way that justice is satisfied,
his justice, his righteousness, his truth is honored. And of
course the only way that that can happen is a way that no human
being, religiously, philosophically, or economically could have ever
imagined. And that's through the substitutionary
work of a surety who is God manifest in the flesh, and that's Christ.
And that's what this lesson is all about. That's what this event
is all about. How are we who are sinful, how
can we please God? We may have good intentions,
we may be sincere, we may put all of our heart into it. And
yet if it's not a way that honors God in his majesty and his righteousness
as well as his mercy, it's no good. And that's what this is
about. Look at 1 Chronicles 13, look
at the first four verses. It says, and David consulted
with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader.
Now notice what David did there, who he consulted with there.
The captains of thousands. hundreds, every leader. And David
said unto all the congregation of Israel, if it seemed good
unto you that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto
our brethren everywhere that are left in all the land of Israel
and with all them also to the priest and to the Levites. Now
he'd already consulted with who? The captains of thousands, the
leaders. And he says, now go out in the
land and tell all the people, even the priests, bring them
to the Levites, which are in their cities and suburbs, that
they may gather themselves unto us. Verse three, let us bring
again the ark of our God to us, for we inquire not at it in the
days of Saul. Now what that's showing us, now
what David's wanting to do, he's wanting to bring the ark, the
ark of the covenant, you know the ark of the covenant, that's
the box, made of acacia wood and covered with gold. It has
the mercy seat on top made of acacia wood and covered in gold. That was placed in the Holy of
Holies, and there the high priest would come in to the tabernacle,
and he would sprinkle the blood from off the brazen altar. And of course, what is all that
about? Now, that's a picture of how God saves sinners. There was no salvation in that
physical ark. Remember that ark contained,
in the holiest of all, the inner chamber, the ark contained the
two tablets, the Ten Commandments, representing the law, covered
by the mercy seat, and in that chamber there, in that holiest
of all, they had Aaron's rod that budded, you had the pot
of manna, all of that, and the priest would come in there and
sprinkle that, but that was all a picture of Christ. His glorious
person. Acacia Wood pictured his sinless
humanity. Gold pictured his omniscient,
omnipotent majesty as deity. He's God in human flesh. And
the blood pictured him as our surety, having our sins imputed
to him, accounted to him, dying on the cross for us. and then
dying in order to establish the only righteousness upon which
God could be just and justify the ungodly. It was the one way,
the only way, and it could not be tampered with now, that way. There were strict rules about
this tabernacle and about the services of it, the furniture
in it, the objects in it. and how the service was to be
formed and by whom it was to be formed. It was all so strict
and there could be no variation. Now why was God so strict in
that? Because out of all of this, he's showing sinners the strict
requirements of the perfection of righteousness which he requires
in order to justify sinners and to commune with sinners. and
that is in the person and work of Christ. And you're not to
add to it, you're not even to touch it. The righteousness upon
which we stand before God, when we come, and this is always now,
when we seek to come before God in prayer, we're seeking God's,
we're seeking to please God. The Bible says without faith
it's impossible to please God. Well what does that mean? Without
Christ. without looking to Christ, resting in Him, pleading His
blood and righteousness. And there can be no variation
there. It cannot be Christ plus your works. It cannot even be
Christ plus your believing. I'm gonna preach on that today.
This thing of faith. So important, so necessary, all
of that. It cannot be Christ with our
help. We didn't help Him. In fact,
we with the fallen human race turned against him. And that's
our lot. He did it by himself, for by
one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And so that's what this is all
about. So David, look at verse four, it says, and all the congregation
said that they would do so for the thing was right in the eyes
of all the people. This is a good thing they're
saying. King David, and listen, this is part of the, when it
talks about David and the few good kings of Judah who did that
which is right in the sight of the Lord, this is part of that. You know, the ark had been, the
temple and the ark, they had all been neglected during Saul's
reign because Saul did not lead the people in the worship of
the Lord. And it was neglected. And then,
And I think it's in, yeah, in your lesson, the worship of God
as pertaining to the Ark had been neglected during Saul's
reign. And in the second paragraph there in your lesson, the worship
of God, or during the days of Samuel, the prophet, the superstitious
Israelites took the Ark from Shiloh into battle and lost it
to the Philistines. The Philistines stole the Ark.
That's in 1 Samuel 4. You can read about that. And
I said, the superstitious Israelites. I remember years ago when that
movie, Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, what's the name of
that? Raiders of the Lost Ark. When they came to get Indiana
Jones, and Indiana and the other professor was explaining about
the Ark of the Covenant. And they said, well, it was a
source of immense power. And he said, the Israelites believed
that if you If you took that ark into battle with you, the
power of God would destroy your enemy. Well, that was superstition. And they did do that. What happened? They lost the ark. The Philistines
had it. And I may have put down here, I don't remember how long
the Philistines had it, but God began to inflict wrath upon the
Philistines wherever they put the ark, so they sent it back
willingly. Get this thing out of here, that's
what gets killing us. And so, but it wasn't some kind
of electric powers shining down, raining down from the clouds
and beaming out to melt their skin, you know, and all that
junk. But it did, God did begin to inflict his wrath upon the
Philistines because of the presence of the ark. And they wanted to
get it back to Israel. Get it out of here, get it away
from us. And what that indicates is this. The ark was a source
of wrath for the Philistines, but it was a source of power
for the Israelites. And what's that picture? Christ,
the judge of all, will pronounce wrath upon every sinner to whom
sin is imputed, who is without him, without his blood. Think about that. That's the
terror of the Lord that 2 Corinthians 5 speaks of. Can you think about
appearing before holy God, just God, without having been washed
in the blood of Christ for our sins? Without having his righteousness
imputed to us? Without the profession of faith
that reveals our union with him? Well, he'd be a source of wrath,
just like the ark was to the Philistines. But I'll tell you,
in Christ, what I preached last week, we can have boldness. I can't get over it. We can have
confidence, freedom, at the judgment. Why? Because I know that there's
nothing of me that has saved me or attained me any blessing. It's all Christ. It's all his righteousness. And
it's a righteousness that I didn't touch. And I didn't help him
do. But David had good intentions
here, didn't he? Let's bring the ark back. That's
what the king should have done. But it go on. Look at verse five.
So David gathered all the Israel together from Shihor of Egypt,
even unto the entering of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from
Kirjath-Jerom, that's where the ark was, sometimes called Kirjath-Balaam,
or Bala, rather. And David went up in all Israel
to Bala, that is to Kirjath-Jerom, which belonged to Judah, to bring
up thence the ark of God the Lord, that dwelleth between the
cherubims, whose name is called on it. That's where you went
to call on God. You remember God said in Exodus 25, he said,
this is where I'm gonna meet with you. Remember that? You go back and read Exodus 25,
where it talks about the making of the ark, and then at the end
of that chapter, he said, this is where I'm gonna meet with
you. This is where you can worship me. This is the place, and of
course the picture there, I mean the lesson there is that without
Christ, it's impossible. Please God, without Christ our,
I was reading on the internet yesterday, they were talking
about Easter, because Easter's getting near. And you know how
some people are, they go crazy about these holidays, because
there is so much idolatry religious idolatry that enters into the
celebration of what they call Christmas and Easter and all
of that. And I know there is. I know there is. But I always
say this, there's nothing wrong with us celebrating the resurrection
of Christ. Don't we do that every day? And
so, here's what the article said as I was reading it. It said,
Easter is a pagan holiday. and so we need to just get rid
of. Well, for most people, Easter is a pagan holiday because they
don't know Christ. If you don't know Christ, or
if your Christ is a counterfeit, then the one you're thinking
of on Easter or any other day is a pagan holiday or a pagan
day. And I thought about this. Do you know something? Now, we're
here worshiping on Sunday morning, first day of the week. That's
what we're doing, isn't that right? A lot of people are doing
this, aren't they? But you know what this is? To
most people, if you're in a group, in a religious assembly on Sunday
morning, where the true Christ and the true way of salvation,
the true ark, is not preached, it's a pagan day to you. Am I making myself clear there?
Sunday morning or Sunday is a pagan day If you're in a religious
group where the truth is not preached, where they're preaching
a lie, so should we throw out Sunday and not meet here? No,
we're gonna meet here, we're gonna preach Christ, we're gonna
look to the true Lord of glory as he's revealed and identified
and distinguished in the word of God. And that's important. So whatever it is to other people,
that makes no matter to us. And I say, yes, let's celebrate
the resurrection of Christ every day. And if on Easter, whenever
it is, you want to celebrate the resurrection of Christ on
that day, that's fine with me. I don't have any problem with
it at all, if you're looking to the true Christ. And I know a lot of the things
that we have fun with the kids. They'll say, well, that has its
roots in this and that and the other. Well, my goodness, come
on, folks. Every day of the week, every
month of the year, is named after mythical idols. Did you know
that? So what are you gonna do, go
home and throw away your calendar? You see what I'm saying? What
the world does with these things makes no matter to me, or to
you. But I hope and pray that whatever
we do by way of religion, that it's according to the truth.
Now here's David. He has good intentions here.
His heart's in it. Look at verse seven. And they carried the ark of God
in a new cart. They built a cart for it. Now
think about, is that the way God said to move the ark? No. Remember what God said? He said,
you make staves, rods, and you put rings on the ark, and you
put those rods there, and who's to carry it? The priest. But David, he carried the ark
of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah
and Ahio drove the cart. They drove the cart. Verse eight,
and David and all Israel played before God with all their might.
Oh, they were playing music, is what it's talking about. with
singing, with harps, with psalteries, with timbrels, with cymbals,
with trumpets. Oh, they were, what a celebration
this was. Think about it. It kind of reminds
me of these churches, you know, where they hoop and holler, and
they've got all their bands and everything, and they're all saying,
praise the Lord, blah, blah, blah. You know that? That you
see today, that's so popular today. And they call that the
spirit of God. Well, that's what David was doing.
Verse nine says, and when they came unto the threshing floor
of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark, for the
oxen stumbled. And verse 10 says, the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he smote him, because
he put his hand to the ark, and there he died before God. Now
as I said, a lot of people would look at something like that and
they'd say, well, that's so cruel, God treated that man that way.
No, it was God's justice. God did that which was right.
But it says, look at verse 11, David was displeased because
the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, wherefore that place is
called Perez Uzzah to this day, the breach of Uzzah. David was
displeased. Think about that. Now, Look over
at 1 Chronicles 15. Later on, David's displeasure
turned into submission to God. Because David, later on, he realized
what he had done. What had he done wrong? He disobeyed
God in moving that ark. Not just in how he moved the
ark, Put it on a new car, I'm sure he probably had a real nice
cart made for it, not just some little rackety thing. Made a
cart. But that's not, God was precise
in his instructions on these things. And why was God so precise? Because God is precise on what
it takes to save a sinner from our sins. He is so precise. It takes a righteousness that
we cannot produce or even help in producing. It takes a righteousness
that can only be produced by God manifest in the flesh. And nothing can be added to it,
nothing can be taken away from it, it's strict. Because God
is a holy and just and righteous God. Now that's what this is
all about. And no matter how sincere you
are, no matter how loud you sing, or how long you sing, or if it
comes from the heart, no matter if you bang cymbals of brass
or whatever, you have good intentions, my friend, without the blood
and righteousness of Christ, you cannot please God. That's
right. Understand that. And look at
verse 13, or look at verse 12. of 1 Corinthians 15. It says,
David, this is David, he called them all together and he said
unto them, you are the chief of the fathers of the Levites,
talking to the priest, sanctify yourselves, both you and your
brethren, that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of
Israel unto the place I have prepared for it. Now David's
doing what's right. He's not consulting the leaders
and the nobles and the elite, he's talking to the priest. You
know what the priest represents. The high priest symbolizes Christ. The other priest, that's the
church. That's us. Serving the Lord the right way. Christ said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He
says in verse 13, for because you did it not at first, the
Lord our God made a breach upon us for that we sought him not
after the due order. What does that mean after the
way God said to do it? Now, put it this way. If David
did not know how God said to do it, who should he have gone
to? The priest. How are we gonna do this? We
gotta move that ark. That ark is sacred. That arc
represents the glory of God, the Shekinah glory of God. This
is where he's gonna meet with us. We wanna bring it back to
where it belongs. How do we do it? And verse 14
says, so the priest and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring
up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. They set themselves apart
to do this. Verse 15, the children of the
Levites bear the ark of God up on their shoulders with the staves
thereon. That's how God said to do it.
As Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord. Verse 16 says, David spoke to
the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers
with instruments of music. Nothing wrong with the singing,
nothing wrong with the music, if it's God's way. And he says,
with harps and cymbals, sounding by lifting up the voice with
joy. You see that? And that, how, you know, sincerity
is a good thing if it's founded and grounded and expresses truth. That's what we're learning here.
Look back at 1 Chronicles 13. Well, it says in verse 12, and
David was afraid of God that day, saying, how shall I bring
the ark of God home to me? Now, that should have been his
first thought when he when he thought about intending to bring
the Ark home. How shall I do it? So David brought not the
Ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside
into the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite. And the Ark of God
remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And
the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had.
So that was where it was left. Read, you read, at the end of
the lesson here, I've got First Chronicles 15, goes from the
rest of the chapter. You read that. But the point
is, is this, when David sought the first time to return the
ark to Jerusalem, there were two things missing. And this
is why God struck Uzzah down. This is why God was displeased.
Two things missing. The first thing that was missing
was the priest. And my friend, and those priests,
again, the high priest representing Christ himself, and the other
priest represented his redeemed ones. Justified before God, forgiven. And the second thing that was
missing was the blood sacrifice, and over there in 1 Corinthians,
1 Chronicles, rather, 14, over in verse 26 of 1 Chronicles 15, It says, and it came to pass
when God helped the Levites that bear the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. The perfection, now what's seven? The number of a finished work?
The bullocks and the rams? Christ. In other words, how are
we gonna approach God and please God? Through the glorious person,
God manifests in the flesh, and the finished perfect work of
Christ. And that's the only way we're
going to approach God and be pleased, and He be pleased, rather. Pleasing God in and by Christ. Okay.