I have no hesitancy in declaring,
as I often have to you and other people, without question, the
single most important aspect of every believer's life is public
worship. Here in the house of God, with
the assembled people of God to worship in the name of Christ
our Savior, is the only place on earth where God has promised
to meet with men and speak by his word. I do not say he does
not meet with us in our homes or speak to us as we're driving
down the road, but I'm saying this is the only place where
God has promised to meet with men and speak by his word. Here God shows us himself, his
will, and his ways in the world. Here, God has given pastors,
teachers to expound his word so that you may be established
in the faith and be not tossed to and fro with every wind of
doctrine. To neglect the house of God,
to neglect the worship of God, where the gospel of his free
grace is preached, is to neglect your own soul's good. This is
without question the most important aspect of every believer's life. But how important are details
in worship and spiritual things? Is it okay to worship God as
we please? Add what we please to God's ordinances
and leave out things that really are not pleasing to us. Is it
all right for us to receive that which is tasteful to us in the
book and just ignore or cast aside that which is distasteful?
Is it all right to choose what command of God we will obey and
choose not to obey some? so long as we have sincerity
and a good reason for the things we do. Now, those questions to
this congregation I'm certain appear silly, and they are silly. But silly as they are, there
are multitudes who think just that way. There are multitudes
who think just that way. You cannot imagine the number
of places where men and women, true believers, True believers
truly worship God, but because it's distasteful in their thoughts
to serve any kind of alcoholic beverage to folks, instead of
serving wine and unleavened bread at the Lord's table, they'll
serve soda crackers and grape juice. And they, well, that's
all right. We have a good motive for that.
Is it all right? Is it all right? There are people
who actually excuse rather than having folks immersed in water. That's what baptism is. We will
sprinkle water. That's more dignified to sprinkle
water on their baby's head or sprinkle water on an adult's
head. And we'll call that baptism and God will accept that. Do
true believers really think like that? Turn to First Chronicles
15. I'll show you that some do. We have examples even among God's
ancient people, among his true servants, of just this. First
Chronicles 15 and verse 13. David the king is speaking. For
because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God hath
made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due
order. David shows himself truly a humbled
man, for he speaks not of the sins of the people, but of our
sins. He's the leader. He's the one
responsible to lead the people. And David says, we sought him
not after the due order. Now that's my subject this morning.
After the due order. After the due order. If we would worship God, we must
worship Him as He requires. Otherwise, we do not worship
Him and He will not receive that which we call worship. Let me
give you a little background to our text so that you can Be
sure you get the setting in your mind. The Ark of God, the Ark
of the Covenant, was a small wooden chest made of shittum
wood. It was overlaid on the inside
and outside with pure gold. It was a table about the size
of this communion table or of a large coffee table. Inside
the Ark, were the two tables of the broken law that God gave
Moses on Mount Sinai. And there, those two tables of
the law were preserved along with the golden pot that had
manna and Aaron's rod that budded. On top of the ark was a lid called
the mercy seat, a mercy seat made of pure gold. And at either
end were cherubs. images representing cherubs with
their wings touching one another, facing one another, looking downward
upon the mercy seat. When the ark was at rest, that
mercy seat is the place where the light, that bright light,
the Shekinah, the glory of God, that representing God's presence,
dwelt with Israel. And this is the place where God
promised He would meet with His people and commune with them
upon the mercy seat. He promised by virtue of the
blood sprinkled on that mercy seat, not literally by that blood,
but by that which that blood represented. By the blood atonement
of Christ, God said, I will meet you on the mercy seat. Now the
Ark of the Covenant was throughout Old Testament history the most
important symbolic part of divine worship. It was the most important
single article of furniture in the tabernacle and in the temple.
The Ark represented to Israel God's presence through blood
atonement. The lid on that ark, called the
mercy seat, means propitiation. In fact, the very word propitiation,
same word as translated in the New Testament, both propitiation
and mercy seat. For the mercy seat, like the
ark itself, represented and typified our Lord Jesus Christ and God's
redemption, grace, and salvation in Him. so that the Ark of the
Covenant is that thing by which God showed himself to Israel
as God our Savior, God our Redeemer, God to be worshipped, God over
all the earth, that one who was to come in human flesh. The Ark
was made exactly according to the pattern given to Moses on
Mount Sinai. When God commanded Moses to build
the tabernacle and all the furnishings, He gave him the pattern. And
the pattern standing before him was Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
the God-man, our Mediator. God says, now make the ark to
represent this that the God-man would do in the accomplishment
of redemption. The ark was then placed, when
the tabernacle was finished, in the Holy of Holies. And there
it was secluded from the eyes of all men. No man was allowed
to come in to the ark except the high priest. And he only
once a year on the day of atonement. And on that day, he comes in
with a golden censer, making a cloud of smoke before him and
with blood in his hand to sprinkle on the mercy seat, the blood
of the Passover lamb slain for the people, for the representation
of Christ, our Passover, who is sacrificed for us. And God
accepted the sacrifice and Aaron came out and blessed the people
on the basis of the sacrifice. The ark, when it was carried
from place to place, was completely covered so that no human eye
saw it. It was carried on long poles,
long staves, laid on the shoulders of the Levites, the priests in
Israel, so that no human hand touched it. This ark represented
God's salvation. None were to pry into God's secret
things, and none were to look upon these things casually in
any way, and no human hand was to touch it. On one occasion,
The ark was captured by the Philistines, but it was of no benefit to them
because they didn't know God. They had the ark. They had the
mercy seat. They had the cherubs. They had
everything inside the ark. But it did them no good, only
brought them misery all the time they had it. So they said, send
away the ark of God. And they loaded it up on a cart
and sent it by oxen. And the hand of God that was
heavy upon them was relieved. And by God's providence, the
ark came to Beth-shemesh. And the men of Beth-shemesh saw
God's ark. Now, you've all probably seen,
at least seen, advertisements of the Ark of the Covenant. I
never have seen the movie, just some advertisements, but it's
supposed to be something that's so superstitious, you know. Well, there's no superstition
to this. Those men at Beshemesh saw that ark, and they said,
boys, here it is. Nobody's ever done this before.
God sent his ark here, and they dared to lift the lid and look
inside the ark. 50,000 men died immediately. 50,000 for daring to casually pry into
the things of God. After that, the ark was taken
to Kirjath-Jerim and brought to the house of Amenadab, and
there it remained all the days that Saul was king in Israel. I find it remarkable throughout
the reign of Saul, No one inquired of God at the ark. No one went
to the mercy seat to inquire of God. And after David was made
king, this man who loved God intensely desired to reestablish
the worship of God in Israel. And he set about to do what he
could to revive the true worship of the true and living God. And
it was out of pure love out of reverence for God that David
called all the people together and consulted with them about
bringing the ark of God up to Mount Zion. It would be set in
a conspicuous place, a place near the very palace of the king,
a place in very close proximity to, if not at exactly the same
place, where Abraham took his son Isaac and offered him as
a sacrifice upon Mount Moriah. David's intentions were excellent.
No fault can be found with his motives or his desires, but he
forgot God's law. He went about to establish the
worship of God, but neglected God's word. His intentions were
good. His motives were good, but he
neglected God's word. He consulted with the people
and It's an evil day when men who seek to worship God and leave
God's people in worship neglect God's word and do things according
to the will of men, according to their own notions. We serve
a jealous God. And with God, jealousy is good.
With men, it's a weakness. With God, it's good. We serve
a jealous God and he will not be worshiped any way you please. You will not come to God on your
terms. It won't happen. If we would
worship God, we must worship him as he requires worship in
his word or our worship is nothing but a pretense. You know the
rest of the story up to the point of our text. David put the ark
on a new cart, intending to bring it up to Jerusalem. And the ark
jolted slightly. When it did, Uzzah reached out
to steady the ark. God's ark's about to fall in
the mud. God's ark is about to become dirtied. God's ark is
going to crash to the ground. It'll all be red. And he reaches
out to steady the arc. That's all. Just exactly like
the other night we were in Ireland and one of my friends, Brother
Stuart Boyd, stepped up on steps. And Stuart's had some physical
weakness because of debilitation of his heart for many years.
And as he stepped up on the stoop, he started to fall backwards.
And I could just see him tumbling down the hill, breaking his neck.
When he did, you know what I did? I reached out and grabbed him.
That's good, but that was just a man. That was just a man. That wasn't God's ark. Uzzah
looked at God's ark, and he saw it start to fall, and he reached
out to steady it. When he did, God killed him. He put his hand to the ark, the
ark that no man was to touch. He put his hand to the ark. The
ark that represents God's salvation by Jesus Christ, God's Son. And God will not have you put
your hand to his salvation. If you do, he still sends folks
to hell for it. He still slays folks for it.
Now, there's some very important lessons I want us to see here. I call your attention to four
of them. First, go back to chapter 13, verse 8. Learn this. Because David neglected
God's word, God rejected David's worship. David and all Israel
played before God with all their might, and with singing, and
with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals,
and with trumpets. Man, it was a show. Man, it was
a show. Brother Greg Elmquist, pastor
Southern Baptist Church, or I think, I don't know what it was. Yeah,
it was Southern Baptist Church down in Florida for many years
before God saved him. He said, we spent months rehearsing
how we would take care of the services, and the services were
planned out months in advance. songs, the choirs, the dress,
whatever was going to be said, spent months doing it. Well,
that's how folks do things, you know. It's important that things
be well choreographed and everything work just exactly like it should.
David put on a show here, and it was quite a show. Verse 9,
and when they came to the threshing floor of Chiton, Uzzah put forth
his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled, and 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. David had gone to great lengths
of preparation, expense, and labor to bring the Ark of God
to its proper place, but all his plans met with total failure. God totally rejected everything. Why? What's so significant about
this? The whole congregation was with
him. Everybody was with him. He had had a business meeting.
He said, now Israel, if it's good to you, and the Lord agrees
to it, we'll bring the ark up. If it's good in your sight and
it's all right with God, we'll bring up the ark. There was lots
of pop and pageantry. There was an abundance of good
music and there was much planning and careful preparation and the
whole service impressed everybody except God. Everybody except God. In this place, We do things with
great simplicity on purpose. We don't do anything to attract
a crowd. The way you succeeded in that,
I intend to continue. We don't do anything to attract
a crowd. You can't imagine how many times
as a young man I had older fellows tell me you ought to do this,
you ought to do that, people like it. As if that's important. As if
that's important. We've come to worship God, to
hear God's Word, and that's all that's important. That's all
that's important. And nothing else is going to
be done. Well, but the young people have to have their activities
and the single folks have to have their activities and the
married folks have to have their activities and have a men's night
and a women's night and an old folks night and stuff. No, not here. Not here. We've
come to worship God. That's all. To worship God by
prayer and praise, singing his praise and singing his praise
with simplicity and preaching. And that's all. That's all. God wasn't impressed. God's blessings
didn't attend the impressive parade. Though all the people
were happy and the ark of God was in their midst, the symbol
of God's presence, though everything was done in the name of Jehovah,
the Lord God of Israel, God wasn't present. Why did God reject the
service? If I read it correctly, David
didn't give any consideration to the mind of God in this matter.
He didn't consult with the Word of God, only with the people.
Look at chapter 13, verse 1. David consulted with the captains
of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David
said to all the congregation of Israel, if it seem good unto
you, and that it be of the Lord our God, got to throw that in,
you know, If it seems good to you, we'll ask God to bless this
thing. Let us send abroad unto our brethren, and we're going
to bring the ark of God here. Singing, great singing, but no
humiliation. Much excitement, but no reverence.
Much work, but no prayer. Much regard to the will of the
people. No regard to the will of God.
Much planning, but no consulting of God's word. David and the
people paid great attention to every outward form of what they
were doing. They went to details, into details,
but there appears to have been little regard for heart, spirit,
and soul, and for the Word of God. God is spirit, our Savior
said. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. Now this is precisely what that
means. If we would worship God, we must worship him in the power
of his spirit. In the opening prayer this morning
after our scripture reading, one of the first things I said
consciously is God, blessed spirit of God, our worship depends entirely
on you. I prepared, I work hard in preparing,
but I can't preach unless God speaks by me. You prepare, you
pray, as you come here, let us worship God, but you can't worship
unless God gives you grace to worship. Everything depends on
the spirit of God. And if we would worship God,
we must worship him according to the word of truth. This book, right here, this book,
right here. That eliminates about 99.9% of everything that goes on in
religious houses of worship. That eliminates almost everything
that goes on. Almost everything. All the bands
and orchestras and shows and plays and skits and movies and
organizations and clubs and stuff. It eliminates all of it. All
of it. If we would worship God, We will
worship by his spirit according to revealed truth. This is the
point. David and the people of Israel
seemed to utterly neglect God's word and God's spirit. The priests were not in their
proper place. The priest, according to the
word of God, were to go before the ark, leading the people.
It was by this ark, as carried by the priest, when they came
to Jordan, that the Jordan River opened up and Israel went into
the land of Canaan and conquered the land by the ark. But David
and his men of war led this procession. After all, men of war are more
impressive. What would you rather see, some simply clad priest
walking before you, or men riding their steeds in their armor with
their shields and their spears and their bows? They were more
impressive, but the ark was to be carried by the priest leading
the people. They were typical of Christ,
our great high priest, and to ignore the priest is to ignore
the necessity of a mediator. David had an ops cart carry the
Ark rather than the Levites whom God appointed to carry the Ark.
And there was no sacrifice made. You read this 13th chapter. They've
done everything. They've done everything, but
no sacrifice made. That's the fatal thing. No sacrifice
made. No blood. no atonement, no propitiation,
no path to God by blood. To neglect Christ and His sacrifice
is to neglect everything. Everything. There's no coming
to God but by Jesus Christ. No coming to God but by His blood. Some years ago, One of the denominations
went through their handle and took out every mention of the
blood, because that's so archaic. That's so out of date. And there's
no mention of it. There's no coming to God but
by blood, the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God's darling
son. It must be constantly at the
forefront. I received a letter a couple
of weeks ago from a 75-year-old lady her grandson's father-in-law
as her pastor. And she went to him after hearing
the gospel preached for a while on Free Grace Radio. She said to the pastor, said,
please preach Christ to us. And she talked to him. And the
man respected her, an older mother in Israel. And she came to him
in a respectful way. And he tried. She said he really
did try. And after a while he came to
me and said, I just don't know how to preach Christ. There is no preaching but the
preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified. All the other
stuff is just stuff. Uzzah appears to have become
very familiar, very familiar with the ark. It had been around
his house for so long that he had lost all reverence for it.
Years ago, I read a statement by J.C. Ryle that stuck with
me. I don't even remember where I
read it, but I wrote it down years ago. He said, nothing so
hardens the heart of a man as a barren familiarity with sacred
things. Merle, that's a burden to me.
I have the privilege that none of you have. I have the privilege
of spending my life studying God's Word. Now Skip, that's
a privilege. That's a privilege. That's my
life work. I get to spend every day while
you're out laboring at your job and putting up with folks who
cuss you and you want to cuss. I had the privilege of being
back here in my office studying God's Word. I spend 60, 70 hours
every week back here studying, writing, preparing to preach,
such as that. And I have a constant fear, God,
speak to me by the word from which I hope to speak to others. Let me not have a barren familiarity
with these things that are had been a long time in Uzzah's house,
and he had no regard for it. It represented Christ in redemption
and salvation through his blood, but to Uzzah, it was just a religious
relic. It was just a religious symbol. When he put his hand to it, this
is what he was declaring. Redemption, grace, and salvation
must in some way be dependent upon the works of men. That's
what's meant by putting your hand to the ark. It meant God's
work ultimately depends upon the will, the work, the efforts
of men. These people brought will worship
to God instead of the worship of God, which he had ordained.
They came and worshiped God in his name, but it was still idolatry. You don't have to worship a stump
to commit idolatry. You don't have to worship a graven
image to break the first commandment. No, no, no, no, no. To pretend
to worship God but not worship according to his word is idolatry. One of the first displays of
this is when Aaron and the children of Israel, Moses had been in
the mountain and they said, they said, Moses, we don't know what's
become of Aaron. He said, they said, what's happened? Make us
gods. And Aaron said, give me your
earrings and your necklaces and your bracelets. And he took their
gold and made golden calves for them and proclaimed a feast of
Jehovah. He sets two golden calves up
and says, now let's worship the Lord. And it was nothing but idolatry.
Turn to Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64. Let me show you how God regards
worship that is not according to his word. Acts of worship
without faith in Christ. Deeds of worship without faith
in Christ. Pretense of worship without faith
in Christ. Isaiah 64. Thus saith the Lord,
the heaven is my throne, the earth is my footstool. Where
is the house that you build unto me? But God required him to build
a house. God required that. He told David
to go do it. But they thought that the house
contained God. They thought because they had
a magnificent temple, God was there. Where's the house you'll
build for me? Where's the place of my rest?
The ark itself, God says place of my rest, but they thought
it was just a religious symbol. Read on. For all those things
hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith
the Lord. But to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit." Poor in
his soul. The man who's got nothing at
all for God. The man who can't bring anything to God. Of a contrite
spirit, because he knows he's sinned. And trembles at my word. Verse 3. He that killeth an ox. But didn't God require him to
kill ox? Well, read the book of Leviticus. Of course he did.
It's as if he slew a man. It would be just as acceptable
to God if you slit your neighbor's throat and sprinkled his blood
on the altar. Just as acceptable. You do it without faith. Read
on. He that sacrificeth a lamb. Didn't God require him to sacrifice
lambs? Of course he did. He said you just as well cut
off a dog's head and put it on the altar. He that offereth an
oblation, that is, man that comes and offers an oblation to God,
you might as well bring pig's blood. He that burneth incense,
burns incense in the house of God, you might as well burn candles
in a Roman Catholic church. You might as well bless an idol.
Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth
in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions
and will bring their fears upon them, because when I called,
none did answer. When I spake, they did not hear,
but they did evil before mine eyes." What evil? What evil? Worshipping like they wanted
to. Pretending to worship. And chose that in which I delighted
not. Now pay attention. The fact that
something pleases men doesn't mean that it pleases God. Anything
that's not appointed by God will not be accepted by God. God will
not be worshipped in whatever slipshod fashion you and I may
please to invent worship. God will be worshipped in the
way he's appointed. All right, here's the second
thing. By the Lord's judgment upon Uzzah, when God killed Uzzah,
David learned the fear of God. Look at chapter 13, verse 12. And David was afraid of God that
day. How would it be? How would it
be when Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead at the apostles'
feet? I believe I'd have been afraid. Here's Ezra who drops
dead before all the congregation of Israel in the middle of a
procession bringing the ark of God up to Jerusalem and David
was afraid of God that day saying How shall I bring the ark of
God home to me? How shall I bring the ark of
God up here where God's told me to build his house? Everything
was going exactly according to plan. Suddenly the ark starts
to totter and as of the young man with with nothing but good
intentions it appears Puts out his hand to catch the ark and
instantly he's slain Like Nadab and Abihu who offered strange
fire before the Lord he died for what he did Is it any wonder? David was struck with fear truly
Our God is a consuming fire You won't trifle with him and get
by. This was his ark and he will make it know, make all men know
that it was his. No one dares touch that which
God sanctified for himself with that impunity. David saw these
things and was afraid of God that day. Why? He had seen the
terrible hand of God's judgment and it struck him with fear.
David understood now what God meant when he said, I will be
sanctified in them that come nigh me. And I will be before
all the people. I will be glorified. The first
thing our Lord taught us to pray. Father, our father, which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your name be sanctified. Your
name be honored. Your name be held high. Give
God the glory. That's the first thing. That's
the first thing. We don't come here to entertain people. I see folks claim to believe
grace. They don't see things happening
like they want them to happen, so they start inventing things,
and they start having other things go on. We've got to get a little
more contemporary. We've got to have a little toe-tapping
and foot-stomping music so folks will kind of feel good. You're
aware of the fact that I just absolutely prohibit folks get
standing up while we're singing and waving their hands, rolling
their eyes to heaven and shaking their butts like it's in some
kind of a barroom dance somewhere and calling it worship. It's
not going to happen here. How come? Because we're not here
to please you. We're not here to make you feel
good. That's not purpose. Our purpose
is God's glory. Seeking the souls of men for
the glory of God. Seeking to instruct folks in
the word of God. The Lord God, I repeat, is jealous of his honor
and his glory. We will either sanctify him in
our hearts by reverence and godly fear or he'll slay us. We will
either recognize and acknowledge that Christ alone is acceptable
to him and that our acceptance is totally in, by, and through
Christ, or we'll perish. Look at verse 11. David was afraid
because of his own sin. He said, we have done this. David was displeased because
the Lord made a breach upon Uzzah, wherefore the place is called
Perez-Uzzah to this day. When David felt the anger in
his heart toward God, he was immediately stricken with fear. God teach me that. Who are you to sit in judgment
over God? Who am I to sit in judgment over
God? David was angry with God because
God killed a man who rebelled against him. David was angry
with God because God killed a man engaged in a work David wanted
him to do. David was angry with God because
God killed a man contrary to David's wishes. And David was
angry. Who are you to judge God for
anything? Who am I to judge God for anything? God always does right, no matter
what he does with you and yours, no matter what he does with me
and mine. David was afraid of God because
of his own sense of unworthiness as well. He said, how shall I
bring the ark of God home to me? He feared that in some unguarded
moment, he might be guilty of irreverence and perish like Uzzah.
He feared lest he should repeat the action of that man. We might
well fear the same. Here's a lesson we must learn.
Jehovah the Lord, our God, is God greatly to be feared, to
be referenced, to be referenced. This generation knows nothing
about the fear of God. Hear I hear people talk and speak
of God speak his name. There's nothing about the fear
of God nothing about everything is just Bubble gum blow bubbles
happy crappy religion. Nobody knows anything about fear
of God Keeps thy foot Solomon said when thou goest into the
house of God Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice
of fools For they consider not that they do evil All right. Here's the third thing Because
David learned the fear of God, he learned to worship God after
the due order. Look at chapter 15, verse 11.
First Chronicles 15, verse 11. David called for Zadok and Abiathar
the priest. And for the Levites, for Uriel,
and Asaiah, and Joel, and Shimea, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and
said unto them, You are the chief of the fathers of the Levites.
Sanctify yourselves ceremonially, make yourselves holy, cleanse
yourselves, both you and your brethren, that you may bring
up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I
prepared for it. Now watch this. For because you
did it not at the first, When we first did this we didn't
put the priest out here. We put the men of war out here
When we first did this we put the ark on a cart you Put the
ark on those days that God ordained verse 14 So the priest and the
Levite sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord
God of Israel And this time they did it we read in the back very
last line of verse 15 according to the word of the Lord. I Once
the fear of God was struck in his heart, David was not so hasty. He was not so presumptuous. He
was not so noisy. There was a difference. His fear
of God didn't cause him to give up worshiping God, didn't cause
him to give up serving God. His fear of God didn't cause
him not to do what he set out to do. His fear of God caused
him to seek to worship God after the due order. He waited for some indication
from God that it was time to bring the ark of God up. He left
it in the house of Obed-Edom for three months. For three months. All the while seeking God's will. All the while wondering how shall
I bring the ark of God home to me? He prepared a tent for the
ark and he prepared his heart for the work. And David sought
the mind of God in the matter. Having consulted with God, there
was no need for him to consult with the people. If preachers had some backbone,
if preachers had some backbone, oh my soul, if preachers had
some backbone, they'd spend their time on their faces before God,
not on their faces before men. and do what God requires regardless
of how men respond. Well, I ain't going to go hear
him anymore. Don't go. I'm not going to put
up with that. Don't put up with it. That's
all right. That's all right. David consulted with men the
first time, and the ark of God falls into a ditch, and a man's
dead, and God sends a breach upon Israel. This time he consults
with God and makes no consultation with men. He did that which God
said he should do, not what he thought he ought to do. He didn't
seek the will of the people, but the will of God. He didn't
do what was pleasing to men, but that which was pleasing to
God. Put the priest in their proper place. Blood sacrifices
were offered to the Lord God. These priests out at the forefront
offered seven rams and seven bullocks. perfect sacrifice. They bring up the Ark of God,
representing Christ in His atonement, and they offer seven rams, a
perfect sacrifice, and seven billows, a perfect sacrifice,
representing Christ our Savior in His perfect atonement. God
was honored and reverenced in David's heart before all the
people, and God was with them. And David leaped and danced before
the Ark. I'd like to have seen that, wouldn't
you? Leaped and danced before the ark, because God chose me,
he said, and God redeemed me. This time, they had more than
a symbol of God's presence. God was really with them. He
was with them, and helped them, and blessed them, and filled
them with joy, and accepted them. Now, very briefly, let me talk
to you about one more thing. We must learn to worship and
serve God after the due order. What do you mean, pastor? That which is done in the name
of God must be done according to the word of God and for the
glory of God with hearts devoted to God. It must be done according
to the word of God for the glory of God with hearts devoted to
God. That's how we worship God. Upon
the very surface of things, there are some important lessons here.
The whole affair is of great concern to us because the ascension
of the ark represents the ascension of Christ after he had accomplished
redemption and his exaltation in glory, where he's seated now
upon the mercy seat on the throne of grace. We learn also that
that which is highly esteemed of men is an abomination to God. I saw years ago, before I saw
it on television, I read some things about it. They were starting
to start this big church out in Chicago. And they spent a
long time surveying. They sent a marketing crew in
and spent a long time surveying folks and asked them, if there
were a church here and you were going to go to it, what would
you want in the church? What would you want? And they told
them what they wanted. And later on, on 60 Minutes or one of those
programs on television, I saw one of the pastors being interviewed.
He said, we asked what they wanted, and we put it down, and we gave
it to them. That's what we did. Give them what they want. That which is pleasing to men.
Bob Ponce not once in a while, not most of the time, is always
an abomination to God. If men approve of it, God disapproves. Mark it down. If it pleases your
flesh, God despises it. Mark it down. That which is pleasing
to man is an abomination to God. Learn this too. God measures
sin far more strictly in a far different manner than we do. seems to have done a very small
thing. I can't help reading this and
thinking to myself, that's all he did. That's all
he did. He just put his hand to the ark.
That's all he did. He just put his hand to the ark.
But what Uzzah did in putting his hand to the ark was denied
the accomplished redemption of Christ the Redeemer. Denied the
sufficiency of God's all-sufficient grace Denied salvation by grace
alone and God killed it in our worship of God Everything must
be done in due order Our hearts must be right motivated by God's
glory by his spirit Our doctrine must be right Our doctrine must
be our doctrine must be the doctrine of this book The doctrine of
this book, folks talk about worshiping God and go to a church where
folks deny limited atonement, deny unconditional election,
deny man's depravity, deny God's sovereignty. Well, we had such
a good worship service this morning. It might have seemed pleasing
to you, but it was an abomination to God. It was an abomination to
God. There's no such thing as worshiping
God apart from revealed truth. That's not going to happen. You're
just pretending to worship God. You're going through the game
of worshiping God, and it's just idolatry. No worship there. We
observe our ordinances, and our ordinances of worship must be
right. Those things prescribed in the Word of God. This is not
a cliché here. Alan Kibbe, this is not a cliché
here. This is our only rule of faith
and practice. That's all. That's all. Somebody say, well, as long as
the Bible doesn't forbid it, it'd be all right to do this.
No. Not in God's house, it's not. We baptize folks who believe
Christ because baptism's for believers only, as our Lord said.
And we immerse folks in his name. We break bread and wine because
that's the way it was done in the New Testament. The bread
and wine represents the body and blood of our Lord Jesus.
But he didn't tell us we had to use bread and wine. Where
did you get the ideas all right for you to change it? Where did
you get the ideas all right for you to change it? Well, he doesn't
command that men have to be buried. Oh, yes, he does. That's what
baptism is. Where did you get the idea that
it could mean something else? No, no, no. We don't alter God's
doctrine. We don't alter God's ordinances. And in the house of God, I can't
find Lindsay Campbell anywhere that they did anything in worship
except this. They came together and read the
scriptures. And they prayed. And they sang
God's praise. And they preached the word of
God. And that's it. That's it. Where do you find
it? Find me something else they did.
Find me something else they did. I recall Susan telling me several
years ago, first came to Danville, visited Baptist churches all
over here. Went down to this church out
here on, what's that road Bobby lives on? That road you live
on. Burning candles. That's so impressive. Oh, they're
so reverent. Wipe that stuff off my foot. That's dung. That's dung. It's worse than dung. It's idolatry. It's the worship of a dung god. Oh, preacher, you can't say that.
Read the book. Read the book. We will worship
God after due order or we will not worship God at all. One innovation
inevitably leads to another. One compromise inevitably leads
to another. Our methods must be God's methods. Our message must be God's message. We will worship God after the
due order. One word to you who are yet without
Christ. If you come to God, If you would come to God, hear
me now, if you would come to God, you must come to God, God's
way. And God's way is Christ the way.
Not your works, not your goodness, not your merit, not your devotion,
not your religion, not your baptism. You come to God by faith in his
son. There's no other way. And when
they got done, if you want to turn to second Chronicles chapter
16, brought the ark of God up and then look at verse 7. Then
on that day, David delivered first this psalm to thank the
Lord into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. And beginning at
verse 8, you go home and read down through verse 36 and you
read this psalm. David said, now boys, this is
what you sing when you come to God's house. This is what you
sing when you come to God's house. Oh, where, oh, where is my wandering
boy tonight? Oh, what stupidity is called
worship? No. No, you sing of God's work,
of God's wonders, of God's ways, of God's judgment, of God's greatness,
of God's praise, and of your need. And that's all. Well, boy,
there's not much there to honor man. Hot dog. That's the way
we wanted it. Amen.