who do not know the Lord, who
do not have Christ as their light. Remember, his word is, I am the
light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. And once there was a time when
we were in the darkness. We didn't know up from down when
it came to knowing God and the things about the Lord. Tonight,
if we do, it's only because of his marvelous grace, his wonderful
grace. Look with me, if you will, to
2 Samuel chapter 6. 2 Samuel chapter 6, beginning tonight
in verse 12. And it was told King David, saying,
The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that pertaineth
unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought
up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of
David with gladness. And it was so that when they
that bear the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed
oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the Lord
with all his might. And David was girded with the
linen ephod. So David and all the house of
Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with
the sound of the trumpet. And as the Ark of the Lord came
into the city of David, Micah, Saul's daughter, looked through
a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.
And she despised him in her heart. And they brought in the Ark of
the Lord and set it in his place in the midst of the tabernacle.
that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings
and peace offerings before the Lord. And as soon as David had
made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings,
he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. And he dealt among all the people,
even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women
as men, everyone a cake of bread and a good piece of flesh and
a flagon of wine. So all the people departed, everyone
to his house. Then David returned to bless
his household. And Micah, the daughter of Saul,
came out to meet David and said, how glorious was the king of
Israel today. who uncovered himself today in
the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain
fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. And David said unto
Micah, it was before the Lord which chose me before thy father
and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the
Lord over Israel. Therefore will I play before
the Lord. And I will yet be more vile than
thus, and will be base in mine own sight. And of the maidservants
which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I behead in honor. Therefore Micah, the daughter
of Saul, had no child unto the day of her death. In Psalm 130
and verse four, we read, But there is forgiveness with thee.
that thou mightest be feared. We saw last time that David,
he attempted to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem, and it ended
in the death of Uzzah. This caused David to be afraid
of the Lord. We see that if you look back
in verse nine of this chapter, and David was afraid of the Lord
that day. Now that fear that David had
that day was not that reverential fear, which is the beginning
of wisdom. You know, the scripture says
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But this fear that
David had was that fear, that servile fear, as you would fear
someone who was your enemy, your antagonist. It wasn't reverential
fear. And so this stopped, this is
brought to a halt, the bringing of the ark of God into the city
of David, into the city of Jerusalem. And it was taken to the house
of this man by the name of Obed-Edom. And this is where we began our
reading tonight. And I have four things I want
to mention through these verses tonight. First of all, David
hears a gracious message. he hears a gracious message. If you notice in verse 12, the
first part of it, and it was told King David saying, the Lord
hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth unto
him. He was told that the Lord had
blessed the house of Obed-Edom. And the message that David heard
when God killed that man for putting his hand on the ark was
that God was angry. God was angry with David and
all of them who were moving the ark in a way that was not prescribed
by God himself. And now when he hears this message
that the house of Obed-Edom has been greatly blessed and it is
the Lord who's blessing that house, well, that brought the
knowledge to David that God was reconciled. Yes, he had been
angry, but now he had been reconciled because that was apparent by
him blessing the house of this man where the ark was situated. And doesn't this remind us, as
I looked at that, doesn't this remind us of how the gospel message
usually comes to those whom God will save? Isn't this the way
it usually comes? First of all, our sins. We're made aware of our sins
and the fact that our sins separate us from God. that God is angry
with the wicked every day, the scripture says. That's the message
that David heard when God killed that man. God was angry for the
way they were treating the Ark of the Covenant. And then he
heard that gracious message, the Lord's blessed the house
of Obed-Edom. And that's the way it is when
God saves a sinner, isn't it? First of all, we're made aware
of our sin and God, and sin cannot be in agreement, and two cannot
walk together unless they are in agreement. And God isn't going
to change, and He is absolutely holy. But then we hear the message
like David did, like we read in Romans chapter 5, for if,
Paul said, for if, when we were enemies, We were reconciled to
God by the death of his son. Much more. Being reconciled,
we shall be saved by his life. That is, by his life. He continues
to live, doesn't he? At the Father's right hand. And
his work of intercession, his session at the Father's right
hand, is just as necessary for our salvation as his dying upon
the tree. It's just as necessary. His intercession
is based upon his work on the cross. Yes. When we read here
that he was told, notice that, and it was told King David. Well now, if you tell someone
something, that's hearing, isn't it? Hearing. David heard. How does faith come? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. You know, knowing what I know
tonight about God, if a person were to ask me, were to tell
me, I am lost, what would you recommend? What would you recommend
to me? Number one, I'd find someone,
a man who knows the gospel and preaches the gospel, and I'd
be there every time the doors of that place opened up. And
I'd be there listening. I'd be there to hear the word
of God. Why? Because God is chosen by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Faith
cometh. Man doesn't have faith in himself. Faith cometh. It's a gift of
God. And how does it come? It comes
by hearing the word of God. Now we're not told. Think about
this. This ark was only in this man's
house three months. And I thought about the fact
that most of their possessions probably were animals. Well,
you know, a cow's not gonna have a calf in three months. Sheep's
not gonna have a lamb in three months. It takes longer than
that, right? How was, his house blessed, it
had to be in such a signal way that it was manifest, that everyone
knew God blessed that man's house. I don't know how, we're not told,
are we? But I think about how God plagued Egypt, you know,
with the fleas and with the frogs and with the lice and with the
darkness and with the blood and All of those things, everyone
knew God was doing something. Judgments, judgments are easily
seen. Well, evidently, God's blessing
this man was easily seen too. I don't know how, but somehow,
maybe in health, maybe in some kind of wealth, I don't know.
But some way, it was obvious to everyone God's blessing that
man. And the reason God's blessing
that man is because the Ark of the Covenant is in his house. Well, the Ark of the Covenant
we know is a type, was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. What
do you think about that? In every house, in every home,
in every heart where the Lord Jesus Christ comes, There's blessing. There's blessing. Just His presence,
right? Just His person. There's blessing. I think about that scripture
in Isaiah, I think it's chapter three, when the prophet is told,
say ye to the righteous, it is well. Right? It is well, no matter what the
circumstances are. Now this is to the righteous,
those who are believers, those who have had the righteousness
of Christ imputed to their account, and they're justified before
God. Say to the righteous, no matter what the circumstances,
no matter how dark the skies, no matter how great the clouds,
it's well. It's well. It's well. Why? With God as your father,
he's working all things together for good to you who love him,
to you who are the called according to his purpose. You know, the
last several times I've performed a marriage service, I've used
that text in Ecclesiastes, which speaks about a threefold card. And when two people come together
to become one, just like two pieces of string are weaved together,
now that's strong, but you put that third piece in there, and
it's even stronger, right? Man, wife, and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yeah, that should be true of
every marriage, of every home of God's children. There's blessing
there, there's blessing. The second thing I point out
to us is David recognized his mistake. So first of all, I said,
David, here's a gracious message. He hears a gracious message,
but number two, David recognized his mistake. I want you to keep
your places here, but turn over to First Chronicles with me.
First Chronicles chapter 13. This event, the killing of Uzzah,
the removal of the ark, it's recorded in Chronicles, in 1
Chronicles, in about three chapters, all of these events. But here
in 1 Chronicles chapter 13, we have what took place here beginning
with verse 11. And David was displeased because
the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, wherefore that place is
called Perez-Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of God that
day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? So
David brought not the ark home to himself, to the city of David,
but carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom. 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 then in chapter 14, I believe
it is. No, it's chapter 15. And David made him houses in
the city of David and prepared a place for the ark of God and
pitched for it a tent. And David said, now notice, he
realized his mistake. He recognized the mistake. What
had they done? They had put that ark of the
covenant on a new cart, remember. And where did they get that idea? We saw they got that most likely
from the Philistines. That's the way they'd sent the
ark back. But now, look, then David said, none ought to carry
the ark of God but the Levites. He realized his mistake. I'm
assuming he read the word of God, the law, and how God had
commanded this ark was to be carried. None ought to carry
the ark of God but the Levites. For them hath the Lord chosen
to carry the ark of God and to minister unto him forever. And
David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem to bring up the
ark of the Lord unto his place, which he had prepared for it. So he realized his mistake and
he corrected it. In one place here in 1 Chronicles,
he admits, because we did not do it after the due order. In
other words, after the order that God had given them. I look
at this as another illustration of that verse we read in Isaiah
55 and verse nine. For as the heavens are higher
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts. Our ways and our thoughts are
usually like those that David and his men had there at the
beginning. That is the way of the world.
and how you and I must stay focused. I'm talking to myself as a pastor,
as a preacher especially, but you too. How we must stay focused
and true to the plain gospel message. Part of the scripture
out there on our sign, that's not just a slogan. We preach
Christ crucified. That's the desire of this pastor,
of this church, and that's our focus. And it's always going
to be, God willing, that's our focus, to preach the plain gospel
of Jesus Christ, the message of the cross, the message of
the blood of Jesus Christ, of a crucified Savior, and the message
of God's sovereign grace. It's not going to be improved
upon. That's what they may have thought when they put that ark
on a cart, but it wasn't God's way. And God's way doesn't change. Remember, Brother Hired, Milton
Hired, he goes to a prison, federal prison, preaches there close
by where his church building's located. It has for many years.
But over the years, they've changed chaplains there. They have four
or five chaplains. And he was telling me recently,
a few years back, a new chaplain came on and he told Brother Howard
one evening while he was escorting him to the place where they had
their service, he said, you older folks, talking to Milton, he
said, you have one way of preaching the gospel. You have one message. And he said, us younger people,
we have another message. And Milton asked him, he said,
well, does God change? And the man said, no. Has sin
changed? No. You know, the gospel doesn't
change. It's the same. Why? Because God
doesn't change and because man's need doesn't change. I've often
said if I was going to a doctor, and I do go to a doctor sometimes,
but I don't want one who studied out of a book that was written
in the 1400s, medical book that was written in the 1400s, do
you? You read some of the cures and the remedies that some of
those men, those reformers, were encouraged to take by the physicians
of those days. And it's just so crazy, some
of the cures. I mean, can you think of drinking
horse urine? to help you with some disease. And yet some did, some did. But
I tell you what, when I hear a preacher, I want a man who
studies this book, who preaches this book. But if I go to a doctor,
I want a man that's studied in the last year or two at least,
don't you? Sure you do. Now the gospel doesn't
change. And David found that out, he
admitted his mistake. Now they're going to carry it
as God had commanded on the shoulders of the Levites. If you still have your Bibles
open there to First Chronicles chapter 13, my third point is
David expressed his thanksgiving. He expressed his thanksgiving
here in our text in verse 13, but here in 1 Chronicles 13,
let's see if I've got the right, verse 26. There's no 26 there. Chapter 15, 1 Chronicles 15 in
verse 26. Notice, and it came to pass when,
now notice this, God helped the Levites. God helped the Levites. that bear the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord. God gives us strength to serve
him, doesn't he? And our fruit comes from him.
If we have fruit, and all believers do produce fruit, it comes from
him. And these men, yes, they had
physical strength, but God blessed them. God helped them to carry
the Ark of the Covenant. And back here in our text, in
2 Samuel chapter 6, it says in verse 13, And it was so that
when they that bear the ark of the Lord had gone six paces,
he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. Now six paces, six steps, what's
the signification of that? I don't know. I don't know. But evidently, it had something
to do with that first time when they put the ark on that cart
and took off, and maybe within six paces, God had already killed
that man. I don't know. But when they walked
six paces, David said, put the ark down, put the ark down, an
altar's constructed there, and they offer seven bullocks and
seven lambs upon that altar. They were sacrifices of thanksgiving. You know, he expressed his thanksgiving
here by these peace offerings. In Leviticus, the peace offerings
are sometimes called peace offerings of thanksgiving. And this is
the way David and the people expressed their thanksgiving,
by offering these bullocks and these lambs. You know, a peace
offering, the animal didn't have to be a male. It could be a female
or a male. But it had to be without any
blemish, always. Whatever animal was offered in
sacrifice had to be without blemish. A picture, you know, of Jesus
Christ, who is God's sacrifice, God's lamb, had no blemish, had
no sin of his own. And then a peace offering, they
put the fat on the altar and burned the fat, and that was
to the Lord. The fat was always God's. And
then the flesh, the people who offered it, they could eat the
flesh. And we see here in our text in
verses 17 and 18 when they came into Jerusalem that they placed
the ark in the tabernacle that David had pitched and they offered
more offerings, more peace offerings were offered there. And I just
imagine that was part of the flesh that David doled out to
the people. We're told he doled out a loaf
of bread to each one and a good, he says, a good piece of flesh
and a flagon of wine. David showed his thanksgiving
to the Lord in a very demonstrative way. David danced before the
Lord. His heart was in this. He was
not a halfway believer, a halfway worshiper. I mean, his heart
was in this. worship of the Lord, transporting
this ark a hundred percent. And he showed it by his actions,
by his demonstrating his love and his gratitude for what God
had done for him. He was thankful that God had
forgiven him, first of all, for that mistake he had made just
before this, three months before this, and putting that ark on
a cart. And he was thankful that God
had restored him to his favor. My last point is, David accused
of unbecoming conduct of a king. You know, as I read this passage
here in 2 Samuel chapter six, I could not help but think, It's
everyone in Jerusalem was happy. You know, that first time, we're
told that 30,000 people were gathered together to bring the
Ark of the Covenant. Well, there must have been even
more than that at this point. And everyone, it seems like everyone
was happy. David sure was. He was that blessed
man of Psalm 1, and that word blessed means happy, doesn't
it? He was happy. Yes, and it seems like everyone
in Jerusalem was happy, but one person, but one person, Micah. So it's pointed out every time
she's mentioned here that she was Saul's daughter and she had
Saul's spirit, didn't she? She was full of pride. And it
says that she despised him. First of all, she looked out
the window and she saw David dancing and just showing his
exuberance and God's blessing him and God's receiving him. And she despised him. She despised him in her heart,
the scripture says. What she despised, he had taken
off his kingly robes, no doubt purple robes. That's the color
of the kings, right? No doubt he had a beautiful robe
that he wore as a king. He took that off and he put on
that white ephod, that linen garment that the priests wore.
And she thinks that's unbecoming of him as a king. She despised
him in her heart and out of the heart the mouth speaketh, When
he came home, she didn't even wait for him to get in the house.
She meets him outside and tells him that he had played the fool.
He had played the fool. She didn't have the love for
the Lord that David had. She couldn't understand it. She
thought that was so unbecoming of a king, so beneath the dignity
of a king that he would comport himself like that. dancing and
dressing like he did. Now, she accused him of, I guess
you would say, exposing himself. There's no evidence that he did.
That was just her way of trying to accuse him and ridicule him
and put him down. There's no evidence that David
did anything like that. But yes, he was engaged, right? He was engaged in worshiping
the Lord. And David then let her know that
if she thought his conduct was vile, She was going to see more
of it, because he was not going to stop worshipping his God. He was going to worship the Lord
in every way that God would accept. You know, in closing, I think
of how happy David was that day. Have you ever had a happy day?
A happy day, I mean, something that happened to you, maybe the
birth of a child, or a marriage, or just a happy day. I mean, just an exceptional day,
a red-letter day, as they say, you know. Oh, that was David
that day. He was so happy. He was so happy
that day. But then, there's one disagreeable
thing. And I thought, isn't that like
this world? Isn't that just like this world?
There's always those things that annoy us. I mean, no matter how
perfect things are, and you have a picnic, you know, and all those
flies, where do they come from? They just seem to tell everybody
else out there, you know. There's food over there. I mean,
you can have, that's just the way of the world, isn't it? I
mean, our place in this world. Everything's going well, good.
going well, and then there's just one thing, a little fly
in the ointment, right? As Solomon said. Well, I pray
the Lord would bless these thoughts to all of us here tonight, and
may God help us to be not only sincere, but engaged in our worship. And I know these things were
demonstrated by physical movements, but our heart, that's where it's
all about, our heart involved in our worship. of the Lord.
Let's sing a hymn and we'll be dismissed.