The Lord will be pleased to help
me once again. I'd like you to turn with me to the chapter that
we read, 1 Chronicles chapter 16, and the text you'll find
in verse 36. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
forever and ever. And all the people said, Amen. Praise the Lord. So we're really encouraged by
the hymn that I think Keith chose for us to sing, the Song of Praise
in Hymns for Worship number 41. Praise my soul, the King of heaven,
at his feet thy tribute bring. Ransom healed, restored, forgiven,
who like thee his praise should sing. Praise him, praise him,
praise the everlasting King. This David desired to bring the
Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. He desired to bring the presence
of God into the central point, the central city of the people
of Israel. And he had that desire that God
would be worshipped, God would be praised, God would be adored
and that his people would have a place by which they could come
and worship the Lord, the Lord their God. and we come to worship,
we are falling down before our Maker. It is the meeting point
by which man and God come together and David had that desire to
bring that meeting point, the Ark of the Covenant, into Jerusalem
so that the people of God would be able to congregate and collectively
worship God in their in the center point of the kingdom. The Ark
of the Covenant was a very special piece of the temple, a very special
piece designed by God himself and given those instructions
given to Moses. And we read in the book of Exodus
of that specific way by which this ark and the angels above
the ark were to be made. in Exodus 25. It gives a great
detail there of how it should be made. But in verse 22 it tells
us something very special. That once the ark is made with
the cherubims above that ark, that would be called the mercy
seat. and verse 22 and there I will
meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy
seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the
testimony with all things which I will give thee in commandment
unto the children of Israel. And so as God commanded Moses
to make this Ark of the Covenant. Inside of that Ark of the Covenant
was the Law of Moses, the two tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments
were inside of that box. And then above that box was these
two angels with their wings spread out touching each other. And it is said that when the
high priest came to that place, that was the meeting point of
God and man. The high priest we know was not
able to enter into that holy place without blood and so the
way that was made, the means by which was used was the sacrifice
of the animal, the coming into the holy of holies with the blood,
the sprinkling of the blood upon the mercy seat and only then Was there that communication
able to take place? Only then was God satisfied that
he could enter into fellowship and communion with his people
through that passing through the blood. that day of atonement that was
made, that sacrifice, and then the sending of the scapegoat
into the wilderness, symbolizing the running away of sin. And so God says that there I
will meet with you. David had that desire that that
ark would be found in Jerusalem. And so he made a way for it to
get there. The Bible tells us at first that
it was done in a wrong way. Moses was told a specific way
by which the ark was to be moved, by which the tent was to be taken
down, and it was to be done by the Levites. The tent was to
be taken down. The Ark of the Covenant was to
be covered over. Then badgerskins was to be laid
over all of the Ark and all of the other things, the instruments
that were in the temple. And it was only then that the
sons of Korah were able to come in and gather up all of the things
of the temple and begin to transport everything. And should they make
one mistake, should somebody touch the Ark, other than the
priests, then they would die. The punishment for disobedience
to God in this specific area of worship was death. And as David, as he consulted
with the elders of Israel about bringing the Ark of the Covenant
into Jerusalem, they overlooked one specific criteria. What does God want us to do? They had their plan. They had
their idea about what they were going to do. And they did what
they thought they should do. And so they placed it, they got
the cart and they, sorry, they got the ark and they placed it
onto a new cart and they began to transport it. But as the ark
was being transported upon the cart, it began to wobble. In 1 Chronicles chapter 13, And when they came unto the threshing
floor of Chidon, Uzziah put forth his hand, and behold, to hold
the ark, for the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was
kindled against Uzziah and he smote him because he put his
hand to the ark and there died before the Lord, before God.
David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon
Uzziah. Therefore that place is called Perez Uzziah until
this day. And so as they were transporting
the Ark of the Covenant they were worshipping God, they were
playing the instruments, they were in no doubt excited, they
were singing but they weren't doing what God wanted them to
do. He had said there was a specific
way by which this ark is to be transported and it is not onto
a new cart. And Uzziah, although his motive
may have been right, yet the judgment of God fell upon him
because he was not doing what God commanded them to do. The ark was placed into the house
of Obed-Edom and David decided to go again to collect the ark
after he saw that a blessing was on the house of Obed-Edom
for the ark. This time he did what was right. using the Levites they brought
the ark into Jerusalem offering sacrifices to God and they brought
the ark then to settle it into its place. So they brought the
ark of God and set it into the midst of the tent that David
had pitched for it. And they offered burnt sacrifices
and peace offerings before God. And when David made an end of
offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings he blessed
the people in the name of the Lord. And here again we have
that worship through blood. As God commanded Right at the
beginning there was to be those sacrifices and that bloodshed. And so as the Ark of the Covenant
is brought into Jerusalem in the book of I think it's 2 Samuel
we read, every six steps David slaughtered oxen before the Lord,
offering sacrifices unto God, moving forward and offering more
sacrifices unto God until it came to the final destination,
to the final resting place. And then he offers more burnt
offerings, more peace offerings before God. And so the worship
of God was to be done through sacrifice and substitute and
blood. And the design of worship was
to glorify God and to humble man. make man realize who God
is. That he cannot rush into the
presence of a holy God but there must be that barrier because
of the sins of man there is that barrier of sin and that God can
only be approached by the shedding of blood And only then can that
peace be made. And so as David desired to bring
the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, as that signified
the presence of God in the midst of the people, that the people
of God could worship God there at Jerusalem. And so the design
or the desire of David was to bless the name of the Lord, to
lift up his name and to sing unto him psalms and to talk of
his wondrous works. And so he writes this psalm which
we have in the middle of the chapter from verse 7 to verse
36. This psalm which is also written
in Psalm 105. We have it there and also in Psalm
106 and portions of it are written in the book of Psalms. So David's
desire was that the people of God would be able to bless God
and to praise God and lift up the name of God. And his desire
was that the people would be able to come collectively together
around their maker. to acknowledge the true and living
God. In his psalm he declares that
all of the other gods are as nothing but God made the heavens
and the earth and today we come to worship the true and living
God The God who created the heavens and the earth. The same God as
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. The same God that David worshipped. The same God that Solomon worshipped. The same God through the same
way. In Isaiah it tells us that The
purpose of God to redeem a people for himself, to call a people
from the nations is that they may show forth his praise. What was David's desire? David's
desire was that the people of God would praise the name of
the Lord. They would elevate the name of
the Lord, they would lift up the name of the Lord, they would
give thanks unto the Lord for his abundant mercy, for his goodness,
that his mercy endures forever and ever. Oh give thanks unto
the Lord for he is good. for his mercy endures forever. David had experienced the mercy
of God. The people of Israel had experienced
the mercy of God. God had not dealt with them as
they deserve to be dealt with. And even though he slaughtered
Uzziah in judgment for him touching the ark of God, yet God in his
mercy did not consume all not consume David who initiated all
of those things but in his mercy he took one to bring them to
a standstill, to cause them to consider their ways, consider
what they were doing and really to consider who God is. How often
do we really consider who God is? It's very easy for us to
come here week by week and it becomes just a ritual that we
do. We're going to chapel. We don't really consider who
it is we are going to worship. May we don't even use those words. We're going to worship. May we
just say we're just going to chapel. We are coming here to
worship the true and living God. The same God that struck Uzziah
down. The same God that struck Aaron's
sons down. The same God that struck Eli's
sons down. because they messed around with
the worship of God, his worship. And David was witnessed what
God would do if his worship was corrupted. And as we come today, we come
to worship this God who is holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty. And it's our privilege to be
able to come here and to fall down at his feet through his
beloved son the Lord Jesus Christ and to give thanks unto him for
he is good, for his mercy endures for forever and ever. Just because we live in the New
Testament times does not mean that God has lost his holiness. Doesn't mean that God has become
unfearful. That God doesn't care about our
standard of worship. Just because we have the freedom
in Christ does not mean we can do as we please. We come to worship
a holy God. I think because of the familiarity
that we have now in our society that familiarity has been passed
on to our understanding of God. We have children who call their
fathers and mothers by their maiden names. A lack of respect,
lack of authority. It's become like mothers and
fathers are friends and mates with their children. I had friends
who used to go night clubbing with their mums and dads. They were mates. There was no
authority but they were brought down to the same level and behaved
like children and teenagers together and this familiarity has come
down into the church. It's come down to our understanding
of God. that God is holy, that he is
powerful, that he is sovereign, that he is not our mate. Though he is a friend that sticks
closer to a brother yet he is still the creator and sustainer
of heaven and earth and we cannot rush into his presence, we cannot
enter into his presence except we come through the blood sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as David experienced, he
could not do as he wished, but he must follow the guidelines,
the laws, the ceremonial laws that God had laid down in the
scriptures. For our God is holy, our God
is a consuming fire. But oh give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. And so it was
David's desire that the people of God could come collectively
together and to worship God. It was collective because all
the people said Amen. In Psalm 106 right at the end In verse 48 it says, Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And
let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord. It's what David's desire was. He wanted the congregation to
be knit together in unity, in collective worship before this
holy God. He desired them all to be participating
in this worship. All of them giving thanks and
acknowledging that God is good. All of them acknowledging that
God's mercy endures forever and ever. All of them stating that
God should save us. and acknowledging that God is
a God of salvation and a delight and a desire to be gathered together
in unity and to be delivered from their enemies, the heathen,
the ungodly, that we may give thanks unto thy holy name. and glory in thy praise. And so he desired that they would
collectively say, after this, as it were, this benediction,
this elevation of praise and adoration to God, that they would
all collectively say, Amen. So be it, or it is truth. In the New Testament, The Lord
Jesus uses those words verily, verily, which in some other versions
are translated as truly, truly. But really it is amen, amen. 101 times the Lord Jesus Christ
is stated to quote verily, verily. 51 times in the New Testament
is the same word translated as amen. mostly at the end of Paul's letters,
at the end of his benedictions, he closes with an Amen. In Corinthians, as he's writing
to the church there at Corinth, when he's speaking about tongues,
as we looked at recently, he uses the reason why people should
not speak in an unknown tongue because people would not be able
to understand but not only would they not be able to understand
they would not be able to acknowledge what was being said as truth. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse
16 it says 14. If I pray with an unknown tongue,
my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. In other words,
no one is able to understand what I'm saying. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit,
and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit,
and I will sing with the understanding also. Else, when thou shalt bless
with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the
unlearned say Amen at thy giving thanks, seeing he understandeth
not what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks
well, but the other is not edified. And so in the early church, there
was this acknowledgement of what was being said. And this comes
from the Jewish custom in the synagogues. As the rabbis were
preaching, teaching, and praying in the synagogue in accordance
with what David taught, there was an acknowledgement that the
people of God they said amen at the end of the prayer, they
said amen at the end of the sermon, at the end of what they had heard. There was that collective acknowledgement
that what was being said was truth and that the people had
benefited from the truth that they had been hearing. The word
was not water off a duck's back but the word had penetrated their
minds and their understanding and they acknowledged that what
was being said was right. Sometimes you go to churches
and you say well let us turn to 1 Corinthians 14 and it's
just silence. It's like everybody's asleep.
No one is engaging really in what is being said. The end of the prayer, there's
no noise, no acknowledgement. It seems that we're so afraid
of being outlandish or wacky. even if our heart is burning
within us and we have a desire to acknowledge this is truth
I'm benefiting from this truth we can't act upon that and yet the scriptures say the
people of God said amen they acknowledged that what was being
said was the truth of God's holy word and they agreed with that
truth Do we agree with the truth of God's word? Does it affect
our hearts as we come to worship the true and living God? Does
it have an effect upon us? Are we truly coming to worship
God? Do we truly feed off the word
of God? Do we truly benefit by meeting
collectively with God's people? Do we really come to give thanks
unto the Lord for he is good? Have we gathered here this night
to give thanks to God? Have we gathered here tonight
to worship him in the spirit of holiness? Have we gathered
to bless the Lord our God? To speak well of him and to acknowledge
his greatness and to say amen unto him? In the New Testament The object
of our worship is the same. David and the people of Israel
came by the blood of sacrificed animals into the presence of
God. We see when Solomon dedicated the temple, thousands of beasts
were slaughtered. The ark was taken then into the
holy of holies and the spirit of God, the smoke of God came
down. The priests leave the holy of
holies and the fire comes down from heaven and consumes the
altar, consumes the sacrifices of God. They experience God's
favor, God's divine blessing because they had done what God
required them to do. Oh hear thou in heaven thy dwelling
place. They fell down and worshipped
the true and living God. And today we come into the presence
of God and we come as the church, we come as the household of the
living God. And God has promised, Christ
has promised to be present with his people. We don't have to
wait for his presence. He is here amongst his people. He's indwelling in the bodies
of believers. Yes, we may not see the power,
the full extent of his power and influence on the world and
in our lives, but he is with us. He is present with his people
as they gather to worship. He is their object and desire
and they come to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Our
eyes are fixed upon God. He is the father but we come
to him through the blood of the son the same way as David. Through the blood of sacrifice
we come through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ our great
high priest our mediator whoever lives to intercede for us and
we come with the same desires that David had. for collective
blessing, to give thanks to God, because he is good, he is always
good, even if our circumstances state that it's difficult and
hard, yet God remains good and his mercy towards his people
endures forever and ever and ever. We come and we say, save
us. We acknowledge our need of salvation. acknowledge the need of the salvation
of souls round about us. We have a desire that the Lord
would move and save for he is a God of salvation and we desire
that he saves people from the consequences of their sin but
also that he may save us from our besetting sins, from our
difficult circumstances, from falling short of the glory of
God, from bringing shame upon the name of God, from living
with the appearance of evil, to save us from ourselves and
from sin that dwells within. Our desire is that we gather
together. just as David had that desire
to gather all Israel together to worship God. So our desire
is to come collectively and to worship God. We are able as New
Testament believers in the Lord Jesus to worship God wherever
we like. We can worship as we walk down
the road. We can worship in our studies,
in our rooms. We can worship in the countryside. We can worship in family worship. We can worship God wherever we
like. But it is God's favour and blessing
we seek as we come collectively together as the body of Christ
to worship him. asking that he would knit us
together in the unity of the Spirit that we may be encouraged
and blessed but also that we would be delivered from the heathen. There are persecutors. Our brethren
are persecuted in other lands. Some people are persecuted in
the workplace. Some people are persecuted at
school, college, universities. And we desire that they would
be delivered from the heathen. We would desire that we also
would be delivered from the evil within, that we may have strength
to continue. that we may give thanks to his
holy name part of worship is not only to receive a blessing
for ourselves as we come to sit under the word of God but it
is to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to lift up
our God our creator to praise him forever and ever. And all the people said, Amen. In the Gospel of John, when the Lord Jesus Christ is
speaking to the lady by the well, He speaks to her and he says,
the father is seeking those who would worship him in spirit and
truth. John chapter four and verse 23. But the hour cometh and now is
when the true worshipers of God shall worship the father in spirit
and in truth. For the father seeketh such to
worship him. God is a spirit and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. There is a danger isn't there
of just having a form of worship, just having a dead form, a ritual
without any feeling without any true understanding of what we
are doing. God is searching for, the scripture
says, he's seeking such that will worship him in spirit and
in truth. That there may be people who
are knowledgeable of what they are doing. They are worshipping
in an informed way. David in the beginning was ill-informed. He did what was not right in
the sight of God and experienced judgement. But when he did what
was right and pleasing in the sight of God, it was then that
he experienced blessing. Same with Solomon. Solomon did
what was right in the establishing of the temple and the bringing
in of the ark and the sacrifices. They experienced the blessing
and the presence of God. They worshipped God in an informed
manner, the way in which God desired to be worshipped. In truth, Christ is the truth. Nobody can worship God outside
of the truth, outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's word
is truth. We must come to God as he desires
us to come to him. It is only through the Lord Jesus
Christ that our worship can ever be acceptable in the sight of
a holy God. We may do all manner of things. We may put on a great show as
David put on a great show that it was not done in the way that
God required. The only way to come to God and
to be accepted by God is to come through the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That blood sacrifice that stands
between the Lord Jesus Christ our high priest and mediator. Even our worship is impure and
unacceptable in his sight outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so we must come to God in truth but also in spirit. David wanted that fixed location
for the worship of God. But as the Jews rejected the
Lord Jesus Christ, that temple was destroyed completely by the
Romans. And now the scripture tells us
that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you.
We are not bound by location. You're not bound by location.
Yes we like to have buildings and we can have buildings in
our country because there is that freedom to do so. But should
persecution come and we have to meet in the woods, we have
to meet in secret, we don't have to have special buildings. The
early church met in people's houses from house to house. We
have a privilege of gathering together in freedom. where we are gathered together,
there the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of us. Whether it
be in a cave, whether it be in the forest, whether it be in
the desert, in the wilderness, or in somebody's home, somebody's
garage, there we are able to worship the Lord in spirit and
in truth through the Lord Jesus Christ because our hearts have
been changed. It's not about our bodies. It
is about our hearts. Our hearts are indwelt by the
spirit of God and our heart is the central point of our whole
body. Our worship of God comes from
our heart for what Christ has done. We bow down before our
maker and it gives us a passion for the worship of God. We desire
to praise the Lord, to lift up our voice and to lift up our
hearts and to praise the Lord. Do we have a passion for God? Do we have a passion for the
Lord Jesus Christ? Do we find ourselves in places
and times lifting up our voice, lifting up our hearts in worship
and adoration to our God? there been those times in your
life and it's not necessarily here. when you've been alone
and you've been able to worship God in spirit and in truth, you
know what it is to be under the influence of the Holy Spirit
and to lift up your voice, to lift up your praise, to lift
up your worship and to the true and living God. May the Lord
give us each a true understanding of who it is we are coming to
worship, that it is a holy God, and we come to proclaim his holy
word and it is the duty of every man, woman, boy and girl to fall
under the authority of God's holy word and to worship him. Oh that the Lord may give us
a new heart to worship him in spirit and in truth, that we
may come to this place, that we may come to the word of God
with an informed understanding of who God is and who Christ
is and our need of him. As Peter, as he saw who Jesus
was, he says, depart from me for I'm a sinful man, O Lord.
That is what we need to understand, that God is holy, that we are
sinful and it is our privilege to be able to come and worship
him through the Lord Jesus Christ in the freedom that we have without
the ceremonial laws and the sacrifices and the blood and the fear. but to come to him through his
beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, singing, Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel for ever and ever. And all the people said, Amen,
and praised the Lord. Amen. Let us conclude our worship this
evening by singing 632 from Gadsby's. And the actual tune is 737. So
the tune is actually 737. 632 the hymn. Whoever in Jesus believes the
blessing is sure to obtain a full and free pardon Christ gives
to all that confide in his name. Nor Moses, nor Satan, nor sin
can sentence believers to hell. No evil without or within shall
ever against them prevail. 632 to the tune 737. ? In His short, terrible day ?
? Our fallen, free Father Christ is ? ? To all that confide in
His name ? ? Nor Moses, nor Satan, nor sin ? ? But sinners, believers
? We move without awakening. ? As the earth we pass by ? ? Till
this Lord can fall from His throne ? ? His promise and faithfulness
crown ? ? All people's earth weakness become ? ? And their
lack is heard ? Though death moves against him
tonight, his faith stands a-changing. and let them rejoice in their
King. The water will cease before long,
and they must meet victory. Almighty God, we acknowledge
that Thou art holy and we thank Thee for the Lord Jesus Christ,
our mediator, Thy Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. We
thank Thee that we can come and worship Thee and we acknowledge
that Thou art worthy to be worshipped and we pray that we may be granted
a greater measure of understanding of our own sinfulness and our
own need of the Lord Jesus Christ and Lord we pray as we look into
the heavens and we see the greatness of thy creation help us to realise
that God is greater than his creation. We thank thee, Lord,
for thy revealed truth in thy holy word, and we pray that it
may be made a blessing to our never-dying souls. We ask that
thou dismiss us with thy blessing. And now, by the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with you each now
and for evermore. Amen.