1 Samuel chapter 6 again tonight,
please. As we've seen from past studies,
the Philistines paid an incredible price for their capture and possession
of the Ark of the Covenant. Seven months have gone by, and
with God-inflicted pain, and the death of thousands. And the
Philistines decided that the ark's gotta go. It was the same as saying, no
God for us. We don't want this God of Israel,
no God for us. Their priest advised them to
send a trespass offering back with the ark as they sent it
back. And this, in their minds, made restitution and justified
their error in their deeds. And it just absolutely proved
useless and worthless for them to do so because, now listen
to me, there was no real repentance along with it. There was no repentance
accompanied with the offerings that they sent. They sought to
appease God by a work of their own hands and their material
wealth. So what'd they do? They took
their best gold and they made a molten gold, they melted their
gold into the resemblance of their affliction. That being
their emeralds or hemorrhoids, and along with graven rats. Both picturing their sin. Now,
I don't know what a gold graven hemorrhoid looks like. And I'll
be honest with you, I don't care to know. But it couldn't look any worse
than the self-righteous deeds that self-righteous men and women
endeavored all for God. It could look no worse in His
eyes. But this was the problem with that. There was no true
repentance given. They didn't give the glory to
God. They endeavored to take the glory for themselves. We've
talked about that a great deal in this, robbing God. Men and
women in religion today still strive to rob God of His glory. They do so by offering a work
of self-righteousness done by their own hands for the forgiveness
of their sin. That's what Cain did with the
best of his hands. He brought the best that he had,
but that'll never do it. God requires a blood sacrifice
in order to forgive sin. And God didn't accept it. He
didn't accept the Philistines offering. Because there's only
one thing God will accept. You know what it is. It's the
sacrifice of the only perfect one. The sacrifice of his only
beloved son, the Lord Jesus. And you know, men today, they
preach grace and they preach peace when there is no peace
and there is no grace. You know, it's easy to say God
saves by grace, and then they strive over and over and over
again to offer God something that they themselves produce,
and God will not accept it. That's what the Lord told the
rich young ruler that called him good master. He said, why
callest thou me good? Now this is the Lord Jesus. He
said, there's none good, but one, that is God. But if thou
wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. And it's here that
the gospel truth is seen and what is without being seen. You know, sometimes there's the
gospels proclaimed in between the lines, so to speak. First, there's none good, but
one, that's God. Secondly, to keep the commandments
of God, you've got to do so perfectly. It has to be perfect to be accepted. Well, wasn't the Lord Jesus good?
Yes, he was perfect. So why did the Lord ask, why
callest thou me good? Well, the answer should be a
blessing to you because he was representing you and he was representing
me. He was standing in our place.
It's the same reason our Lord didn't answer His accuser's palate
a word of defense. He was standing in His people's
place. He spoke not a word because we
were guilty, John. The Lord said to this young man,
He said, Thou knowest the commandments. Don't commit adultery and don't
kill, don't steal, don't bear false witness, defraud not, honor
your mother and father. And you remember what the young
man said? He said, all these have I observed from my youth.
That's why I've always done those things. Well, as Brother Henry
said one time, that's just a little bit too long. Just a little bit
too long. But he didn't do them perfectly.
God requires perfection and we can't provide it. The Lord always
meets His people at their greatest need. The Lord told him, one
thing thou likest. He liked more than one thing.
But the Lord's meeting him here in his heart. And he says, go
thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, because
he had a great deal. And thou shall have treasure
in heaven, and come and take up the cross and follow me. And
the scriptures say that he went away grieved, that he went away
sad. Why? He couldn't do what the
Lord required. And that's the reason folks today,
even though they claim to know Christ and claim to worship Christ
and serve Christ, they're always sad. They're always grieved because
they know deep within they cannot do what God requires. I think about when the Lord Jesus
met that demoniac of I think that's pronounced Gadara. I don't
wanna say Gadara, I don't know why, but Gadara. And it was a
unanimous decision among the people of that town that he ought to leave. They said, depart, depart, go,
go, go. And it was the same reason that
the Philistines wanted the Ark of the Covenant, which pictured
Christ, to be gone. Same reason. Such power over
man and over beasts as the Lord had when he sent the demons into
the swine was simply too much for them
to bear. And it wasn't, the ark had to go, and they concluded
that they must return the ark, but also make some restitution
for their actions. There's only one way to make
restitution to God. In man's will, in man's work,
in man's way, won't get it done. Christ is the way, the truth,
and the life, and no man comes to the Father any other way.
No other way. Will those in freewill works
religion ever see that? Yeah, only if God reveals it
to them. Any work of a true believer that
a true believer does is not in order to be saved. It's because
they are saved. They're saved by grace and because
of that, His love and mercy and grace to them They want to be
pleasing to their Savior, and they don't want to cause Him
any reproach. And they certainly don't want any of His glory.
It all belongs to Him. Paul told the church of Rome,
but you're not in the flesh. You see, those that are in the
flesh cannot please God. He said, you're not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you. and the people of Gadara, nor
the Philistines did not want to be rid of their sin against
God. Now listen, this is so important.
They just wanted to be rid of God. God's power over man and God's
power over beasts meant nothing but trouble for them. The Philistines
not only wanted to be rid of God, but they, in this offering
that they sent, wanted to also pay him to stay away. When I was young, because of
the pressure of the denomination I attended, and it was great
pressure. You know something about that, don't you? What I did in the name of religion
was in obedience to the denomination, not to the Lord Jesus. I remember I've told you this
before and it's, it would be funny if it wasn't so sad, but
they had signs up in the church that said to get to heaven, turn
right and go straight, you know, silly little things like that.
All they're, they think they're witty, but they're just lies
because young people like I was at the time take it serious.
And you try to do right, and you try to be straight, and you
try to do the right things, and you just get bogged down in depression
because you never can. And when I finally heard for
the first time the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in doing for
me what I couldn't do for myself, it was such a relief. And it
was such comfort, and there was such peace that followed. But in my own heart, back those
years ago, I thought it could be a means to rid my dark desire
to get rid of God. It checked all the boxes, as
we say. But the truth of the matter is
we can fool man, but we can't fool God. Our sins will find
us out, Numbers 32, 23. Okay, in verse 12 here of 1 Samuel
chapter 6, it says, we're told, and the kind, the cows, took
the straight way to the way of Beth Shemesh, and went along
the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right
hand or to the left, And the lords of the Philistines went
after them to the border of Beth Shemesh. They're following them.
They're seeing what happens. The priest had said, if this
happens, then we know it was of the Lord. And if these cows
return home back to find their youth, their little calves, then
we know it wasn't the Lord at all. But what we know is that
the Lord, who is sovereign over all things, even cows, Because of Him, they took the
straight way. They took the way. And they went
along the highway, that straight and narrow highway. The Lord's
behind us traveling that road. We don't go right and turn straight
and stay on the straight and narrow. God leads us. We follow
Christ. And here again, we see the Lord's
control of man as well as of beasts, for he has power over
both. We can't take that too far. All
things, for that matter, God's in control of. So those cows,
they never veered to the left. They never veered from their
appointed destination. And what a picture this serves
as God's sovereign control and purpose concerning his chosen
people. When God saves the sinner, He
keeps the sinner. Isn't that good news? Some people
say, oh, you're gonna backslide. Well, if I backslide, the Lord got
his hand on me and he'll slide me right back, I know that. But
I never lose my salvation because salvation's of the Lord. He keeps
the sinner kept. by the power of God, the same
way that He saves us. How does He save us? By His power.
It's the power of God unto salvation. We're kept by the power of God.
God keeps His people on the straight and narrow. That's the point
I'm endeavoring to make. Because straight is the gate
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life. And few there be that
find it. Who finds this straight and narrow
way? God's people, God's elect, God's chosen. Who keeps them
from varying to the left and right? God does. And He does
so by His power, 1 Peter 1, 5. And I love the thought of being
kept, don't you? Kept by the power of God. That's
what Roman 8 tells us over and over again. What shall we say
to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemned? It's Christ that died. That's
what it's telling us. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? It's Christ that makes intercession
for us. May in all these things, we are
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Romans 8, 37. In verse 13 in
our text, and they of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest
in the valley and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark
and rejoiced to see it. I bet they did. And the cart
came into the field of Joshua. a Betshemite, and stood there
where there was a great stone, a great rock. and they claimed the wood of
the cart and offered the kind of burnt offering unto the Lord. So picture this, when the ark
arrives on this cart in Beth Shemesh, there was a great cause
of rejoicing by the children of Israel. What a sight it was
in the day of harvest. It was a great time, but What
a sight it must be to the child of God in the day of judgment
for some and full salvation for others. Like the shepherds in Luke chapter
two who were abiding in their fields when the angels announced
the good tidings of great joy in the coming of the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The shepherds were overwhelmed.
Their hearts leaped for joy over the return of the Ark of the
Covenant. Can you imagine? For seven months, the Israelites
had been without this visible representation of God's presence
and His dwelling with them, and now their rejoicing caused them
to leap for joy at the Ark's return. Again, I mentioned that
the ark came to the field of a man named Joshua. As you know,
the Greek translation of Joshua is Jesus, Jehovah that saves. That's no accident that his name
was Joshua. And it wasn't any accident that
there was a rock there representing the solid rock, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 15, and the Levites took
down the ark Well, let me, I'm getting ahead of myself. The
Bethshemites immediately called for the priest to take the ark
off the cart. They ripped up the cart, they
started the fire, and they offered burnt offerings to the Lord.
And this is a point I wanted to make here. I almost left it
out. How revealing is it that they set aside the joy of the
harvest for the joy of the presence of the Lord? Only one who believes
does that. It's so easy for us to get caught
up in earthly things and rejoice over them and neglect the one
thing needful that we need most. Verse 15, and the Levites took
down the ark of the Lord and the copper that was with it,
wherein the jewels of gold were. And look, they put them on the
great stone. And the men of Beth Shemesh offered
burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto
the Lord. But as we'll see, there was a
problem. Along with the burnt offerings they made to the Lord,
they also set the offerings of the Philistines, the gold emirates
and the gold rats on that same rock. Now you think about that
for a moment. That's a problem. How is that
a problem? Well, the problem is there can
be no mixture of man's work and offerings added to the finished
work of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the election
of grace, it's by grace, and it can be no more of works, according
to Romans 11, 6. It's either grace or it's works.
It can't be both. And it cannot, it cannot be the
mixture of the two. I love to say it. If my salvation
is not the finished work of Christ, and it is, then His imputed perfect
work of righteousness for me is what saves me. And I cannot
do or not do anything to be lost. I am forever saved. Once saved, always saved. And you know what? It won't cause me to live in sin.
It won't cause me to sin that grace may abound because of who
it was that saved me and what He did for me. Out of love for
Christ and what He has done, I don't want to do anything that
would bring reproach to Him. Nothing that would taint His
glory in the least. Yet still we do, don't we? We
still do. How amazing is the Lord's long-suffering
to us? You know, we talk often about
His salvation, and that's the most wonderful thing in the world.
God's saving us and God's keeping us. But what about His long-suffering? Man, we'd write people off in
a heartbeat. Doesn't take much to offend us,
but God is so long-suffering with us. That's what Israel pictures
all through All through their wandering in the wilderness,
God was long-suffering, long-suffering. They bellyached, they complained,
they did everything but what God told them to do, and God
was long-suffering. And after the Lord brought them
into the land of promise, they griped and they complained, and
they began to worship idols, and they'd fall into the hands
of the enemy, and God would send a judge and deliver them. Over
and over again, we saw that in the book of Judges. Men and women
did what was right in their own eyes, what seemed right to them,
and God would again do it over and over again. What long suffering. Oh, it's how amazing is it? Well,
it's more than amazing. And it's more than wonderful.
Only one who's God could do it. Now the new location of the Ark
is important. Beth Shemesh belonged to Judah. And after this incident, the
Ark of the Covenant never left Judah because it was the land
of Zion. The archon never returned to
Shiloh, and you know why, because of the horrible decline of the
office of the priests and the actions of Hothni and Phinehas. Judah was now the center of worship,
and why shouldn't it be? Our Lord was the only priest
that sprang from the tribe of Judah. This picture's him. Judah
was on the holy hill that God sent his king and gave him the
heathen for his inheritance. That's Christ. It was Judah,
remember, who volunteered to be Benjamin's surety. That's Christ. Christ is the
lion of the tribe of Judah. That's where he resides. And
it's here on Mount Zion and in the person of the Lord Jesus
that people are to worship God. The psalmist confirms that in
Psalm chapter 78. Listen, it says, moreover, he
refused the tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
but chose the tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved. And he built his sanctuary like
high palaces, like the earth, which he had established forever. This is where the Ark of the
Covenant remained until David later moved it to Jerusalem. And it represents the holiness
of God that when Uzzah accidentally touched it, when David was having
it moved, God killed him. It just shows us the holiness
of God. No man can approach him and his
holiness without Christ. Verse 19, and he, the Lord, smote
the men of Beth Shemesh. Why? Because they looked into
the ark of the Lord, and even he smote of the people 50,000
and three score and 10 men. Listen, 50,070 people died because
of that. They looked into the ark of the
covenant. And they would grieve, they lamented,
it says, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with
a great slaughter. Now, it seems to me in reading
this that the men of Beth Shemesh decided on their own accord to
look into the ark. They had it there, you know,
and they said, well, let's look in it. You know, curiosity, they
say, kills the cat. Well, it kills a whole lot more
than cats. These were the two great offenses,
crimes committed in doing that. The first was that they touched
the Ark. God said, don't touch it. And
they touched it. It was forbidden for anyone to
touch it. Only the priest charged with carrying the Ark did so
upon their shoulders. And it never touched them because
it was carried upon golden staffs so that it didn't touch them.
That's why God killed Uzzah. It was an accident. It became
unstable when David moved it on the cart, and he just reached
out so it wouldn't fall. But God killed him because you
don't touch. You don't touch. And not even the high priest
who saw the ark only once a year was allowed to touch the ark.
To touch the ark was to symbolically take part in what the ark represented. And secondly, they looked inside
the ark. To do so, represents and pictures
the presumption of entitlement. You know, we live in an entitled
world today. You know, well, you tell somebody
that God has mercy on whom he'll have mercy and compassion on
whom he will and whom he will, he hards the first thing out
of the mouth. You know what it is? Well, that's
not fair. Paul said that, he said, you're gonna say, that's
not fair. Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is it God doing what he wants to do, what he desires
to do, what he has the right to do? If he does it, you're
gonna claim that there's unrighteousness with God. That's not right, that's
unfair. We're not entitled to look into
what God has covered with Christ, his mercy seat. Men have no right
of entitlement to involve themselves with that which belong to God's
secret work. God's got to reveal it. God's
got to show it to us. And he does so through the preaching
of the gospel. He reveals the gospel to whom
he wills. And this is just another form
of man's attempt to rob God. You can't figure this mystery
out on your own. God chooses to reveal it to whosoever
He will. You have to be given spiritual
life. You have to be given spiritual understanding to know what's
in the ark, what's in Christ. This is why
the old covenant has been set aside. We've got a new covenant. We've got a new high priest who
by the sacrifice of himself puts sin away. Do you see what I'm
saying? At this point in time, the mystery
of God and His work of redemption was shrouded and covered. Under
the mercy seat was the broken law. Under the mercy seat was
Aaron's rod that budded. Under the mercy seat was the
golden pot of manna. The broken law represents our
sin. Aaron's budding of a dead rod,
separated from the vine, is a picture of our regeneration. And the
pot of man, a pitcher's life giving sustenance. That's called
Christ. He's the fulfiller of the law.
He's the one that gives life and he's the sustenance that
we partake of to live. All three of those things were
addressed in the three hours of darkness at Calvary. That's
why there wasn't any light. Even the child of God is not
allowed to see the great detail involved in the matter of sin
and how the Lord was made sin. Well, how was the Lord made sin? I have no idea. It's over my
head. It's over all of our heads. It
was God's doing. It was a secret work from the
foundation of the world. That's what Paul told Timothy.
He said, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, and believed on in
the world, and received up in the glory. That's God's business. We ought to just be happy and
thankful that he saved us. This is a secret work of the
Spirit of God, the matter of regeneration, it's a secret work.
It's a work that we can't see or touch. The Lord told Nicodemus in chapter
three, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Two different things.
He said, marvel not that I said unto you that you must be born
again. And then he said this, the wind
bloweth where it listeth. The wind blows where it wants
to. And thou hearest the sound thereof, but you can't tell where
it came from, and you can't tell where it's going. It's a secret
work. So is everyone that's born of
the Spirit. And this learned Pharisee, Nicodemus,
answered in verse nine and said unto the Lord, how can these
things be? That's what we say. We scratch
our heads when we think about what God's done for us when we
cross, and we go, how can these things be? They're a mystery. They're a
secret. The message is plain and simple.
In the matter of salvation, God does not allow us to see or touch. The work of Christ for us, which
is an eternal benefit for us, was accomplished in the secret
counsels of God Almighty, and it's totally a work of His mercy
and grace. None of my business. You remember when Peter was walking
with the Lord on the seashore, and John's following close behind,
and Peter kept saying, well, what about him? What about him? And the Lord said, what's that
to you? That's none of your business.
I'm talking to you. And whatever the Lord does with
anyone else that we know, that's His business. The question is,
what do you think of Christ? Whose son is He? What is He to
you? Today we see things through the eye of faith that those under
the old covenant could not see, but none of us can see, touch,
or have any part in the salvation of our souls. Just perish the
thought. As I said earlier, if it's grace,
It's grace, and if we're saved, then it can't be by works. We can only be saved by God's
grace. Paul said in Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse
eight, for by grace are you saved through faith. You know this.
And that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works,
lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship. This is a work of God created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. Not say because of good works,
but it causes us to go into good works. Which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. The Lord Jesus said,
all things are delivered to me and my father. No man knoweth
who the son is, but the father and who the father is, but the
son. and he to whom a son would reveal
him." Only the father knows the son, only the son knows the father,
and you do if he reveals it to you. That's the only way. Isn't
that something? Verse 20, and the men of Bethsheba
said, who is able to stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom
shall he go up from us? Now, you know, consideration
of the fact that the Lord just killed 50,070 men, that's a reasonable
question. Those that touched the ark, they were just happy to just
look into the things of Christ instead of trusting Him for everything.
And again, it's like checking a box. You know, people come
to church and they really don't have any interest in Christ.
They just know they should go to church. And most of the time,
they've been better off to stay at home because they don't hear
anything about salvation and who it is it saves. Who's able to stand before this
holy God? The question's reasonable. Many
religionists are Just satisfied to get along and go along, they
join and attend church just in case they might be wrong. Just
like those professing men on Mars Hill. They had a God for
everything. They had one to the unknown God,
just in case they missed one. And that's the one they missed.
And that's the one that Paul preached unto. Who is able to
stand before this holy God? The priest of the Philistines
asked basically the same question up in verse six. Look at it.
Wherefore then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians
and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had walked wonderfully
among them, Did they not let the people go and they departed?
In other words, can you stand before this same God that the
Egyptians and Pharaoh disobeyed? When this holy God wrought wonderfully
among them, or in their case, against them, they finally listened to him,
but it was too late. These men of Beth Shemesh asked
this question as a response as to why the Lord had done this
to them. He killed 50,070 of their number,
why? They approached God the wrong
way. The priest said, you approached God the
wrong way. When this holy, God wrought wonderfully
among them. They approached him the wrong
way. The way to approach God is only answered in the gospel.
That's the message, that's the issue. The second question they
ask is, and to whom shall he, the symbol of God's presence,
that being Ark of the Covenant, who shall go up from us? Like the Philistines, the men
of Bathsheba seem to desire to be rid of the ark also. God's
too holy to clear the guilty. The soul that sins, it must die.
And only a true believer whom God has shown Christ as the remedy
of sin will desire to be in his presence and desire to be so
continually. It's their only hope and salvation.
And that's what verse 21 reveals to us. Look at it. And they,
the men of Beth Shema, sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjoth-Jerim,
saying, the Philistines have brought again the ark of the
Lord. Come ye down and fetch it up to you. We want it gone. He'd only been here for a short
time. God's already, the holy God of scripture has already
killed 50,000 men. We don't want it either. There's a lot of folks that play
religion because they don't want this God. But the believer who's
seen these things and are given access to his presence by faith
will never desire anything or anyone else. What about you? Is that what
you want more than life itself? To those who endeavor to save
themselves, they have no need of Christ. But those that have
seen that they cannot save themselves, they want and desire nothing
else but Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, I've determined not
to know anything among you other than this. Do you trust and believe
that Jesus Christ, God the Son, was crucified? That's your only
hope of salvation. So, I solemnly ask you and myself
tonight, is that what we desire? Christ and Him crucified? Is
Christ all that you want? Is Christ all that you need?
The Lord answered that question for us. He said, but one thing's
needful. He said, like Mary, may God enable us to choose that
good part, which shall never, never be taken away from us. Luke 10, 42. Everything else
we consider a treasure is not. It's just not. Oh, we make the
most stupid things treasures. I'm the worst. Everything we
consider a treasure is going to rust, corrupt, and be stolen.
Christ is our heavenly treasure. Salvation is our heavenly treasure. All that He gives us, thieves
cannot break through and steal. In Christ, God has supplied all
our need, singular. According to His riches in glory,
that's who, that's talking about Christ. By Jesus Christ, He's
all that we need. It always comes down to this,
every single time. He is all that we need. It always
comes down to our need of Christ.