Is a man saved by the works of
the law? Or is a man saved by the grace
of God? Is salvation determined by work
that man does for God? Or is salvation determined by
work that God does for man? It can't be both. I suppose another
way to ask that same question would be, is man in control? Or is God in control? You see,
your idea of salvation has everything to do with how you answer the
question, who's in control? If you think that men and women
are in control of their own destiny, then no doubt you think that
salvation is determined by something that you do, even if it's believing.
In other words, men think that God made salvation possible for
all who would believe, and you made the difference by believing.
That's really what they're saying. We've all heard it before. God
wants to save you. Satan wants to destroy you. But
the teaching today is, it's all up to you as to what you want.
It's kind of like being your own God, isn't it? or at least
being a co-God with God, so to speak. Men and women today think
that salvation is a collaborative effort. It's something that we
help God accomplish by giving our will, making a decision. Nowhere in the Bible does it
say that. Nowhere in the Scriptures. Man has no will. His will is
dead. Same as He is. Man has no ability. A dead man can do nothing. You
have to have life in order to have any ability to do. Isn't
that right? I'm not trying to be funny, but
honestly, have you ever seen a dead person at a voting booth?
And just in case someone has, Chris, you may have in your line
of work as a fireman. But have you ever seen a dead
person at a voting booth voting? It's no less ridiculous to think
that those who are spiritually dead cannot in any way cast a
vote or make a choice. You just can't do it. You're
dead in trespasses and sin. And that proves that folks don't
really think themselves to be dead in trespasses and sin because
the vast majority are trusting in just that. They're trusting
in their decision. They're trusting in their choice.
They're trusting in their free will. That's what they believe
saved them. You just ask them. So let me say it clear and plain.
By nature, we are dead in trespasses and sin. We have no vote to cast. We have no decision to make.
Our will is not free. It's in bondage to our nature
of sin. And all through the Scriptures
we see this. So again, my message today is the same. And it's just
found in a different passage of Scripture. And it's just seen
in a different story. And it's got a few different
characters. But it's the same message. It's the same gospel. So if you would turn with me
to the Old Testament to 1st Chronicles chapter 13. You've got 1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel,
1st Kings, 2nd Kings, and then 1st Chronicles chapter 13. The verses that we'll look at
here in 1 Chronicles are nearly complete parallel to a passage
found in 2 Samuel chapter 6. And I'll refer to some of those
verses in 2 Samuel as we go through these verses here in 1 Chronicles
chapter 13. You got it, 1 Chronicles? I'll
give you a second more to get there. In verse one, we read, and David
consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with
every leader. Now, according to 2 Samuel 6,
there were 30,000 men here on this day. In verse two, and David
said unto all the congregation of Israel, if it seem good unto
you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto
our brethren everywhere, that are left in all the land of Israel,
and with them also to the priests and Levites, which are in their
cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us. Verse three, and let us bring
again the ark of our God to us. For we inquired not at it in
the days of Saul. Now David has just become king.
King Saul is now out of the picture. And one of the first acts of
David as king is to bring home the ark of the covenant. The
ark of God. It was God's ark. The Ark of
the Covenant, as you know, was made of a chest of wood. It was
inlaid with gold. It had two cherubims of gold
on the top, on the two ends, and it was a token of God's presence
and power with His people. There was no power in the Ark
of the Covenant itself, but it represented God's presence and
God's power with His people. And as you know, the Ark of the
Covenant contained the tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments,
the Law of God. It's a picture of Christ, Christ
our righteousness, having fulfilled the Law and satisfying God's
justice. The Law of God is fulfilled and
is laid to rest for the believer in Christ. You see what a picture
that is? The Law has no charge against
the Child of God. And then the ark also contained
Aaron's rod that budded. Christ is our life. That's what
that pictures. Only He can bring forth life
out of a dead thing, dead as we are. Only He can make a new
creation. And then the ark also contained
a golden pot with manna, picturing Christ as our sustenance, providing
for us everything that we need and everything that God requires.
Christ is the true bread from heaven. It's He that we eat and
have eternal life. So we see that the Ark of the
Covenant is a beautiful picture of Christ. Christ is the mercy
seed. It was on the mercy seed that
the blood was shed upon the altar to satisfy the justice of God. And it was Christ's blood that
was shed to satisfy God's holy justice, was it not? Therefore
making Jesus Christ our mercy seed. It's his blood that saves
us. It's his blood that washes us
clean. It's his blood that forever puts away our sin. Jesus Christ
should be the believer's everything. I'm telling you he should. Is
he your everything? There's some question as to how
long the ark was gone from Israel. Some think 70 years or more.
The ark was captured by the Philistines. And if you remember the story
in 1 Samuel, they took the ark to Dagon. You remember that story?
We talked about it. They took it to Dagon's house,
the temple of Dagon, their false god. He was a fish god. Dagon
was the Philistines' idol, their god. And every morning that they
went into Dagon's temple to worship him, Dagon was knocked over next
to the ark of God. They'd set him back up. That's
what we do with idols. We set them up with our own hands.
They have no life. So they set Dagon up again, and
they come in the next morning, he's not only knocked over, he's
broke. The god of religion is broke. The Philistines, they
set that Dagon up again, they come in, he's broken, and they
said, we need to get rid of this thing. They'd had it for just
seven months. And some of the commentators
think that the ark of God had been there in the house of Abinadab
for at least 20 years, maybe 40 years. I'm getting ahead of
myself here, but let's read some more here. And David consulted,
verse 1, with the captains of thousands and hundreds and every
leader. And David said unto all the congregation, if it seem
good unto you, and that if it be of the Lord our God, let us
send abroad unto our brethren everywhere that are left in all
the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and
Levites which are in the cities and suburbs, that they may gather
themselves unto us. Oh, this is going to be a big
meeting. And let's bring again the ark of our God to us, for
we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. And all the congregation
said that they would do so. For this, the thing was right
in the eyes of all the people. But was it right in the eyes
of God? That's the question. That's the question. For some
period of time now, the ark had been neglected and nearly forgotten. No sacrifice had been made upon
the mercy seat for many years. Sounds to me a lot like modern
day religion. It seems that men and women have
substituted substitution with their own personal work of righteousness. Religion has all but removed
Christ and Him crucified from their preaching. And in doing
so, they've neglected Christ, the only one who can save them.
Just as Israel had neglected the ark which pictured and typified
Christ. Do you see the picture here?
David wanted and desired to reestablish worship in Israel. Worship the
way God intended. But in retrieving the ark of
God, David did several things wrong. He made some costly mistakes. First, he didn't consult God.
He consulted the people, but he didn't consult God. In verse
2, he said, if it seemed good unto you, and he did add, and
that it be of the Lord our God, but nowhere do we find David
actually consulting God. I think sometimes we are very
good at just assuming that something that we want to do is of God.
Did you hear what I said? I think we've gotten pretty good
at just assuming that something that we want to do is of God.
David was outwardly saying here, if the Lord wills. That's what
he's saying. If it seemed good to the Lord,
we're going to do this. But his actions didn't prove
what his heart confessed. He didn't say, may God enable
us to bring again the ark of God. He just said, let us bring
it. Let us bring again the ark of God to us. Sounds to me like
He was going in the arm of the flesh. In the arm of His own
strength. Maybe if David had consulted
God, petitioned God's will, sought God's pleasure. Maybe if he had
done that, God would have reminded him that the ark couldn't be
touched. The ark of God had to be handled in a certain way by
certain people and God had given detailed instructions as to how. As to who and as to how. But
David, he's so anxious not to be like Saul and he's so anxious
to be approved by the people that he makes this more a celebration
about him and his men than he does about God and his ark. God
doesn't play second fiddled anymore. So with total disregard to the
commandments of God concerning the ark, we see in verse seven,
and they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house
of Abinadab. And Uzzah and Ahio drove or guided
the oxen with the cart. Now I don't know who made this
cart. We're told that it was a new
cart. But it was, I'm telling you, it wasn't no ordinary cart.
I know that it was ornate. Somebody had put forth a great
effort to present this cart and to provide this cart that was
suitable and presentable for such a task as this. But the problem is, as it always
is, God won't accept the work of man's hands. He never has
and he never will. Do we dare presume that God needs
our help? Religion certainly feels that
way. Brother David, you're pretty hard on religion. Well, I want
to warn religious people. God don't need your help. Now
that may offend you, but it's the truth. And a friend tells
you the truth, right? God doesn't need your help. If
you're ever saved, it'll be God that saves you. Now let's talk
a little about this family here in this town called Kerjath-Jerim. Aren't you glad you don't live
in Kerjath-Jerim? And I have to tell everybody
that's where you live. Oh, I live down in Kerjath-Jerim. Anyway,
Abinadab is the father. of two boys here. He had more
sons, but of these two boys mentioned, and he's a Levite. He's educated
in the law of God. His son Uzzah and Ahio are also
Levites. I'm telling you, he's teaching
them the things in the law of God. If there's one thing that
these boys know something about, it's the holiness and the glory
of God. I can assure you of that. I'm
sure their father told them many times about when Moses and the
people of Israel went to that mountain to receive that law.
Don't you imagine that he did? Oh, I'm telling you, they knew
something about God's holiness. They knew something about the
fear of the Lord. They knew not to touch the Ark.
The Ark of the Covenant had been designed by God so that man didn't
have to touch it. It had these golden rings on
all four corners that these golden rods slid through. You've seen
it in the pictures. And they would slide these golden
rods through those golden rings on the Ark of the Covenant and
they would pick that Ark up and put it on their shoulders and
carry it everywhere. No doubt in my mind that they
had to use those bars to put the ark on this new cart. Or
the Lord would have killed them right then if they'd have touched
it. Then in verse 8 we read, look at this, And 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. Oh, I'm telling you, it was like
a revival. This was like a church or a family homecoming, a celebration. And the mighty men of war, they're
all gathered around the Ark. The musicians are playing with
all their might. Can you see this in your mind's
eye? Oh, it was impressive. They were impressed with each
other. They were impressed with themselves. Everybody was impressed. But God wasn't impressed. Nobody
was impressing God here. God is not easily impressed. And I know this much, you won't
impress God when you're attempting to impress others by what you're
doing for God. I'm convinced that this is where
David was and what David was doing. It was all about David
and him being king. He's wanting to do something
that would bring Him some glory and establish Him as a great
king. But friends, the Lord Jesus Christ
is King of kings and the Lord of lords. And He will not share
His glory with another. Not even with the apple of His
eye. Verse 8 says that David and all Israel played before
God with all their might. But I'm telling you, God didn't
hear them. With all their might they sung, they played the harps
with psalteries, but the God of heaven didn't hear a note.
They were having an old-fashioned gospel singing, and God didn't
show up. They thought they were worshiping
God, but they weren't. They were making a lot of noise.
They were playing and singing, and no doubt they were a talented
group. Don't you just imagine? But you
can't worship God without Christ. Someone told me not long ago
that the Spirit of God moves so strongly in their assembly
that the preacher never got the opportunity to preach. They said
the music was so anointed. I bet there were many on this
day that thought the music was anointed too. But God wasn't
there. And it's with God's presence
that the true anointing follows. And sadly, many people don't
have any idea what anointing even means. True worship is done
in spirit and in truth. How can you worship without Christ? He's the truth. How can you worship
without the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified? You can't. God didn't accept
their worship this day. There's too much thought of self
going on. Way too little thought of God.
David consulted the people, but not God. The people cooperated
with David, but God didn't. There was great enthusiasm in
Kergerim, but there was none in heaven. And here we see no
humiliation by David and his men. We don't see any thankfulness
or gratitude shown by them that God had even preserved the ark
all these years. This event was too much after
the will of the flesh. Too much about the glory of man
and none about God. I'm telling you, that's a picture
of today's religion. There's a lot of noise going
on. There's a lot of music, a lot of hooping and hollering. I know
a little something about this personally. Allow me to folly
in my own self for a moment. I sat on stage with Jimmy Swaggart
one time. I know a little bit about will
worship. It leaves out Christ. And if you don't have Him, if
you don't have Him as your high priest, then you've got to have
one. You've got to have a high priest. And if you don't have
Jesus Christ as your high priest, there's no hope for you, friend.
There's only one mediator between God and man, and that's the man
Christ Jesus. There's just one. How many times
have we said it? First and foremost, God is holy. Everybody talks about God's love.
What about His holiness? This is the holy Bible. He's
the holy God. His angels are holy angels. That
ought to be a hint to us. More than a hint. This man named Uzzah is one of
the sons of a man in whose house the ark rested for decades. Had he not learned that God was
holy? None were to touch the Ark of
God and live. Uzzah was a trained Levite. He
knew that. Had living with the Ark so long
made him too familiar with it? Had he forgotten that it was
God's Ark? Had he forgotten that God was holy and that no man
can by any means see God's face and live? You can't touch God's
ark and live. Look at verse 9. And they came
to the threshing floor of Chidon. Uzzah put forth his hand to hold
the ark, for the ark stumbled. Now, listen. These oxen are moving
this cart and they hit an unstable place and the ox kind of stumble
and that cart and the ark kind of shake. He holds his hand out
to just stabilize it. And God killed him dead. It's
serious, serious business. It's serious, serious business. No. All approaches to God must
be done in holy awe and in reverence. You don't just casually, without
thought, approach God. Not live, you don't. Yes, in
Christ the believer does have boldness to enter into the throne
of grace, and I'm so glad about that. It says that we may enter
boldly into the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Aren't you glad you can
come boldly? But friends, it's in Christ and
His perfect work only that gives us this access and gives us this
boldness and confidence to come. And let the actions here of Uzzah
warn us to take heed to presumption. Take heed of rashness. There's a way to come to God.
And there's a way not to come. The anger of the Lord was kindled
against Uzzah, we're told here. And he smote him. There's a great lesson here.
When it comes to the things of God, we should be swift, we should
be quick to hear. We ought to be quick to listen,
but that's about all that we should be quick about. James
said, be swift to hear the Word of God, be quick to hear the
counsel of God, the correction of God, but be slow to speak
and be slow to rap. Oh my, Lord help me do that.
When you hear what God says about you, and when God tells you and
shows you what you are, be slow to say anything. Be slow to get
mad at God about what He says. For God is the one that came
into the world to save such sinners. And there's a reverence shown
when dealing with the holy things of God. And we must carefully
and constantly watch over our souls so that we don't imagine
God to be owing to us. God will never accept the work
of our hands. I think that's what this is teaching
us. Don't put forth your hand to help God. There's nothing
but death for those who do. God needs no man's hands, and
God shows us that in the killing of Uzzah. And if you lift forth
your hand in the matter of salvation and trust in something that you
do, I'm telling you, it'll kill you. If you persist, you sign
your own death warrant. I've seen people go out and meet
God, holding on to their so-called profession of faith. Faith in
a Savior who only made salvation possible and left the rest up
to them. They'll find when they stand there, they'll be found
wanting. They came up way short, how do
I know? Because what the Lord said, depart
from me. You that do iniquity, I never
knew you. Our doing to deserve is nothing
but iniquity. Our doing to earn is nothing
but iniquity. Our doing to merit our righteousness
produces nothing but filthy rags. Have we learned that no man is
justified by the works of the law? How did the death of Uzzah affect
David? Look at verse 11. And David was
displeased. Displeased. Because the Lord
had made a breach, and that word means break, upon Uzzah. Wherefore,
that place is called Perez Uzzah, and in my margin, in my Bible,
that means the breaking of Uzzah. David was displeased. Are you
ever displeased at God's providence? David was displeased because
God rained on his parade. That's exactly what God did.
This didn't go as David had imagined or hoped that it would. Does
that ever happen to you? Are you displeased when it does?
But we see here that anger of David's quickly turned to fear. Verse 12, and David was afraid
of God that day. I remember a day just like that.
The day that I saw that God was holy. A day when I saw that I
was a wretch. And that I could by no means
approach God by myself. You remember that day? The day
that I knew that God had the right to send me to hell and
that hell was what I deserved. When David thought about what
had happened to Uzzah, he quickly realized his error. God has a
way of making us aware of our error, doesn't He? He remembered
that this was the ark of God. It belonged to God. It was God
who had the right to do with it as He so fit, as it seemed
good in His sight. Isn't that right? Is that not
so with us? Doesn't God have the right to
do with us what seems good in His sight? This wasn't about
David and his friends and it isn't about us. This is about
the glory of God. This is about how it pleased
God to make you His people. This is about how it pleased
God through the foolishness of preaching what I'm trying to
do right now to save those who believe. Do you believe? David's
anger turned to fear. That happens to me often. I get
angry. I get upset over nothing. And
then I get fearful. You know why? I get concerned. Because I think to myself, how
can someone who knows and professes to love Christ carry on like
this? So unbelieving. So faithless. Oh, ye of little
faith. And it scares me. Oh, I want
to be obedient to my Lord. I really do. I want to please
Him. But how to perform that which
is good, I find not. Lord, help me. In verse 12, and
David was afraid of God that day, saying, now look at what
he said. How shall I bring the ark of
God home to me? That's what he should have asked
in the beginning. Lord, how shall I bring Your ark home? And it's a scriptural question.
How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? How can I bring
Christ, the ark of God, home to me? Isn't that the question? Isn't that the issue? Well, first
of all, I'm not. He's going to have to bring me
home to Him. That's the difference. For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit. Dear sinner, it is Christ who
has done, done, not doing, done, the work of righteousness that
God himself requires, and it's done. It's finished. And He gave
that perfect righteousness to His elect when He took their
sin and when He paid for their sin to never be remembered by
God again. Christ is the one that suffered
for sins. He died the just. He's the just one. He's the perfect
one. He's the one that knew no sin.
And He died as the only just one for the unjust. Guess who
that is? All His elect. Every single one
of them. Why? Bring us to God. It's going to
have to be brought. That's the only way. It's in
Christ, the ark of God, that brings us home. Three quick things,
three quick things. It's in Christ, the ark of God,
that brings us home. The ark to Israel was a consciousness
of the presence of God. That's what Christ is to the
believer. The Lord himself said, if you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. And the Lord said, if you had known Me, you should
have known My Father also. And in Christ, friends, we've
obeyed the commandments of God. We see that in these tablets
of stone being put in the ark of God, put to rest, so to speak. They can no longer require anything
from you and I, not if we're in Christ. They're fulfilled. God's justice is satisfied. It's
finished. Everything's all right between
me and God. He's no longer angry with me.
The ark of God gave Israel confidence and assurance of mercy. It's
seen in the reconciliation revealed in that mercy seat. Every year
that Ark of the Covenant would come out and sacrifices were
made for the people. Oh, Christ is our mercy seat,
friend. May God enable you to trust in
Him. There's life in no other.