So our text is 2 Samuel 6, and this chapter describes David's bringing the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem from Gibeah. the gospel. We're not interested in the history lesson, but the gospel. We want to hear the gospel and what this means for me. And it shows us the strict justice of the law without mercy. And that's what we first see, is that if you break the law, Under the law, there is no mercy. There's no mercy to show you. And if you expect to live unto the glory of God by the law for righteousness, and you use the law as your guide of life, you can expect the same result as Uzza, God. You can expect that, right? Because there is none righteous, no, not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. so if you live by the law you shall also die by the law but if you live by faith you shall not die but you shall live forever as it is written that just shall live by faith now David king of all Israel and he wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem, a good endeavor. And verse 2 says that David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Bala of Judah to bring up from there the Ark of God whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And this is brings to our view that this ark is the mercy seat. It bears the mercy seat on that ark. It bears the mercy seat where the blood would be sprinkled by the high priest in the holiest of holies once a year to make atonement for the sins of the people. And this ark stands as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ark is not the end. It's the picture. It's the type. And Christ is the anti-type. He's the fulfillment of that picture there in the ark. He's the mercy seat for the people of God. He's the one who came and shed his blood as the Lamb of God, offered himself as the high priest. And his blood shed for us obtains mercy for us with the true and living God, with holy God. When Christ was born, it signified the fulfillment, God bringing to pass the fulfillment of that promise made to us in the garden when man sinned and rebelled against God. And God made the promise that the seed of the woman should come, and that he would crush that head of the serpent, and that he would restore and reconcile all things unto God by himself. So when he was born, what did the angels say? On earth, peace, good will toward men. Good will, because he's the propitiation of God's wrath, which is justly against me and you for our sin. And yet his wrath, the wrath of God, which is holy and just, is appeased. He's placated, meaning that his wrath is turned from us was put upon the Son justly to put away our sin forever that God may be just to us that he may receive us in goodwill and speak peaceably to us listen to how Paul describes this in Romans chapter 3 verse 24 through 26 Paul says that we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Think of that mercy seat, his blood redemption, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, that God has provided him to turn away his wrath from us. to declare His righteousness for the remission or forgiveness of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." So in other words, what God has done, He cannot be charged with sin. What He's done, He's just to do it. He's just to forgive. There's nothing wrong. He's not winking and pretending he didn't see something. He is just to forgive your sin who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, you that trust him alone. So under the law, we'll see, well, the ark was to be transported according to the law. There is a strict outline of how the ark was to be moved. But that's not what David and Israel did. Let's look at verse 3 and 4. They set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, that was in Gibeah, and Uzzah, and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, draved the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. Now, under the law, the family of the priest, of Aaron, and his children, his lineage, that's where the high priests were from, they were to first go into the temple, when it was being broken down to move, they were to cover all the items in the temple. They were to put a covering over them first. And then the Kohathites, which are of the tribe of Levi, their burden, which was given to them of God, was to bear or carry those items, those covered items. They now were responsible to move those items. And the law said it this way, and this is from Numbers 4.15, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it. but they shall not touch an holy thing. They are not to touch it, lest they die. Tells it plainly right there in the law. And that's why they were to cover it, so that they wouldn't touch it. right, lest they should die. Well, Uzzah, he may have been a proper Kohathite. I wasn't able to find that out, but we see that they did not bear it properly with the states, the way they were commanded in the law to bear it. And they figured out a way where only two of them were necessary right, where, hey, we got a way that just two of us are going to be needed here to bear this arc. And we're not going to put it on an old, filthy, vile cart. Maybe it was carrying dung or polluted items. We're not going to do that. We're going to put it on a new cart, a new cart, brand new, never been used cart for this purpose. And so they put it there, and they drove it out. Now, as this cart's moving along in this manner, David and all the people, they're celebrating with instruments. They're rejoicing. They're very sincere, well-meaning, and they're rejoicing in this. But then this happens in verse 6. When they came to Nation's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error. And there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, how shall the ark of the Lord come to me? And that is the question that we all have. That is the question that a man made to know his sin has. I want to do good. But how to do good, I don't know. I don't know how to do that. I want to do what is good. I want to be perfect. I don't want to be polluted by my works. And I want to do what's good and right. That's what I want to do. He's given some men this. He's shown men their sin. He's shown them his holiness. He's shown them the beauty of the Lord. And we want to serve the Lord. We want to know, how can I be just? How can a man be just with God? How can I clean my way? How can I be pardoned of my sin? And if you know the law and you're trying to keep the law as best you can, you understand the curse that you're under. If I break this law, I'm going to hell. And I don't know how to do good. I have to do good, but it's a trouble to me. It's a burden that I'm trying to bear under that law. And I think Paul captures David's broken heart in this. When a man is troubled by his sin, when Paul said it this way from Romans chapter 7, he said, when I would do good, evil is present with me. When I would do good, I find this law, evil is present with me. I've got a problem. I'm trying to do good. I'm trying to do what's right. I know the law is good. I want to do good. And I got this evil nature. And things just come in. And if it's not me, it's someone else. If it's not someone else, it's me. I'm just messing this thing up every time. And so the warning here, there's a few things that we can take from this here. This warning here that we see in the breach of the Lord upon Uzzah. Well, on the one hand, it definitely shows us that any who would come to God in the law, if we're trying to come to the Lord in the law, The wonder that God should separate Israel out of all nations, apart from all nations, identify them with circumcision, give them the law, the prophets, the oracles. I mean, they had everything. If man can do it, they were the ones that were going to do it, because they had it all. And they were surrounded by one another under that law. Well, it shows us that if we would come to God in the law, when we break that law, not if, but when, when we break that law, When we break that law, we're guilty. And we shall die the death under the penalty of that law without mercy. If mercy cannot be found, then we die without mercy. If Uzzah were spared, and he was here describing tonight what happened there on that new cart when he saw the ark begin to rock, thinking, don't let it fall, let me just Let me stabilize this thing. Let me keep this thing from falling, from falling apart and going down. He might say something else, like Paul had said in Romans 7, Romans 7-11, for sin. You can imagine us explaining this. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me. I thought it would be all right. I thought I could do this. But it deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, right, here's the problem, sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. And that's one of the good things that we see here in this breach upon Uzzah. It shows us the exceeding sinfulness of sin. lest I should think that I'm going to come to God in the law. I'm just going to do the best that I can do, and that should be enough for God. Uzzah was doing the best. He had some good ideas. He's got some good new cart ideas. And he thinks, I'm just putting my hand forth to stabilize this thing. I just don't want it to fall down and be defiled, desecrated on the ground there. I'm sincere in doing the best that I can. But it shows us. If you're going to come to God in the law, it's got to be perfect, 100%, as righteous as God is righteous, as holy as God is holy, without fail, without spot, blemish, or a little bit off. It can't be anything. And so there's no room for mercy in the breaking of the law. There's only justice. And if we were to ignore this warning and come to God in the law for righteousness as our burden to bear under the curse, well, we'll share in that curse, as Uzzah did, and die under that curse of the law. Turn over to Galatians 3. Let's just see. I just want you to see this. I want you to be encouraged to Christ. I want you to see Christ here. In Galatians 3, verse 10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." In other words, what you start, you better finish it perfectly. If that's how you're coming, you better do, and not just the things that you like doing or can do, everything in the law. And just remember, this was Gentile believers that had the Judaizers coming in who were circumcised, but they didn't keep the law either, Paul said in another part. And they're turning them to the law and showing them, hey, this is your duty to fulfill the law of Moses now. This is what you got to do. If you believe Christ, now you got to go back to the law and keep it. But Paul says that no man is justified by the law and the sight of God. It is evident, for the just shall live by faith, he says. The Lord was preaching the gospel even during the time of the law and the prophets, and all the way back to Abraham and back even earlier there. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them." Perfectly. It's not faithful to go to the law. That's not how we're to live. We're to live by faith in Christ, trusting him. So listen to this hope of the child of God here in verse 13, Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, so that he removed that curse from us, that we may stop laboring under that curse and burdening ourselves with that yoke. It's a puzzle that we can't solve, but he has solved it. He's done it. He's done it and delivered us from that curse. We don't need to keep laboring under the law and doing our best under the law to get the blessings of God. They're given freely in Christ. Freely in Christ. That's what the scriptures say. And so the one who's delivered us, solved that puzzle, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me just make one other point on this thing with Uzzah here. Even though we don't come, even though there's a lot of believers, professing believers who know, we don't come to God in the law. We come in Christ. But it's that arm of flesh that many who claim to believe on Christ, it's that arm of flesh that says, I will not let this ark fall to the ground. I'm going to stretch forth my arm of faith, as it were, that the blood of Christ not fall to the ground. without having accomplished its purpose. I'm not going to waste that blood. And so the sense is that there's a lot of religion out there that speaks of Christ that tells you, well, you better stretch forth your hand of faith, because if you don't, then that blood of Christ is going to fall to the ground wasted. It's going to fall apart. So you've got to stop this. You've got to make this salvation effectual to you. And that's what they're talking about, an arm of flesh. And the Lord's showing us here that that the true living God does not need our arm of flesh to save ourselves. It's all accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ. You can rest upon Him, rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ, upon His blood. It's by the grace of God freely in the Lord Jesus Christ, not this arm of flesh. And that's the other picture we see there. David puts this whole thing then on pause. And we're told that he carried it aside in verse 10 into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. In verse 11, the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. It stayed there for three months. And it's told David in verse 12, 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 of course, this time, they check what they're supposed to do, and they do carry it properly. They sanctify themselves, and they do carry it properly. They don't put it on a cart. They bear it the way they're supposed to bear it under the law. And verse 14 and 15, David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was girded with a 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. Now, the first time they were bringing this up, what did the Lord show us? He showed us man's attempt in the form of Uzzah, under the law, when he stretches forth his hand to help or to add to the work or to save the work or to provide for the work to be successful. And that man, having broken the law, died without mercy. But now we're looking at this a second time. And now we're looking at this in a view of grace, right? There's a new and living way coming, and it has come in the Lord Jesus Christ and his person and his righteousness and what he's done, because God will establish that new way in faith, in grace, apart from the law, apart from the works of man. And so here, this ark, which lay in Obed Edom the Gittite's house for three months, here's this ark here. And there's a picture here. For one thing, there's a picture of the heart. You in whom the faith of Christ, in whom Christ dwells in your heart by faith, you and your whole house is blessed. You are blessed. You have the blessings of God. You that trust Christ, that receive Christ, that believe Christ, all by the grace and gift of God, that unspeakable gift, that's a blessing. And he blesses you in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Obed-Edom didn't do anything. There's nothing mentioned about Obed-Edom. He didn't come out and say, King, you can put it in my house, or here, let me help you get that. No, it just says, they put it there. that's what the Lord does by grace he puts life there he puts salvation there he gives faith he gives life in the Lord Jesus Christ it's by grace by grace by grace in his house was blessed and it's a picture of of grace here. It's a picture of grace, and it's by the grace of God that the Lord's wrath and anger against us is propitiated. It's put away, just as we see here, so that the ark could be brought up. The one who satisfied that law, because it had to be done justly and perfectly, is the Lord Jesus Christ. It has to be fulfilled perfectly. Christ fulfilled the law perfectly for his people. We have good news, brethren. Like Uzzah, we've all broken the law of God. There's no getting around it. We are all guilty of rebelling against God in Adam. And there's none of us that can stand here and boast and say, I've been perfect, though, since I came forth from the womb. No, I haven't. The Lord has shown us our sin. He's shown us that we are sinners in need of His grace, that we justly deserve the wrath of God, just like Uzziah. And there's been times where he really makes that known to us in our heart, where we see it very plainly and clearly and in fear, where we're troubled by that. The Lord makes us to know you need grace. You don't need more law. If I give you law, if I deal with you justly according to your sins, you shall die in your sins. So God's wrath is propitiated so that God is gracious to us for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who laid aside His glory and took upon Him this flesh, the likeness of this flesh, yet without sin, and came and fulfilled all, every jot and every tittle of the law to make a, to show forth Himself as the fit sacrifice for God's people. He even went to John the Baptist when he was going to be baptized. And John said, no, no, Lord, not so. I have need of being baptized by you. And shall I baptize you instead? And the Lord said, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. That's how we fulfill righteousness in him. The Lord Jesus Christ, everything we needed to do, he did it for us. Perfectly. Perfectly. Hebrews 10.10, saying that, well, just to prove this point, nothing is left undone that you need to do by your strength and flesh. Everything you need, your husband, your Savior, your Lord provides in grace. Hebrews 10.10, By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all. Verse 14 there, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And therefore, everything required is still given and laid out by Christ himself. It's all provided by him. You shall not come short in the gifts which God has ordained that you should walk in them. You shall not come short of that. He's undertaken it all himself. On the cross, he finished the work to redeem his people. He satisfied the justice of God, which was against us. Through his sacrifice as the sin bearer, and his dead body was taken down off the tree and laid in the grave for three days. And on the third day, he rose again from the dead. Peter saying, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. God raised him from the dead. And so our Lord accomplished this redemption for us, not by works, but by grace. And all the spiritual blessings of God are not obtained now. They're not worked out for us to gain these badges and merits and blessings. That's not how it works. Ephesians 1, 3 tells us that it's by the Father who gives us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, all as it pleases Him. We were chosen of God in Christ. We're predestinated of God. So that refers to our walk, that walk by which we shall come and be adopted into the family of God. He's ordained the whole thing. The day of your grace, the days of your learning, your growing, your feeding, your hearing Him. It's all predestinated of Him. And all those blessings come by Him, not you first. If you're doing any good, that's the fruit of Christ in you, as we sung in that hymn. We trace it all back to his grace and mercy, to his power. It's all traced back to him. And so we had this good news. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive. and gave gifts unto men, gave gifts unto men. And so we see this grace here in what our Lord has done for us. Now, in verse 16, let's come to Michal, Saul's daughter. Verse 16, and as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, 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 this here is a sad picture of this daughter of Saul here, whose view is limited to this window. And that's the picture here. She's just looking through a window, and she sees David. She didn't understand. She didn't see what other people were seeing. She wasn't rejoicing in what all the other people were rejoicing in. She had none of that. She had this window for her view. And the ark's coming in. David's rejoicing. The people are rejoicing. The instruments are playing, and they're all singing and rejoicing in the Lord. And the Lord is giving gifts and grace and mercy to her in her heart, not in her heart, in their hearts, right? And David's blessing the people, and they're all rejoicing with him. Look down at verse 19. And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men. to 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. Everyone received gifts from David here. David's a picture of Christ here. And so here's Michal, and she's looking through this window, and she sees David rejoicing and singing and dancing before the Lord, and she hates him. She despises him in her heart. And this window is as the understanding of the natural man. This is us by nature, without the Spirit of God. And in the natural man, we don't see Christ. We don't find any joy in Christ. We don't want to hear about Christ. We don't want to hear what he's doing. I want to hear what I'm doing. I want to talk about me and my glory and how I get the blessings of God. And all you want to do is talk about Christ and how we're blessed in Christ for Christ's sake. And this is like Michal, who doesn't understand the mysteries of God. But it's in Christ Jesus that we hear and understand the mystery of God from the foundation of the earth, that he should redeem us and save us by his darling son, Jesus Christ. And we rejoice to see Christ that he's come, the redemption he's accomplished, that though he was dead, yet now he's risen so that I too have a hope and a comfort that though I die, Though, as David said later, though my house be not so with the Lord, though my house is a wreck and in shambles, yet I have a hope. I have a hope in Christ, that he is my Lord and my Savior. And we can rejoice in that. But, does every man see it? Do they all hear the rejoicing and understand the joy and gladness that we have in Christ, the liberty and the freedom that we have in Him by His grace and power? No. Paul said, as it's written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. All right, and so we see and understand that a vain person, and they can be religious too, a vain religious person, think of the Pharisees there, have such a limited view of God, have such a limited view of Christ, and it's like a small thing, as if you were trying to understand the whole world, just looking out one window of the house, and trying to understand everything there is to understand about the world. Well, but if our view is that limited of Christ, Well, then no wonder why she despised David. She didn't understand. She didn't partake of those joys and rejoicings. She didn't partake of those gifts. She had no part in it. And so she despised David. And it's as the Pharisee who despises Christ, hates that he gets all the glory, and wants to see the glory for themselves in religion. That's the natural man. And they despise him. She looks through a window. She sees David rejoicing and praising the Lord and thinks, what a fool. What a fool he is. He's just, what a fool he is. Now look at verse 20. So David returns to bless his household. He comes to bless those that should be rejoicing with him in this. And Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to-day, who uncovered himself to-day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself. There is something here that speaks to the lowliness of our Lord who humbled himself And man despised him for it. He came humbly, lowly, as a servant. And what did the great men of the world do? They despised him. They rejected him. They didn't delight in him when he was made sin for us, who knew no sin. When he poured out his soul unto death and was numbered with the transgressors, night he humbled himself, and the natural man without the spirit despised him. He made himself weak by taking upon the flesh, but he did it that he might redeem his people, whom the Father had given to him in perfect righteousness. And it was in his weakness that he triumphed over all his foes and ours, and gives us, divides with us that rejoicing. That inheritance, it's all with him. He glorified the Father in that weakness and blesses his people in grace and in mercy. And David said unto Michal, it was before the Lord who 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." Now, what this is showing us is that Christ Jesus is Lord of all. He is the one whom the Father hath given dominion over all things. It was to Adam first, and Adam fell. And God took it from Adam. and gave it to who? To the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. Gave it to him. He's the one that's glorified. And here, our old man, our old father, our flesh gets no glory. Michal is despising this whole thing. She hates it. And David's saying, well, I'm the one who's glorified. I'm the one who glorified God my Father. I'm the one who went to the cross. I'm the one who obtained eternal redemption for the people. All dominion, all authority is given to me. He is Lord of all. He is the Savior. And he goes on to say, and I will yet be more vile than thus. And this is beautiful. I will 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 be had in honor. And we see this truth. We saw it in our Lord's day. We see it to this day. Our Lord walks right past all the Pharisees, all the self-righteous, all those who have their works, and rich neighbors, and kinsmen, and all the great men of the earth. He goes right by them who despise him. And what does he do? He bids the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. He bids the vile and the base. He associates with you that have nothing to boast in. You that rejoice in His glory, rejoice in His salvation because you have nothing of yourselves to boast in. Michal had something to boast in. She was the daughter of a king. She was somebody in her own mind. And just like her, the Pharisees despised Christ because he receiveth sinners and eateth with them. How dare he do that? Think of how low our Lord stooped to receive you and me. Think of how low he's stooping right now that he should receive any of us. That's vile. He's saying, I'll be vile and base. I'll receive sinners unto myself. I'll receive the people that you despise. I'll bring them to me and pass right by you. And so those maidservants that Michal spoke of, you that are poor, weak, nothing, nobodies, vile and base in yourselves, we rejoice in Christ. We love him because he first loved me and received me. and dance with me, and speaks to me, and bids me come, and feeds me, and gives me gifts, and gives me a good piece of meat, and gives me a flag and a wine. He does all this for me. Therefore, Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no children unto the day of her death. And that's a picture of all who despise Christ and glory in their flesh, and rejoice in their works and come in the law, what happens? You're going to remain unfruitful. You are not going to bear the fruit of our David. You're not going to bear the fruit of the king. You're not going to bear the fruit of the Savior. What does it say in Romans 7, 5? For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work on our members to bring forth fruit unto death. It didn't bring forth fruit. It was worthless fruit. It didn't do anything. Every way about the Pharisee is death, right? Because it works of the law, which is flesh and not of faith. It's worthless to God. But to you lowly maidservants, the scripture says in Romans 7, 4, wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ. that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." It's by Christ that we bring forth fruit, not Moses. He's not our husband. Christ is our husband, and that's how we bring forth fruit unto God. I pray you can see that picture of the gospel and those truths about the law and the need for grace being traced out here in this chapter. It's a blessing that our Lord should show us Christ in that. So I pray he blessed that word to our hearts.