Go with me back to 1 Chronicles
16. I have always loved 1 Chronicles
16. I love what is said in this chapter. I love the reason for what is
said in this chapter. I love the storyline that leads
up to this chapter. David and all of Israel with
him, they are overjoyed because the ark of the covenant of the
Lord has been brought home. It had been taken, the Ark of
the Covenant, it had been taken by the Philistines 40 years before
this, over 40 years before this. It was taken before Saul was
made king. Eli the prophet died and this
was taken. And Saul died in 1 Chronicles
10. This is now after 1 Chronicles
10. And Saul reigned for 40 years. So for more than 40 years, the
Ark of the Covenant was not in Jerusalem. And as a side note,
I had never realized this before, but in all of King Saul's reign,
you know, Saul was a wicked king. In all of his reign, He never
had the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem with him. That's interesting,
isn't it? But the Philistines took it originally
and it brought great harm to them. The fact that they had
taken God's Ark. brought great harm to them. So
they immediately said, we don't want this anymore. And they passed
it around from one place to the next until David decided to go
get it and to bring it home to Jerusalem. And the Ark had very
specific commandments given by God on how it should be handled
and how it should be cared for and how it should be moved. from
one place to the next. Very specific commandments. It was to be carried with staves,
these poles. The ark had four rings and they
put these staves in it and the Levites, the priests, the preachers,
would run these poles in it and pick it up and they'd put it
on their shoulder and they would carry it wherever it needed to
go. But when the Philistines took
it, they moved it with a cart pulled by oxen. And for whatever reason, when
David went to go get it, David moved it the same way that false
religion moved it, by a cart. It was in the house of a man
named Abinadab, and it could be that Abinadab told David,
came to me on a cart. You know, and I don't know. David
might have said, well, that sounds a lot more convenient. Let's
just do it that way. Turn with me to chapter 13, First
Chronicles 13. Look at verse six. It says, David went up in all
Israel to Baala, that is to Kirjath-Jerim, which belongeth to Judah, to
bring up thence the ark of God the Lord that dwelleth between
the cherubims whose name is called on it. And they carried the ark
of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah
and Ahio draved the cart. 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. And when they came unto the threshing
floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark, For
the oxen stumbled. Uzzah was one of the two men
driving this car. I don't know if they had a bench
on the front of the car and he reached back like this to stabilize
it or if they were walking by these oxen and he reached his
hand up like this. Verse 9, When they came unto
the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold
the ark. For the oxen stumbled, and the
anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and he smote him,
because he put his hand to the ark. And there he died before
God. That is a picture of the fact
that you do not mix man's works with God's grace. We do not mix
man's works with God's works. God does not need man's help
with anything. Especially anything concerning
his holy covenant. Uzzah thought God needed his
help. And that's where all of mankind
has gone wrong in his false religion. That's where all of mankind has
gone wrong in false religion. The moment man tries to add his
hand to help God, it's death to that man or woman. We didn't help God in creation.
We don't help God in salvation. We don't add our hand to anything
that is in the hands of God alone. Not even his law. You know, God
gave Adam one law in the Garden of Eden. He said, you don't touch
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's what this
is. This is the knowledge of good and evil, the law. And he said, don't add your hand
to that law and everything will be fine. But Adam did add his
hand to God's law and the moment he did that, he died. So the
first thing that we see in this is we leave the work of God to
the hands of God alone. We don't add our hand to his.
The second thing is this, look right here at chapter 13 verse
12. It says, and David was afraid of God that day, saying, how
shall I bring the ark of God home to me? So David brought
not the ark home to himself, to the city of David, but carried
it aside into the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite. And the ark of God
remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months, and
the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom. David was afraid to
go any further, so he left the ark with this man, Obed-Edom,
for three months. And in that time, if you go on
to read chapter 14, the first part of 15, in that time, you
see that the Lord was with David. He gave him victory in battle,
and he blessed him. So David thought, we'll try this
again. We'll try to go get it again.
But this time David said we are not going to conduct this after
the manner of false religion. We're not going to approach this
after the manner of convenience or a new contemporary way. We're not going to look for a
new way or a better way or a different way. We're going to search for
the old paths wherein is the good way. We're going to conduct
this after God's way. We're not going to veer from
God's way. Look at chapter 15, verse 14. This is David going now to get
it the second time. So the priest and the Levites
sanctified themselves, they set themselves apart. To the focus
and service and work of this arc. So the priest and the Levites
sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of
Israel and the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon
their shoulders with the staves thereon as Moses commanded according
to the word of the Lord. That was God's way. And David
said, that's how we're going to do this. Verse 25 right here
says, So David and the elders of Israel and the captains over
thousands went to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord
out of the house of Obed-Edom with joy. And it came to pass
when God helped the Levites that bear the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. And David was clothed with a
robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bear the ark, and
the singers, and Kenaniah the master of the song with the singers. David also had upon him an ephod
of linen. Thus all Israel brought up the
ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound
of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise
with psalteries and harps. They were overjoyed because the
ark of God's covenant was with them. And that's the feeling
that God's people have when Christ is with them. That ark is Christ. Inside that ark, if You know,
our children may have studied the Ark in their classes, and
you'll know that inside the Ark, the Law was kept. The Law was
kept. The two tables of stone that
God gave to Moses, they were kept in that Ark. And that doesn't
just mean they were stored there. The spiritual picture is, in
Christ, God's Law is kept. His law is kept. You talk about
overjoyed. If we're going to have any hope
of standing in his holy place, we're going to have to have clean
hands and a pure heart. That's what we have to have.
Meaning his law is going to have to be kept concerning our record
of deeds in this life. Every dot of the I, every cross
of the T is going to have to be kept. And in Christ it is. In Christ it is. You know, people
hear that and say, well, you're giving everybody an excuse to
sin. None of us need an excuse to sin. It's all we do anyway.
Thank God in Christ. The law is kept. Christ kept
that law for his people. He kept it in his life on this
earth. He kept God's law in himself. He keeps all of God's people
in himself. And in Christ, everything is
joined together in agreement before God. Christ is our ark
of God's covenant. Inside that ark, the law of Moses
was kept and a bowl of manna was kept. The living, sustaining, nourishing
bread from heaven. God's people cannot live by the
bread of this world. They need the bread of heaven. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the bread. I am that bread. You feed on
me. So the law, the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. Life, were it naturally on its
own, Could never be. That rod was a stick. Aaron had
a rod that he walked around with. He had a stick. It was a stick
that had been cut off from the tree. It was a stick that had
been cut off from the root. That rod was a stick that died. But out of that death sprang
life. And that's Christ. He is our life. By his death,
we have life. Because he was cut off from the
root, his people were grafted back in. The law is Christ, the
bread is Christ, the life is Christ, the ark is Christ. On
the lid of that ark was a mercy seat. That mercy seat is Christ. Why'd they call that lid a mercy
seat? That's where the blood was spilled.
The blood of the sacrificed lamb, the lamb that was slain as a
payment to God for sin, it was poured on that ark. The lamb,
the blood, the mercy seat, the ark is Christ. It's all Christ. And the ark of Christ, right
here in this story, it had been brought back to the people of
Christ and they could not contain themselves for joy. And on the
day that the ark of Christ was seated in the tabernacle of Christ,
in the midst of the people of Christ, David wrote this psalm. Look with me here at chapter
16, verse 1. It says, So they brought the
ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent that David
had pitched for it, and they offered burnt sacrifices and
peace offerings before God. And when David had made an end
of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed
the people in the name of the Lord. And he dealt to every one
of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and
a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine. And he appointed certain
of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord and to record
and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. Asaph the chief
and next to him Zechariah, Jehiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel,
and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-Edom, And Jelial
with psalteries and with harps, but Asaph made a sound with cymbals. Benaiah also and Jehaziel the
priest with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant
of God. I love how all the priests were musicians. And verse seven
says, then on that day, David delivered first this psalm to
thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph. He was the psalm leader. and his brethren. And this, what we read for our
scripture reading is Psalm 105. This is Psalm 106. This is a
portion of Psalm 96. But this is what he wrote. Verse
eight says, give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the people. I got to thinking about
that. We who are God's people, we have
so much to be thankful for. We have so much to be thankful
for. All we have to do is make known his deeds and that will
give us plenty of reason to be thankful. All we have to do is
just think about how great things the Lord has done for us, and
that'll give us plenty of reason to give thanks. When I think
about everything that the Lord has done for me, I honestly feel in my heart like
it's wondrous works. I honestly do mean that. I feel
like the Lord has done wonderful things for me. Verse 9 says,
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous
works. Talk ye, talk about it. Talk about it. You know, we read,
I wanted to read this, the Psalm he gave, verses 8 to 36, because he talked about all the
wondrous things that the Lord did for Israel. He said he did
this, and he did this, and he did this. And each one of us
could tell the story of our life that brings us right here, right
now, to this moment, worshiping our Lord together. And I believe we would all have
to admit that His deeds and His works toward us have been wondrous. Honestly wondrous. Easy street? No. But wondrous. Honestly, when we look back on
things, even though they may be some of the most difficult
things you could imagine, I don't think we would change them. I
don't believe that we would change anything. You know, I was born in Alexandria,
Louisiana, and I grew up in Franklin, Tennessee, and I could tell you,
and I have told you over the years, but I could tell you so
many things about that time in my life that was absolutely wondrous. But I'll just say this. The Lord
revealed Christ to me, taught me the gospel. The fact that
we have a clue what it means to say that Christ is our ark,
and in him the law is kept, and in him is the bread of life,
in him is the sustaining bread and the life that we need, on
him is the mercy seat, the fact that we even understand that,
is wondrous. I left this open because, just
listen to this, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the
Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner condemned unclaimed. That's wondrous. How marvelous,
how wonderful my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me. For me it was in the garden he
prayed, not my will but thine. He had no tears for his own griefs,
but sweat drops of blood for mine. In pity, angels beheld him and
came from the world of light to comfort him in the sorrows
he bore for my soul that night. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them his very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. When
with the ransomed in glory his face I at last shall see, t'will
be my joy through the ages to sing of his love for me. How
marvelous. How wonderful. The Lord revealed Christ to me,
taught me the gospel, and I give thanks to him for that. After the Lord gave me a life
there for that period of time, he moved me to Rocky Mount, Virginia,
and he allowed me to marry Hannah. I give thanks to him for that.
He gave us two beautiful children. And I give thanks to him for
that. And then he moved us to Kingsport,
Tennessee, and I'm telling you, you know, I have my own hardships
and I get on my own bad way and I do all my own whining and complaining
just like everybody else. But. He gave me this glorious
privilege of being the pastor of his congregation here in Kingsport,
Tennessee, and I'm telling you from the bottom of my heart,
I give thanks to him for that. I really do. This is what he
let me just talk about it. This is what he did for me. I am so thankful for the fact
I tell you this from time to time. And I mean it. He has put a love
in my heart for you that I'll never be able to describe. And
I literally go through the pews and mean what I'm saying. And
that blesses me so much. I am so thankful for the fact
that I love you. That's wondrous to me. I'm not
forced to be here. I want to be here. We went on
vacation. I love vacation. I was so thrilled
to be driving back. It doesn't diminish from my vacation.
I loved that vacation. But I was so thrilled to be driving
back into Kingsport. I love Kingsport. Our Lord gives us moment after
moment after moment just like this right here where we come
together to worship Him and to praise Him for the life that
He lived, for the cross that He bore, for the death that He
died, for the salvation He secured. It's wondrous. It is wondrous. Everything that
He has done for me is wondrous. Tony, who I appreciate him so
much for going and getting our brother and sister Tony and Rita,
but Tony tells his story of how after the Lord revealed the truth
to him, he just wished that there was a congregation of men and
women in Kingsport, Tennessee to believe that truth with him
and to worship that truth with him. And over the years, I can't tell
you how many times he has said to me, it's wondrous. The Lord has just done his deeds
toward me have just been wondrous. We stand amazed, don't we? We
stand amazed. I met him when I was seven. And
I guess you at the same time. And when did you move to Franklin? 11. I was 11 when I met him. And 12, I remember the first time I laid
eyes on him. Great mustache. I was 12. moment I met them because our
family was in Rocky Mountain and you stopped by. I was 12. And then, you know, you get a
little older and I met her through him in college and, you know,
you go through teenage years and early 20s and you just start
going through, we're all here together. The Lord has kept us
all together. I believe in my heart he's going
to keep us all the way to glory. I do. I do, and honestly, I just have
to say it's wondrous. It's so wondrous. Don't we give him thanks for
this? Can we not talk about how wondrous
his works have been to all of us? Right at five years ago,
a man emailed me. Did I know of any Sovereign Grace
congregations or Sovereign Grace preachers in South Africa? I
didn't. But we started communicating
by email. And as soon as it happened, we were in the other building
in my office on a Wednesday night. The men were lined on the walls
and I told him, I said, y'all, y'all be praying about something.
A man emailed me. I didn't know how old he was.
You know, you don't you don't know with an email. Turns out
he was 28 at that time. Y'all be praying about this.
A man emailed me wanting to know about if there's any sovereign
grace in South Africa. And these men were, hmm, really? Well, that's interesting. We'll see, you know. I don't
know. I don't know. We'll see. Time will tell. We'll
see whether God has any sheep in South Africa. Tony's bringing him here right
now. I can't tell you how many times I started emailing him
thinking, I wish he could just come here. I'd love to meet this. That's wondrous, isn't it? I
remember when he told me, I think my girlfriend believes this. I think she's a believer. Well,
I think I'd marry that girl. And he did. That's wondrous. Those two believers
have each other, a little baby on the way, it's wondrous. Our stories are wondrous, the
Lord's deeds among us are wondrous. I honestly would encourage you,
while they are here, ask him his story. Let him tell you his
story. It's wondrous. Have Tony give you the full story
of his story. Ask him his story. I love his story. I didn't ask if I could tell
it, but I'm going to tell it. He went to his father-in-law, future father-in-law,
said he needed to talk to him, and his father-in-law thought
he was going to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage. And his father-in-law
ignored him and put him off and didn't want to talk to him. And
he kept trying to talk, and he was, I don't want to talk to
you right now. And he kept on, and Henry said, OK, what is it? Bob said, Henry, I'm lost. Oh,
well, come on in and sit down. That was wondrous. The Lord's
dealing with you was wondrous. Now all of us, all of us, all
of God's people will say His dealings with me have been wondrous. Verse 8, I'll stop. Verse 8 says,
Give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name. Make known
His deeds among the people. God did this. The Lord did this.
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him. Talk ye of all his wondrous
works. Glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. The fact that we even have a
heart to seek the Lord, that's wondrous. The fact that he would
even give us a heart to seek his face, that is wondrous. Verse
11, seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually. Remember
his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders and the judgments
of his mouth. O ye seed of Israel, his servant,
you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He elected a people and
by faith in Christ he has given to us a hope that we are included
in that election. Because of faith in him, we have
a hope that we're included in that election, and that's wondrous.
Oh, give thanks to him for that. Thanks for all his wondrous deeds
concerning us. Amen.