2 Samuel 6, and David was afraid
of the Lord that day. and say, How shall the ark of the Lord
come to me?" Now, the ark of God, speaking
of a box that was in the tabernacle and the temple, not Noah's ark,
not a boat, but the ark of God, a box is a glorious symbol and
type of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Everything about it speaks of
Jesus Christ, his person and his work, the gospel, everything
about it. But the ark of the Lord and the gospel of the Lord is
mysterious, very mysterious. The Ark of God, the Ark, it appeared
to be just a mere golden box of no real significance, just
a box. But that box brought either preservation
for those who had it, or destruction to all those associated with
One time this box fell into enemy hands, and they began to play
with it and open it up, look into it, and 50,000 people died. More than a box, isn't it? Though it may be foolishness
to some, and of no real significance, just another religious scheme,
it is either salvation or damnation to those who are about it. All human beings. It has something
to do with all human beings. Now, as I said, you're going
to have to follow along in this very closely. I hope you have
a Bible with you. want you to turn with me to Exodus
chapter twenty-five. Exodus twenty-five. Adults and children. Children,
if you have a Bible, turn with me. This is good. This is profitable. Exodus twenty-five. The ark of
the Lord is mentioned two hundred times in Scripture. Two hundred
times. Now, here in Exodus twenty-five,
we're going to see how that God instituted or first gave the
instructions concerning the ark. Now, God Almighty chose a people. He chose a people, seed of Abraham,
and on further down they were identified as sons of Jacob. You remember Jacob was a grandson
of Abraham, and Jacob was called what? What was Jacob called later?
Israel. That was his name that God changed
from Jacob to Israel, so they were called Israelites, God's
chosen people. They were in captivity in Egypt,
and God Almighty led them out with a mighty hand. He led them
out into the wilderness, and while they were in the wilderness,
he taught them who he was. They didn't know. They had lost
sight of their God while they were in bondage. They didn't
know who he was, but while they were in the wilderness, God taught
them who he was and how he was to be worshiped, how to worship
him. He taught them that he was God, not like the idols of the
Egyptians, that he was the living God, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God who doth deliver them,
who doth provide for them, Jehovah. He gave them that glorious name,
the Lord their Savior, the living Lord, not an idol, and he taught
them how to worship. He taught them who he was, and
he taught them how to worship him, and he gave them exact details
how he was to be approached. Not just any old way, they felt
like, because God's holy. And he did so through a tabernacle,
a tent. We did a long study on it, remember?
A tent. That speaks of Christ. Everything
about it speaks of Christ. But inside that tent were placed
several pieces of furniture, and the most important of all
of them," I can say that, the most important of all of those
pieces of furniture inside that tent was a golden box called
the ark. Now let's read it here in Exodus
25, verse 10. And they, he said, God gave these
orders to Moses, and they shall make an ark of shitham two cubits
and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half
the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without
shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold
round about, or some like crown molding out of gold, and thou
shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four
corners thereof. And two rings shall be on the
one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And
thou shalt make staves, or long rods, of shitham wood, and overlay
them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves
into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be
borne, or carried with these staves. And the staves shall
be in the rings of the ark, they shall not be taken from it."
And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony," or everything
that God wrote and gave to Moses, which I shall give thee. He hadn't
written it yet, but he was in the process of writing it, giving
it to Moses. Everything God said was to be
put in this box. And thou shalt make a mercy seat
of pure gold. two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof."
Now, every detail of this box is significant, and we've been
through it, and we don't have time right now. There's too much
depth there. But it was just a 45-inch long
by 27 high by 27 deep box, 27 by 27 by 45 was the dimensions
of this box. It was gilded or covered with gold within and
without. And then there was a lid on top
of that box. That's what this mercy seat was,
a lid, just a covering for the box. And then there were two
staves, two long rods stuck through these four rings that were to
be used by the Levites and Levitical priests to carry the box wherever
they went. They were never to be taken out.
little preview for you. We carry the gospel with us everywhere
we go. You never take the staves out.
At any rate, these two staves were for transporting the box
while the people traveled all over. Now this is significant
here, remember this. Nobody was to touch, nobody was
to touch that box but the Levitical priest. Nobody was to even get
near it. All right? Except the priests,
sons of Levite. All right? The ark, now, represented
many things. The ark was a symbol. The ark
was a type. The ark was something God gave
to represent spiritual things. The ark represented God's purpose. God's purpose. God's will, God's
design. It was God's conception. God
conceived of it. When God designed it, it was
perfect in every detail. God is the architect of salvation,
and there is not one flaw in it. That building is perfect.
Well, the ark represented God's will and purpose, and it was
beautiful, beautiful. Then the ark represented God's
presence. Wherever the ark was, that's
where God was. Look at verse 11 there in Exodus
25. Exodus 25, verse 11, "...thou
shalt overlay it with pure gold within and without, and make
upon it a crown of gold round about." Verse 22, "...and there
I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above
the mercy sea." That's where God was, verse 22. Wherever the
box was, that's where God was. That's where God was. And it also represented God's
power, God's purpose, God's presence, and God's power. It was typical
of salvation and the preservation of God for all those who had
it. The Israelites were kept as long as they had this box.
They were kept from evil. Now, there were some things in
this box. That was the purpose of it. That's what the box represented. There were some things in this
box, okay? The contents of the box. Glorious
things. Mysterious things in this box. Things that were kept hidden
from the average eye. Now, folks, while I'm saying
this, are you thinking about something else? I hope so. There
were mysterious things inside this box. They were God-given
things, and so everything in the box, God gave them. Everything. There were three things in this
box. Three in one in this box. Number one, what was in this
box was the law of God. The Word of God was in the box,
was in the ark. The Decalogue, the Pentateuch,
five books of Moses, every bit of it was in the box. All the
mind, the will, the purpose of God Almighty was in the box.
2. The second thing that was in this box was a bowl of bread. Bread that had given life to
some starving people out in the wilderness. The bread of life
was in the box. 3. The third thing that was in
the box was Aaron's rod that budded. Aaron's rod that budded. This was the staff that God Almighty
used to deliver Israel out of bondage. It was in that box,
deliverance. And this was also the rod. Do
you remember the story how Aaron put his rod down with the rods
of the other people, and God chose his servant by means of
that rod, by showing forth who was his chosen servant, by making
that rod a root? as it were, a dead stick, bare
blooms and fruit. That rod was in the box. Those were the contents. And
the purpose of the box. There was a reason for this box.
God just didn't say, I'm going to make a cute little box for
you all to carry around as a memento. It was a serious reason for this
box. The primary purpose of this golden
box was, number one, to know and worship God. Where? To know
and worship God. The principal use was to worship
God, and they did so, and the receptacle, the final receptacle
of that sacrifice, was this box. It was a means of worshiping
God through a bloody sacrifice. The box was where the blood was
finally offered, and the Lord accepted that blood on that box. Aaron, the high priest, would
take the blood of a lamb or a bullock and by himself, Aaron, just one,
would go into what is called the Holy of Holies in either
the tent or the temple at Solomon built, the high priest would
go into, him and him alone, would go into that inner room where
that ark was, that box, and would pour that blood of that innocent
lamb over top of that box until it covered it, until you could
no more see a golden box, all you saw was a bloody thing, a
blood-covered thing. That's all you saw. What does all this mean? I can't help it. What does all
this mean? Well, the Ark of the Lord is
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's as glorious a picture
of the gospel as ever has been seen or heard by human eyes and
ears. God had a chosen people. As a
chosen people, an elect, they're called Israel. Israel, spiritual
Israel, they were in bondage to sin, to Satan, dead in trespasses
and sin. Before time began, God purposed
to save these people. He purposed to lead them out
of bondage, to make them his sons. And the way that he would
reveal his fatherly character to them, who he was and how he
was to be worshiped, was through the gospel, through the instrument
of the gospel. And he teaches every one of his
children about this gospel. He teaches them, first of all,
who he is, that he is God, he is holy, he is ruler, he is sovereign,
he is creator, he is provider. He is God, he is their God to
be worshiped. And he teaches them how to worship
him. He can't be approached just any old way, any way you think
any way you come up with, he's got to be approached in a particular,
specific way. One way, as a matter of fact.
God is to be approached as a sinner using three things. Three things
that God tells us to approach him by. There's a person, there's
a place, there's a thing. Person, place, and thing. You've
got to have a high You've got to have a tabernacle, a place
to worship, and you've got to have something, a sacrifice. And these three are one. One
way. These three are one. They're
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the high priest who must
go into God with blood. He is the tabernacle of God,
come down in this wilderness to tell us who God is and how
He is to be worshiped. The place of worship, He is the
one we go to to worship God, to learn of God, to see the sacrifice. And most importantly, he is the
Lamb of God. He is the sacrifice. He is the
blood of atonement. It is his blood. And in the gospel,
in Christ, the gospel of Christ, we see, just like the Ark, we
see all of these things. We see the purpose of God. In
the gospel of Christ, we see the purpose of God. The Scripture
says, "...of him," Christ, "...through him," Christ, "...and to him,"
Christ, "...are all things," all things. The purpose of God,
God's creative purpose. Without Him was not anything
made which was made. Christ is the Creator, all things. We see God's predestinating purpose. that all things were predestinated
according to God's will to be conformed to the image or drawn
together in his Son. We see God's saving purpose.
Paul said this in Ephesians. He said, according to his eternal
purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus before the world
began. We see God's purpose. We see
God's presence. Like the ark, God was in Christ
reconciling the world to himself. The scripture says, Call his
name Immanuel, which means God with us, God with us. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Christ represents the presence
of God. He is God. 3. God's power is
seen in Christ. God's power By him were all things
created. In Christ we have redemption
through his blood, creative power, saving power, preserving power. Like the Israelites, those who
had the ark were kept from their enemies. All of us, all of God's
people are kept by the power of God, which is Christ. Christ is the power of God, the
wisdom of God, the power of God, like the ark. Well, there are
some things in Christ, just like the box, just like the art. There
are some contents in Christ, unspeakable things, God-given
things, mysterious things, things that are kept hidden from the
natural eye. But revealed unto his priests,"
the priests could see them, revealed, "...which things the angels desire
to look into." Do you remember over top of that ark there were
the two cherubs, one on the right and one on the left, that looked
down upon the ark? 1 Peter 1.12 says this gospel. Things the angels desire to look
into, glorious things. Paul said, And you better not dabble in
them, he says, unless you're a Levite. And here are some three
things that are in Christ, the Son of God, three things. Did
you write down the first? The Word of God is in Christ. All the mind, the will, the purpose,
the Word, the commandments, everything. is in Christ. The testimony,
the law, the gospel, the mind, the commandments of God, in him
are hid all the treasures of what? Wisdom and knowledge in
Christ. Not a book, people, in a person. The book speaks of the person.
speaks of the first. He is called the Word of God. That's his very name. Number
two, second thing that's in Christ, is the bread, the bread of life.
He's the manna. He's the manna. Christ is the
bread of life. He's given by God from heaven.
He's freely given by God from heaven to undeserving, rebellious,
murmuring, complaining sinners, but to those who have this one
qualification, they're hungry. Everybody that hungered could
freely gather it. And Christ is given as that manna,
that bread of life, he said. Number three, it's in Christ. He is that budding rod of Aaron,
isn't he? He is the rod of deliverance.
He is what God used to deliver his people from bondage, from
sin, from corruption. He is the staff of life. He is
the scepter of righteousness. He is God's chosen servant. He
is that root out of dry ground that God revealed over the course
of thirty-three and a third years. That's the man I approve of,
just like he said of Aaron. I'll make that rod bud and bring
forth fruit, and everybody will know assuredly that's my chosen
servant. And after thirty-three and a
third years, and when he was hanging on that cross, an old
evil centurion one day finally said, Remember that? I've seen a lot
of people come and go, he said. That's God's Son. And God showed
forth his servant, his high priest, in what's in Christ? Innumerable
things, unspeakable things, glorious things, mysterious things. Paul
said, oh, these are excellent things, excellencies of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. But like the ark, the principle
and the most glorious purpose for this man called Jesus, he
had one primary purpose. Not just to look good, not just
for people to admire him. He was to be the mercy seat.
He was to be the bloody sacrifice. Let me illustrate this. Christ performed many miracles
in his day, many signs and wonders while on this earth. He healed
many people. He fed thousands of people. He
did many amazing works, and people marveled at his works. And they
followed him by the thousands. People were following him. They
were amazed. They were admirers of his signs
and his wonders. Right? Kind of like the golden
box. I'm sure that all who saw it
admired it for what it was. The craftsmanship, they admired
the workmanship, the signs and the wonders surrounding it. Even
the enemies of God's people acknowledged, there's something in this box.
There's something about this box that's special. And maybe some of them even thought,
well, it's a shame, maybe the Israelites thought, it's a shame
to cover this box with blood. And one day Peter, this entered
into the mindset of all of God, all of the people. One day Peter
heard Christ talking about going to Jerusalem and dying and being
buried. He didn't hear him say he was
going to rise again, did he? or he wouldn't have got upset.
But Peter heard John, all Peter heard him say was, he's going
to go to Jerusalem, he's going to die. They were going to kill
him. And Peter said, "'Be it far from
you, Lord, don't know, this shall not be unto thee.'" Do you remember
Christ's answer to him? Christ turned to him with a stern
rebuke and said, "'Get thee behind me, Saber. Thou Saber'st not,
you're an offense to me,' he said. Thou savest not the things
that be of God, but the things that be of men." He said in another
place, he said, I came for one purpose, one cause, not to feed
people, not to clothe the naked, not to walk on water, so you'll
admire that, not to be an example, not for all men to admire, not
to feed your belly, but why? To die, to be a bloody sacrifice,
not a pretty sacrifice. He said, For this cause came
I to this hour." The whole purpose of Christ's coming was to be
a bloody sacrifice to mercy's sake. You see, the cross, the
cross is the purpose, the reason for the coming of the Son of
Man, the coming of the Son of God. And many claim today, many
people claim to love and worship the teacher, the healer, The
provider, the example, named Jesus, don't they? Many people, thousands, are following
some Jesus, but I'm telling you, there's a satanic ploy out there to get rid of the blood. It started with Peter. And we'll take all the golden
box and all the trappings, but not of that blood. Significant,
isn't it? that the group that follows and
claims Peter as their first head has the most trappings? Huh? They've got all the gold and
so forth, and no talk of the blood. It's a satanic ploy to
remove the blood from the gospel, to take away the offense of the
cross. That's what you and I were talking
about, wasn't it? And they do it in many ways.
Paul said, God forbid that I should speak with the wisdom of words.
You can hear many fine sermons, great oratory, intellectual,
theological dissertations. No cross, no blood, right? No offense to the cross. You
can remove it by speaking in such a way that nobody understands
it. It takes away the offense of the cross. You can do it with
programs and activities and goings-on. You can do it with social diversion. If you have enough goings-on,
you won't have time to preach about the blood. You can do it
with pleasing messages. You can talk about men. You can talk about things and
causes and all that. Please people. Tickle their ears.
And no blood is no offense to the cross. You see, the offense
of the cross, the offense of the cross, the cross, the blood
speaks Number one, of God's holiness. God's holiness. He said, "...the
soul that sinneth must surely die." He said, "...without the shedding
of blood there is no remission of sin." The blood on the cross
primarily speaks of God's holiness, because he's holy and he will
not be approached by or have anything to do with anything
sinful. It's got to be wiped out. It's
got to be covered. from his all-seeing eye, and
the blood is the only thing. The cross speaks of death, death
to sinners, death to rebels against God Almighty. Right? The wages
of sin is death. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. The cross speaks of life only through death, life only
through a blood sacrifice, not works. He said, by the deeds
of the law, no flesh will be justified. The law was never
given to give life. Blood, the life of the flesh
is in the blood. Why do you think God Almighty
was the first one to shed it? Wasn't it? You know who killed
the first thing? You know who did the first killing? God did. And for the animal rights
lovers out there, he killed an animal. Thank God he did. Thank God he did. And I believe it was a lamb.
I just happened to believe it wasn't written, but I just kind
of think it was a lamb, and covered him in that lamb's skin, or wool. Well, Aaron, like Aaron, Christ
is our High Priest. And the Lord Jesus Christ took
his blood Not the blood of lambs or bulls or goats, but he took
his own precious blood, the scripture says. He took it and offered
it to God for the forgiveness of our sins, the forgiveness
of his people's sins. And he poured or covered the
mercy seat containing the law with that blood. You see, all
this speaks of Christ, doesn't it? He, himself, was the mercy
seat. He, himself, was the ark. He,
himself, was the altar. He, himself, was the man. He,
himself, was that mercy seat. He, himself, was covered all
over with blood so that you could not even see that he was a man.
Just like before, you couldn't tell that it was a box, let alone
gold, and all you saw was a bloody box. And the scripture says in
Isaiah 52, his visage was marred more than any man. You couldn't
tell it was a man. These silly little pictures they
have hanging of Christ on the cross, you know? Some blue-eyed
Caucasian with just a little slit right here. Ah, he looked
like a cow that had been butchered. He was covered with blood all
over. Christ himself covered himself
with blood. He was the Lamb, he was the Ark,
he was the Mercy Seat, Christ. Well, you say, what's this got
to do with 2 Samuel 6? All right, turn back there. That's the longest introduction
in the history of preaching. Thirty minutes. I've been thirty
minutes. I've got fifteen more. that I might not take them on. 2 Samuel 6, and this is going
to be good. You'll see the significance here.
What does this have to do with our text? Well, like I said,
the gospel, like that ark, is a serious thing. It's a dangerous
thing to be fooled with. That's the reason Paul said,
Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel. Necessity is laid
upon me. The axe is hanging over my head
if I don't I'll die a horrible death. The gospel is a serious thing, dangerous to mess with. And there's
a right way to handle the gospel, and there's a wrong way to handle
it. Here in 2 Samuel 6, these people
here hadn't thought of the ark for a long time. That's what
it said. If you want to read the Companion
version of this, it's 1 Chronicles 13. But it said over there, the
people hadn't thought of the ark for a long time. David is
the one that recognized it. David said, We haven't sought
the ark. We hadn't been about the ark
in the days of Saul. We didn't even think about it.
You remember one time Saul did? He got in a mess. You remember
Saul got in a mess and he said, What are we going to do? And
he finally said, Go get the ark! Isn't that typical of people
who get sick or get in a mess, and all of a sudden they get
religion? Well, these people hadn't thought of the ark for
a long time, and they suddenly got real interested. They got
religion! They got religion. And they decided to go get the
ark. And everybody got in on it. You see, verse 1, it says,
30,000 people. You reckon there were 30,000
regenerate people there? 30,000. Everybody got in. In 1 Chronicles
13, David said, you know the first people he mentioned to
go get the army? He said, get the captains. Get
the captains. Get the elders, the leaders.
He didn't say, leave that. He said, get the captains. In
other words, let's get the famous people. Let's get the celebrities. Let's get the politicians. Let's
everybody get in on this. And they did. They did. Religion
is popular today, isn't it? It's gotten real popular to be
religious, to be a Christian is real popular. Take the blood
out of it, and it's kind of purdy, isn't it? It's desirable. Everything
about it. Everybody's in on it, too. Celebrities,
politicians, playing religious games for various reasons and
all that. Well, these people here in 2 Samuel 6, Irregardless of God's Word, they
didn't know God's Word from beings, and they didn't even look into
it. They didn't know God's Word,
and that tells me right there they weren't God's people, most
of them. David knew better. Irregardless
of God's Word, exacting expressed details concerning worship and
handling the ark. You don't touch the ark, you
don't even approach it. unless you follow exact order.
Irregardless, they went to get the ark. So they got them a cart. They came up with a beautiful
and elaborate ox cart. And probably the cart was more
beautiful than the ark. I can guarantee you that when
it went by, people were saying, Would you look at that cart? Do you see what's behind that? We've got our fancy buildings,
don't we? We've got our bus ministry. And people are paying more attention
to the trappings than they are to the gospel. What a pretty
cart. And let's get us two men, we'll
make them ministers, court ministers. Boy, that old boy wishes he'd
never messed with the Ark, didn't he? He wishes he'd never been
a cart minister in Ohio, or whatever his name is. And they weren't
Levites! They weren't even saved, and
they were messing with the Ark. These weren't even saved men.
Isn't that typical? We've got unsaved preachers in
the pulpits today. Look at verses 4 and 5, and they
brought it out of the house of Abinadab, and everybody accompanied
Art and David and all the house of Abinadab. They got them a
band, a big band, big dunce, big show. It says that they played
on instruments of firewood and harps and psalteries and timbrels
and cornets and cymbals. There's nothing wrong with those
things. God gave commandment to use them, didn't He? Nothing
wrong with those things. Something's bad wrong here, though.
We're going to see it in a minute. Big doings, big show, big band
sound. Everybody was sincere, too. We
got the Ark. Everybody was emotional, getting
excited, clapping their hands, waving their hands, trying to
impress God. We're religious now. How is everybody
happy in the Ark? Say, Amen. Something was missing, and God's
anger was boiling. And then it came to a point down
to verse 6, God reveals it. They came down to verse 6, and
it was running along, the ark was moving along just fine, everybody
was going just fine, and it stumbled and shook. And all the people,
things weren't running real smoothly, weren't going real smoothly.
Things weren't going according to plan. And Uzzah, he may have meant
well, but he said, I'm going to help out the ark. Hold on
here. The ark's fallen. And he reached
up to just touch the Bible. And God killed him on the spot.
That man fell down dead on the spot. God killed him. And at first
it said, verse 8, David was displeased. Well, David was in bad shape
at this time, wasn't he? Man, his heart was not right
at this time. He was displeased. He got mad
at God. And he named a place, you know
what he named? Verse 9, And finally David came, and David was afraid
of the Lord. Now, he should have started out
like this. David got afraid of the Lord. And David said, How? He should have asked this in
verse 1, shouldn't he? Not how are we going to go get
the ark. What are we going to do with the ark? Not how are
we going to help the ark. How is the ark going to help
us? Do you notice that? How is the ark going to come
to us? David feared, and he finally
said, We've done something wrong. We've been trying to help the
ark. When all the time it was only the ark that could help
us. It became insensitive. Today's religion
has all its pomp and its show and its big band sound, its gospel
this, its gospel that, its ministers of this, its ministers of that
who don't know the Lord. They're not Levites. Everybody is adding to, trying
to help out, putting their filthy hands on the gospel. And God
is angry because something's missing. Number one, the thing
that's missing is the fear of the Lord. You know what Paul
came to the conclusion in Rome? He said, There's no fear of God
around here. You can see that plainly in religion
today, don't you? Do you see the fear of God? I
was telling my wife, I said, You know, preachers, Moses, God
used Moses more than any man in all the Old Testament. What
was the greatest characteristic of Moses? He said he was the
meekest man on the face of the earth. Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, came and he said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of
me. How was he? Meek! What is the chief characteristic
of preachers today? arrogance, pride, they step into
the pulpit in places like, Here I am! I'm somebody, aren't I?" A man that exhibits that immediately
tells me he's not God's man. Well, the fear of the Lord is
missing, and the primary, and something you can't approach
God with. You never, you never come into his presence. You never
even call on his name without this. What? Somebody say it. Blood! Isaac said going up that mountain,
we got fire, we got wood, you know. We got our buildings, we
got all our emotion. Where's the blood? Daddy, you
can't And David realized this, didn't
he? He realized this. Verse 13, look at this. He finally
realized this, so David said, All right, we're going to start
over. We're going to start over. And
we're going to put this ark on the shoulders of the Levites
is the way it's supposed to be. David got him a Bible. Didn't
he? He said, Now there's a right
way to approach God. He approached the Word of God
with trembling! I guarantee you, he was trembling
in his boots! He said, I don't want to get
near that thing, we've got to have it! How we going? And he looked up over there in
Exodus, Numbers, where it said, The Levites! That's where we
went wrong. That's where we went wrong. God's
people, God's priests, God's chosen men, they have to carry
it. That's typical, isn't it? Not any old man without a burden
can't carry the Word of God. He said that in one place. Don't
talk about the burden of the Lord to those false prophets.
Don't tell me about your burden. Oh, you've got a burden for it
to fill your pockets with money, your churches with people. That's
what God said in Jeremiah 23. Don't tell me about your burden.
Only my men have a real burden for the glory of God. They carry
it on their shoulders for the good of the people, and their
burden is the gospel. What will be done to me if I
carry not the gospel?" And David said, that's the first thing
we're going to have to do, put it on the shoulders of the Levites,
not an ark. The gospel must get all the glory.
The gospel of Christ must get all the glory around here. We
must approach it with fear and trembling. And number one, the
most important thing, verse 13, blood! We didn't touch a lamb
or bullock the first time. We're going to have to shed some
blood. We better not take six paces without shedding the blood. Look at verse 13. And it was
so. Then when they had bore the ark of God six paces, 2, 3, 4,
5. Kill a lamb. Kill a lamb. Don't preach six
verses without the blood. Don't take a step without the
blood. Huh? Now, he's a long way to Jerusalem.
We got a long way to go to heaven, huh? Huh? We got a long road
ahead of us. Don't take a step without the
blood. He said over in Chronicles how
many they killed. I forget the number. They slaughtered. David finally knew. And they
got their instruments back out, Rick. They did. They got their
guitars and their banjers. Did I say it right? Their banjers
and their fiddles. And they began to play. It was
with fear. It was tempered with fear now.
They were rejoicing. They were singing, We got to
Ark. Isn't it beautiful? And they
were safe, their enemy. They were safe, and they were
bringing it home, and they were all going back to the city of
David to set up and to be there as a big happy family. And they
were happy, and they were playing up, but it was tempered with
fear. Right? Tempered with fear and doused
in blood. Doused in blood. I've got time
to read it with you. Psalm 96. If you didn't read
it, read it with me. Now they got to Jerusalem and
made it safely and sat the ark in the place there, and they
all had the gospel. They had the ark. David was on
the throne. Everything was good. God had been good to them. He
taught them a lesson, a serious one, a sobering one. He'd removed
somebody out of their presence who was playing with religion,
and they all got the message. and approached it with fear and
trembling and not without blood. And they got in and finally,
and David sat down a few days later and wrote this psalm. Psalm
96, let's read it. The Lord reigneth. That's a good place to start
writing in. God is reigning. Verse 1, Oh, sing unto the Lord
a new song. Sing unto the Lord, all the earth.
Sing unto the Lord, bless his name. Show forth his salvation
from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen. Isn't that missing today? his
glory, his wonders among all people. The Lord is great and
greatly to be praised." Not God is love, God is great. He is
love, but he is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared
above all the gods. All the gods of the nations are
idols, but the Lord has made the heavens honor and majesty
are before him, strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the
Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto his name. Bring blood and come into his court." Don't
come outside the name of Jesus Christ without blood. Oh, worship
the Lord in the beauty of holy fear before him all the earth. Say among the heathen, Let the
Lord reign, that the world also shall be established, that it
shall not be moved. He shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, let
the earth be glad, let the sea roar in the fulness thereof,
let the field be joyful, and all that is therein. Then shall
all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord, for he cometh,"
he's coming back, this And he cometh to judge the earth, he'll
judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his gospel,
with his truth. Who has the gospel? What are
you doing with the gospel? Is there fear and blood in it?
Isn't that a beautiful picture? I was glad I was here. I heard it. I heard some things,
got in on some things I didn't hear the first time. Joe, do
you have a number picked out there? Do you? What is it? Something to do with the blood.
I didn't even... We sang a bunch of them last
night about the blood, didn't we? How about if you've got one?
How about 208? 208. 208. Are you washed in the blood? Joe, would you come up here and
lead us in singing it? Cut just a couple of verses.
208. Please stand. Let's sing the
first and the last stanza. First and the fourth. Are you
washed in the blood?