Now let's turn in our Bibles
to 2 Samuel chapter 6. As I said, the title of this
message is Restoring Godly Worship. Whenever the nation Israel, in
their history under the 1500 or so years that they were under
the Old Covenant law, One of the things that brought them
to despair and to the punishment that God justly exacted upon
the people in the fact that their crops didn't grow or the nation
went into captivity, one of the causes of that was the fact that
they neglected and forgot the worship of God, the worship that
He prescribed. And so when Kings were given
to Israel, first Saul and now David. One of the main goals
and one of the main duties of the king was to be a leader,
to lead the people in worshiping God. Now Saul failed at that. Saul failed, but David, here
in chapter 6, he is doing the right thing to lead the people
in the worship of God, and that worship under the old covenant
surrounded the ark of the covenant, the tabernacle and the ark of
the covenant, the mercy seat, which typified and pictured the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so it says in verse 1 of
chapter 6, it says again, David gathered together all the chosen
men of Israel, 30,000 men. Now this is important, you see.
These are 30,000 choice men that David gathered around him. We're
not told whether or not David expected a battle. You know that
the Philistines had stolen the Ark. It had been gone for about
70 years. They kept it only for a few months
and then built a new cart and sent it away because every place
they tried to put it, it brought a curse upon them. And so it
ended up in a place called Kirjath-Jerim, or what is called here, I can't
remember the name of it, we'll see it just when we get to it
here, but it's called by another name here, but it's still the
name Kirjath-Jerim. That was the place that the ark
dwelt for so many years. And so David gathered all these
chosen men of Israel, 30,000, to bring the ark to Jerusalem,
the seat of the government now, where the king dwelt, where he
had built a temporary tent to house the ark. And it says in
verse 2, "...and David arose, and went with all the people
that were with him from Baali of Judah, to bring up from thence
the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord
of hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubims." Now, David had
the right idea. But before we get into that,
I want us to go back to Exodus chapter 25. Turn to Exodus 25. Most of you all recall the details
about the Ark when it was prescribed by God to Moses. But let's go
back and look at this again, because it's so important, beginning
at verse 10 of Exodus 25. This is where God on Mount Sinai
instructed Moses concerning the building of the Ark of the Covenant,
the building of all the tabernacle and all of its vessels and the
offices and all of that, the priesthood. But here's the Ark
of the Covenant. It says in verse 10, 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.
Now, all of this detail is important about the Ark of the Covenant. You have the wood. And that wood was Shittam wood
from a tree that grew under very adverse conditions in the desert. And it's a picture of the humanity
of Christ that wood is. He was like a tender plant, you
see, raised up. A man of sorrows. He grew as
a man in stature and wisdom under very adverse conditions. You
see the picture and type of his humanity in this wood. And then
it was overlaid with gold. And what does that typify? That
typifies his deity. He is God and man in one person. Who is Jesus Christ? You see,
this is what this Ark of the Covenant... Listen to me now.
This Ark wasn't supposed to be some kind of a gigantic radio
receiver from heaven to get messages from heaven. It was a picture.
It was a time. There was power there, but it
was the power of God. And it wasn't just bringing it
in to some place. It did lead them into the promised
land. And there was power there. But
it wasn't the power of the elements or the vessel. It was the power
of God which that vessel symbolized, which that piece of furniture
symbolized. And so whenever they looked at
that ark, or of course only the high priest was to look at it
one time a year when it was in the tabernacle. But here it had
been stolen. It's gone all over the place.
But whenever they considered that ark, this is what they were
to consider. This is a type and a picture, and to them, a prophecy
of the coming Messiah, who is both God and man in one person.
The Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how they were to think
of it. This is our Savior's coming. He's our mercy seeker. Who is
He? He's God. Very God of very God. He's the Son of God without beginning,
without end, the Alpha and the Omega. Who is He? He's a man
like we are, yet without sin. And He identifies with us in
our name and in our nature without sin. He's God-man. And the crown
of gold round about, what does that symbolize? His kingship,
His lordship. He is Lord, and He is King. And verse 12, it says, And thou
shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four
corners thereof. And two rings shall be in the
one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. What
does that symbolize? North, south, east, west. The
four corners of the earth. Christ has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. You cannot locate Him in one
piece of real estate. But He has people all over this
world. Jew and Gentile. And then it
says, And thou shalt make staves of shed and wood, and overlay
them with gold. Now this is how the ark was to be carried. Now
that's important for our lesson in 2 Samuel 6. It says, And thou
shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark,
and the ark may be borne with them. Now how is the ark to be
carried? There were staves made of gold, made of wood and gold,
and they would put those, or made of wood and overlaid with
gold, again a type of the deity and humanity of Christ, and because
Christ is going to carry the load. That's what that symbolizes. Those staves would be put through
those rings, and it was to be carried only by those staves,
and then it shows only by the priest too. And that's what it
seemed like. Christ, all the government, was
upon his shoulder. He carries the load of our salvation. That's what that typifies. And
this is how their thinking should have been. You see, they were
to be taught these things by the priest and by the prophet
and by the king now. This is what this means. Just
like, you all can remember Brother Mahan using that model of the
tabernacle. And he put it up, I think he
put it up here, didn't he? And he talks to you about each
piece, and our young people, they've learned that. Well, that's
what they were to do back then to the real tabernacle. Here's
what this typifies. Here's what this symbolizes.
Here's what this points to. You see, this isn't just something
that we're to... I know we have more information in the New Testament
than they did in the Old Testament, but they had the Gospel. They had the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in type, in picture, in shadows, and in
prophecy, and in the preaching. And that's what they were to
see. Christ carries the load of our salvation. Man can't carry
it, you see. No matter how good it looks,
or how hard they try, salvation is not by the works of man. It's
by the work of Christ. And so look at verse 16. He says, Well, verse 15, it says, the
stave shall be in the rings of the ark, they shall not be taken
from it. And he says, and thou shalt put
into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And we know
that the broken tablets of the law, that ark in that sense was
a continual reminder of our fall and ruin in Adam and our sinfulness.
Look on in verse 17, and thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure
gold. That was the lid that was over
the ark of the covet. Two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
And that mercy seat, that's where the priest would come in and
sprinkle the blood. That was the picture and the
type and the prophecy of Christ's shed blood as the payment for
all our sins. making satisfaction to God's
justice. He says in verse 18, thou shalt
make two cherubims of gold of beaten work shalt thou make them
in the two ends of the mercy seat and make one cherub on the
one end the other cherub on the other end even of the mercy seat
shall you make the cherubs the cherubims on the two ends thereof
and the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high covering
the mercy seat with their wings And their faces shall look one
to another, and toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims
be." Now, these cherubims, I believe, are typical of the ministers
of Christ, whose faces are always towards the mercy seat. What
does that tell you? What am I to do up here tonight?
Look to Christ. I'm looking to Christ. My face
is towards Him. And that's where your face is
to be, too. Towards the mercy seat. Don't look to me to save
you. Don't look to your family to save you. Don't look to your
denomination to save you. Don't look to yourself to save
you. Look to Christ, the mercy seat, to save you. And then listen
to this, verse 21. And thou shalt put the mercy
seat above the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony
that I shall give thee, Verse 22 is the key. Now this is where
the worship is. And there will I meet with thee,
and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from
between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony,
of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the
children of Israel. God says that's where I'm going
to meet with you. That's where I'm going to commune with you.
No place else. What's that picture? Where's
God going to meet with us? Where's God going to commune
with us? In Christ, the Mercy Seeker. That's right. By the blood of the Lamb, who
satisfies His justice, enabling Him to be both a just God and
a savior. Now that's that art. Now this
is the art that the Philistines had stolen. And they couldn't
handle it. And this is the ark that they
wanted to get rid of. You know what they did? You know
how the Philistines got rid of it? They built a brand new cart. Go back to 2 Samuel 6. The Philistines
built a brand new cart. Now somebody said, why didn't
they just use an old cart? Well, they had some respect for
this mercy seat, for this ark of the covenant. They didn't
know anything about it. They really didn't know the God
of the covenant. But they knew there was some
power here that they couldn't handle, and they had enough respect.
We'd better build a brand new cart for this thing. And then
they hauled it off. And they took it, I think, to
the house of Abinadab. We'll look at that in just a
moment. But look at 2 Samuel 6. Now, here's David now. He
says, we've got to get the ark. That's right, David. We've got
to restore the worship of God in the land. That's been lost. It's been gone for 70 years.
You see, this is where God said he would meet with his people
and commune with his people, and it's been gone. And so David
said, I'm going to get 30,000 choice men, and we're going after
it, and we're going to bring it back to Jerusalem and put
it in this temporary tent. Well, look at verse 3. What happened? Well, and they set the ark of
God upon what? A new cart. Now, who else did
that? the Philistines. That's the way
they treated the Ark. Built a new cart. David did this
now. You can read about the Philistines
doing that way back in 1 Samuel, I think it's chapter 6. Read
about it sometime. They set the Ark of God upon
a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab. It
was in Abinadab's house. I don't know how he housed it
or where exactly it was, but it was there. And that was in
Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, now these
are the sons of Abinadab, there's two sons of Abinadab. This ark
had been with them, I don't know how many years, I know it had
been gone from the nation for 70 years. But only a few months
in the hands of listening, so maybe the whole time it was here.
But here's these two sons, Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab,
they drave the new cart. They got in the new cart and
they're driving. Look at verse 4, "...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."
He was leading. "...And David and all the house
of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments
made of firwood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels,
and on cornets, and on cymbals." Now this is worship now. This
is not entertainment. They weren't doing this to have
a party and entertain. They were happy. And they were
sincere and zealous in worship. They're bringing the ark of God
back to Israel, to the nation. They're restoring the worship
of God. And it says in verse 6, when they came to Nacon, Nacon's
threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and
took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. They stumbled. And he thought the ark was going
to fall off the brand new cart. And he puts his hands up. And
it says in verse 7, the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error. That word error
there, if you look in your concordance, it probably says rashness. Did
it without thinking. And there he died by the ark
of God. Uzzah died. And it says in verse 8, David
was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah.
And he called the name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this day. That means the breach of Uzzah.
And he says, and David was afraid of the Lord that day and said,
how shall the ark of the Lord come to me? Now you notice something
here that's a little different than before. In the last couple
of times we've studied these things about David as he was
instituted and established and exalted as king. We read in the
last few chapters two times David did what before he made a move?
He inquired of the Lord. In chapter 6, it doesn't say
David inquired of the Lord, did it? It said he just gathered
30,000 choice men, playing the numbers game. And then in verse
9, he became afraid And then he said, how shall the Ark of
the Lord come? Now, he asked God. Poor Uzzah is already dead. But
David now inquires when it's too late. Look at verse 10. So
David would not remove the Ark of the Lord unto him into the
city of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom,
the Gittite. 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. Now, you see what's
going on. Here's this Ark, this symbol
of God's presence, this symbol of God's holiness, this symbol
of God's mercy, this picture of Christ the Savior. This symbol
of propitiation. We studied propitiation Sunday
morning. That's what that ark was all about. Reconciliation. Satisfaction. This is the glory
of God right here in this ark. His Shekinah glory. You've heard
that term by the old writers. The Shekinah was the greatest
manifestation of God's character and nature and glory to be found
on earth at any given time. And it was in that ark for so
long. Where do you suppose that Shekinah dwells now? In the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Shekinah, glory of God,
seated at the right hand of the heavenlies. Picture Christ and
His work and this reconciliation He accomplished through His blood
and His righteousness imputed. That's what that ark was all
about. This is important. So what do you learn from this?
Well, I'll tell you what you learn. Religious zeal and good
intentions without truth and without knowledge are deadly. That's what you learn. You see,
it was right for David, his king, to seek to bring the ark back
to Zion. That was right. This nation had
been united. Jerusalem had now become the
capital. Zion was the dwelling place of
the king. The palace of the king is there
on Zion. And the enemy's been defeated
twice. He defeated the Philistines. Now it's time the true spiritual
worship of God had to be at the center of the nation or there
was really no lasting unity. David as king was right to lead
the nation back to the true worship of God. The first thing he had
to do, he knew this, he knew the first thing he had to do
was recover the Ark of the Covenant and restore it to its rightful
place at the center of the nation, the heart of the nation. That's
a picture of Christ, the center, the heart of the church. Not
only is he the foundation, he's the heart and he's the head of
the church. But David failed to do one thing
first that he had always done previously. He failed to inquire
of the Lord. What shall I do? How shall I
do it? It had already been set. How
that ark was to be carried, and you can read in several passages,
give you one example, Numbers 4. Read Numbers 4, especially
verse 15. It tells you there who was to
carry it. The Levites. Specifically, the
Kohathites. They were to carry it. Nobody
else. The priest. Zeal without truth
and knowledge is deadly. Does that remind you of anything?
Turn to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. You see, we
are of the fallen human nature that concludes that if a person
has good intentions, if they're sincere enough and they're zealous
enough, then that's got to count for something. That's got to
be enough. Not so in the Kingdom of God. Look at Romans 10 and
verse 1. Paul writes, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. For I bear them record, they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Now that's exactly
what went on back here in 2 Samuel 6 with David. He had a zeal of
God, but he didn't know the truth about this ark and how it was
to be carried. He says, verse 3, "...for they,
being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not cemented themselves unto
the righteousness of God." They've not submitted themselves to Christ,
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. You see, Isaiah, the prophet,
he painted a really sad and graphic picture of religion without Christ,
religion without truth, without heart. You remember in Isaiah
chapter 1? And you know what the conclusion was in Isaiah
1 about that kind of religion, that kind of zeal, that kind
of sincerity, that kind of good intentions, as we might say?
God hates it. And you know why? Somebody said,
well, why is He so adamant against it? Because it doesn't glorify
Him. You see, this whole thing is
for what? The glory of God. That kind of
thing exalts the flesh, and it promotes self-righteousness and
pride. God hates it. You know, I think
about religion today, and I think about various groups, denominations,
churches as they say, and I don't spend a lot of time in the pulpit
just talking down other churches and that's not what I mean. Like the preacher said, if you
want to see the crookedness of a stick, just lay a straight
stick beside it. And then you'll see how crooked
it is. And I agree with that. Let's just preach the truth.
Let's preach the word. And it will expose false religion,
works-oriented religion. And I know many people, when
you go after certain things, they don't understand it and
they say, you know, But let me tell you something about the
greatest need of what is called the church today. They need to
find Christ. They need to find His truth.
They need to know the true and living God, and not only to worship
Him, but how to worship Him. according to his prescribed way,
not their own way. You see, what you find in most
places today is man's ideas of how it should be done. And it's
usually entertainment, moral pep talks, psychology, activity,
get them in, keep them in, get them to give. And that's mainly
what it is. And somewhere in the background
or outside the door is Christ and His truth. No preaching of
the Bible, no preaching of the gospel of
God's Word, sovereign grace, it's just religion. But as we read in John chapter
4 there, The Lord said that God is spirit, and they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. What is it to worship
God in spirit? Two things. Number one, worship
Him as He reveals Himself, not as you think Him to be. Well,
how are you going to worship Him as He reveals Himself? Well,
where does He reveal Himself? Right here in this book. If you're
not studying the Word of God, if you're not hearing the Word
of God preached, and I mean from Genesis to Revelation, You're
not worshiping God. And where does this word lead
us to? Where are we going to worship God? In Christ. Because this word will always
lead a sinner to find salvation, peace, hope, mercy, forgiveness,
assurance, motivation in Christ. That's what it'll do. So to worship
Him in the Spirit is to worship Him according as He reveals Himself,
and then secondly, it's to worship Him from the heart. from the
regenerate, born-again heart. That's what it is. It's a child
of God seeking comfort and peace and guidance and wisdom from
His Father. And then to worship Him in truth
just means that. Whatever this book says, we believe. We may not understand it all,
but we're not going to deny that because we don't understand it.
How many people do that? They have their discussions.
They have their ideas. Well, what do you think, Brother
so-and-so? What do you think, Sister so-and-so? And really
what we ought to say is, who cares what you think? Owe him
what I think. What does God say in His Word? David said this in Psalm 5 and
verse 7. He says, But as for me, I will
come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear,
that's respect, will I worship toward thy holy temple. Philippians
3 and verse 3, listen to this, for we are the circumcision,
that spiritual circumcision of the heart, that means we're born
again, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ
Jesus, that literally means we have confidence or glory in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. You see, instead of following
God's instructions, David back here in 2 Samuel 6, you know
what he did? He copied the Philistines. He
built a new car. And I imagine it was a dandy
car. You know, they say in that culture, the new things were
only built for the king. So this was special. But my friend,
a new car, as new and as shiny and as beautiful as it was and
as much hard work as they put into it, wouldn't do the job. You know why? Because it didn't
glorify God. You know why? Because it didn't
picture Christ and point sinners to Christ. It pictured and pointed
sinners to the works and ways of men." Now, go back there to 2 Samuel
6. What about this uzzah? A lot of people say, well, that
just seems so unfair for God to do that to uzzah. Well, you
know, divine judgment is not always clear to the human eye
and understanding. But there's one thing you can
always count on. And that is this, God, who is the judge of
the earth, he always does that which is right and fair and just. Mark it down. And while we may
not understand specifically why this happened, I think we can
come to an understanding of this. Speaking generally, there are
many acts of judgment for which we don't have adequate understanding.
But we can be sure they're right if they're performed by the Lord
God. He didn't do anything unfair here. Maybe it was to expose
Uzzah's evil heart. The God of the earth will always
do right. You know why I know that and
why I believe that? Because this book says it. Worship
him in spirit and in truth. Well, look at verse 12 of 2 Samuel
6. Listen to this. Here's the second thing, doing
things God's way now. It says, And it was told King
David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Eden,
that's where he left the ark. God was blessing that house.
And all that pertaineth unto him because of the ark of God.
That's the same thing of us being blessed because of Christ, blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house
of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness. And it was
so that when they that bear the ark of the Lord had gone six
paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings." That's the shedding
of the blood. You see, they accompanied that ark. Now you notice here,
there may be a gap in your thinking here as you look at this. You
say, all of a sudden David went up and he got it. Well, how do
you do it this time? Well, hold on. All right, look
at verse 14. And 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. And
as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's
daughter, looked through a window, saw King David leaping and dancing
before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. Verse 17, they
brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in his place in the
midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it. This
is a temporary tent now. And David offered burnt offerings
and peace offerings before the Lord, sacrificing and offering
the bloodshed, you see, all picturing what that ark pictured, satisfaction
to God's law and justice in Christ. And as soon as David had made
an end of offerings, burnt offerings, and peace offerings, he blessed
the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, and he dealt among
all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as
well as to all the women, as to all the 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 own house." You see, all the people were blessed and filled
because of that ark. And they were all equally blessed
and filled. It's like we're all equally blessed
and filled in Christ. We're all equally forgiven of
all our sins by His blood. We're all equally righteous in
the sight of God, justified by His righteousness imputed. Equally
in Christ. And that's a marvelous picture.
There's the worship of God around the Ark. Well, what happened
here? How was he able to go get it
this time and bring it when he wasn't able to before? Well,
turn to 1 Chronicles chapter 15. We're given a little more
information here. Look at 1 Chronicles chapter
15. He went to Obed-Edom to get the
ark. And it says here in 1 Chronicles
15, look at verse 1, It says, And David made him houses in
the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and
pitched for it a tent. Then David said, None ought to
carry the ark of God but the Levites. David learned some things. For them hath the Lord chosen
to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.
And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring
up the ark of the Lord unto his palace, which he prepared for
it. And David assembled the children of Aaron, and the Levites, and
the sons of Kohith," and it goes on and on. What's the difference? David found out from God's Word
how that ark was to be carried, who was to carry it. No new carts
will do here. No new messages will do in the
worship of God. Only the old, old story. Only
that which is old but never grows old and never waxes away. Tell me the old, old story. It never changes. It doesn't
have to. It meets the need of every believing sinner of every
generation and all their lifetime never gets old. New cards won't
do in the worship of God. Just preach Christ, the ark of
God, the mercy seat, and gather around Him. You see, David did
it God's way. Now, this glorified God. That
priesthood who carried that ark with those staves, all of it
pictured Christ. And God's way of salvation through
Him. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now, that
means in salvation. That means in communion. That
means in prayer, that means in praise, no man cometh unto the
Father but by Christ. His shed blood and His righteousness
imputed alone. And that means every dealing
that we have with God. God will not bless us apart from
His Son. What a great picture. Let me
conclude with this. David honored God here, but not
his wife. You saw what happened there.
David came in dancing, just wearing nothing but an undergarment,
a linen evad. And I believe what he was picturing
there is the sinner coming before God naked. I have nothing to
offer. I have nothing by which to earn
or deserve your favor. I've come as a sinner seeking
mercy, just like that old publican we studied Sunday morning. God
be merciful to me, the sinner. That's what David was doing.
He was worshiping God. With all these instruments and
all his dancing, you see, that was praise. That's what the Spirit
entered David to inspire him to do. He was worshiping God
because of the ark. Just like we worship because
of Christ and it never gets old. But his wife despised him. Now,
she didn't despise the big house she was living in, I guarantee
you. She didn't despise all the money and the riches that the
king had. But you know who she really despised? Not just David, but David's God.
And listen to it. Look at verse 20. And David returned
to bless his household. I think about that, and that's
such a sad statement, isn't it? David returned to bless his household.
That's his family. You remember at the end of David's
life when he prayed, although my house be not so with God. What a shambles it was. And it
says, And Michael the daughter of Saul came out to meet David,
and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered
himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants,
as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. You detect
a little sarcasm in her voice. No, I don't detect a little.
I detect a lot. How glorious was the king. What's he saying? You've shamed
yourself as one of those vain fellows. Worthless fellow. Here's the anointed king. Here's the one who defeated Goliath.
He was God's instrument to defeat Goliath. Here's the one under
whom Israel and Judah became united. Here's the one who typified
the coming King, the Messiah. Here's the one who brought back
the worship of God to where it belonged in Israel, the Ark of
the Covenant. And what does she say? You ought
not have been out there dancing naked like a worthless fellow. And all that rot. You see, she
didn't care. She had no regard for David's
God. In verse 21 it says, And David
said unto Michael, It was before the Lord, Which chose me before
thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over
the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play
before the Lord." I'll worship God. I'm doing this before, I'm
not doing this to be seen of men, that's what he's saying.
This is before the Lord. And it says in verse 21, And
I will yet 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. They knew I was worshiping God.
Even they knew it, even though his own wife didn't. I think
about when I read this, I think about that old, that one statement
in the book of Luke, Remember Lot's wife. Nobody's going to
ride into heaven on the coattails of a husband or a wife. My friend,
it's your command that each individual in this audience tonight, this
preacher included, everybody, seek the Lord. Seek Him. You seek Him. Don't depend on
anybody else. Look to Christ. Michael didn't. She dishonored David, but she
dishonored David's God. David saw that the health of
the kingdom rested on honoring, worshiping, serving, and seeking
God's Word, God's will, and God's way. Michael didn't see it at
all. Verse 23 says this, Therefore
Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child until the day of
her death. God cursed her with no children
for that reason. Sad, sad state of affairs. But
this is a joyous time for Israel. This is a joyous time for King
David. This is a joyous time. He had
to learn the lesson the hard way. Now, that's true. Most of
them I have to learn. I learn them the hard way. But
it's a joyous time. And this is a prelude to another
glorious time when God reveals that kingly, divine covenant
to David. The Davidic covenant, they call
it. It's the covenant of Christ the King, which we'll look at
in chapter 7. You see, this is a glorious time
for David in Israel. And you know, that didn't last
long, but we can take comfort in this. It's a glorious time
for Christ and His church. And it'll last forever. It'll
last forever. All right.