I was thinking last night, you
know, it's a simple thing. The question is very simple,
and it's this. Do you believe? Are you a believer?
Are you a believer? Are you a believer? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is all your salvation and the only hope? You only plead, you're
only righteous. You don't trust yourself, you
don't trust anything you've done, don't trust who you are. You
just, I trust Christ. Trust His work, His righteousness,
His obedience. And if you could say, and I ask
you, are you a believer? And you say, yes, then you're
a believer. All right, I want to title my
message this morning, Why Did God Kill Us? Why Did God Kill
Us? It says there in verse 9, And
when they came under 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 therefore he died before God."
Now, David here is the one who started this. David was a man
who was intense in all that he did. He was what we would call
a man's Everything he did, he did it with everything he had
in him. He was an intense man. Even in his role as a shepherd
as a boy, a bear came and got one of the lambs and he took
that bear out of that lamb's mouth and killed that bear. And
then a lion came and got one. And he took the lamb back from
the lion and killed the lion as a boy. And then when he was
a Servant Saul, Saul had him come up. He was a loyal servant
to Saul even after Saul tried to kill him. Saul tried to kill
him twice. And he could have slain Saul
three different times, but he spared Saul because he was the
Lord's anoint. And then when it comes to being
a warrior, oh, what a warrior he was. People, you know, they
say Saul slew his thousands, David slew his ten thousand.
Oh, he was a great warrior. They called him a man, a bloody
man, because he was such a warrior. Great fighter. Then when God
set him on his throne, he was a king that all the people admired. All the people bragged on. All the people followed him,
followed him gladly. Now that he had been established
upon his throne, he wanted to restore the true worship of God
to Israel. Now you notice here, In verse
3 of chapter 13, it says, And let us bring again the ark of
God to us, for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. Saul
reigned forty years, and they never inquired at the ark of
God. They never had a place to worship. An ark is where God
said He'd dwell between the cherubims, and the ark was a symbol of God's
presence. And whenever they had the ark,
that's where people gathered around to worship. They'd come
there to worship. That's where the mercy seat was supposed to
be. over the ark and the cherubims above it. And here they was that
hadn't been inquired at in forty years. And David said, I'll just
bring up the ark of God. Now the ark, you remember, when
Eli reigned, the Philistines came and whipped Israel and they
took the ark and left with it. And God had just killed Eli's
two sons, Phinehas and I forget the other one, but anyway,
he killed his two sons. Killed Eli's two sons, and Eli
kept his mouth shut about that. But when they took the ark of
God, and they told him that the Philistines had taken the ark
of God, he died, he says, because the glory of God has departed.
God's glory has left Israel. So, oh my, they was very troubled. And where the mercy seat was,
that's where the law was kept inside that mercy, you know,
inside that ark with the mercy seat above it. It was at the
mercy seat where atonement was made once a year when he went
behind the veil. And so religion, the worship
of God, had been ignored for years and years. They inquired
not after days or so. But David here, he had the best
intentions to want to bring up the ark of God. Let's bring again
the ark of God to us. Let's restore the worship of
God. Let's bring it back up to Jerusalem. Let's set the ark
up and we'll have real worship again. We'll honor God again.
God will be in our midst again. His glory will return. But, O
beloved, He did everything all wrong in bringing this ark up,
and that's why God killed us. He said, Let's bring the ark
again. That's what He said there in verse 3. And I tell you, but
Heber, he totally failed in bringing up this ark. He never got to
bring it back up. It took months for it to get
brought back. It was a great failure. Now,
why would it be a great failure? Because it says there were multitudes
involved. Look down there in verse 8. I
mean, you know, there's a lot of people involved in bringing
up this ark. And David and all Israel played
before God with all their might and with all, and was singing
with harps and psalteries and dimbles and with cymbals and
trumpets. Oh, there was a multitude involved.
Why wouldn't God be in the midst of this? Everybody in Israel's
involved. A great multitude. Great, great people. They thought,
well, if God's going to be in our midst, He'll surely be in
our midst. Now, look at the crowds we've
got. Look at the multitude we've got. Everybody's involved in
this. We must be right. We've got multitudes. Look at our crowds. And that's
what He was going by. We've got everybody. Let's all
go do it. Let's all go! And I'll tell you, boy, that's
what David thought. He said, Boy, if I get everybody
involved in this, we can get to Art Broad up there. We can
really worship God. The more we've got, the more
we can worship. The more we've got, the better time we've got.
The more we've got, the more God will be in our midst. And oh, no. Then there was great
pomp. Look, it says there again in
verse 8, lots of singing. Oh, sangin' everywhere, playin'
the harps, clashing them cymbals, blowin' them trumpets. Man, they
had the band rockin', they had the band rollin', they had the
folks dashin' the knives. Noise goin' on everywhere. They
had things a-really movin'. And there's hardly anywhere you
could go with these big places where they ain't got a band up
playin'. They got everything under the sun going on, every
kind of singing. They wouldn't know the gospel
if they met it in the middle of the road. And these folks
didn't have a clue what was going on. David said, let's just go
bring the harp. All right, let's get our musical instruments.
God's going to join up with us. We're going to have God now.
Boy, I tell you, God's going to come down to cover us. We
got the music. We got the singing. We got the
trumpets. Oh, they got the tambourines
and the cymbals. Oh, they's making a lot of noise. That's the way Elijah felt. You
know, when God, that great, great, big earthquake comes, and God's
gonna be in this thing for sure. And as a great big storm comes
through, lightning flash, rain beating down, God's gonna speak
to me now. He thought God was in all the
noise and in all the things that was going on. But when God finally
spoke, he said, Elijah, Elijah. That's what most folks think.
The more noise you make, the more it's evident that God's
in your midst. And if you wag it, it makes more noise than
a fool would does. And if you can, it makes heaps more noise
when you kick it than one is fooled on it. And, oh my, we
have the best musicians, singers. There, boy, if you want to rejoice
with the Lord, come join up with us. Man, we don't care if you
shout. Go ahead and shout! Hear Jesus
a big hallelujah! And I tell you, the crowds and
the singing and the music and all the instruments, does that
guarantee the grace of God? And then they had all kinds of
energy involved in this. Look here. And it says there
in verse 8, And they played before God with all their might. They're not like us. They wasn't
sleepy. They wasn't drowsy. They wasn't
just, you know, thinking, boy, let's get this over with. No,
no. They was there with every bit of might they had. I mean,
boy, they had their energy involved in it. Our services aren't dumb. Our services aren't lively. We're
a lively bunch. But yet the heart didn't get
brought back to Jerusalem. God wasn't in their midst. I
heard a fellow tell this morning, and I'm preaching to a monstrous
crowd, huge crowd. And he started talking about
how he, when he was a younger man, how that they'd go out and
witness. And during the Mardi Gras in
New Orleans, he said him and some fellas would get us some
two-by-fours and make them crosses. He said, well, we'd drag them
things down through the Mardi Gras, and you know, you got two
million people out there drunk and carrying on, and he said
we'd put ketchup all over our faces. And we'd go out and we'd
drag him crosses out there and said, boy, that's heavy too.
He said, well, we'll have to drive that thing. And we get
out there and tell them people said, you murdered him, you murdered
him. And they're standing there at
the cross, blood on their face, ketchup on their faces, blood.
And he says, boy, that's how you get out. You've got to get
out there among them. Of course, he built a huge church.
Now it's worth millions of dollars. Wears Rolex watches. Talks about
how many Mercedes he's got. But Jesus, you got in that? He said, I've seen people get
out on their face and just weep and beg and ask Jesus into their
heart. How in the world do you ask Jesus
into your heart? James always tells me
about these signs he sees on churches. And I've got a whole
list of them in there he gave me. I saw one the other day on
the way to Murfreesboro. It says this, be an organ donor. Give your heart to Jesus. They
think that's clever. They think they're honoring God
doing that. That's just blasphemous. He's calling God a liar himself
to his face. That's the most blasphemous,
God-dishonoring thing that anybody can think. Be an organ donor.
Give your heart to Jesus. And the Scriptures tells us,
the Scriptures tells us that we've got wicked hearts, deceitful
hearts, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. And God
himself says that he would take out the stony heart and put in
a heart of flesh. I'll give you a new heart. Why
did I give you a new heart? To know me. Because you came
knowing with the heart you got. But they said, boy, they had
the crowd. They had the music. They had
the singers, and they had the energy. But they still didn't
get to Ark. And those are still dying. But
why in the world would they have such a failure? Why? Here they
are, they're running along. They're just singing, and dancing,
and playing, and thrashing, and making noise. And they're all
going down through that. Whoa, going down to Kirgiath
Sheriff, down to the Finidad's house, where the Ark has been
kept for 20 years. Been in that man's house for
20 years. And they all going down there just to dance and
to sing and having a big time and carrying on. And all of a
sudden, God kills a man right in the middle of all that. Bam! You talking about putting
something to bricks on something. It'd be like me up here with
all of us and you're having a big time. And all of a sudden, I
drop dead or one of you all drop dead in the service. You talking
about stopping the service. Wouldn't this stop a service?
Boy, I'll tell you what, they stopped just, whoa! Whoa! God just killed a man! What in the
world is going on here? Why in the world would they have
such a failure? Look up here at verse 1 and 2 with me. David
consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with
every leader. And David said unto all the congregation,
if it seem good unto you, And that idea of the Lord our
God, let's send abroad, let's get everybody in here, let's
gather everybody under us, and let's bring again all the congregation. He consulted the people. He consulted
the leaders. That's what most folks think. If we can just get that person
in the church, if we can get that guy such a businessman,
let's put him over the money. That fellow right there, he's
such a good administrator, let's make him a deacon. And he starts
inquiring of the people, what are we going to do? Let's do
this, let's do that, and all that. People said, oh, he consulted
everybody but the Lord. He never inquired of God at all.
He never looked in the book to see what to do. And I know what
that's like because I never consulted the book for you. And he did
seek the Lord. And then down in verse 4, and
all the congregation said that they would do so for the thing
was right in the eyes of the people. It's got to be right. It's right in all the people's
eyes. Oh my. If ever, that'd just be like
turning over the worship service to a bunch of heathens, wouldn't
it? Oh, my. Look over here at 1 Corinthians
15, 13 with me, just a moment. I mean, not 1 Corinthians, 1
Chronicles, 1 Chronicles, Chronicles, Chronicles, Chronicles. Caught
myself that time. 1 Chronicles over here, just
over one page. 15, 13. Look what David said. For because ye did it not at
the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we
sought him not after the due order." We didn't see if the
Lord got this. We just decided we're going to
go get dark. We decided we're going to do things our way. And
everybody, I talked to the leaders about it. I called all the captains
and the kings and everybody that's anybody. I talked to everybody
that's anybody. I mean, I didn't just go, I didn't
go out to the rebel rouses and that sort of thing. I didn't
go to the world. I called all the leaders. And I had everybody
come up and gather around. And I told them what I wanted
to do. And everybody said, Boy, David, that's the best idea you've
come up with in years. And oh, beloved, they had lots
of noise. But where was the spirit? They
had lots of music, but where was grace? And I'll tell you another reason
why they failed. The priests weren't in their proper places.
The Levites weren't there to carry the ark. You hear about
the opsin being used instead of them to carry the ark, and
I'll tell you what, you can't approach God without a priest.
David said, we're going to do it. God said, I've got to have
a priest. If you're going to come to me,
if you're going to be in my presence, if you're going to worship me,
you've got to have a priest. And there was no priest before
David. There was no priest went up there.
There was no priest that says, let me approach God. Let me come. And oh, beloved, where was humility
at? Was there any humility in this
bunch of people? Where was the spiritual alley at? Everything
was done in the interview of the flesh. Everything was done
consulting the people. But there was no priest. Huh? And there was no sacrifice. You
can't approach God, and the priest can't come without first offering
the sacrifice. Ain't that what God said when
He set up the ark? He says, now listen, there's
only one person to be able to come into my presence where this
ark's at, and that's the high priest. And he cannot come without
a sacrifice, without the shedding of blood. You ain't coming. He
had to first offer a sacrifice for himself and then come into
the presence of heaven. And when he went into the presence
of that ark, the first thing that had to be put on that ark
and that mercy seat was blood. Now, where was the priest? Where
was the Levites? Where was the sacrifice? Where
was the altar? Where the sacrifice was offered.
Huh? There was no reverence of God
here. Lots of noise, but no reverence
for God. No standing before God in awe
of God. They just thought they'd run
down there and grab up the ark and run back up there and have
a hallelujah time and a whoop-de-doo. And God, beloved, He said, you're
all going to learn that you're not going to play games with
me, and I'm not playing games with you. You ain't going to
do me this way. You're going to worship me my
way, or else I'll destroy the whole bunch of you. Huh? Oh, we've done lots of noise,
but do you hear anybody in this bunch praying? Do you hear anybody stop and
say, let's pray? Huh? Oh, we got some good new
oxen. I mean, oxen's never been put
to a yoke yet. And it says down there, it says
in verse 7, and they carried the ark of God in a brand new
cart. They built a brand new cart to put this thing. Man, we got to be in good shape
now. We got, look at this, we got
oxen that have been put to yoke, and we got a brand new cart. Surely, surely God's going to
say, boy, this is the way it's ought to be. Huh? But I'm going
to tell you what this, oh, beloved, and when Uzzah, it says there
in verse 9, when Uzzah put forth his hand, them oxen stumbled.
Them oxen stumbled. And he decided, boy, I said,
you know, I've got to help this ark of God. God ain't able to
keep this thing. God enabled us. He's not in our
midst. And boy, He dressed out to put
His hand against that thing. I mean, He was dead before His
hand touched anything just about. You know what happened here?
The people brought wheel worship. You know what wheel worship is?
Now, you keep Chronicles here, and turn over with me to Colossians,
just Colossians, chapter 2. You know what will-worship is?
They brought will-worship to God. And will-worship is just
this. Worshipping God any way but according
to His Word. Worshipping God any way but according
to His Word. Say, I worship Him the way I
will, not the way He says to. I worship Him according to my
feelings, not the way He says to. I worship Him according to
what I think, not according to what He says. I worship him the
way that I see things, not what he says. And how many times have
people told us that? They go by what they feel. Do
you know what all philosophy is? Philosophy is saying my opinion,
putting your opinion in place of God's. That's all philosophy
is. I think, I feel, I believe. And you show them what God says,
they still say, I think, I feel, I believe. That's vain philosophy.
putting your opinion in God's place, of His Word, your feelings
in the place of Scripture, our opinion in the place of the Word
of God, and our worship according to the way we will do it, regardless
of what God says. And that's why the Lord Jesus
Christ, without batting an eye, He said, No man, no man can come
unto the Father but by me. Huh? No man can come unto me. Now, can has something to do
with ability. He didn't say no man may come
unto me. And we learned that years ago,
and that's why I didn't learn much in school. I learned very
little in school, but I learned the difference between can and
may. You'd ask the teacher, could I go to the bathroom? I don't
know, can you? Try and teach you a little grammar.
May I go? Yes, you may. Can has to do with
ability. May has to do with permission.
Christ didn't say, you may come. He says, no man can come. Why
can't he come? He don't have the power. He don't
have the will. He don't have the ability. He don't have the
inclination. He don't have the heart. He don't have the mind.
He don't have the nature. And no man can come except the
Father, which sent me, draw him. And everyone that has heard and
learned of the Father, the Father gives you hearing ears and a
learning heart. Everyone that has heard and learned
of the Father, what does he do? He comes to me. So you know how we're going to
come to God? We're going to come with a priest. Our great high
priest who sits at the right hand of the throne on high. And,
oh, did He come with a sacrifice after He by Himself purged our
sins? Sit down to the right hand of
God. He offered Himself a sacrifice without spotting it. And, oh, beloved, what did He
do? He took that blood into the holy place, not made with hands,
but into the heaven itself to appear in the presence of God
for us. And there's an ark up there. And Christ took His blood
and entered in once. and put that blood off of it.
And now we come through a new and a living way through the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you come any other way
than that, you're coming through will work. Look in there in verse
20 of Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2.20. Now listen,
Paul says, Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ, from the rudiments
of the world." Now, where did we die? We died with Christ.
Paul said, I was crucified with Christ. When Christ died, we
died with Him. And if you be dead with Christ
from the rudiments of the world, and rudiments mean the elements
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you
subject to ordinances? Now, go down here in the last
part of verse 22. Act subject to ordinances as
are the commandments and doctrines of me. Now, why are you subject
to living in the world, or are you subject to the ordinances?
Now, he's going to tell us what these ordinances are. Men say,
don't you touch that. Don't you taste that. Don't you
dare handle that over there. They say, these things that's
in the world, these things that, you know, I don't want you to...
Boy, I tell you what, you can't be a Christian and do that. You
can't be sanctified if you do that. If you eat any of that
right there, if you taste that, if you reach and get ahold of
that with your hands. He said, why are you subject
to those things if you are dead with Christ? Christ is not subject
to the world. Christ is not subject to the things of the world. Why
are you living after what men tell you to do? Now watch what
he says in verse 23, which things indeed have a show of wisdom.
Boy, those fellows are so spiritual. Man, I mean, boy, they know exactly
how to live. If we don't live what they tell
us, well, we can just, oh my, we can be so holy, we can be
closer to God than anybody else can. Which indeed have a show
of wisdom in will worship. They say, no, you can't come
to God unless you do this, don't do that, don't do this other
thing. And oh, they neglect the body. They say, oh, how humble
we are. Look at it. We neglect our body.
We punish our bodies. We do it out. We sacrifice. We
bake our bodies. We get down and prostrate. We
stay on our knees until they get sore. But it don't honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. It gives no honor to God. Only
thing it does is satisfy your flesh. It don't give any honor
to God. And oh beloved, and then back over in our text over here.
The Lord made a breach upon us. And oh boy, here they are singing
with all their might, making all the noise, great crowds,
they've been quiet with everybody but God. Oh my, here they come,
and they came under the threshing floor of John. Uzzah put forth his hand to hold
the ark. 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. And David was
disbelieved. Because the Lord had made a breach
upon us, wherefore that place is called Perez Uzzah to this
day." David was displeased. He wasn't displeased with himself.
No, no, that's not the color he was upset with. You know who
he's upset with? He's upset with God. He's displeased. I'm telling you, beloved, even
David, I tell you, David, even the king has to do it God's way. Even the king got to keep his
proper place. You remember Saul offered a sacrifice,
and Samuel told him, he says, God has rejected you and everything
about you, because who in the world are you to bring a sacrifice
to God? He bypassed the priest. He bypassed Samuel. He said,
boy, I said, you know, God ain't coming to me, so I'm going to
heal my way. And oh, David was afraid. And
then look what it says there in verse 12. And David was afraid
of God that day. Oh, my. Then after he got it,
he said, boy, he got it. Then it did start out this way. It started out with a great fear
of God. Uzzah would not have died. But because he had irreverence
for God, irreverence for the Word, and had more confidence
in himself and his leaders and the people and the noise, God
said, I'll be sanctified in your midst. The death of Uzzah caused
great fear. Here the people are singing and
going along and having a great time, and all of a sudden, sudden
death. I want you to look with me now over here in Leviticus.
If you keep that there, look in Leviticus chapter 10 with
me just a minute. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus. Leviticus
chapter 10. Look at this with me. God said, I'll be sanctified. Leviticus chapter 10. You remember
Nadab and Abihu? These are Aaron's two sons. They're
in the priesthood. They're sons of Levi. They could
come into the tabernacle. They had censers. They was able
to come and offer sacrifices. It says here in verse 1, And
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his
censer, and put fire therein. I'm going to tell you something.
First thing here, there's only one fire that you get fire from,
and that was as far as this side of the tabernacle. You went in
there, if you wanted fire, you reached in there under that brazen
altar, and you got your fire out of there and put the fire
in your censer. You didn't make your own fire.
You didn't go out here and just kindle a fire and get some coals
and put it in your censer. No, no. No, no. And they put fire there and put
incense there and offered strange fire. They went out and made
their own fire. They didn't go in the tabernacle
and get the fire off the altar before the Lord which he commanded
them not. Don't you do that. And therefore
there went fire out from the Lord and devoured them. And they
died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This
is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them
that will come nigh unto me. What does that mean? You know,
God said, Peter says, sanctify the Lord God in your heart. Now
that word sanctify here means set Him apart. You regard him
as he is. You reference him as he is. I
will be sanctified in them that come not me. You're going to
treat me as I am in my holiness, in my righteousness, in my justice,
in my glory, in my power, in my authority. You're going to
do it the way I said. I gave you a pattern. I gave you Moses. I gave you
the sacrifice. I gave you the law. I gave you
the tabernacle. I gave you the ark. I gave you
everything you needed to worship me. So why in the world would
you decide to do it your way? I'll be sanctified in him that
cometh nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.
And he'll either be glorified in grace or in justice, but he's
going to be glorified. And oh beloved, you remember
the men of Beth-shemeth? This is when they took the ark.
The Philistines had the ark. They stole it and they put it
in their temple with their god, Dagon. When that ark was in there,
they'd go up in the morning and Dagon would be laying on his
face. They'd go back and set him back up. They'd get up the next morning
and he'd be down. Then his arms fell off. Set him back up, got
out the next morning, went down there and his legs was gone.
All that was left of Dagon was his thumb. God's not going to shackle his
door with the faith in God. He's going to show them, you
know, that I don't have to do anything. And so they, them fellas,
they said, boy, and then all of a sudden they start all getting
sick. They start all suffering in their bodies. And they said,
get this off, get this off, get this off, let's get rid of it.
So they put it in a cart and sent it away. And they come down
to Abinadab's house. And they got one of the priests,
and they come down there, and they sanctified that priest,
and they put that in the Benedact's house, and he stayed there another
20 years. Nobody wanted nothing to do with him. But when they
sent it down through there, the men of Beth Jemeth had it, got
it off that cart, and they said, let's see what the world's in
this thing. Let's see what's in this thing. They lifted up
that God struck and killed over looking
into that heart. Huh? Curious, intruding into the things
in which they ought not. Vain worship, idolatry. Oh, God's not as holy as he says
he is. God's not as just as he says
he is. God's not as strict as he says he is. He don't care
if we take a look into this ark. And when they lifted that up,
they're facing the naked law of God. They're facing the broken
commandments of God. And whenever you look at that
law outside of that ark, outside of what Christ did, you're a
golden Jesse. That's all you can say about
it. Oh, my. And David was displeased. It says there back over in our
text, David was displeased. because the Lord had made a breach.
He was displeased with God. But I tell you, the whole subject
here, beloved, God was really displeased with David. David,
you had the pomp, you had the crowd, you had the singing, you
had the ark, you had the cart, and all of them done without
inquiring me. It looked good, it sounded good,
and no doubt they all felt good. But Uzzah was dead. Because it was dead. And David started out all with
the wrong frame of mind. But now look what happens now.
Verse 12, And David was afraid of God that day. Oh, the fear
of God finally struck his heart. And then he felt his own unworthiness.
Felt his own unworthiness. How shall I bring the ark of
God home to me? How are we going to do it? How
is this going to be done? He's omitting his foolishness
and seeking to bring the ark his way, and was afraid of God
that day. Oh, my! And what happened? They
didn't bring that ark home, verse 13. They put it in the house
of Obed-Edom to get tight. Oh, they left it there, and they
stayed there for three months, and God blessed that house. Obed-Edom
didn't ask for it. Obed-Edom didn't seek it. Obed-Edom
just left it there. And I tell you what, beloved,
wherever God's presence is, I don't care how humble the house, I
don't care how mean the person, how poor the person, wherever
the ark and the presence of God is, He blesses it. That man never
sought it, never asked for it. He just left it there. He didn't
stick his hand in there. He didn't open that thing. He
left that thing alone. And oh, God is holy. And David,
he says, let's just think, let's pause a while. Let's consider
this business of bringing the ark up here. Let's just sit down
and we sought to do it our way. Let's back up and see what God
says about it. And they waited three months.
They said, well, we better seek the Lord about this. And now, beloved, back over here
in chapter 15. Let's look at this just a minute. Look in verse 25. You know, David paused a while. He didn't use us as death and
the holiness of God and the strictness of the holiness and justice of
God for not doing what's honored to God. God is holy. He says,
let me just back up and see things His way. And then it says in
verse 25, 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, and this time they brought it
with joy. What made them do it? Well, first of all, in verse
4, he says this in chapter 15, And David made him houses in
the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God. That's the first thing he did.
He prepared a place for the ark of God. Pitched a tent for it.
You know, built a tabernacle. That's what there was in the
wilderness, a tent. Tabernacle. And then he says
down in verse 2, then David says, None ought to carry the ark of
God but the Levites. And that's exactly right. They
had two staves. Remember those two golden staves,
those rings on that ark? And four men would reach and
they'd get them stays, and they'd stick them stays through there
and they'd pick that thing up and carry that thing. Four men
would carry it. Not oxen, not a new cart. He
says, for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God,
and watch this, and to minister unto Him forever. Not me, not
the singers, not the music, not the crowd, not the captains,
not the leaders. And then he says down in verse
12, he called all the folks together, he called Aaron, the sons of
the Levites, and all them, and he called all the priests and
the Levites, and he said unto them, Ye are the chief of the
fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you
may bring up the ark of the Lord God unto the place that I have
prepared for it. First thing you do, you sanctify
yourselves. You regard who you are and who
God is. You come as you are really. You get yourself separated here. God called you to this business.
And oh, and then he says in verse 13, because we did it not at
the first. That's not the way we started out first. And that's
why this great breach was made upon us. That's why God put this
great breach between us and Him. That breach he's talking about
is the distance that God put between them and Him. And then we saw Him, not after
the due order. God is a God of order, not the
God of confusion. I mean, the creation shows the
order of God. Our body shows our order. And
God said in His Word, an order. And then in verse 14, So the
priest and the Levite sanctified themselves to bring up the ark
of the Lord God of Israel. First of all, the priests were
in the proper place. The priest got in their proper
place. Daily we want to lead this procession now, the priest's
right. The priest's going to go over
to God. Watch what happens now. And then,
in verse 15, And the children of the Levites bear the ark of
God upon their shoulders, with staves their own, as Moses commanded,
according to the word of the Lord. Let me show you something else
that was happening. The priests were in their place, the Levites done
it according to the order of God, and then, beloved, sacrifices
were offered. Look in verse 26. They brought
that out of the house of old in Eden. 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. Sacrifices were offered. Seven
is perfection. And they offer sacrifices. We're
going to approach it the way they come with the priest. The
priest offers sacrifices. Now, now comes the joy. Look in verse 28, and I'm done,
just about. Thus all Israel, now they're
all involved in it now, but they've done it the right way. Brought
up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting and with
sound of the cornet, with trumpets and with cymbals, making a noise
with psalters and harps. Because sacrifices had been offered. The Levites had the ark. The place had been prepared. Everybody had been sanctified.
Sacrifices had been offered. And Uzzah died. Uzzah died that
day. Because true religion was lost.
And they wanted to find it and bring it back according to their
own terms. They wanted to worship God. They wanted to set up true
worship in Jerusalem, but did it all alone. How many of us,
how many people perish like Uzzah did? Because somebody told them
this is the way to worship God. We're going to help God out.
We're going to save God's way of worship. We're going to put
that ark right. We're going to have a big crowd.
We're going to make lots of noise. We're going to ask the people,
see what they want. And you know, let me tell you
this. I know this for a fact. You know how many churches have
been started, and they call them mega churches now because they
have thousands and thousands of people. They send out a survey,
what do you want? What do you want in a church? And then I watched one the other
day. I mean, boy, that place was just, they had a big, great,
big place, and it was just even with people. They had restaurants
in it, coffee shops in it. People go there to eat, you know,
and they just, I mean, you know, it's just a big gathering place,
people sitting in there. Got couches to sit on, big cushion
chairs to sit on, coffee to drink, food to eat. Preacher standing up there, he
don't even wear a suit and tie. He got on a pair of jeans and
just an old polo shirt, you know. He's talking to the people, telling
them how to live for Jesus. He's not telling them what God
must do for them. He's telling them what they need
to do for God. But what's God got to do for
you? That's the difference. Oh, may God give us the gospel
and recovery again that makes men one day shut their mouths
and fall prostrate before God and say, Oh God, have mercy on
me. Our Father, in the blessed, holy,
glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing
us this Day. Giving us this day. Giving us
this Word of God. Giving us the truth as it's in
Christ. Oh, Father, don't let us come with real worship. Don't
let us come with our opinions and our philosophies and our
feelings and our thoughts and our traditions. Oh, God, You
saved us. And we thank You. Oh, we bless
You. We know that if it hadn't been
for Your grace, Your mercy, Your power, we'd still be will-worship. We'd still be will-worshippers.
We'd still be doing things, oh, so ungodly, so unholy, so unrighteous. We'd be doing it all in Your
name. Oh, Lord, blessed be Your name. God, open hearts, open
minds, and save Your people in this place. May those who sit
today Let them ask themselves, am I a believer? Let them ask
themselves that. And Lord, if they say to themselves,
yes, I am, and enable them to confess that by believer's baptism,
we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Turn to 268 in our
hymn book, saying just a couple of verses of this.