Today we're going to be looking
into the second part of a two-part series that I titled, Seeking
God After the Due Order. And our primary text today will
be found in 1 Chronicles chapter 14. Those of you who heard part
one of this message, you'll recall we majored on chapter 13 of 1
Chronicles. We examine the story of how the Lord made there what
is called a breach upon a man named Uzzah striking him dead
simply because he touched the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark
was being transported by cart pulled by oxen and when the ox
stumbled Uzzah simply put his hand up apparently to steady
it and God struck him dead. If you didn't hear that message,
I would encourage you to listen to it. I think it will help in
your appreciation for these two messages really do fit together.
To refresh your memories, though, and for any who weren't here,
I'll just by way of review remind you of what we saw in chapter
13 very briefly. David and the Israelites had
decided to move the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Abinadab
where it had been kept to a place of honor in Jerusalem. However, in their handling of
the ark, they did not follow God's precise instructions. Those
instructions included how the ark was not to be touched by
anyone other than the Levitical priesthood as the mediators for
the people. And he told them that the ark
had to be carried upon the shoulders of a family of the tribe of Levi
by staves are rods that were inserted through gold rings on
each side of the ark. And contrary to all of those
precise instructions, they had begun their journey here towards
Jerusalem by transporting the ark upon a cart pulled by oxen. And we read in chapter 13 that
when the ox stumbled, as I've already said, a man named Uzzah,
who had been attending to the ark, he merely placed his hand
on the ark, apparently to steady it, and when he did The scripture
says the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and he
immediately struck him dead. And the scripture says there
that David was displeased and he characterized what God had
done to Uzzah this way. He said, because the Lord had
made a breach upon Uzzah. Some of you may recall we saw
this same language, this word breach used again over in chapter
15. There it was some three months
later David had apparently come to understand why God had struck
down because we see that David had corrected things. He had
made arrangements for those of the tribe of Levi to properly
transport the Ark, not with their hands upon it, but rather bearing
it upon their shoulders with the staves or the rods inserted
through the rings. Now, back when God struck Uzzah
dead, we read that David became fearful. is he apparently didn't
understand at that point why God had acted so harshly and
what probably seemed like a pretty small manner at the time. And
so not understanding he halted the transport of the ark to Jerusalem
and instead he left it there at the house of Obed-Edom and
it stayed there for about three months. Then in chapter fifteen
he resumes transporting the ark. and in in transporting it toward
Jerusalem to a place he had prepared for it and in there and speaking
to the Levites in verse thirteen of chapter fifteen he said for
because he did it not at the first referring to how three
months earlier they had mishandled the ark because he did it not
at the first the Lord our God made a breach upon us there we
see that word again for that we thought him not after the
due order that is per God's precise prescribed way. And that's what
we're going to continue to look at today in this second part,
this last message, part of the message titled Seeking God After
the Due Order. Now, in the previous message,
we talked at length about all of the elements of the Old Covenant. were all pictures of Christ.
We saw that Christ is the tabernacle. Christ is the dwelling place
of God on earth. He tabernacled among us. He dwelt
among us. He is the priest, the one mediator
between God and man. He was the sacrifice, the Lamb
of God. He's the ark that contained the
law in a place of honor, for he alone honored and magnified
the law contained therein. For he alone kept it perfectly,
and he is the mercy seat, the propitiation, the satisfaction
to cover that law that had been broken by the Israelites contained
inside of that ark. And we know, of course, that
he specifically called the propitiation, the mercy seat in the New Testament. And as we read in chapter 13,
it was because Uzzah put his hand to the ark that God made
this breach upon Uzzah, striking him down. And the lesson there
is that when it comes to what those things pictured, not the
temporal deliverance of that nation under the old covenant,
but eternal salvation pictured therein, that man's hand cannot
touch it. God is not going to share his
glory, and there's where his glory lay. in the mercy seat. When it comes to the ark of the
covenant wherein his greatest glory is pictured, therein we
see how God can be both a just God and a Savior. Man's hand
can't touch it. Man can play no part whatsoever
in procuring or maintaining his own salvation according to God's
precise way of eternal That is, according to the message of his
gospel. God's salvation, see, is only
by pure, unadulterated mercy. Sovereign grace. No contribution
from the hand of the sinner whatsoever. We must have mercy. And that's
what's pictured thereby. Now, lastly, by way of review,
you'll recall we spent some time talking about that word breach.
As I said, it means an outbreak or an outburst. We're going to
see now in our text in chapter 14 today that the same Hebrew
word there for breach is translated in English somewhat differently,
but it's the same Hebrew word. And there we'll see that God
is said broke in upon, as in made a breach, broke in upon
David's enemies, and he described it like the breaking forth of
waters. And so as we mentioned in the
previous message that this is an indication of like an immediate
outburst, an immediate intervention or a manifestation of God's wrath
being poured out or a breaking in upon by God. And keep that
in view as we look at this man in chapter 14. In the previous
message, you remember, we majored on how God's immediate outburst
or his breach upon Uzzah We saw it as a just wrath of God against
sin or a judgment against sin. And I noted, I think, at the
close of that message, it's important that we not view that in the
negative. It is a negative truth for multitudes
who perish. But as I noted then, there's
a breach, an outpouring of his wrath that is not a dreadful
truth for all. You see, spiritual Israel, his
chosen people from all nations, they're not drawn to seek God's
prescribed way of salvation, to become aligned with that,
whereas they were walking on a broad road in the wrong direction,
in darkness, blind, at enmity with God. As the Scripture says,
we all start out, and God arrests them by the words of his gospel
preached unto them. and the application of it by
his spirit, so that they do a complete reversal. Well, that does take
place, but it doesn't take place with a message that only sets
forth how strict and how devastating and how severe his judgment against
sin ultimately will be. You see, in that message, we
see that God has made a breach, so to speak, that favors his
chosen people. is a breach on their behalf. In Isaiah 30, verse 18, we read
this, and you may want to jot that down and look at it later.
It's a good verse. It says, and therefore will the
Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will
he be exalted. And listen to this phrase, that
he may have mercy upon you for or because the Lord is a God
of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. You see, do you hear what that verse is teaching?
That because God is a God of judgment, there's mercy for God's
people. And we're going to see an example
of this in today's text as we see a deliverance on behalf of
the nation Israel, David, as he goes up against the Philistines.
Look with me in verse 8, chapter 14. says, And when the Philistines
heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, now David
had not been king long. I think in chapter 11 we see
David being anointed king. You recall when we spoke last
time about how the ark had been kept possibly some 50 years at
the house of Abinadab, but before that it had been taken away for
seven months by the Philistines. That was all under Saul. So David
has not been king long here. In fact, his decision to lead
the nation to return the ark to Jerusalem was very early in
his reign. In verse 8, the Philistines apparently
just heard that David was anointed king, and it says, "...all the
Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and he
went out against them. And the Philistines came, and
they spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim." And David
inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines,
and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said
unto him, Go up, for I, God, will deliver them into thine
hand. So they came up to Baal-Pharazon,
and David smote them there. Then David said, not, I smoke
them there, but he said, God hath broken in upon mine enemies
by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters. Therefore they
call the name of that place Baal Parazin. Here we see God's favor,
and by the way, that word Baal, paraism, means place of breaches. Baal is a word that sometimes
would be attached as a prefix to nouns. It means the owner
of, the possessor of, or the place of, the place of breaches. Here we see God's favor, see,
upon his chosen people, the nation Israel, in this breach as he
intervened, as he broke in, as he delivered them. I hope where
this is heading. There's likewise a deliverance
for spiritual Israel, those chosen unto eternal salvation, those
chosen from all nations, and that deliverance is due to God's
breach, God's breaking in, his intervention in having sent Jesus
Christ and having imputed or charged the demerit of all of
their sins to him. that he could endure the just
wrath of God as their substitute for all those that the Father
had given him before the world began. And that's a glorious
breach. It's a glorious breach to those
who, by virtue of what Christ accomplished for them, are given
God-given faith and repentance that will cause them to look
to that mercy seat for all of their salvation with no putting
in of their own hands the works of their own hand, and there
and there alone, you see, we find mercy, propitiation. That is God's favor by way of
satisfaction. I want you to be turning now
to Isaiah chapter 28. As I mentioned earlier, that
word breach carries that connotation now, as we just saw in chapter
14 of 1 Chronicles, of a downbursting. And that's how we get the sense,
as we spoke in the earlier message, of how sudden and severe, swift
and sure God's wrath is against sin. It's like in a flood where
water kind of finds its way into every nook and cranny. There's
just no place to hide. And I wanted you to look at this
passage with me in Isaiah 28 so you wouldn't think I just
took some license to suggest that this breach, this bursting
out of like a dam is a picture of God's judgment and his just
wrath against sin. We see here that God himself
says that. So follow with me beginning there
in verse 14. We read, Wherefore hear the word
of the Lord, ye scornful men. We've been taught, and accurately
so, that for one to be scornful is to treat something that's
very valuable as if it's not valuable. We see a picture of
that, at least for that period of time when David and the Israelites
all were gathered to take that cart in a way contrary to God's
prescribed way, by a cart, and when Uzzah touched it. You see,
God had given very specific instructions to Moses that meant something,
because they pictured eternal salvation in Christ and by His
hand, His work alone. And they took that, and here
they were. Now, they were busy attending
to the mercy seat where God said He would commune with them. But
they did not take care of there, and they showed scorn. You see,
something that really was valuable and important, they forgot or
just didn't think of it that way. And so we have it today
as men hear the specific message of the gospel. They hear a message
that tells them it's not just Christ did it all, but there's
something left for you to do. No, your hand can't touch it.
And when you start to describe that to one that how God really
must be satisfied, His justice, you see, is going to be rendered
and there must be a complete satisfaction to it. How many
times have you heard men say, well, you know, you just splitting
hairs. I mean, we all worship Christ. You see, we're hanging around
that ark at mercy. See, we're in church. You know,
all I know is I just believe in Christ. Well, that's to be
scornful. We all start out as scornful
men, and that's who he's speaking to here. I didn't mean to get
so far off on that, but that's in verse 14. He says, hear the
word of the Lord, ye scornful men. that rule this people, which
is in Jerusalem, because he has said we have made a covenant
with death and with hell are we at agreement. They're saying,
I'm saved. Look, I've made my peace with
God. That's what that means. And when
the overflowing scourge, that's the wrath of God, when it shall
pass through, it shall not come unto us. I've made my peace with
God. And it says here, for we made
lies our refuge and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Now we
know that no one no one knowingly takes refuge in safe haven in
that which they know to be alive. That's not suggesting here. That's
what they say. He's suggesting is the reality
is their refuge is one of lies. Similarly, one does not hide
themselves under a falsehood. When after the fall, when Adam
and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness before God, they tried
to hide from God and what they do, they sewed fig leaf aprons
to try to hide. And God showed them, no, you're
trying to hide yourself under falsehood. He killed an animal,
shed blood to give them coverings of skin to show them, no, there's
going to have to be blood shed here. You see, and likewise,
men today, they have confidence in things pertaining to Jesus,
perhaps, or whatever they imagine will render, find them blessed
in some eternal paradise. And their confidence is in a
lie. And that's what he's saying here.
In falsehood they have hid themselves. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion. In Zion. That's the elect, the
church of God, for a people. Now, who does this work? God
does. He says, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone, a
tried stone. It's going to have a stone that's
going to stand up to this overflowing scourge. It's going to have to
be tried and proven to prevail. A precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation. And he that believeth, believeth
what? On this stone whose refuge is there. He that believeth shall
not make haste. That means he won't be ashamed. Sadly, so many will that their
refuge has been one of lies. No, he shall not make haste."
And he says, judgment, well, I lay to the line. There's going
to be a judgment and righteousness to the plummet. The picture is
of a carpenter's plumb bob, a string with a weight on the bottom that
hangs down to give you a perfectly vertical line. He's saying, well,
here's the standard. That's the standard the carpenter
measures by. And here's the standard for his
judgment. It's going to be righteousness.
Righteousness will be laid to the plummet. As we've mentioned
so often in Acts 17 on Mars Hill, Paul said, God's commanded men
everywhere to repent because he's going to judge the world,
just as is being mentioned here in Isaiah, judge the world in
what? In righteousness. Whose righteousness? By that man whom he hath ordained.
And whereof he's given assurance unto all men, say, that it got
the job done. and that he raised him from the
dead, speaking of his son. This is speaking of that perfect
satisfaction that Christ alone makes, the mercy seat. And he
says, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and
the waters shall overflow the hiding place. You see, as we
sang just a few minutes ago, we've got to be hid in the cleft
of the rock. And he says, And your covenant
with death shall be disannulled. Your insistence on the way that
seems right to you, but is a way that ends in death, will be proven
to have been a false way, a refuge of lies. And that covenant, that
peace you thought you had, is going to be disannulled. And
your agreement with hell, the grave it shall not stand, and
when the overflowing scourge There's that flood, that bursting
of the dam, shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down
by it. Verses 19 and 20 describe, I think, give a picture of somewhat
of the torment of hell. And then in verse 21, he continues,
and look what he says, he says, for the Lord shall rise up as
in where? Mount Peraism. That's the same
place as Baal Peraism that we read about in 1 Chronicles 14.
He's describing this judgment he'll make, ultimate judgment,
with that breaking in, that breach he made at Parazin on behalf
of the nation Israel. He says, he shall be wroth as
in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange
work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act, and it goes
on. Well, you see, we know that God's breach made upon Uzzah,
and then again upon the Philistines at Baal, Parazin. is an example
of God pouring out his wrath, because this is the same place
as being referred to here in Isaiah 28. And he mentions Gibeon. If you read on down, and you
may want to turn back there to 1 Chronicles 14, if you read
down a little further, you'll see the Philistines were regathered
at Gibeon. And there also, David, God, provided
the deliverance for them. Look there at the end of verse
of chapter fourteen, it says, he said, For God is gone forth
before thee to smite the host of the Philistines, and David
therefore did as God commanded him, and he smote the host of
the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gaza. So many believe that
that's the reference is, is once again, we have the complete and
total deliverance by God, just as he gave an example of here
in Baal, Peresim, and at Gibeon. Some think that Gibeon could
be a reference even to the day that God intervened and burst
in and by his hand gave the victory to Joshua on the day the sun
stood still. You may recall that was the valley of Gibeon as well.
And there he prolonged the day so that they would have total
victory. You remember it said that more
were killed by hailstones than by the sword of Joshua. Regardless
of which reference is being made here, it's an example of how
God did the delivering in both cases without any question. So
we see that this breach that God makes is a complete outpouring
of His wrath in a way that leaves us nowhere to hide. God's judgment
against sin shall be realized, listen, with no exceptions. But
we saw here in Isaiah 28 that for Zion, for spiritual Israel,
For God's chosen people, there's a cornerstone, a sure foundation
that shall not fail them when the breach of his overflowing
scourge comes. It says, for all those who shall
believe on him, the very faith that he purchased
for them in his obedience unto death, for all of them they shall
not be swept away. like the house built on sand
that Christ mentioned there in the parable and in the Sermon
on the Mount. Now, we, we, we, spiritual Israel
has a sure foundation, a solid rock. You see, and that makes
all the difference in the world, is on what basis can you stand
holy, unblameable before a God who cannot and will not commune
with sin? I hope as we've gone through
this that you've grown in your appreciation for it as I have
for how this attribute of God's judgment and his justice against
sin. His breach that his outpouring
of his wrath you see is certainly manifested first in the just
condemnation of all who remain at enmity with God who refuse
to heed his command to repent of the way that seems right to
us, so as to come and rest solely in Christ, person and work. But
I hope you also see that it's manifested, graciously manifested,
and necessary in the salvation of sinners. As the Scripture
tells us, Christ must needs have suffered and died and risen again.
He of necessity, see, had to endure the breach of God But
he not only endured it, he sealed the breach for everyone that
he represented on the cross. And that brings me, I guess,
to the final distinction I want to make today concerning this
breach of God, this outpouring of his just wrath. You see, for
spiritual Israel, for all who come to rest in this sure foundation,
there's a startling and wonderful difference as it pertains to
the breach that God makes due to their sin. God makes a breach
due to the sin. He makes a breach due to the
sins of all men without exception. So there's a difference in the
breach that he makes, though, due to the sins of his elect
versus the outpouring of his wrath, the breach against due
to their sins. The distinction, of course, is
in the one on whom God's breach was made. For God's people, it
was not the individual sinner who, listen, who equally would
have deserved God's just wrath due to their sins, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, but rather the breach was
made upon their sinless substitute, the worthy Lamb of God, as I
pointed out from Isaiah 30, 18, because God is a God of judgment,
there's mercy. In Amos chapter 9, verse 11,
God says, in that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that
is fallen. If you study that, you'll see
that the tabernacle of David there is speaking prophetically
of Christ. And he continues, he says, in
that day I'll raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and close
up the breaches thereof. That tabernacle of David that
will be raised up, as I say, is Christ. And when it says he'll
close the breaches, it's saying he'll seal it. You see, God's
just wrath against sin for multitudes will result in their damnation,
their condemnation. They're being cast into hell
and eternally separated from God. And all of their suffering
never pays down the debt, the sin debt that's owed before our
infinite holy God. Their eternal misery forever
and ever is insufficient. It's not just insufficient. It
is so far from being sufficient that we can't even describe it.
It's insufficient payment due for the debt that's owed to the
justice of a holy God. There's no satisfaction to justice
made thereby. You see, because there's no mercy
seat. There's no propitiation. There's no perfect righteousness
rendered that would satisfy God's justice. In other words, no propitiation. There's no favor merited for
them by way of a satisfaction that equals the holiness of God's
justice. But you see, there was a breach.
There was a pouring out of God's wrath for His people that did
take place some 2,000 years ago. And on that basis, the breach
was sealed. The shed blood of a God-man,
see, did satisfy God's just demands of retribution. His precious
blood truly paid the debt in full. Satisfaction was made,
testified of, as we mentioned by his resurrection, righteousness
demanding life, and the Savior sealed up the breach. And that
redemption ensured it sealed up the everlasting blessedness
for all of spiritual Israel as God's wrath was poured out on
the only one, the only one, the sinless, suitable substitute
who could and did fully satisfy the debt that all sinners owe,
but that none can pay for themselves. As our former pastor liked to
say it, he truly drank damnation dry for them. The demerit of
their sins has gone away, the Scripture says, as far as the
East is from the West, put away completely by his sacrifice and
complete and full satisfaction to the Father. You see, we need
mercy, God's way, his way of satisfaction to acquire the favor. It is unmerited favor, at least
in terms of the view of the object, but it was merited by the perfect
satisfaction of Christ. That's the righteousness that
we must have. Well, do you seek God after the due order? That
is, according to his prescribed way of salvation that set forth
in the gospel, the gospel of grace wherein his righteousness,
that very satisfaction, is revealed. You see, to seek God after the
due order is simply to look exclusively to the one that was represented
by all of those old elements of the old covenant, including
that ark, including that mercy seat. is to look to Christ the
mercy seat alone for all of salvation, is to see his life and death
alone satisfied every condition and requirement. And so he brings
us to repent of the way that seemed right to us, that a way
that ends in death, a way that involves some work insertion
of our hand. God's not going to allow our
hand to touch his prescribed way of salvation in and by Christ. And to persist in imagining that
to be a safe refuge is certain eternal death, because there's
no propitiation, no satisfaction that can be made, even listened
by the very best of sinners. It doesn't even come close. We
only will seek God after the due order when he's pleased to
reveal it to us under the sound of the gospel, his way of salvation. Where we see that because of
his judgment against sin, there's mercy for God's people. And that's
the message that goes forth. This is a very simple message
today, but that's the simple message of the gospel that goes
forth from this pulpit in which you've been privileged to hear
even this day. In this gospel, we see how God's
justice is fully, fully satisfied. by the sacrifice of his crop
of Christ at the cross with no contributing merit whatsoever
from the hand of the center, no matter how sincere, no matter
how well-intentioned, no matter how slight of a touch of our
hand we may presume it to be. God's very precise. Ask other.
He killed him there. God's justice shall prevail as
we saw there in the breach of other that destruction that that
distinction, excuse me, between true grace and works, no matter
how cleverly or subtly disguised works may be. We know that many
who imagine that Christ has done it all, but the real distinction
in their salvation is whether they accept Jesus and someone
else doesn't versus whether Christ bought, redeemed them, paid for
their salvation at Calvary. You see, and they'll call it
grace. No matter how subtle, we see that subtlety in the breach
of other. We as we ask ourselves naturally,
why? Boy, God sure seemed harsh, did
he not? You see, God is not going to
share his glory. It is not some mere trivial optional
detail. It's serious business. And it's
a refuge of lives for anyone to presume that God is going
to save a sinner. Because that senator dared to
presume that the work of his sin-tainted hand could replace,
displace, complement, or complete the perfect, satisfying righteousness
that only the spotless Lamb of God could and did make by his
shed blood. So seek God after the due order. Seek him in Christ, the mercy
seat. You see, there alone do we see
God's wrath fully consume the breach closed for all of the
objects of his mercy and grace. Well, I don't know about you.
That's good news for a sinner like me, and I pray it is or
will be for you as well.