My hope is in the Lord, who gave
himself for me, who paid the price of all my sin at Calvary. For me, he died. For me, he lives,
an everlasting life. No merit of my own is anger to
suppress. My only hope is found in Jesus'
righteousness. For me, he died. For me, he lived. and everlasting life and light
he freely gives. And now for me he stands before
the Father's throne. He shows his wounded hands and
names me as his own. For me he lives, and everlasting
life and light he freely gives. ? His grace has planned it all
? ? He chose me to believe ? ? And recognize His work of love ?
? And Christ receive ? ? For me He died ? ? For me He lives
? If you would open your Bibles
today to First Samuel, Chapter 6. I want to just read a few verses
in the beginning. Beginning in verse 19. And he, that is God, and he smote
the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark
of the Lord. Even he smote of the people 50,000
and three score and 10 men. And the people lamented because
the Lord has smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said,
Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall he go up from
us? And they sent messengers to the
inhabitants of Kirjath-Jerim, saying, The Philistines have
brought again the ark of the Lord. Come ye down and fetch
it up to you. There's something that we need
to ask this morning in light of the Holy Scriptures. Is the God of the Old Testament
different from the God of the New Testament or Is the God of the Bible different
from the God of today? No. God who is God alone is immutable. That simply means he's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. And he says to us in Malachi,
let me read you this, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Someone said one time that every
era, religiously, spiritually, is born out of high views of
man and low views of God. But the truth is, God is unchanging. He is the same God in this text
that He is today, and He has not changed. And with that in
mind, I want us to look at our text this morning. particularly
in verse 20, when these men, after seeing what God had done,
asked the question, who is able to stand before this holy Lord
God? Who is able to stand before God
as he is? Well, what does it mean for God
to be holy? Everybody has their own ideas. But actually, the word in the
Hebrew means something that is other. It means one who is set
apart. It means the exact opposite of
something that is common. It means In other words, God is one of
a kind. He is not ordinary. He is not
like us. And the only way that we can
find out how God really is, is to go to his word. He is as he says that he is. And therefore, God told Israel
that he would dwell in the holy of holies. He would dwell in
a place as the midst of them by himself, separated from them. They were separated in the tabernacle
by curtains and veils, and they were not permitted to go in.
He was showing himself holy. You see, God is separate in his
being. He said, I'm God alone and there
is none like me and there is none beside me. He is holy in
that he is separate from man's infirmities and sin. He doesn't know sin in any respect
whatsoever. And since the Lord Jesus Christ
is himself God manifest in the flesh, any notion of him being
a sinner is absolutely foolish. He is separate from angels. He's not like angel. He's separate
even from time. He's eternal. And in the year that King Isaiah
died, Isaiah says he saw the Lord high and lifted up, and
the living creatures that cried out who he is in his triune person,
they said, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. You see, the emphasis in scripture
is not simply God is love. It is, first of all, God is holy. He is holy. And any love that
might be shown from God and by God has to be consistent with
his being holy, all holy. Paul describes him to Timothy
saying this, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto, whom no man has seen nor can see, to
whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. The Bible says he is of pure
eyes than to behold evil. It says that he is not like man
who can approach unto him, not man who drinks iniquity like
water. The moon, it says in Job, the
moon and the stars and the heavens, even they are not pure in his
sight. Who is this holy Lord God, Jehovah
God, as he is said to be here? But the reason that these people
ask this question on this occasion in particularly They ask this
question, they're filled with this awe, they're filled with
this fear because of something that had happened. What had happened in this occasion? Well, verse 19, if you look back
at the latter part, It says that God smote, that is, he killed
of the people 50,000 and 3 score and 10. Now, some people believe
that it's speaking of the Philistines who had also had the Ark of the
Covenant in their care. And plus these elders in the
men of Beth Shemesh, 70 people. But irregardless of what the
number and how many the number, it says that the Lord smoked
them. The Lord killed them. The Lord
smoked the Philistines. The Lord smoked these men and
killed them by the thousands. And why did God do this? Was there great wickedness? Well, yeah, there was amongst
both people. There was great wickedness every
day, all the day. There was great vile ungodliness
among the Philistines, we know that, and amongst the Israelites
also, almost as bad. But why does it say that the
Lord smote or killed all these people? Well, so in verse 19,
it says, and he smote the men of Bathshemesh because they had
looked into the ark of the Lord. They had opened that box that
had been held by the Philistines and was now being brought back
on this ox cart. And they looked into that Ark
of the Covenant, that wood box, that was overlaid with gold,
that had the two golden cherubims upon it, that had certain contents
in it, ordered by God to be put there by Moses, but they were
smitten of God simply for opening and looking in the box. Now, what you might say, I would
think that was a minor offense. You might regard that as a little
thing, or as we say, a little sin, just simple disobedience. But the Ark of the Covenant is
said to be where God dwelt, where God dwelt. That was a symbol
of His presence on the earth. Turn back and look with me at
I Samuel chapter 4. It says in verse 4, So the people
sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of
the covenant of the Lord of hosts which dwelleth between the cherubims." God said that this ark of the
covenant which in the camp of Israel, in the tabernacle, in
the Holy of Holies, dwelling there by itself, he said he dwelt
between the cherubims over the mercy seat. And many times in the Bible it
says this, and that's why it was in the holy of holies, that's
why it was separate from all men, and they were not to enter
into that holy of holies, and they were not to touch the ark. Why? Because God is holy. God is separate. God is not like you are. God is one of a kind. In Exodus 25, we read this. God saying through Moses, and
there I will 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. Here's where God dwells. And
it says in Psalm 99, it says, the Lord reigneth, let the people
tremble, he sitteth between the cherubims, let the earth be moved. This is the presence of God in
that hour. This is the place of God. This
is the holy of holies. And when these men opened in
disobedience and disrespect and disregard for that God who is
holy, when they opened the Ark of the Covenant, which was a
symbol of his presence, he killed them. He killed them. No other way of looking at it.
No other way of diminishing it down. At the very least, at the
very least, it was a multitude of Philistines who had done so,
and it was a multitude, at least 70 men died because they looked
in this box. But what are the events that
led up to this? Well, there had been a battle
sometime before that. There had been a battle between
Israel and the Philistines. And the Philistines superstitiously
now, they thought if they took the Ark of the Covenant out in
the battle, they superstitiously believed that God would bless
them in victory. But that didn't happen. And instead,
they lost. Instead, this Ark of the Covenant,
the most treasured thing, the most holy thing, the most visible
representation of God, this Ark of the Covenant fell captive
to the Philistines. And while in the Philistine camp,
it caused them a lot of trouble. Every city where it was taken,
people were smitten with tumors and things like that. Mice, an
epidemic of mice, went out in the people just similar to the
plagues in Egypt. But so many people were affected
and died that they were just wanting to get rid of the Ark
of the Covenant. And so they put it on a cart. And they said, well, if this
cart, which is pulled by a mother cow
that's just recently been taken away from her calf, and everything
that's natural to animal husbandry, if you will,
everything that's natural to a mother cow is to go to that
calf. If she goes the other way, we'll
know that's the right thing to do. Well, the calf, rather than
being the lure of the mother cow, the mother cow took right
on the cart and took it right straight toward Israel. And all they did, the cart stopped
at a place where a rock was. And these men, who took the cart
apart, who used it for kindling an altar, offered up a sacrifice
to God. But they looked in the ark. They opened it, and they looked
in the ark. And just that alone ought to
give us some idea of God's holiness. He is unapproachable by sinful
man. He is unapproachable by you and
by me. We cannot come into his presence
on our own. We cannot be accepted by God
or before God in our own person. Why? Because we're sinners. Because we're sinners. And many
other instances there are in this book, the book of God, in
which he shows his holiness so that we might know and disapprove
of man's fanciful notions about God. God's my good buddy. I'm just going to have a little
talk with the Lord. I'm just going to go in with
my few dollars. I'm just going to go in with
the best I have, the best I can do. That's the greatest error
that there is in this world. It's the thing that God despises
most. the notion that we can come before
Him and be accepted by Him based on doing the best we can. But that's what all false religions
are based on, one way or another. We're based
on going before God, based on doing what we want to do, we
think is right, or based on not doing what we think is wrong. But both of them are but to perish. Look over in 1 Chronicles 13. This ark carried on the cart sometime
after that, always trying to get the ark back to the place
it's supposed to be. In 1 Chronicles chapter 13 and verse
7 it says, And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out
of the house of Abinadad. And Uzzah and Ahio drove the
cart. They're trying to get it back
now. David's wanting to get the Ark of the Covenant back where
it belongs. And so now, from that man's house, it's been put
on a new cart. It's been driven by these two
men. And David and all Israel played before God with all their
might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries,
and with temporals, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. And
when they came unto the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth
his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. 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. Because God is holy. He doesn't need any help from
us. And when the Ark of the Covenant,
sitting on that cart, appeared as if it would teeter a bit and
fall off the Ark, knowing that he absolutely was not to touch
that Ark, Uzzah put his hand there to stead it, and God killed
him. You say, well, that just doesn't
seem right. No, God is just holy. He is absolutely holy. When Isaiah, it says, in the
year that King Uzziah died, that he saw the Lord. Why did King Uzziah die? And what was this occasion that
brought him to death? Turn over to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles, because Uzziah was
a great king. You can read all the things that
he did. He was not a bad king. He did
great things. And the Bible says that Isaiah
wrote down the things that Uzziah did. He was a great king. But verse 16 of chapter 26, says 2 Chronicles 26 verse 16,
it says, but when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his
destruction. He got proud for he transgressed
against the Lord his God and went into the temple of the Lord
to burn incense upon the altar of incense. Well, what's wrong
with that? Only the priest was to do it. Only the priest was to do it. And Azariah the priest went in
after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were
valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah the
king and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn
incense unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron,
that are consecrated to burn incense, go out of the sanctuary,
for thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honor from
the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth. He got mad. He's the king. He got mad and had a censer in
his hand to burn incense. And while he was wroth, while
he was angry with the priest, the leprosy even rose up in his
forehead from before the priest in the house of the Lord and
beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest,
and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous
in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence. Yea, himself
hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him, and
king Uzziah The king, in Isaiah, the king was a leper until the
day of his death and dwelt in a several house being a leper
for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. He's going to worship God just
how he wants to. I mean, he's the king. No, he's not. Because God is
holy. And he may be a king, but he's
a sinner. Just like you and me, we may
be some great person. We may be some moral example. We may be some intelligent being.
We may be recognized by all men. But God is holy, absolutely holy. Over in the book of Numbers,
The book of Leviticus. Well, in Numbers, we read about
Korah and his company. What they're going to do. Korah
says to Moses, well, everybody's holy. Everybody in the congregation
is holy. That means they're all separated
unto the Lord. They all can do this, what you're
doing, what Aaron's doing. And Moses fell on his face when
he heard those words, and he said, you men go take censers
and get them ready, and the Lord will show you who's holy. And
so they went to get their censers. And God told Moses, he said,
you get all the rest of the people away from these fellas. Because
when he did that, Korah and all the people and everything that
pertained to them, family, possessions, everything, God opened up the
pit and swallowed them up whole. They weren't holy. They weren't
appointed. They weren't the priests of God. There was two men, two sons of
Aaron, who was a priest. You can read about them in Leviticus
10, I believe it is. But they went in before the Lord,
and the Bible says they offered up strange fire. They took the role of priests
to themselves without God's appointing. They offered up what God had
not told them to do, and they stood before God, offered up
what he calls strange fire. It says they died before the
Lord. And God said to Aaron, it says,
and Aaron held his peace. It was his own two sons. That means it doesn't matter
who it is. And God said to Aaron, he said,
don't you shed a tear. Because there's nothing more
serious, there's nothing more an affront to God than to disregard
his holiness. He's not like us. He's pure,
sinless, holy, separate from us. Turn to Psalm 130. Listen to David's words. Psalm 130 in verse 3. If thou, Lord, same Lord, if
thou shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? And I'm here to tell you from
this book, God marks iniquities. the soul that sins shall surely
die. And he said that all, all of
us, all men outside of Christ, all of us have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Well, you say, well, I'm as good
as she is, or I'm as good as he is, or I'm better than they
are. It says you've come short of
the glory of God. What's the glory of God? The
man Christ Jesus. You want to compare yourself
to him? You want to see how you size up with him. He's God's
standard. And there is not one of us that
have even began to pretend to begin to meet that standard. Suppose the thoughts of your
heart were made bare this morning. Suppose your feelings, your lust,
your hatreds, all these things that nobody sees, but they're
a part of you as much as anything could be. It would be, if it was shown
an X-rated, Z-rated, X-rated, on and on and on, it would be
so bad and so vile. Sometimes the thoughts that come
into my mind before I even think about it are so bad. The temper can be so bad. The lust can be so bad. The feelings
can be so bad that I just cry out to God, how in the world can I be a believer? Can I be
one of your children? Can I be one of your elect? How can it be said that I could
ever stand before the holy Lord God? If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, and he's going to mark your iniquities, and my
iniquities and all sin, nobody's gonna escape, nobody's gonna
crawl out through a crack. God's justice is gonna be all-encompassing. Somebody said, an old writer
said years ago, the wheel of God's justice grinds slow, but
it grinds exceedingly fine. You're gonna stand before God.
Everyone in this building, everyone in this town, everyone in this
earth is going to stand before God. And he's not changed a bit. He's not changed a bit. Who can say that they've not
sinned? Who can go to God on their own? There's no way possible that
we can ever stand before God except through and by a mediator. All these instances and many,
many more show that God is holy and that he's just. These died because they did not
regard God's holiness. They sought God on their own,
sought to stand before him as their own, without a priest and
without a sacrifice. You see, there was only one person
that could go in once a year into that Holy of Holies, where
that Ark of the Covenant was, where God said he dwelt, and
that was that high priest that he appointed. Not the Roman priest, not an
earthly priest, not this preacher, not anybody else except the one
God had appointed. And he didn't go in but once
a year. And he didn't go in without blood. He didn't go in without a sacrifice. He had to go with the God appointed,
God approved sacrifice of blood because God said so. This isn't up for debate. This
isn't up for your opinion. God is holy. And he's unapproachable
by us. And so, therefore, if we approach
him in any other way except by this mediator and high priest
and sacrifice, we're not going to stand. We're going to fall. We're going
to perish. Look back at Psalm 130 again. I'll read that third verse. If
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But. Joe, there's one of those buts
of grace again. But God. But there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. Now whatever way God forgives
anybody's sin and forgives anybody, it's gonna be in a way in which
he will be held in reverence. And that's what that is, a holy
fear here. It's not fear of thread and fear
of all these other kind of things. It's he'll be held in awe about
it. There is forgiveness. Yes, but
how? Well, you see, forgiveness in
the New Testament is remission of sins. Sometimes the word is
even translated forgiveness, and the same word in the Greek
is translated remission. So that makes me know there's
no forgiveness without remission, and if there is remission, there's
forgiveness. But it's only by the bloodshed
in the cross death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That one high priest
once a year represented Christ, our great high priest. That blood,
that lamb that he slew and took his blood into that holy place
represented Christ, his sacrifice of blood. And his act of going
in there once a year showed how that Christ, as Hebrews tells
us, once in the end of the age, once in the end of this world,
came and offered that one sacrifice for sins forever. Forever. You see, Hebrews 9 reminds us
of the things we saw in the Old Testament. He says, and almost
all things are by the law purged with blood, and without shedding
of blood is no remission. If that priest went in there
without blood, he would have been killed. As a matter of fact, he had little
golden bells tied on his garment so that as he moved and shook
the hyssop and dipped it in the blood and sprinkled it on the
mercy seat that they could hear him and know he was still alive. They knew God had accepted the
sacrifice when he came out. He did it once to show that Christ's
sacrifice is once, and this is the rule, without the shedding
of blood. Perfect, sinless blood. There
is no forgiveness. I can't give you forgiveness.
You can't give yourself. We can't give each other. Only God can forgive, and the
only way He can do it is in His Son, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said, for this is my blood
of the New Testament, which is shed for many, not all, but for
many, for the remission of sins. I'm a sinner. I have sins. Why not me? Why not me? Oh, I want it to
be so. Acts 10, to him give all the
prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. Lord, I believe. How do I know
if I believe enough? I don't. But the object of faith
is what believing is. I may have little faith, I may
have great faith, but I have a great object of belief, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I don't always feel like my sins
have been remitted, but I have to believe it because God said
it. because Christ accomplished that
work. That's what he's doing on the
cross. Romans 3, whom God has set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. God was just. He was right to
forgive the sins of all those Old Testament believers and of
the New Testament believers. He's just and righteous to do
it because he set forth Christ. He made the Lord Jesus Christ to be a propitiation. to be the
perpetuatory sacrifice which turned away all of God's wrath
and all of God's disfavor. Forgiveness is only through remission,
and remission is only through the sacrifice of Christ and His
blood that was shed for the sins of His people. He died as a substitute
for us. He died in the place of his people. I lay down my life. I give my
life for the sheep." Well, how do I know if I'm a
sheep or not? He said, my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. They hear what He says in His
Word. They don't look to anybody else. They don't look to anything
else except the sin-remitting blood and sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That blood simply means a life
that's been poured out. He gave His life for His sheep. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, The forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. That's Ephesians chapter 1. Colossians 1 verse 14. In whom
we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. You see, that's why we preach
the gospel and that's what the gospel does. The gospel is a declaration. Luke 24 says, and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Peter, the apostles. And every
gospel preacher ever since then, in whatever country, whatever
place, has been preaching this message, proclaiming this finished
work, telling of this remission of sin through the blood of Christ,
in His name proclaiming it all, that it's all in Him, that there's
nothing else that can be added to it, it's not by works, it's
not by anything, that this is the only way that you can approach God and
be accepted by Him. Luke 1 says to give knowledge
of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins. John, what are you going to preach?
I'm going to preach the Lamb. What's it going to do? It's going
to give knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins.
So when Christ came, John saw him, he said, Behold the Lamb
of God. He's the one that takes away
sin. His death is gonna take away sin. Acts 13, Be it known
therefore unto you therefore men and brethren that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins not how you can do it, but how he has done it, how he
has done it all. Who is able to stand before this holy Lord
God? Christ gave an example of a man
that came into this wedding feast He was come there without a wedding
garment. And the king asked him, he said,
why did you come in here without a wedding garment? It says, and he was speechless. That's the way everybody's going
to be before God, speechless. You'll not be able to stand,
speechless. holiness is such, God's holiness
is such that men are silenced, that they without Christ die
in his presence eternally. They meet his fiercest wrath
and it goes on without end because they can't stand in his presence. But everyone for whom Christ
died, they'll stand. And He will plead His own blood,
His own wounds, His own sacrifice. Stand before God and give account.
There's my account right there. Christ and Him crucified. I don't
have any other hope. All that could be said about
me and my own person is absolutely true, just and much more. But my hope is Christ, His sacrifice,
His blood. Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. Now God says of His people, and
He said a long time ago, In verse 17, it's just a quote from the
Old Testament, "...and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more." Hebrews 10, 17. Sins, iniquities, now where the
remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. The reason that Christ did not
have to die again and again. is because he offered an accepted
sacrifice once for all his people. The reason why we don't believe
that the wine and the bread actually become the body of Christ is
because he said this is a sacrifice that was done once, and we do
it in remembrance of him and that sacrifice. You think taking a piece of bread
in your mouth and receiving a drink from a
man who's a sinner just like you are, this holy God would
accept? Never. So look at verse 19. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter the holiest not just on earth, but the holiest
in the presence of God. The holiness into the holiest
by the blood of Christ, by a new and living way, which he has
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having an high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, believing
heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." What
does that mean? Well, an evil conscience is that
conscience such as Cain, Nadab and Abihu, and Korah, and every man and woman who thinks
that they can come before God, be accepted by this thrice holy
God on their own, in themselves, or by some of these foolish things
that men have invented by their own works. But we can draw near. We can stand accepted in the
beloved. We can come in his blood. We can plead his righteousness
alone. We can stand, not only stand,
but be embraced by God. I'll show you one more verse
in Revelation chapter 6. This is a future day for sure. There have been many days of
God's wrath, such as what struck these men when he moved and showed
his wrath against his offended holiness. In Revelation 6, verse
15, in John's vision he sees, Wait a minute. The wrath of the
Lamb? The Lamb is not only the sacrifice
for sinners of God's choice. He's not only the Lamb who was
able to open up the decrees, the book of decrees of God's
purposes of grace for His people, but He's the Lamb, the King.
that God has committed all judgment into his hand. They're going
to flee from the wrath of the king, from the way of holiness, the way of salvation, to flee
from there. For the great day of his wrath
has come. There it is again. And who shall
be able to stand? Oh, who shall be able to stand? God has already answered that
question. The only ones who will be able
to stand are those who have been brought to trust and to believe
on and to cast their soul upon and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ
and what He did on that cross. He entered in once. as the God-appointed priest,
and he entered in once with the sacrifice of his own blood as
the Lamb of God, and everyone that he represents, they'll be able to stand. That's who will stand. It's not a secret. It's just something that we,
by our nature, and Satan, by his deception, do not want, and
do not want us to believe. But he that believeth on Christ
says he'll never be disappointed. Our Father, we pray in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that one way, that one sacrifice for
sins, that one priest, that one singular representative of your
people, that one shepherd of the sheep. We look to him. We have no other
hope but him. But we have a good hope by your
grace in this one. We pray in his name. Amen.