Okay, if you turn with me back in your bibles to... 2 Samuel chapter 6. This is one of those very famous stories in the scriptures. And it's a famous story in so many ways, an infamous story. And no doubt as you've read the story of what happened to Uzzah, you like me and so many others have said, well, God's not fair doing that. How dare God do that to someone who has had the ark of God in his house for all of his life. And he is now killed without even a hint. The Ark is a box. It's about the size, almost the size of this pulpit, the box. A little bit longer, a little bit shorter than this pulpit. We'll have to ask Cole to adjust it next time.

But it is that special place. It is the place which God had ordained in this world where placed in the Holy of Holies, he would meet with people. between the cherubim. It's where the Shekinah glory of God shone in this world. And in that ark were these things, weren't they? There was the law of God. In that ark, there was the rod of Aaron that buttered, and there's a golden pot of manna. And like everything else about the ark, it all speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is it to be righteous? It is to have perfectly obeyed every law of God, from your heart, from eternity, perfectly and completely, in love, in delight of the lawgiver and the beauty of holiness revealed in his law. In all of that time was the only unbroken law of God in the Ark.

Moses broke those other tables of stone at Mount Sinai. Thousands died because of their presumptuous idolatry at Mount Sinai. So in the law of God is declaring that Christ is our righteousness in this Ark. The rod of Aaron is the rod of the high priest, this one high priest, just this one, not the others. You can ask Korah and Dathan and the others, it's just one. And that's Christ, our great high priest. And the golden pot of manna is Christ, our bread. It's the food of heaven. He's the food of heaven. Not by man's works. How did you get the manna? It just came down every morning for 40 years. Not by works of righteousness that you have done, but by his grace. We live on Christ. There is no life of God before him. And we need him continually, that's what the manna says, we needed him continually.

So the ark was placed in the Holy of Holies. And the ark was placed in the Holy of Holies and made there according to the pattern that Moses saw in heaven. Who's the holy of holies in heaven? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the holy of holies in heaven. He's the meeting place between God and man in heaven, isn't it? It's placed in the holy of holies.

And it's access, to get access to the ark, you've just went in one time, one day, once a year, one priest, And on his heart he carried the names of all the children of God, and on his shoulder he carried the names of all the children of God. And he went in there with blood, firstly blood for his own sins, and then he went in there with blood that represented the substitute to Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way you get into the Holy of Holies. That's the only way you could get access to the Ark. One priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. One way, the Lord Jesus Christ. One means the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you can read in Numbers chapter 6 how they came out and they blessed the people. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you. Why? because he's accepted the sacrifice. That's the high priest coming out. It's all a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a picture of him going to the cross of Calvary and it's a picture of him coming out of the cross, out of that tomb on that resurrection day and blessing all the people. There God meets with people. Where does God meet with people? Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one place of meeting.

And that's why the Ark was only ever to be moved with the priests carrying the Ark. They had rings in it, so it was a box. It was not as high as this, but it was a box with the angels over it and the mercy seat on the front of it. It was just a bowl that carried the blood. And it had rings in it, and the staves were in the rings and they were there permanently. And so when you wanted to move this Ark, the priests went in and they put a cover over it so no one could see it. and then they carried it on their shoulders. Four priests at least carried this Ark. It was to be carried. No one was to look into it. And you might ask, well, why was the Ark of God, why did it spend 70 years there in this particular place?

And I'll just read you some of the verses out of 1 Samuel. But the issue is that the Israelites were being attacked by the Philistines in 1 Samuel chapter five, And they thought, they concocted a brilliant idea. We've been beaten, we're terrified of these Philistines. We'll take the Ark out onto the battlefield.

Where was the Ark meant to be? In the tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies. Will God treat people with mercy and grace who treat his son in that way. What happened? The Philistines, they heard, and when the ark went out there into that camp, there was a great shout from all the Israelites. They said, now we've got the victory. They were treating the ark like a rabbit's foot or some good luck charm, some crucifix that people carry around their neck or hang on their windscreens. That's all they were doing. There was no reverence for God, no respect for God.

But when all of Israel shouted, they shouted so much that this army of the earth rang and then the Philistines defeated them and they captured the Ark. The two sons of Eli died and when Eli heard the news, he died. He fell over and died and his daughter-in-law was having a baby and she died. and she called the name of that baby Ichabod. You might have heard that word, Ichabod. The glory of God has departed. The glory has departed from Israel.

You know something of the rest of the story, you can read it in chapter 5 and 6, but the Philistines took this ark back and they put it in the temple of Dagon. It's a lovely picture, isn't it? They put it in the temple of Dagon and they come back out and they find Dagon's fallen over. They come back and they nail him down again to make sure that he can't fall over. They come back the next day and there he is, Dagon's fallen over and his head's broken off and his arms are broken off. and there's just a stump on the ground before the Ark of God.

These particular Philistines in that area, in Ashdod, they send the Ark to another city and God plagues that other city and they send it to another city and God plagues another city and they send it to another city and God plagues another city. And finally they come up with the idea We're going to put this ark on a cart and we're going to put a couple of cows that have just had their calves and we're going to tie those cows and have those calves lead this ark. And if they lead it back into Israel, we'll know that we're free from the plague of God because we've got this ark there. And so they bring, they do this in this cart, they put it on a cart.

And they take it and the cart, these two cows, I was bred on a dairy farm, I know what cows and calves are like. You try and separate them, it's extraordinary. These cows just walked away from their calves and carried that up all the way down to a place called Beth Shemesh on the cart. And they took the ark off the cart in Beth Shemesh.

You can read it. This is in 1 Samuel chapter 6. I'm just trying to summarize it for want of time. And the people of Beth Shemesh thought they'd have a look in this ark. It's a pretty attractive looking thing, isn't it? They looked inside. God killed 53,000 of them. Just like that. And so there, the Ark, that's how the Ark ended up in Abinadab's house. And it was there. It had been gone for 70 years at this stage. 70 years. So let's read on with this story in 2 Samuel 6. That's the background to the story. But what's the background to the story? The background of the story is in Leviticus chapter 10, isn't it?

God is holy. The ark is the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot play games with God and especially anything to do with his son and the blood of his son. That ark still had the blood on it. It still had the dried blood on it from those sacrifices of the high priests in those days. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. God will have his son glorified. He will be sanctified before all the people. Anyway, in 1 Samuel chapter six, we see what David does.

30,000 Israelites were killed when the Philistines took the ark. So David gathered, imagine the crowd, 30,000 people. There's as many people as live in this town. He had 30,000 people and he went with all the people that were with him. And they had all these musicians and David, you can imagine this was, and what a fancy cart they would have had. The Philistines had a cart. We're going to have even a better cart, isn't it? You just imagine 30,000 people and all the musicians and all of the activity and this cart, and they put the Ark on this cart.

David wanted this to be a great occasion of celebration. And like all of us, We can so often want a great occasion and celebration so we can feel good about ourselves. A part of the response would have been, isn't David wonderful? David's like us, brothers and sisters. This is just an activity of his flesh, isn't it? And David is a picture of what we all are naturally until the Lord works grace in our hearts.

It seemed good at the time. There was a lot of organisation involved and it seemed good at the time, didn't it? And they set the ark of God, verse three, they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and they brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the cart. So this was a new cart. A cart had worked for the Philistines beforehand. It was fine, wasn't it? If it works and God is not openly displeased, then it must be okay. That's what religion thinks, isn't it? We can get away with this. We can do this.

They brought it out of that house and those two men were with it. They had lived with the Ark in their house all of their days, all of their lives, these two young men. 30,000 people having a great time with music and enthusiasm. And the Ark was led by Uzzah and Ahio. Uzzah means strength, and Ahio means friendly. It's a great picture of religion, isn't it? Religion which pleases men. With all of its enthusiasm, with all of its music, and all of its friendliness, and all of its apparent man-made strength.

And when they came, verse six, and when they came to Narchon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it. For the oxen shook it. So there you are walking along, his brother's at the front leading the ox, and he's walking along beside the ark, and one of the wheels falls into a pothole, and the ark sort of stumbles, as it were, and Uzzah just reaches out his hand. He reaches out his hand. And the anger of the Lord, verse seven, was kindled against them, and God smote him there for his error.

And he died by the ark of God. It's so important. Words matter. All the words of Scripture matter so enormously. But it's really interesting that the word narchon or narchon means prepared. And the threshing floor is a picture, isn't it? In the scriptures, the threshing floor is a picture of the judgment of God where his holiness is revealed. At the prepared threshing floor, the judgment of God in his holiness is revealed. That was one of the things that John the Baptist was concerned about. Has God, is God going to come and winnow his people? Is there going to be a threshing floor?

He is. Listen to what he says in Matthew chapter three. He says, I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than me, whose shoes I'm not worthy to bear. He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

And people were saying, where's the fire? whose fan is in his hand, he will thoroughly purge his floor. This is the activity, the threshing floor, isn't it? The grain is beaten out and then when the wind blows, the grain is thrown up and the chaff is blown away. That's what the threshing floor is for. It's a glorious picture, isn't it, of the preaching of the gospel when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. He shall thoroughly purge his floor and gather his weed into his barn, his garden, and he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

When's that happening? John the Baptist was in jail, he said, when's this happening? When is it happening? Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is happening every time the gospel is preached. It's happening now, all through this world where the gospel is preached.

At the threshing floor, at the prepared threshing floor, the religion of men, the religion of men with all of its numbers and all of its enthusiasm and all of its music is going to meet God. It will either meet him here or it will meet him on that day when there will be a real threshing floor and all of this world will be What a glorious, glorious God. And listen to David's response after David had gone to all this trouble and gathered this 30,000 people and all the musicians.

He loved his music, David. In verse eight, David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah and he called the name of the place Peres Uzzah. To this day, there's a breach upon Uzzah. What's David doing now? Something that we all do. David's just a picture, and this is just a picture of man-made religion, the flesh of men being religious. David stands in judgment of God.

Have you ever done that? Why? Every time we say, why? Every time we murmur, every time we complain. We're saying, in some sense, why isn't God doing what he ought to be doing? He is doing exactly what he's ought to be doing. Our God rules. Our God reigns over everything.

So David says, here I am, I've got 30,000 people, I've got a new cart, I've got all this music, and Uzzah does what seems to be right. And honouring, it's an honourable thing to do, isn't it? How horrible must it have been if the ark had fallen off the cart and into the mud? Uzzah's just doing a good thing. This is too severe. After 70 years of neglect, we have done all this in your name and for your glory, and this is how you repay us. It's not fair.

Cain started that religion, didn't he? Just outside of the garden. The It's Not Fair Club. He's the founding member, isn't he? And the rest of Adam's race have all joined in, haven't they? It's not fair. Ursus' motive was good. It was good, wasn't it? In his flesh.

David was displaced. We are so often and this world is displeased with the sovereignty of God being exercised with him having mercy on whom he will have mercy and hardening those he will harden. That's exactly what happened when the Lord preached in Nazareth, wasn't it? When he declared that God has the right to do as God pleases with who he pleases as he wishes according to his purpose and his glory. They took him outside that town. There's a huge cliff outside of Nazareth. They were going to throw him down thousands of feet into that valley below there. They had murder in their hearts.

It's offensive, isn't it? It's a hard saying. That's what the people said in John 6. This is a hard saying. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. That's a harsh saying. These sayings are offensive, he says, to natural man.

And what do we show when we have those sorts of thoughts? We show, firstly, how little we think of the holiness of God. How little we think of the Word of God. They had acted in deliberate disobedience to the commands of God. As simple as that. because of the pride that was in their hearts. It shows you how little we think of sin. It shows you, of course, how little we think of the holiness of God. And it shows you how little we have reverence for the word of God. God said how he was to be approached.

He had demonstrated this again and again and again and again. Anyone that treats The Son of God and his shed blood as a common and unholy thing is worthy, don't you believe that? Is worthy of the judgment of God. They will receive that, won't they? Uzza had lived with the Ark in the house all his life, although it had been special. Familiarity breeds contempt. It had been there for so long and so common and so ordinary. So what? What about us? How often We need to be shaken by God.

What is it to be lukewarm? In Revelation, the church of the Laodiceans, they're lukewarm. It's neither hot nor cold. If you're really hot, it's uncomfortable. And if you're really cold, it's uncomfortable. What is it to be lukewarm? It's to be comfortable. That's what those Laodiceans said.

We're in need of nothing. We can do as we like. We are God's people. It's all fine. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and how often do we need to be brought by the grace of God to begin again to fall upon that rock? Also try to reach out and help God. And isn't there a wonderful message in this from our God? He doesn't need our help, brothers and sisters. He doesn't need our help to achieve his purposes. If he graciously allows us to, then he gets all of the glory, doesn't it?

Uzziah was coming into the presence of God without a priest. He was coming into the presence of God without blood atonement and was coming into the presence of God without a sacrifice. He was coming into the presence of God without a substitute that bore all of his sins and bore them away in his own blood, his own body on the tree. This is a picture of Christ. He carries his people into the very presence of God on his heart and on his shoulders and by his blood. Thank God. for his provision of a priest. Thank God there is a priest. We will meet this God one day. A priest of God's providing.

When in the scriptures you read again and again and again, in the Old Testament, every time people played games, exalting men and exalting the flesh of men. Every time there was instant justice from God, it was related to the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified directly. And there's no warnings issued because the warnings have already been issued.

Nadab and Abihu did that. The sons of Korah did that, as we read in our studies in Jude. Belshazzar took the vessels of God's service. They were having a drunken party down there in Babylon, weren't they? They were having a great time, a drunken party. And as soon as Belshazzar said, well, why don't we add to this party? We can have a little bit of extra religion in this party and we can show our power over the things of God. And he went and he got the vessels of God, the golden vessels and said, we're going to drink our wine and have our drunken party using these vessels.

God killed him that night and destroyed his nation in one night. Saul offered up a sacrifice without a priest. God's anger was kindled against Uzzah and God is just and God is righteous. And God is going to have his word honoured. God will have his word honoured. They didn't do it according to the due order. And David was afraid of God. David was afraid of God.

Isn't that a good place to be when you have a God who is as holy as this? That you come into his presence with reverence. You treat him and his word and his sacrifice and his son with reverential awe by the grace of God. What a grace gift it is to be allowed in this world, in this flesh, that would do all of those things, to have a reverence for God as God Almighty.

And David, in verse nine, was afraid of the Lord that day and said, how shall the ark come to me? I went to fetch the ark to a place of honour with 30,000 and a new cart. That's what man's works does, isn't it? How shall the ark come to me? It's going to come to you by grace, David.

We deserve Uzzah's punishment for our indifference of holy things. This event should put in its place the notion that if our motives are right but our actions are wrong, it is okay. Think about that. It puts that to death, I hope. that if our motives are right and our actions are wrong, it is okay. Uzzah's motives were right and his actions were wrong.

David blamed the priests. We've heard that before, but they were right. David was right. The priest should have said, no way in the world can you do that. We are here. There's no way in the world. Here are the staves. We're going to care for this ark as God says.

And David was afraid to move the ark. And finally, David does bring the ark, in verse 13. In verse 12, because the Lord had blessed the house of Oded-Evim and all that pertained to him, verse 12, and because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Oded-Evim into the city of David with gladness. He was afraid, and now there's gladness. Don't you think that's lovely, that fear of God results in gladness towards God and his grace and mercy.

And it was so that when they that bear the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. How are they bearing the ark? There's no new carp. He's got priests that are carrying the ark of God. And they went six steps. And David had the sacrificial animals there. What's six in the scriptures? It's the number of man. It's the number of man. If man is involved in it, we need a sacrifice. If man is involved, if man has touched it, we need a sacrifice. We've touched holy things and there is sin.

Don't you love the fact that on Aaron's forehead there was Aaron in Exodus 28, 38, should be one of your favorite verses in the Bible. The priest shall be upon Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things. Don't you love that? What's the iniquity of the holy things? Anything that's got anything of us in doing it in any way at all, isn't it? And Aaron bears that.

The high priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, bears iniquity. of the holy things. Six steps we've touched holy things and we need a sacrifice, we need a substitute. David and all of his people had lost reverence to the Lord Jesus Christ and for the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and his blood. And we do until the Lord brings us to a place of fearing him again. Verse 16, and David danced before the Lord with all of his might.

And David was girded with a linen ephod, and that was part of the question. Samuel wore a linen ephod. It didn't mean that David was taking the place of the priest. It was like Samuel. He was just a servant to the house of God. What a glorious gift that is. no longer dressed in all the finery, no longer with the fancy cart, no longer with all the musicians, no longer with the 30,000 people, him just wearing an ephod. And David's wife, Michael, in verse 16, she looked through the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. She despised him for his humility before God.

In verse 22, David said to her, and I will yet be more vile than thus. I'll be more vile than this. You think I'm defiling my kingly place by just taking the place of an ordinary servant and dancing in joy before the Lord because he's allowed by his grace for the representation of the Lord Jesus Christ in that glorious ark to come into the city. He says, in the place, in the face of him, I'm going to be more vile. You think I'm vile? I'm going to be more vile than this.

And I will be base in my own sight. And then he says, but of the maid servants, which they have spoken of, of them shall I be in honour. Just turn, if you have a Bible's open to 2 Samuel. I just wanted to turn over. David has issued these great and glorious promises in verse 20 of 2 Samuel 7. And what can David say more unto thee?

For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. You knowest the weakness of my flesh. You know that I need a saviour. 21 For thy word's sake and according to thine own heart thou hast done all these great things. David started out doing great things for God and he now acknowledges that God has done great things. to make thy servant know them. What's the greatest thing that God can do? Make his servants know about the Lord Jesus Christ and the glory of our great God, our substitute and sacrifice. I've gone over time. May the Lord bless his words to our heart and make it precious to us. Amen. Thanks.