When I first began reading this
chapter, 2 Samuel 6, I thought if there was a clear division,
I would bring two different lessons from this chapter. But the more
I read it, it's one. And I want us to look at, Lord
willing, the entire chapter, because I believe that a key
to understanding the entire chapter is in the last verses. So let's
begin in verse 1 and see if we can't work our way through this.
Again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel,
thirty thousand, and David arose and went with all the people
that were with him from Baali of Judah to bring up from thence
the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord
of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the
ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of
Abinadab that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons
of Abinadab, draved the new And they brought it out of the house
of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God.
And Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of
Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments
made of firwood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels,
and on cornets, and on cymbals. Now I read these first verses,
and the verse that came to my mind is in Romans 10, verse 2,
where Paul talks about Israel, his kinsmen according to the
flesh. And he says, I bear them record. They have a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge. There's a lot of zeal going on
in these verses, but it's not according to knowledge. Now,
God is to be worshipped and God must be worshipped in the way
that God prescribes, not the way that man thinks is best,
not the way that just suits man the best, but the way God prescribes. And you'll notice at the beginning
of this chapter, right at the beginning, something's missing.
David didn't inquire of the Lord. Now, every time that David inquires
of the Lord, he's successful at it because he knows the way
that the Lord had him go. And every time David, and I can
apply this to old Frank too, every time David goes off half-talked
without consulting the Lord, disaster follows them. In 1 Chronicles 13, this story
is recounted there. And there we read that David
did consult. He consulted with these chief
men of Israel. But he never consulted the Lord. He never inquired of
the Lord. Now, David has a right motive. He's right to want to
bring the ark back to Jerusalem to restore the proper worship
of God in Israel. But he goes about it the wrong
way. And when he goes about it the wrong way, God's not glorified,
God's not worshipped, and the people suffer. Now you know that
the Ark is to be carried on the shoulders of the priest through
those golden stays put through the rings on the side of the
Ark. That's the way the Ark is to be transported. That's God's
way. Man's way is to put the Ark of
God on a cart pulled by oxen. There's two things about this
cart. First, they used a new cart. They didn't use some old cart
they'd been using to haul firewood back and forth. They built a
new cart. This is their way to honor God by building a new cart.
Doesn't that sound a whole lot like Cain's offering? Cain didn't
bring some half-ripened vegetables or over-ripened brews, fruits
and vegetables. Cain brought the best that he
had. God rejected him because the
best that man had, our best righteousness is filthy rags. God will not,
cannot accept it. They built a new cart. Man's
way, man's righteousness, the best that man has to offer. And
secondly, you know who else used a cart to transport the Ark of
God? The Philistines. Now, the Philistines
were punished because they had the Ark and so forth, but no
one died because they transported the Ark on a cart. Because Philistines
didn't know any better. Israel did. Israel did. Look over in Matthew chapter
11. Israel knew better. The Lord gave Moses all those instructions. Moses gave them to the people.
They knew better. In verse 20 of Matthew chapter 11. Then began
he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were
done, because they repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you,
it should be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of
judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in
Sodom, it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto
you that it should be more tolerable for a land of Sodom in judgment
than for thee." Sodom didn't know better. He did. The Lord
worked all his mighty works in those cities. Israel should have
known better. And they made this cart, a human
invention, the same kind of invention that the Philistines made. Now,
men have thought out many inventions, haven't they? Just like this
cart to pull the ark of God. Sprinkling infants or sprinkling
adults instead of immersion, baptism immersion. That's a human
invention. God never anywhere told men to
sprinkle babies or sprinkle people. He told me, baptize them in my
name. Dunk them under the water in my name. Sprinkling is a human
invention. The altar call. The altar call
is part of the American experience. I mean, it's just part of the
fabric of America. But that's a human invention.
Nowhere in God's Word did he say, no, you have an altar call.
Beg people to come to me. No, sir. God said, you preach
the gospel. The spirit blows where it listens.
He'll call his people out. That's a human invention. God
has told us how to worship him. And it's not through the best
that we can do. It's through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through
the sacrifice of Christ our Savior. The blood that was sprinkled
on that mercy seat. They put that mercy seat on a
cart. That mercy seat had blood sprinkled
on it year after year after year after year. That blood is a picture
of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way a
sinful man or woman can approach God. It's through the blood of
the sacrifice. And man hasn't changed one bit. And don't wait around for man
to change because he's not going to change. Men think any religious
activity is OK, as long as you're sincere about it. You know, people
say, well, God will accept you in the end, as long as, you know,
you've been sincere. Not outside of Christ, he won't.
No. God's blessing, God's acceptance
of a sinner is based entirely on our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in him, it's in his person,
it's in his work, not our sincerity. We ought to be sincere about
worshiping the Lord. But our acceptance is not in
our sincerity. It's based upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. The people here with David, they're
sincere. Now, they're not playing games.
They're sincere. Boy, they had a parade going
on, didn't they? I mean, they had a show of religion. But there's
no worship going on here. And I'll show you that as we
go through this chapter. They are sincere and they're rejoicing.
But God's not being worshipped and he's not pleased. Look at
verse 6. And when they came to Nacon's
threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and
took hold of it. For the oxen shook it, and the
anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote
him there for his error, that he died by the ark of God. Now you reckon it was an accident
that those oxen slipped and stumbled right when they got to Nacon's
threshing floor? That happened on God's purpose. God's eternal
purpose was for those oxen to stumble right there at that exact
time. And you'd think Uzzah did a good
thing by stopping that ark from falling to the ground, busting
to pieces. I mean, would you be honoring
the Lord if you just stood by and did nothing as the ark of
the covenant fell to the ground and busted to pieces? You see
how one sin leads to another? If they hadn't done the first
sin, putting that ark on the cart, Uzzah never would have
been put in the position to sin again and put forth his hand
to touch the ark of God. One sin leads to another. Now,
God told Moses, again, this is one of these things they should
have known. God told Moses, no one but the Levites is to touch
the ark of the covenant, lest they die, God said. Now, was
God kidding when he said that? Was God kidding when He told
Adam? I mean, was He just talking to hear Himself talk and making
up rules to make up rules when He told Adam? And the dates you
eat are the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.
Thou shalt surely die. Was God kidding when He said
that? In all this sincere religious
activity, us have disobeyed God. And God killed Him for it. And
even being beside the mercy seat, Couldn't save him from death.
Another very serious warning. Being around the things of Christ. Being around the people of Christ. Even being around the person
of Christ is not salvation. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just like deliverance from the
flood was in the ark. Didn't do any good to be around
the ark, did it? was in the Ark, just like salvation is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And there's also a very serious
warning here that's very applicable to many of us about over-familiarity. Over-familiarity. The Ark of
God had been in the house of Abinadab for years, Uzzah's father. Uzzah grew up with the Ark. in one of the rooms in his home.
Saw it every day. Walked past it every single day. Now, he's following along beside
the cart. Has the Ark on it. Boy, he's
in a party mood. I mean, everybody's happy. Everybody's
rejoicing. And it was an honor for him to
be chosen. Even though they did it the wrong way, you know, they
honored him by choosing him to do this. And an over-familiarity
with the Ark of God removed Uzzah's fear of the Lord. And he put
forth his hand and touched it. That ark he's seen all his life.
Brethren, it's the ark of the Lord of hosts who dwelleth between
the cherubims. And many of us have had the Gospel
preached to us our entire life. Luke, you can't remember a time
you weren't taught the Gospel. Our entire lives. Many years. You know the gospel like you
know the back of your hand. You've been taught the scriptures.
You've been taught the gospel. You can recite the five points
of Calvinism going down the stairs backwards on your head at midnight.
But God forbid that we become overly familiar with God. God
is still God. And we're still dust. That will
never change. God forbid that we become overly
familiar with the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, that
we become just sarcastic with people about it. God forbid that
we do that. This is God's gospel, the gospel
that proclaims salvation for sinners. This is the gospel that
declares the glory of God's son. God forbid that we become overly
familiar with him. Look at Psalm chapter 50, Psalm
50. Psalm 50, verse 14. Offer unto
God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High, and
call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou
shalt glorify Me. But unto the wicked God saith,
What hast thou to do to declare My statutes? or that thou shouldst
take My covenant in thy mouth? God forbid that we become overly
familiar with his covenant. Take his covenant in a flippant
way in our mouth. Like Uzzah became overly familiar
with the ark of God and took it upon himself to reach out
and touch it. And he died there. Now back in our text, verse 8,
and David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon
Uzzah and called the name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this
day. And David was afraid of the Lord
that day. He said, how shall the ark of
the Lord come to me? Now, David's angry with God. David and the chosen men of Israel,
Uzzah, they all did wrong. God didn't do anything wrong.
But David's mad at God. Be mighty careful going down
this road. Anytime we say, why'd this happen
to me? What's going on? Why'd this happen
to me? Are we doing the same thing as it did? If not, we're
heading down that road. Just be awful careful. And David
in his error goes from one extreme to the other. First, David's
overly familiar with God. He's overly familiar with the
ark. He shows no reverence of God.
Then he goes from that extreme to being terrified of God. Say,
well, nobody can come to God. How shall I bring the ark of
God to me? You know, if I bring the ark of God to Jerusalem,
he'll kill me. Because that's what God does with people when they
bring, you know, come to the ark. Both attitudes are wrong,
aren't they? Being overly familiar and being
utterly terrified. You think our Heavenly Father
is offended when His children would fear Him in a way of terror? Or that he would be offended
when his children show no reference to him? As an earthly father, I am. Last
Sunday, I recounted this story to you about my daughter, Savannah,
telling me, can't you wait 20 seconds? And when I said that,
what I was doing was showing my impatience. And we got home
and she said, Daddy, you make people think I speak disrespectfully
to you. And she was not doing that at
all. But as a father, would I be offended
if my children didn't show me some respect and reverence? What
kind of father doesn't earn the respect of his children? I would
also be offended if my children just were terrified of me. Terrified
when I come in the room, terrified, what's he going to do next? What
kind of father instills that terror in his children? How much
more our Heavenly Father? There is a fear of the Lord,
especially as a teenager. There were things I did not do
because I feared what my father would do to me. But mostly, it
was out of respect. I wanted his approval more than
I wanted anything. So I know that there can be a
fine line. But where did this fear, this
terror, David's terror come from? It came from a lack of faith.
It came from a lack of trust in the character of God. Remember
Matthew 8, the disciples were in that boat and they're going
across the sea and the Lord was asleep down there in the bottom
of the boat and a great tempest arose. And they went to him and
said, Lord, don't you care we perish? What did he tell them? Why are you so fearful? Oh ye
of little faith. That terror came from a lack
of faith, lack of trust and confidence in the character of God. And
in fear and terror, David asked, How shall the ark of God come
to me? Well, David, it's going to come
to you in the way God said in his word. It's not that complicated. The scriptures are not that complicated. The gospel is not complicated.
All the gospel is simple. You know, people come up with
all these new translations of the Bible, taking the these and
the thousand, the therefore's out. The problem is not that
man cannot understand God's Word. The problem is they don't believe
it. That's the problem. Now, you remember the Ark. In
our study of the tabernacle, it was made of incorruptible
wood, completely covered with gold. And that's a picture of
Christ, the God-man. That incorruptible wood is his
sinless humanity. That gold is his deity, all in
one, the God-man. How shall the Christ of God come
to me? How shall I go to God and be
accepted? How shall I go to God and live?
Well, first of all, it's through the way that God said in His
Word. It's through His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. That's
how we come to God, through His Son. How shall I come to God? Through the blood of the sacrifice.
Through that blood that's sprinkled over and over and over again
on that mercy seat, which is a picture of the blood of Christ
that cleanseth us from all sin. That's how we come to God, through
the blood, through His Son, through the blood of His sacrifice. And
how shall the Christ of God come to me? Thank God, because He
came where we were. I didn't go to Him. He came where
we were and took us up out of a horrible pit and brought us
to be with Him. That's how the ark of God will
come to me. And as long as God gives me breath,
I'm going to tell sinners, come to God. You come to Christ. You
come to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Only through Him.
Now you listen. It's presumption to come to God
any other way outside of Christ. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire. Outside of Christ, you should
be terrified. But in Christ, God's mercy. to sinners and accepts us in
his Son, because that consuming fire consumed itself on Christ
our substitute. But David doesn't see any of
that right now. He's still pouting. So verse 10, David would not
remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David. But
David carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite.
And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom, the
Gittite, three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom.
and all his household. And it was told King David, saying,
The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that pertaineth
unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought
up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of
David with gladness." You know, I read that and I thought, poor
Obed-Edom. David wouldn't bring the ark
of God into his city because he was afraid God would kill
him. So he put it in the house of Obed-Edom. What a friend! What a king, you know, God's
going to kill me so I'm going to put it in your house. Poor David. You know, history
tells us Obed-Edom was a very poor man. David put that ark
in his house, probably just a shack. And suddenly, Obed-Edom was a
prosperous man. He was suddenly so prosperous,
all his neighbors took notice and said, wow, Look at Obed-Edom. He's rolling the dough. Lord's
blessing him. And the reason they determined
Lord's blessing him is the ark of God was in his house. Now
the name Obed-Edom means servant. And God Almighty, Scripture says,
dwells in his servants. And brethren, those servants
are richly blessed. And people notice a difference.
They notice a difference because of a new master on the throne.
Oh, he blesses his people. You think of the condescension
of our Lord to dwell in the hearts of his people, but he does. Well,
David saw this blessing, so now he said, well, I'm going to bring
the ark of God to me then. So verse 13, it was so that when
they bare the ark of the Lord, had gone six paces, he sacrificed
oxen and fat ones. The priests are carrying the
ark, aren't they, on those days. And when they went six paces,
David stopped them, and he offered blood sacrifices. That's the
way God is to be approached, through a blood sacrifice, through
the sacrifice of his son. In verse 14, David danced before
the Lord with all his might, and David was girded with the
linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up
the ark of the Lord with shouting, with the sound of a trumpet.
Now David took off his royal robes, took off his crown, and
he was dressed in a linen ephod, the dress of an ordinary priest.
And David danced with all his might. Now I'm sure that was
unseen. I mean, can you imagine David
dancing with all his might before the ark and the people were all
rejoicing? And people try to reenact these
kinds of scenes today. And what they've missed is this.
The key is not that David danced with all his might before the
Lord. The key was David danced before the Lord. That's what
the key is before the Lord. Now, the gospel of God's free
and sovereign grace ought to excite us. It ought to make us
happy. I mean, just genuinely happy. I have been excited this morning
when I got up to come teach the gospel God's free and sovereign
grace. Eric and I rode up to the preacher
school together yesterday. He's telling me about his message
this morning. I've been excited to hear it. I mean, just excited.
Something's wrong when we sit like a bump on a log, unaffected,
when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached to us. Something's
wrong. This gospel proclaims life to dead sinners. This gospel proclaims forgiveness
of sins to guilty sinners. This gospel proclaims to men
and women the glory of Christ our Savior, the glory of God's
own Son, how God Almighty became a man so that he could redeem
guilty men who are under the law. Now brethren, that ought
to make us happy. I mean just happy. Now, we can
take being stoic too far, and you can take the joy out of the
gospel by doing it. You know, I don't read the Puritans
much. You know, I like to read the
old writers, and I read commentaries and things to try to get an understanding
of God's Word. And just very rarely will I ever
read one of those Puritan writers, because they depress me. I mean,
these people have no joy. They understood the right doctrine
many times, but there's no joy. But you can go to the other stream
and take those things too far, too. The key to our worship is
before the Lord. Now, if I tried to incite some
happiness and enthusiasm in you, and I started dancing with all
my might up here, I promise you it would not put you in a spirit
of worship. It would either put you in a mood where your sides
are hurting so bad because you're laughing, you know, in derision,
or it just puts you in a Pity, that boy can't dance. That would
not put us in a spirit of worship. Now where's the line? I don't
know. I can't define it, but I bet
you know it when you cross it. I bet you know it when you cross
it. Either way. So verse 16, as the ark of the Lord came into
the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, looked through a window
and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord. And
she despised him and her heart. Now we're going to come back
to her here in a minute. In verse 17, they brought in
the ark of the Lord and set it in its place in the midst of
the tabernacle that David had pitched for it. And David offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And as soon
as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings,
he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Now
everything's in order. Now the tabernacle has been pitched
like God Now they're offering the blood sacrifices. Now God's
worshipped. Now the people can be blessed.
The people cannot be blessed unless God's worshipped, unless
He's proclaimed as He is. In verse 19, David dealt among
all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as
well to the women as the men, to everyone, a cake of bread
and a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine. So all the
people departed. everyone to his house. Now, David
here is a picture of Christ blessing all his people. All the people
of God are blessed. They're all equally blessed.
Every believer has been blessed in our Lord Jesus Christ. We've
been given a cake of bread. We've been given Christ, the
bread of life. This piece of flesh that David
gave the people was the flesh of the sacrifice. He gave every
one of them a piece of the flesh of the sacrifice. That's what
we have, believers have. We eat his flesh, his body that
was sacrificed for our sin. David gave the people wine, every
one of them, which is a picture of the blood of Christ that puts
away our sin. Wine that makes glad the hearts
of his people. But only his people. Only his
people. Everyone's not happy about this.
Everyone's not pleased with this. Michael wasn't. And David, he
blessed the people. And he returns to his house.
He's going to bless his house. He's going to preach the gospel
to his house. David returned to bless his household.
And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David
and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today! He uncovered
himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants,
as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself. Now, here
David continuing of the type of Christ. He was persecuted. in the same manner our Lord was.
Persecuted in the house of his friends. Persecuted by his familiar
friend. When Judas came to betray the
Lord, what did the Lord call him? Friend. Why'd you come here? Friend. And Michael follows the
pattern of those who despise the gospel. First of all, she
exaggerates the truth. She said, David, you uncovered
yourself in front of the handmaids. No, he didn't. He wore linen,
he didn't cover himself. And people who despise the gospel
today do the same thing. They exaggerate the truth. They
say, well, you all believe babies go to hell. No, we don't. Nowhere in God's Word does it
say that. As a matter of fact, quite the contrary. Well, you
all believe that God predestinated some people to heaven and some
people to hell. Well, it's true. God did predestinate some people
to be conformed to the image of his son. Those people will
be in heaven, no question about it. God predestinated no one
to hell. Men send themselves to hell.
God did predestinate some to heaven. He predestinated no one
to hell. Men do that on their own. People
say, well, you believe in an exclusive gospel. Someone wants
to be saved, but he can't. He's excluded because he's not
one of the elite chosen. No, we don't. We don't believe
that at all, H.P. Any man who wants to be saved on God's terms
will be one. Anybody. I'm telling you, anyone
who wants to be saved on God's terms will. And you know what
they'll find out? Oh, God gave me a new one, too. That's why I sought Him, because
He gave me a new one, too. She exaggerated the truth. Secondly,
she loved David in his royal robes. She loved him and he's
dressed up as the king. He's impressive. But she couldn't
stand the sight of David. And people today who hate the
gospel, they deny total depravity. They love it if you dress up
men in all fine robes and things, but they won't have men priests
as they are. Depraved, sinful, vile, guilty. She did not, she hated total
depravity. And thirdly, she said, David, you're one of those vain
fellows. And that's what people say today.
You know, you can be religious of any kind. You know, I'm happy
for you. But find out if you believe this
God, the God of the Bible. You're not one of them, are you?
You're not one of them Calvinists, are you? You're not one of them
predestinarians, are you? They spit up. Predestinarians.
Fame fellows. But now look at David's answer
here. And this is what I wanted to come to. This is the key to
understanding everything David's done in this chapter. David said
unto Michael, It was before the Lord which chose me. He chose me before thy father,
and before all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the
Lord, over Israel. Therefore will I play before
the Lord, and I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be based
in mine own sight. And of the maidservants which
thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor." David's
answer is all based. upon God's election, upon His
electing love. An election is not a doctrine
that we argue about back and forth and debate and things.
And here's another thing. Never make an apology for God's
electing love, His sovereign electing mercy. Because really,
it's not the doctrine of election we love. We love the God. A sovereign electing love. I asked Janice this week, I said,
what's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the
word election? And she said, oh, thankful. Thankful. That's what David's saying here.
He's thankful. And understanding God's electing
love, that God set His sovereign electing love upon you, does
four things. First, it makes a person worship
the Lord. David worshiped before the Lord.
Why? Because He chose me. Therefore,
I will worship Him. Second, understanding God's electing
love makes a person desire to serve the Lord. David said, Lord
chose me. Therefore, I will play before
Him. Understanding God's electing
love makes a person say, Lord, here am I. Send me. Understanding
God's electing love makes a person say with a songwriter, were the
whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small.
Love, so amazing, electing sovereign love, so amazing, so divine,
demands my life, my soul, my all. Here am I. Send me. Send me where you will. Understanding God's electing
love does not make a person proud, does not make him look down his
nose at other people and say, I'm one of those elite few. No. Understanding God's electing
love humbles a man, humbles a woman, makes us so humble and enables
us to grow in grace. Nothing yet. I'll be more vile
in your sight. And I'm going to grow more vile
in my sight. You know, a big part of growing in grace is not
growing upward. It's growing downward, growing
downward and understanding, just growing in a lower estimation
of myself. Peter, after they caught all
those fish, they fished all night and caught anything, they caught
all those fish, so many fish the nets broke. And what'd he
say? Depart from me, for I'm a sinful
man, O Lord. It's growing downward in estimation
of ourselves. It humbles us. And last, understanding
God's electing love gives a person brethren in the truest sense
of the word. He says, those handmaids you
talk about, I'll be held in honor by them. God stooped so far to
redeem me. I'm not stooping to worship with
those handmaids. I'm not stooping to help those
handmaids. I'm probably reaching up to help them because I'm the
lowest of the low. God's electing love. Therefore,
in verse 23, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child under the
day of her death. I'm pretty confident. Michael
married David. She thought, I'm going to have
a son. He's going to sit on the throne. He's going to be next.
He's going to be the heir to the throne. My father's throne. I saw my father sit on that throne.
I'm going to have a son that sits on that throne. No, she
won't. No descendant of Saul. going
to sit on that throne. The descendant of David, the
son of David, is going to sit on that throne. No descendant
of Adam, no one in Adam, is going to be around the throne of God.
It's those who are in Christ, those who have been born again
and given his spirit. I hope the Lord will bless that
too, the electing love of God.