Now, we are familiar with statements like these. We
hear them frequently. It really doesn't matter what
a man believes. Just so he believes in God, and
just so he is sincere. You've heard that so often. And you'll hear it again and
again and again. It really doesn't matter if a
man believes in God, he lives the right kind of life, and if
he's sincere, he's bound to be in heaven, bound to be safe. And then it doesn't matter how
a man comes to God. It doesn't matter how a man comes
to God. It doesn't matter how He seeks
fellowship, how he seeks communion, just so he seeks it, just so
he comes in sincerity. Well, that's not what David is
saying here in 1 Chronicles 13, verse 12. David, I got amused
at Brother Scott Richardson. We were up in Beckley, West Virginia
in a meeting. some time ago, and he was talking
about the Apostles. And he said, Now, these fellows,
these fellows were somebody. These fellows didn't come into
Beckley on the back of no pickup truck. And I could just see a
bunch of miners sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck, riding
into town, you know. He got the point across. And
David didn't come to town on the back of a pickup truck. We're
talking here about a man who was king of Israel, who was God's
king of Israel. We're talking about the sweet
psalmist of Israel. We're talking about a man who
wrote the book of Psalms, the most of it, for that matter. And here he is questioning how
he's going to get the ark of God back up to Jerusalem in a
way that will be acceptable to God. He's going to restore worship. He said the ark was ignored in
the days of Saul, totally ignored. And he said, I want it back up
here, but how am I going to do it? I've got to do it in a way
pleasing to God. And this thing of I know all
of us assume that we're children of God, we're saved, we pray
our Father which art in heaven, we're pretty much assured that
if we died we'd be in heaven, aren't we, most folks? I feel
that way, I think most of you do, that we have fellowship with
God, do we? But I'll tell you, the scripture
says, now listen, just let me quote some scripture. Christ
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man, no man
cometh to the Father but by me. That's one way. That doesn't
leave any room for any other way. Christ said, I am the door,
the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Go in and out and find pasture.
The Apostle wrote, There is none other name under heaven. given
among men, whereby we must be saved. Again he said, Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid. Our Lord Jesus said, Except the
man be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. He
said, Except you be converted and become as little children,
you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of God. He said, except
you repent, you shall all perish. He said, except your righteousness
exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter
the kingdom of God. Now, these verses allow for no
other way to God but by Christ. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. We're not being fanatical. We're
not being radical. We're not being narrow. We're
not being sectarian. We're not being anything. I'm
just trying to deal honestly and truthfully with myself in
regard to a living, holy God, and how a sinner can come to
God, how a sinner can know God, call on God, believe God, and
receive all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. There's a way, and all other
ways are wrong. It doesn't matter how sincere
a man is, or how dedicated a man is, or how zealous a man is. And somebody's wrong because
we're all talking about it a different way. Somebody's wrong. Well, let me give you this illustration
from the Old Testament. I believe these illustrations
in the Old Testament were for our edification. and for our understanding. Now
listen carefully, and I'll try to be the teacher, and I'll try
to teach the truth. This ark, A-R-K, I'm not talking
about Noah's ark. I'm talking about the ark of
the covenant. Do you know what it is? There's
a movie out, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Well, that's the ark they're
talking about in that movie. It's the ark. When Moses was
up on the mountain and he got the dimensions and directions
and blueprints for the tabernacle, the courtyard, the Holy of Holies,
the veil, everything, the candlestick, the showbread, the altar, he
got dimensions and directions and blueprints for the ark, A-R-K,
of the covenant. Now this ark was a little chest,
about two and a half feet long. and about so high and about so
wide, about like that. And it was made of shittom wood,
and it was lined on the inside with gold. And inside this little
ark, this chest of shittom wood, inside were the tables of stone,
the Ten Commandments, which God gave to Moses on the Mount And
it was in that ark, that broken loft. And here also in the ark
was a pot of manna, you know, the bread that fell from heaven?
There was a pot of manna inside that ark. And also in that ark
was Avon's rod, which budded, you know, the stolen. Now, on
the top of the ark, on the lid, on the lid, the lid was pure
gold. It was called the mercy seat.
The lid of the ark was called the mercy seat, which was a representative
of our Lord Jesus Christ and access to the Father. And across
the lid were two cherubims, winged creatures facing one another,
like this, across lead of the ark. There was the ark, there
was the gold lead inside the law, Ten Commandments, and these
cherubims facing one another. And when the ark was in its place
in the tabernacle, it was one of the most sacred things in
the ceremony and the symbolic worship of Jehovah. It was an
expression of God's presence with Israel. And in between these
cherubims over the top of the ark The Shekinah glory of God
was revealed. It was an awesome thing, an awful
thing, a sacred thing. And the Ark was made in the wilderness
and it was kept in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. No man ever looked on it. When
they transported it from place to place, they took down the
veil, Bob, and covered that Ark. is a holy ark, sacred ark. And it was inside the Holy of
Holies, and no man ever looked at it. Once a year, the high
priest with a censer burning incense and the blood sacrifice,
the atonement, would come under that veil and approach that ark
with that incense, that incense burning in the smoke filled that
cubicle called the Holy of Holies, and that incense burning was
the type of Christ's prayers, his intercession. And the blood
was Christ's blood in type. And he would come to that awful
ark, that holy ark, sitting there in the Holy of Holies. The only
piece of furniture in there was the ark. And the cherubims facing
one another in the very glory of God, the very presence of
God in that awful place. And he would take that blood
and pour it over the mercy seat as a sacrifice, propitiation,
a sin offering. And the blood of that animal
would run over that gold mercy seat and drop down the sides
of that ark. And you see what that is. God
is holy, awesomely, infinitely, unchangeably, unapproachably
holy. We're such sinners, such terrible
sinners in birth, in deed, in thought, in word, in imagination. We're such wretched, corrupt
sinners that we can't dare come into the presence of God. God
can't compromise his presence. God can't compromise his holiness. God can't do business with us
and our filth and rottenness and guilt and corruption. No
matter how sincere we are, no matter how desirous we are to
have touch with him or communion with him, he can't. God can't
lower himself. He can't compromise his holiness. So he in his mercy and grace
designated a priest. a high priest, and that high
priest, with the sacrifice, with the blood offering, with the
sin offering, would come once a year into that holy place and
cover that broken law, cover our sins with a propitiation,
with a blood offering, with a sacrifice, that the law might be satisfied
and the justice of God honored. And that's what that ark was
all about. And it served in that capacity till Christ came and
died on the cross. And Christ is our high priest. And his blood is our sin offering
and sacrifice. And he is the one who goes not
into the holy place made with hands, but into heaven itself.
Not on an ark of chitim wood with a mercy seat of gold, but
into the presence of God himself. He offers not the blood of an
animal, but his own precious blood, his own righteous obedience
unto God on behalf of all believers, and freely, infinitely, eternally
justifies us before God and before the holy law and before the justice
of God. But this Ark, until Christ came,
This tabernacle was a picture of Christ in his humanity. They said, look at that, he's
just a carpenter. That's all they saw. They saw the outside.
Inside, holy and pure. And that art was a picture of
Christ. And when that art was moved from
place to place, it was covered over with that veil and always
carried on the shoulders of the priest, always carried with golden
staves on the shoulders of the priest, no matter where it was
moved or when it was moved, it was never carried by anybody
but a priest, on those golden staves, covered completely over. Now then, what was it doing down
there in this other place? Well, in the evil days, the ark
was captured by the Philistines. They captured the ark. When they
made war on Israel, they stole that ark. And it was carried
into another country. But wherever it was taken, it
smoked the Philistines with pestilence. Wherever they took it, it smoked
them until they were compelled to bring it back. Thousands of
people died when it was taken into a place or into a country.
All kinds of misfortune and trials occurred and thousands of people
died. And so the Philistines came to
their soothsayers or their wise men, and they said, what are
we going to do? He said, well, take that ark and put it on a cart. Now, David acted just as foolishly
as these fellows did. You think about it. David, in
all of his knowledge of God, and the ways of God and the holiness
of God. He wrote about it. And yet we
find him acting just like these natural men. We find his religion
and his way of approaching God to fall right in line with these
natural men. They said, put that ark on a
new cart and tie a couple of milk cows to the cart and just
let them go. Just let them go. And wherever
they go, let them take that ark. wherever they go. Well, they
took it to Bacchinus, and the men of Bacchinus, out of idle
curiosity, opened it. Do you remember? If you want
to, turn to I Samuel 6. I believe that's where it's found. You'll probably want to look
at this, I Samuel 6. These fellows, out of curiosity,
they looked in the Ark. I Samuel 6, Verse 19, I believe
it is. And they looked in it, and the
Lord smote the men of Bathshemus, because they looked into the
art of the Lord. Even he smote of the people 50,000,
three score and ten. That's 50,000 and 70,000. 50,000
and three score and ten. thousand men for seventy. And the people lamented, because
the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
And the men of Bathsheba said, Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God, and to whom shall he go up from us?" Well, that's
David's plan to go down and get this heart and bring it back
to Jerusalem. Well, I want you to see three things. And in looking
at this, maybe it will do something for us in the matter of approaching
God. God is holy. He can't be anything less than
holy, unapproachably, eternally, unchangeably holy. And there's a way of approaching
God, there's a way to God. God's merciful, he delights to
show mercy. But on his terms, in a way that's
honoring to himself, in a way that's honoring to his attributes,
we're unchangeably evil. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? No. Can the leper change his spot?
No. Can you do good that are accustomed to doing evil? Well,
David had a desire. to bring that ark back to Jerusalem. That was his desire. And he determined
to do it. He determined to do it. So the
first thing he did was meet with the people. And he asked the
people if they thought it would be a good idea, and they said
it sure would. We agree with that. He had a meeting with all
of his generals and princes and captains and all these fellows,
and they said, verse 4, it said, And all the congregation said,
That's the thing to do. This is right in the eyes of
the people. So David made a big thing of
it. He gathered a vast multitude. Somehow we think, you know as
I read this, I thought to myself, this is the way religious people
today think. They think in terms, first of
all, of committee meetings, getting this thing, what do you think?
Let's get together and is this what you think? Yeah, this is
what I think, and this is what he thinks, and we all think along
the same line, and so let's do it this way. Let's have a great
revival or a tent meeting or a Bible conference or a countywide
campaign or a countrywide campaign. This is right in the eyes of
the people. And let's get a vast multitude together. And they
just got a huge crowd of people. They had the best orchestras.
They had the best drummers. They had the best trumpet players
and flute players. Everything, they built a fine
new cart, and they got two of the finest blue ribbon oxen,
and they got two expert drivers in Ohio and Uzzah, and they went
down there. And you know the amazing thing
is, God let them do it. David, and this is the thing
that a lot of folks don't understand, but God leaves us We get insistent
and persistent on having our way and doing it our way. And
the Lord will let us have our way. He'll let us go right on. And he didn't stop David. David
was wrong from the start. He didn't consult the Lord, he
didn't consult the Word of God, he consulted the people. He didn't
do this thing in a way honoring to God's character and holiness,
he did it in big time. He was big-time operator. He
was a big promoter and organizer, and he had the power to do it,
and he just got everybody together, and they were allowed to go on
and on and on in their effort without God stopping them. And I'll tell you, a lot of us
have gotten clear out of left field by Almighty God letting
us have our way, permitting us, we were wrong from the from the
beginning, but he just let it go right on. That's the way to
learn things, to learn it by experience. So they went down
and they got the Ark, and they put it on that new cart. David
knew, he knew the scriptures. Turn, if you will, to Deuteronomy,
just a moment. Deuteronomy is chapter Now, David
knew this. Listen to this, Deuteronomy 10,
and verse 8. Let me see if that's the scripture. At that time,
the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Only the ark was to be, the ark
was only to be born by the Levites, by the priests. David knew that.
That's what the old Bible said, you know. Well, he put it on
a cart, and he had those two fine oxen, and got these two,
these fellows, I don't know how they got to drive that cart,
but they were selected to drive that cart. They might have brought
the most to Sunday school that Sunday, I don't know. But they
won the honor. They might have won the most
souls or something, but they won the honor to sit up there
and drive that car. We play those games. We play
just like the natural religious world. And so they had that celebration. And you know if a person had
come by, he said, this is the greatest religious revival in
the history of the world. People were there from everywhere.
They were playing on the instruments. The celebration was unexcelled. Nothing like this had ever taken
place before. This is a whole lot better than
that bunch of those fellows, those priests walking along carrying
that ark, you know, in the quietness and gloom of a lonely road, isn't
it? Well, we've got the band, we've got the shouters, we've
got the singers, we've got the glad times, we've got all these
things. But that old ark was rolling
along on that ark's cart, and it hit a little place in the
road. And the driver just reached back that arc. Evidently they
didn't even have it covered, because he touched that arc. And he reached back there to
steady it, and he fell off that cart dead. God killed him. And boy, I tell you, the drums
stopped beating and the music stopped playing and the horns
stopped blowing and the people stopped shouting and a hush fell
over that whole place. Everyone was stunned. You mean
God's not pleased with our activities? No. You mean God's not impressed? No. You mean God Almighty doesn't
accept this, we're doing this, we have a, we're sincere. God is angry. God is angry. And God killed
this man. And David, David, it says here
in verse 11 of 1 Chronicles 13, he was displeased. The Lord had
met them in judgment. He was displeased, he was troubled.
And he said in verse 12, he was afraid of God. That's a good
place to be. That'd be a good place for every
one of us to wind up this morning, afraid of God. We're not afraid
of God. We're not afraid of the God of
our imagination. We're not afraid of the God that
we've brought down to our level. We're not afraid of the old man
upstairs. But David stood face to face
with a God, the living God of judgment, and it shook him up. David was scared. And he went
back home, he put that ark in the house of Obed-Edom, and it
stayed there, David. It stayed there. Well, the second
thing, why? Why did this happen? David, let
me say, he was sincere. And Doris asked me the other
night, we were watching one of those religious things on television. She said, Are they sincere? I
said, I think some of them are. I think they are. And he had the multitude. David didn't take this on himself. He got the approval of the people.
He gathered everybody together and said, Is this what we ought
to do? They said, Is this what we ought to do? This is exactly what I
want to do. This is the way I see it. And
he had the ceremony and the singing and he had the humor and energy
and the zeal. This wasn't any dull, sleepy
service. I hear Swaggart always talking
about these dead churches said they need fire. David had fire.
He said they need some shouting. David had some shouting. He said
we need to make music before the Lord. He had that too. Jimmy,
he had everything you had and put you to shame. David had everybody
there, everybody. And I tell you, David didn't
have the mayor of some little sleepy southern town. The king
himself was there. What happened? Well, three things. Number one, David didn't seek
the mind of the Lord, he sought the mind of the people. That's
the first mistake he made. He didn't go and seek the Lord.
He went to the people and said, Do you think this is what God
would have us do? Let me tell you something, my
friends. We'd better get to this book.
We'd better get back to the book and consult the Word of God.
I know we can excuse with sentimentality and we can excuse with emotionalism. And we can excuse, we say, well,
these folks are feeding the hungry, these folks are helping the sick,
these folks are building hospitals, these folks are doing all these
things. That's emotionalism and sentimentality. And you can either
do that or get back to the scriptures. What does the Lord say? Paul
said this, he said, if anybody preaches any other gospel and
that which I have preached, even if it's an angel from heaven, let him be a curse." That's how
narrow it is. We've got to consult the Word.
It's not what do the people think, it's not what seems good to us,
it's not what have we always done, but what does God say?
And secondly, David ignored the priest. He totally ignored the
priest. The Word of God says plainly
that there is no coming to God apart from a priest. You say,
but, Preacher, we don't have a priest. Yes, we do. Turn to
the book of Hebrews a moment, the book of Hebrews chapter 4.
We don't have a priest. If you don't have a priest, you
don't have an atonement. If you don't have an atonement,
you don't have a way to God. In Hebrews 4, verse 14, look
at it, "...seeing then that we have a great high priest." We
have a high priest. He's passed into the heavens.
Who is it? It's Jesus, the Son of God. Let's
hold our profession. Verse 16, "...let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace." Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews
10. Verse 21, and having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near. My friends, listen
to me. This Old Testament tabernacle,
with its holy place and holy of holies and veil, with its
sacred furniture, with its priesthood, with its high priest and once-a-year
atonement, those things are not saviors. They're shadows of the
Savior. They're types of the Savior.
The blood of animals can't put away sin. And this tabernacle
and holy of holies and ark of the covenant and mercy seat and
atonement and priesthood was never given to save anybody.
All the blood that was shed on Jewish altars through all the
millenniums can't save one sinner or put away one sin. Those are
all types and patterns and pictures of Christ. When that high priest slew the
lamb and burned its body on the altar outside the tabernacle,
he was picturing Calvary's cross. When he came here and washed
his hands in the labor and washed his feet before he went into
the tabernacle, he's picturing the righteousness of Christ that
sanctifies us. When he went into the holy place
and put the bread over here, he's picturing Christ, the nourishment,
spiritual nourishment, the bread of life. When he went over there
and lit these candles, the seven candlesticks, he's picturing
Christ, the light of the world. That was the only light in that
whole dark tabernacle. And when he went here and burned
that incense in front of the veil, 365 days a year, 24 hours
a day, he was showing the prayers of Christ. When he went under
that veil into the presence of God, only the high priest now,
not anybody else. He was showing Christ going through
the veil into the holy place not made with hands, into heaven
itself. And when he put that blood on
that ark and it ran down the sides, covering that broken law,
it is showing the blood of Christ that covers our sins. We've broken
God's law. And God, when that high priest
walked out of that Holy of Holies still alive, he was showing that
God had accepted that offering. And when God raised Christ from
the dead, he was showing he accepted his offering on our behalf. And so David, when he went down
to get that ark, he didn't consult the will of God. He didn't go
to the high priest. He went to the people, and they
said, this is what we ought to do. And so they tore off down
there, and instead of giving the ark to the priest to carry
on their shoulders, denoting its holiness, old David just
put it on the ark's cart and had some fellows drive it. And
I noticed this all the way through that story. There was never any
sacrifice offered. David got all the people together,
they had the orchestra and they had the shouters and the singers
and the timbrel players and they had the band and they had all
these things, but they didn't have any blood. There was no
sacrifice. And that's why he failed. Let's
look at his success. 1 Chronicles 15. How is David going to get that
ark? First thing, he remembered that
he had done it wrong the other time. That's where a fellow starts. In verse 13, he said to the priest,
he's not blaming them now, he's saying, you didn't bear the ark.
It's my fault. But because you did it not the
first time, the Lord judged us and we didn't seek him after
due order. Here's what I'm saying. David
was seeking, I believe he was sincere, I believe he thought
he was going to impress God. But he was missing Jehovah, the
redeeming God. Missing that, he was missing
God's righteousness and redemption. And he just tore off that and
got that ark, and started back with it, and God showed him he
wasn't in it. Let's just don't tear off down
there in our enthusiasm and religious zeal and try to get salvation
and wake up in hell under God's judgment. Let's do it the right
way. What's the right way? So David turned to the priest.
He turned to the priest. That's who he went to. He realized
first he didn't do it right. Secondly, he went to the priest.
That's in verse 2. of 1 Chronicles 15. Look, David
said, none ought to carry the art of God but the Levites. For
them hath the Lord chosen to carry the art of God, the minister
and the emperor. All right, verse 26, And it came
to pass, when God helped the Levites that bear the art of
the covenant of the Lord, they offered a sacrifice, seven bullocks
and seven rams. They didn't do this the other
time. My friends, listen to me. If we're going to approach God,
we're going to approach him through Christ the High Priest only. And we're going to come through
the blood of the Lamb of God. Now, that's the way you're coming,
but you're not coming at all. Then verse 27, And David himself
was clothed with a robe of fine linen. What is that? That's the
righteousness of Christ. Now I want to show you something
else. Turn to 2 Samuel 6, and I'll
quit. I've said enough that if anybody
is going to hear it, they would have heard it. If anybody is
going to do anything about it, they would have done it. In 2
Samuel 6, verse 20, this is another account of the same incident,
the bringing back of the ark. Well, back here a little further,
when David danced, here it is, in 2 Samuel 6, verse 14. And David danced before the Lord
with all his might, David the king. And David was girded with
a linen So David and all the house of Israel brought up the
art of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.
So the art of the Lord came into the city of David. Michael, Saul's
daughter, as David's wife, looked through a window and saw King
David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him
in her heart." He's out there. Usually, I think I read some
time ago, they had a naked slave. just a loincloth about him, and
he danced as they had some kind of parade or celebration. He
danced. Well, the king himself took off his crown and royal
robes and got out there in front of that processional, bringing
back the ark of the Lord the right way, and he danced. You say, what did he do that
for? Maybe Michael was right. She despised him. You know, a
lot of times when a man gets gets rich and influential and
wealthy, his wife gets snootier than him. You ever notice that?
The man will stay pretty calm, but his wife will get plum snooty.
Well, that's Michael. She wasn't even with him, did
you notice? She wasn't even with him when they bought the ark.
David's wife. She's sitting up in the castle with her mink coat
on, you know, and looking out the window at those folks in
that religious shindig. and saw her husband out dancing
in front of that thing, and it hurt her pride. She thought David
ought to conduct himself with more loyalty. So when he came home, he was
going to deal with that good sister. 2 Samuel 6, so David
returned to bless his household, and Michael, the daughter of
Saul, came out to meet him. She said, oh, this thing is dripping
with sarcasm, and talk about a burr. She said, and how glorious
was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in
the eyes of the handmaids of his servants. as one of the bane
petals shamelessly uncovered himself. And David said, Michael,
it was before the Lord who chose me before your daddy and before
all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of Israel, people
of the Lord over Israel. Therefore will I play, dance
before the Lord. And I'll tell you this, I will
yet be more vile than this. I'll be more base in my own sight. You know, they want to go to
the church that doesn't preach that old blood gospel. They want
to go to the fine or uppity church where you meet the society folks.
They don't want to go down there to that bunch of Calvinists. Who goes down there? That's Michael's
attitude. Who goes down there? Nobody knows
anything. Nobody is anybody. But David,
the king, says, I'll be more vile than this, I'll be basing
my own sight, and of the main servants which you've spoken
of, they'll hold me in higher honor. They recognized true glory. They recognized true humility.
Therefore Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child until the
day of her death. David was successful then, he
brought the ark back. He brought the ark back because
he went about it the right way, the way he did. First he admitted
he was wrong. He admitted he was wrong. Then
he consulted the Lord. And then he went to the Lord's
priest. He went to the Lord's priest. And then the Lord's priest
offered a sacrifice for him, the blood. And then he went down
there in a humble fashion. in a humble manner and brought
the ark of the Lord back. And he lowered himself. David
was not high above the people. He lowered himself and got down
in the dust as just one of those upon whom God showed mercy. Seeking
the Lord, seek him in the right way. Our Father There's so much here in this
scripture. There's so much. Be our teacher. Be our teacher. Reveal unto us your glory and
your majesty. Greatness of God. Oh, the awesome
greatness of God. And whatever we are, whoever
we are, we're nothing. less than nothing. And one day this place shall
know us no more. Let us become as nothing before
thee now in our hearts and spirits. Let us recognize our guilt and
our sin and desire your fellowship like David of old, desire the
ark of the Lord to be in our midst. and to seek thee in the
right way. Through our great living High
Priest, who shed for us his own precious blood, we come humbly
into thy presence, resting in and rejoicing in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Bless this message to our understanding,
to your glory, for Christ's sake. Amen.