Boy, we hear this statement,
it doesn't matter how a man comes to God. It really doesn't matter
how a man comes to God, just so he comes to God and just so
he comes sincerely. Now this is prevalent. Like a
man said at a certain factory recently, we don't want any preacher
coming in here preaching doctrine, just let him preach the Bible.
I don't know how you do that, how you preach the Bible without
preaching doctrine, but he said, we've got folks from every denomination
and every persuasion, and we just don't want anybody disturbing
anyone because they are sincere in what they believe. Well, my
friends, this is not true. And I have two reasons for believing
it's not true. Number one is the Scripture,
and number two is the example that we have before us tonight.
The first reason why it's not true is the Word of God. I want
you to listen to some scripture. I'm not going to have you turn
to all of it, but let me just quote some verses of scripture.
Christ said, I am the way, not a way or one of the ways, I am
the way. Definite article, I am the way,
the truth, the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Again, he said, I am the door.
I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and out in fine pasture." He said, if any man
preach any other gospel, he spake this through the lips of the
Apostle Paul, divinely inspired. Paul said, if any man preach
any other gospel than that which we preach, even if it be an angel
from heaven, let him be under the wrath and curse of God Almighty.
And then the apostle said, other foundation can no man lay. There
is no other foundation than that which is laid, Christ our Lord. Again he said, there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved. Now we're told in the scriptures
that our ways are not God's ways, and our thoughts are not God's
thoughts. And again we're told there is a way. that seems right
to men. It seems right. It seems logical. It seems acceptable. It seems
like it ought to be right. There is a way that seems right
to men. The end of it is death and condemnation. Our Lord delivered four, four
statements, all of them beginning with the word accept. He said,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Does that sound like there's
another way? Does that sound like there's another way that
we can approach God? Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Listen to this. He said, except
you repent, you shall all likewise perish. He said again, except
you be converted. and become as a little child,
ye shall in no wise or case enter the kingdom of God." Again he
said, except your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes
and the Pharisees who were moral, sincere, zealous, enthusiastic,
dedicated religious men. except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall no way
enter into the kingdom of God. Now that's the first reason why
it's just not true that it doesn't matter what a man believes, just
so he's sincere it does matter. That's the first reason why it's
not true that it doesn't matter how a man comes to God, just
so he comes, and so he comes sincerely. It's not so. Now,
I'm going to use this illustration that I read a few moments ago
from the book of 1 Chronicles. We have this example before us
that clearly shows us that God will not permit, now watch this,
God will not permit even the most zealous organized movement or even the most favored
person, David, twice the scripture says a man after God's own heart.
But God will not permit even the most zealous, organized effort
led by the most favored, highly favored person to come to Him
in the wrong order. That just won't do it. Now, you'd
think if anybody could gain an entrance to the presence of God,
it'd be David, leading Israel, his chosen people. But they were
turned away. Because our text says, let's
look at it again, in 1 Chronicles 15, 13, he says, "...the Lord our God
made a breach upon us, Us, we sought him not after the due
order, according to the word of God. See that over there?
We sought him not according to the due order. So it's pretty,
it's pretty important how a man comes to God, pretty important
what a man believes. Now let's, let's, let me give
you a few things about this ark. When I was reading about the
ark, I thought, well I'm sure no one here thinks we're talking
about Noah's ark. Surely everyone knows what we're
talking about, but it's a possibility that everyone doesn't know what
we're talking about. So let me give you one, two,
three, four, five things about the Ark. You'll find this most
interesting. The Ark of the Covenant, it's
called the Ark, A-R-K, and it's called the Ark of the Covenant.
It was a chest made of shitham wood. It was about so big. It was about two and a half feet
long, if I remember correctly. by so wide and by so high. It
was half the size of this table up here. It was a chest made
of shittum wood and it was lined on the outside and on the inside
with pure gold. Now inside this ark, inside this
ark, were three things. Inside this ark was the tables
of stone that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. tables of stone
that were given him from heaven, and he brought down off Mount
Sinai. They were in that ark, the broken loft. And secondly,
in that ark was a pot of manna. You remember God fed the children
of Israel with manna for a long time in the wilderness? There
was a pot of that manna in that ark. And then also in that ark
was Abram's rod that budded. You remember the miracle of the
budding of the rod of Abram. That was all that was in the
ark. The manna, the rod that budded, and the broken law. Now, and then the top of the
ark, the top of that ark was of pure gold. It was gold. The whole top of it was gold.
That was called the mercy seat. Right across the top of the ark
was the mercy seat. That was the lid. The lid was
the mercy seat, which is typical of Christ. And on each end of
that lid, of that mercy seat, were figures of cherubims with
their wings overshadowing the mercy seat. And between the wings
of the cherubims there was a bright light. You've heard of it, Shekinah
Glory? But between the wings of that
cherubim, those cherubims, over that mercy seat was that bright,
mysterious, magnificent light called the Shekinah, which was
a token of the presence of the Lord. As I said, the lid of this
ark was called the mercy seat. You know, when the publican came
in the temple and would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven,
but smote upon his breast and cried, let thy blood, God be
merciful to me a sinner. But what he was saying was, let
thy blood be propitiation for me on the mercy seat. On the
mercy seat. Now the leader of that ark, the
mercy seat, was a representative of Christ, who is our access
to the Father. And this whole ark, this whole
ark, was the most sacred thing. It was the most sacred thing
in the ceremony and symbolic worship of the Lord. It was the
expression of God's presence with Israel. When the Ark was
there, God's presence was there. God's mercies were upon it. You
notice when I read about these different homes the Ark was kept?
God's mercy was on that home. God's mercy was on that home.
Wherever that Ark was, it was symbolic of the presence of the
Lord. Now, The art was made in the wilderness. The dimensions
and the specifications were given to Moses, and the art was made
in the wilderness, and it was kept in the secret holy of holies
in the tabernacle. It was the only piece of furniture
in there. Outside the tabernacle was the
brazen altar, the laver, and the altar, and inside the tabernacle
was a table of showbread and the candlesticks and the incense,
but in the Holy of Holies, surrounded by that veil and the covering,
in the Holy of Holies stood that ark. That's where it always stayed. It was in the secret place of
the Holy of Holies, and no man entered that secret place. No
man. No man ever entered that secret
place except the high priest, once a year. once a year. That ark stayed in the secret
place in the Holy of Holies, and once a year, the high priest
would come in under the veil with the blood, and he would
have this censer in his hand. And it would be putting forth
the smoke, burning the incense, and it would fill the place.
And he would come with the blood, and he'd put that blood right
between the cherubims on the golden mercy seat, covering the
broken law. You see the picture, the atonement,
the death of Christ, how that he went into the holier place,
not made with hands, but into heaven itself. Sacrifice, not
the blood of animals, but his own blood before the presence
of the Lord upon the mercy seat of glory. And that blood would
cover that mercy seat. And you see how it's showing
how the blood covers our sins, covers the law, the broken law?
And this was all awesome and fearful and a terrible time. a terrible time, an awesome time,
a holy, sacred time, when the high priest would go into the
presence of God. No man would dare come into the
presence of God. But that high priest was allowed
to come once a year with the blood, with the blood of atonement,
and put it on that mercy seat, on the Ark of the Covenant, over
the broken law, to cover our sins, to make atonement for our
souls, all symbolically, as a picture showing how that Christ would
someday come and put his blood on the mercy seat of glory. Now,
when the tabernacle was moved, and when that ark was moved from
its location, from where it was, it was covered. It was always
covered so that, Charlie, no human eye ever looked on it.
No human eye ever saw it. And it was always carried, always
carried by the law of God on the shoulders of the of the Levites. No one else ever touched that
ark. Nobody touched it anyway, but
nobody carried it except the Levites. They ran these, they
had hooks on the side of it, and these golden staves would
go through the hooks, and they'd shift it up on their shoulders,
and they carried it. Nobody could come around. It
was covered, and when they got to where they were going, they
took that ark and built a tabernacle around it. And then every year,
At that location, the high priest would go into the presence of
God. You see, my friends, what God is saying to us is that The
God of today is not the God, the living God of creation, the
God of the Bible. We've got a little silly sentimental
God that's just out there somewhere and anybody flippantly or carelessly
or indifferently or any other way can say, hey God, do me a
favor. Hey God, how are you this morning?
Hey God, I'm going to come worship you. Let's sing a little, have
a little talk with Jesus. That junk, you know. But if you
could just, if you just read in the Old Testament, about the
majesty and power and awesome presence of fearful glory of
God Almighty. And this art was representative
of it. And I'm going to show you how that most of what we
call church today is dangerous. It's dangerous to be around it.
It's dangerous to be associated with it. It's dangerous to sponsor
it or support it. It's dangerous to touch it. because
you'll perish with those that are playing those games. God is concerned for his glory. God is jealous of his glory.
And his presence is an awesome presence. Let me show you something.
And in an evil day, in an evil day during the time of Saul,
that ark was captured by the Philistines. It was captured. And it was carried away into
the Philistine country. But wherever they took it, Wherever
they took that article, the Philistine, it smote them with pestilence
and disease and death until they were compelled to get it out
of their country. Let me show you that. Turn to
1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 5. The Philistine stole it. But
everywhere they took it, it devastated them. It devastated them. Thousands died. You read the
5th chapter. Look here, chapter 5 of 1 Samuel. The Philistines took the ark
of God. You got it? Brought it from Ebenezer unto
Ashton. When the Philistines took the
ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, that was
their god, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashton rose
early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon,
and set him up in his place again. And when they arose early on
the morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground
before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon, and both palms
of his hands were cut off upon the threshold, only the stump
of Dagon was left to him." They went on talking about verse 6, "...but the hand of
the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashton, he destroyed them,
he smote them with emeralds, even Ashton, and the coast thereof."
And when the men of Ashton saw it was so, they said, The ark
of God of Israel shall not abide with us. His hand is so upon
us, and upon Dagon our God. Now look at verse 10. Therefore
they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark
of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying,
They brought about the ark of God of Israel to us, to slay
us and our people. So they sent and gathered together
all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of
the God of Israel. Let it go again to its own place,
that it slay us not and our people. For there was a deadly destruction
throughout all the city, and the hand of God was very heavy
there. And the men that died not. Those that didn't die were smitten
with emeralds and the cloud of the city went up to heaven. So
I'll tell you what these fellas did. These Philistines just put
that ark on a cart with some oxen and turned it loose and
let those oxen take it wherever they wanted to. And by the providence
of God, by divine providence, the oxen brought that ark to
Bathshemesh And the men of Bathshemus, now turn to 1 Samuel 6. So the
oxen brought that ark providentially to Bathshemus, and the men of
Bathshemus, out of curiosity, raised the lid of the ark. 50,000 of them died, I think. 50,000 of them. Read it, 1 Samuel 6, verse 19.
Out of curiosity, they took that ark and raised the lid. And verse
19 of 1 Samuel 6 said, He smote the men of Bathshemus because
they looked into the ark of the Lord. He smote the people, 50,000,
threescore and ten men. And the people lamented because
the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.
And the men of Bathshemus said, Who is able to stand before this
Holy Lord God? Well, a lot of folks today say
they do. They got private line to God's throne. The Lord said this, the Lord
said that, the Lord told me this, he told me that, me and God,
you know. That's what they're saying. But
these folks, they didn't find it so. To whom shall he go up
from us? And they sent messengers to the
inhabitants of Kirjath-Jerim, you recognize that name, saying
the Philistines have brought again the Ark of the Lord, come
down and get it. come down and fetch it up to
you. We don't want it. So that brings us to our scripture
over here in 1 Chronicles. So David became king. And David,
there are three things I want you to see about this move on
the part of David. First of all, David's desire,
his desire was a commendable thing, commendable desire. He's
in the right direction. anyway. Secondly, his utter,
absolute failure that brought upon him the judgment of God.
And thirdly, his success. Let's see those three things.
Now, first of all, his desire. He met with the people, 1 Chronicles
13. He met with the people. David
consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with
every ruler, every leader. David said unto the congregation,
if it seems good to you, if this seems good to you, and that it
is of the Lord, you see, but who's first? Who do you put first?
If it seemed good to you, if it seemed good to you, and you
think it's of the Lord. Let's send abroad our brethren
everywhere, let's get all together, you know, let's organize this
thing, and all that are left in the land of Israel, and also
we'll bring the priests and the Levites in it, but who is first?
Us fellas. And we'll let the priest go along.
We won't deny them the privilege of going along. And all of them
that are in the cities and suburbs that may gather themselves, let's
go get the ark of God. Let's go get the ark of God.
But we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. And all the
congregation says, that's good. That's just the thing to do.
Enthusiastic. See you. Now this is one of the
things that Paul charged Israel with in his day. They have a
zeal for God. Not according to knowledge. And
this is 1980, 1881. They have a zeal for God today. Everybody's religious. Everybody's
got a zeal for God. We're all talking, God's everywhere
I go and sign boards and television, radio. One station here in the
tri-state, that's all they talk about is God all day long. Got
a zeal for God, much enthusiasm for God. You see it right here.
Enthusiasm and zeal and ardor and all of this type of thing.
Let's go get the art. Let's go bring it back to Israel. So he gathered the people together,
verse 5. He gathered all Israel together. Let's get everybody in on it,
from Shahor of Egypt, even to the entering of Hamath, to bring
the art of God, from Curjath, Jerom, and David went up, and
all Israel to Balaamah, of the Lord, that dwelleth between
the cherubim, whose name is only." They got them all together, and
they got them a new cart. David had them build a new cart.
Nothing too good for the Lord. See, nothing...we're going to
build a nice building, a hospital, a school, a mon...nothing's too
good for God. Let's build a monument. Let's
get a new cart, a brand new cart, a fine one, decorated up, get
some good strong oxen, and let's pick our two best drivers. And
everybody started volunteering, and he picked the two Uzza and
a Hi-Ho. They were the best. They proved
themselves champions. They were ex-ballplayers. They're
the ones that put out that punch, you know, ex-professional ballplayers,
or professional, or maybe a movie star. Put him out there, you
know. Let's pick the fellas that everybody knows. And they got
all the instrumentalists. Boy, they had a band here that
wouldn't wait a minute. They had harps, and psalteries,
and timbrels, and cymbals, and trumpets. They had everybody,
and they played and they sang, it says, with all their might. With all their might. They really
raised the roof. David and all the rest were played
before God with all their might. Now these fellas aren't playing
games, they're serious. They're dead serious. They're
giving everything they got. They got the best instrumentalists.
The best singers, the best choir leaders, they got the famous
people, they got Uzzah and Hi-Ho, they got the best cart, they
did all of these things. It was a celebration to put an
end to all celebrations. It was a great united effort.
Everybody was together. It can't be wrong because we
all believe it. It can't be wrong because we're
all doing it. It can't be wrong because everybody's
for it. Boy, God's going to be pleased
with this. We're going to do something for the Lord. He's
got to be pleased with us. So they got it all, and he let
them get it. Him and I got that art even,
and put it on that wagon. They got it. And put it on that
wagon. It's amazing how far God let
men go. It's amazing how far He let them
go in the way that seems right, in the effort that seems right.
They went on and on and on. This took some time, this took
some organization, this took some money, this took some effort,
this took some fellows laying off from their jobs. This, they
went a long ways and got that ark, put it on that cart, they
were so happy, they just felt like that, well they just, they
were just singing with all their might before the Lord and dancing
and everybody was happy, jubilation, celebration, inspiration, just
everything you could think of and they was on their way back
to Jerusalem with that ark. Well, it had a little rough road
right there, chidin'. God let him get away with all
this stuff. Had a little rough road there, and the ox and old
high hoe was on one side of that ark, and old Uzzah was on the
other side. And that ark, the cart hit a
rut in the road and kind of shook, and Uzzah put his hand up to
stop it from falling. And Mr. Spurgeon said he was
mangled. He was mangled. He was devastated. And brother, the celebration
stopped right then. Can you imagine? Paul, can you
imagine what? It stopped. And this celebration
is going to stop someday. It's going on now. You're going
to cross God one of these days. You're going to go too far. You wait and see. David went too far when he left
home to go after it. He'd already gone too far. He
went too far when he went down and got it. He went too far to
put it on that arts cart. God's long-suffering. Sometimes
it takes the cup a long time to fill up. With no warning,
with no indication. Here's one indication, but they
didn't read it. The way was told here, how God's
to be worshipped. The way was told here, how God's
to be approached. The way was given here in plain
language. Who was to carry that out? It's
all right here, but we've got a better way. We've got a way
in which everybody can have a part. We've got a way in which everybody
can express himself. We've got a way that seems right
to us. We've got a way that's appealing
to us. We've got a way that's just,
we think it's the best way. Keep going, you got to let you
keep going, don't you? Old Ulysses was one of the ringleaders.
He reached up his hand and God devastated him. There wasn't
a sound uttered. And I know David, they must have
looked at him, he organized this whole thing. And he was the new
king and he'd never met with failure to this point. He'd never been cost by God to
this point. He was riding a high horse. He
was on top of the world. He was the leader. He had the
confidence and love and respect and admiration of the people.
And Cecil, I know, they all turned and looked at him. Well, you
got us into it. David was mad. It says right
there, David was displeased. Verse 12, see it? Verse 11, David
was displeased. Who was he displeased with? He's
mad at God. That's what he's mad at. That's
what he's mad at. The music stopped. Everyone was
stunned. God was angry. David was angry. David was confused. David was
afraid. And he took that ark and he left
it. He left it there with Obed Edom,
and he went home. And he went home. All right, what happened? What
happened? Why did David fail? Where in
did he fail? His efforts were outstanding.
His efforts were sincere. You can't question the man's
sincerity, John. He was sincere. You can't question
his sincerity. You can't question his motive. He wanted God's presence. He
wanted the ark back where it belonged. He wanted Israel to
prosper. He wanted these things. That
was his motive. His motive was right. He was
sincere. Well, he just went about it the
wrong way. Now, the Lord has designed a
way to approach him. He's designed a way to worship
him. His word tells us how we're to come to him and how we're
not. Now, watch this. Here was a multitude. Here was a multitude, but my
friends, crowds do not insure us of God's presence. If you
read down through the centuries and down through the years, most
of the times where the crowds were, God wasn't. Fear not, little flock. It is
your Father's good pleasure to give you his kingdom. Here was the ceremony and the
singing. Here was the excitement, but it ended in weeping. It was a lot of external joy
and zeal. Here was energy, energy spent,
energy put forth. Here was sincerity. This was
no sleepy service. Boy, I tell you, somebody said,
well, you grace people, y'all don't have enough life in you.
There was life here, boy, but I wasn't glad I wasn't there.
There was life there, they were whoop-de-doin' it, they were
singin' with all their might, they were carryin' on, they were
dancin' before the Ark, they was havin' them a good time.
But I'll tell you, it ended in sobbing and weeping. Where did
it fail? It failed several ways. Number
one, David did not seek the will of God, he sought the will of
the people. That was his first mistake. He
didn't cry out to God. He didn't seek God's will. This
is what, this is where we are today. We're in a, we're wrapped
up in will worship. What do you think? What do you
think? The very thing about the church that says a democratic
body, everybody has equal vote. Before you do anything, go to
the people and see what they want to do. Before you do anything,
go to the Lord and see what he wants done. The church is not
a democracy. The church is ruled over by a
king, a king. But it doesn't really matter
what the people want to do, it's what does God want to do. This
is David's first mistake, will worship, will, will, what will
you do? What will we do? What will we
do? It's what will he do. He doeth
according to his will in the armies of heaven. and among the
inhabitants of this earth. It's not of him that willeth,
it's not of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy.
They're born not of the will of man, not of the will of the
flesh, they're born of God. What is his will? I will be merciful, he said,
to whom I will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. We must seek God's will. Secondly,
the priests were ignored. Turn to Deuteronomy 10. This
is a scripture that has to be brought in right here about the
caring of that art. David got him a cart, he built
a nice new cart just for the art, dedicated to the art. He
got some oxen and he got him two good drivers, famous men.
Whereas the scripture said, and David should have known this,
Deuteronomy 10a, because he did know it. Later on he admitted
it. At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the
ark of the covenant of the Lord. To stand before the Lord, to
minister to him, to bless in his name unto this day. He didn't
consult the priest. Let me tell you something, brethren.
You say, well, do we have a priest? We certainly do. We certainly
do. Hebrews 10, 19 says, And seeing
that we have a high priest over the house of God, let us draw
near. Let us draw near. See what I'm
saying? Christ has opened for us through
the veil, by his own flesh, a new and living way into the presence
of God. And there's no other way to come but by Christ. The
priest has to be consulted. And then you notice there was
no sacrifice offered, there was no blur. This amazes me. I can't comprehend David. I can't
comprehend him missing this. Every time that ark was approached,
it was only approached by a priest with blood in his hands. Without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission. I've given you
the blood upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul. When
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. David ignored this blood,
this sacrifice. The blood to cover the mercy
seat. Enthusiasm, singing, decisions, promises, program, promotion,
won't do. Blood, God said. Blood, without
the shedding of blood, no remission. And today we've got all of these
things. We've got the multitudes and the numbers. Everybody wants
to have more than they had last Sunday. We've got ceremony and
the singing and the human energy and the programs and organizations
and the promotion, but there's no lamb, there's no cross, there's
no blood, there's no substitute, there's no sacrifice, there's
no sin offering. How long has it been since you've
heard any preacher other than this one right here, Preacher
Samuel, on the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all
sin? I know, I know men talk about
the gospel, they talk about prophecy, they talk about doctrine, they
talk about the church, they talk about missionaries and our program,
and they talk about decisions and soul winning and all that,
but it's the blood that makes the atonement. It's the blood. God said, I see the blood. And
here David had all these things, he had the will of the people.
He had the new card. He had all these plans and programs. He had the motive and the sincerity
and the zeal and all these things. He didn't have the blood. And
God killed some folks. Oh boy, I tell you. All right,
let's go to chapter 15. And let's see about David's success.
We've seen his desire and we've seen his failure in his own strength. Thank God this turned out better.
I hope it turns out better for our generation. I'm pessimistic. Very pessimistic. But I hope
it does. David's success. Verse 13. Well,
verse 12. First thing he did, he went to
the priest. He said, You're the chief of the fathers of the Levites.
Sanctify yourselves, you and your brethren, that you may bring
up the ark. Who brings it up? The priest
does. You do it. Old David tried it
and made a mess out of it. You do it. Christ. It's all of
Christ. Christ is our priest. Christ
is our priest. It's all of Christ. You bring
up the ark. You said verse 13, because you didn't do it the
first time the Lord judged us, because you didn't do it. We
sought Him not after the due order. That's the topic right
here. We sought Him not after the due order. We sought Him
not. We tried everything we knew. We tried a mourner's bench. We
tried wafers and wine. We tried water. We tried making
crosses. We tried counting beads. We tried
masonry. We tried crawling on our knees.
We tried penance. We tried vows and ceremonies.
We tried everything but Christ. Now he says we're going the right
way. We're going through the blood of the Lamb. We're going
through the great high priest. You see, that's where a sinner
starts. A seeking sinner who finds the
Lord, a seeking sinner who finds mercy, will first discover that
he can't himself find it. He can't himself procure it. He can't himself, through any
efforts he puts forward, secure it. He has to go to the priest
and say, you do it! You do it! I tried, I failed,
you do it! You gotta do it, I can't do it.
And that's where we go to Christ. Lord, save me, or I perish. Be
merciful to me, O sinner. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom. If you will, you can make me whole. That's where
you start. In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh, no man can please God, so that's where David
started. David's going to be successful this time. But he
took his whole cause, he took his whole plan, he took his whole
effort and laid it in the hands of the Levites. And that's what
he did? The whole shooting match, he turned it over to them. You
get the art, he said. If God's presence is ever in
Jerusalem again, if I'm ever dwelling in His presence, if
His mercy ever rests upon us, you'll have to do it. And that's
what I say to Jesus Christ tonight. You'll have to do it. It's all
in your hands. I've tried. I've failed. I've
played church. I've made decisions. I've been
baptized. I've done this, that, and the
other, but I've utterly failed. Now, Lord, you're my priest.
If we're going to do business with God, it'll have to be through
you." He turned to the priest. And then verse 26, and he had
those priests offer a sacrifice. And it came to pass when God
helped the Levites, said, Bear, there aren't recovered, Lord.
They offered seven bullocks and seven rams. Turn to Hebrews 9.
Brethren, I could stay here all night on this point right here,
but I've been there long enough. verse 11 of Hebrews chapter 9. But Christ being come, a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once, only once, into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Ah, if the blood of bulls and
goats and ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, if that secured the ark and the
presence of God for David through the offering of those bullocks,
verse 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Oh my,
God's back with them now, isn't He? God's there, dwelling with
them, His Spirit's there, the Ark's there, His presence is
there, His mercy's there, His blessing's there, because David
sought the Lord after the right order. after the right order. He laid it in the hands of the
priest, and the priest shed the blood. I laid it in the hands
of Christ, and he shed his blood. He reconciled me to God." Now,
wait a minute. And old Abed was clothed this...
I bet I know how he went out the first time. I bet he had
his armor on. And he had his sword on his side.
I'm just sure he promoted that thing and dressed up fit to kill.
But this time, David, in the simplicity of holiness, he was
robed with the fine white linen, which is typical of the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everybody that was there,
the singers and the Levites and all of them, were robed in fine
white linen. That's the holiness. That's not
ours. We go out in the strength of
the flesh in our good works, in our showmanship, and we've
got this, that, and the other, but my friends, in the presence
of the Lord God, we're nothing, less than nothing. We're the
nothings. And we come into his presence
through Christ the High Priest in his hands, through his And
we are permitted to come into his presence clothed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the simplicity of his holiness. No gaudiness, no self-praise,
no ego trip, no, Lord, I've done this for you and I've done that,
now I want you to do this. No, we just come in the simplicity
of that white, pure, immaculate righteousness. Nothing showing
but that, just covered completely with his righteousness. There
was nothing else to be pleaded, nothing else to be presented,
nothing else to be claimed. In the sight of God, it's all
corruption and filth and foolishness, just in his righteousness. Well,
they brought the art back. They brought it back. I tell
you, We need to learn from this man,
David. We're so stubborn. Now, David could have taken two
routes in this thing. When he went down to get that
ark in the strength and energy of his own flesh, and God judged
him, and he pouted a little while, but he repented. He repented. And we're giving over to this
pouting business. And we get mad at God, and mad
at his word, and mad at this, that, and the other, and we seal
ourselves off. Now, we might as well come on back to the right
way. Come on back in a humble spirit
and a broken heart, at the feet of Christ, and say, Lord, I did
it wrong the first time. I did it wrong. Don't hold on
to an old profession you made back yonder, an old religious
zeal. Saul, if Tarsus had done that,
he went to hell. But he said, I count. He named
everything he had, had done, had accomplished, and said, it's
just rubbish that I may win Christ. And David, he came before those
Levites, and he said, I made a mess out of it. He said, you
fellows, I didn't come to you the first time. And he said,
I sought not God in the right order. And God dealt with me
in judgment. He's with me. God with me. Now I'm going to do it right
this time. I'm going to do it right. I'm going to follow this
way. I'm going to come to Christ.
That's the thing. Do it. And here's another thing.
I know David didn't do this. He didn't say, well, I wasn't
totally wrong. I wasn't totally wrong. That's the way we got
it. I was brought up. I'm getting tired of folks trying
to claim they're saved back yonder when they didn't know a thing
about the gospel. That's tiresome. You talk about,
boy, this is the gospel, this is the gospel, this is the gospel.
But I still say back there in that era, no, you weren't either.
No more than David had the heart. He didn't have the heart. You
either have it or you don't have the heart. God's presence is
there. It's not there. There ain't no
middle ground. There's no gray here. It's black and white. And David just admitted it. He
said it was wrong. It was all wrong. Everything
was wrong. Now we're going to start right.
We're going to start right. Your soul's too valuable, eternity's
too long, judgment too certain, hell's too awful to play with
this thing, and say, well, I made a mistake or two, I'll just add
something to what I did before. No, you'll start all over. You'll
put it in the hands of Him who loved you and gave Himself for
you. That's where you'll put it. And you'll come empty-handed,
in my hands no price I bring. You'll come stripped and broken
and smitten, at His feet, humble in the dust, but you won't come
at all.