I'm not sure if you caught those
words of that one verse. All of the words are good, but
this especially blessed my heart. So life and light and love came
forth from Christ living in me. If you will, this evening, I
want to speak to us from two passages of scripture. My message,
my text, two passages of scripture. One from the Old Testament and
one from the New Testament. And the common denominator in
these passages is that of two people touching. Two people touching. One touch resulting in death. and one touch resulting in delivery. Now, it should not surprise you
that the touch that resulted in death is found in the Old
Testament, and the touch that resulted in deliverance is in
our New Testament. This may serve as a commentary
on the two dispensations. You know, we have two parts of
our Bible, the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, the New Testament,
the New Covenant, the Old Dispensation, the New Dispensation, many times
referred to as the Legal Dispensation, that Old Dispensation, and the
New Dispensation, the Evangelical Dispensation. And I think of
the scripture which says, the letter or the law kills, but
the spirit, that is the gospel, giveth life. So let's look, first
of all, to 1 Chronicles chapter 13. We're going to read about
the touch resulting in death. 1 Chronicles chapter 13. And I
encourage you, as always, if you will, to follow with me in
the scriptures. I try to give you time. Sometimes I call out the wrong
scripture, I realize that. I try to make sure that doesn't
happen, but I try to give us all time to turn and see the
scripture. Not only hear the scripture,
but also see the word of God. First Corinthians chapter 13,
and beginning in verse six, and we'll read through verse 10.
And David went up in all Israel to Bala, that is, to Kerjath-Jerom,
which belongeth to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God
the Lord, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is
called on it. And they carried the ark of God
in a new cart out of the house of Abinadib, and Uzzah and Ahio
draved the cart. David and all Israel played before
God, with all their might, and with singing, and with harps,
and with psalteries, and with tembrals, and with cymbals, and
with trumpets. And when they came unto the threshing
floor of Chaddon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark. He touched the ark. For the oxen
stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And he smote him because he put
his hand to the ark. And there he died before the
Lord. The touch that resulted in death. Uzzah put forth his hand to stabilize
the ark. And the anger of the Lord was
kindled. And he died, died there at that
time. The touch that ended in death. Now there are three things in
these verses that I want to point out to us this evening. First
of all, we see the ark of God, the Lord. That's what we read
in verse six. To bring up thence the ark of
God, the Lord. We know that the ark was part
of the tabernacle. It was one of the pieces of furniture
in the tabernacle and it was a very imminent type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It was made of two materials.
It was made of an imperishable wood and also overlaid with gold. What a picture that is of the
two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ. As man imperishable,
that is sinless. He had no sin, he knew no sin,
he did no sin. And as God, the gold that overlaid
that ark pictured his deity. The God-man, great is the mystery
of godliness, the apostle Paul said. Great is the mystery of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. God, God was manifest in the
flesh. And then inside of that ark,
inside of that ark was placed the two tables of stone upon
which the law of God was written. And we know this from our Lord's
words in Psalm 40 and verse 8, thy law is within my heart. The Lord Jesus, what a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a type the ark was of the
Lord Jesus Christ, his two natures, and coming into this world with
God's law in his heart. Coming into this world with these
words, I delight to do thy will, O God. And that will was to honor
God's perfect and holy law. And then on top of that, there
was a lid, you might call it, a mercy seat. And it was made
of pure gold. And onto that mercy seat were
two cherubims facing each other. And this is what God said to
Moses concerning the mercy seat. The word really is the propitiatory. God set him forth to be the propitiation
for our sins. That is Christ. That's what we
read in the New Testament. The mercy seat, the propitiatory. And this is what God told Moses
about that. He said, there, there at the
mercy seat, there I will meet with thee and I will commune
with thee from above the mercy seat. from between the two cherubim
which are upon the ark of the testimony." What a picture of
Christ, isn't it? That's where God will meet with
you if he meets with you in peace, that is, in Christ. Nowhere else,
nowhere else. He's the one mediator between
God and man. the man Christ Jesus. And then
something else about that Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of God,
the Lord, as it says here, that we don't speak about that much,
but it's important. There was a crown. There was
a crown around that Ark, and it was a crown of pure gold. And thinking of this Ark of the
Covenant as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, crowned. Crown him with many crowns. He's crowned the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords. I love to sing that hymn we sometimes
sing here in our congregation. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him King of Kings, Lord of Lords. And then, in that
Ark of the Covenant, on the four corners there were four rings. Four rings of gold that were
placed in that. And along with that we know there
were two staves, two pieces of wood, which were also made of
imperishable wood and covered over with gold. And they were
very important. these two staves because God
gave commandment concerning the transporting of that ark. How it was to be moved from one
place to another when the tabernacle was dismantled and the children
of Israel in the wilderness, once it was set up, when they
moved to another place. God was very, very specific in
how every piece of that furniture in the in the tabernacle, the
tabernacle itself, how it was to be moved. Very specific were
the instructions that God gave to Moses. What a type. That's what we have here. What
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the first thing that
I point out to us. The ark of God, the Lord. A type, very preeminent type
in the Old Testament. That's how the gospel was preached
in the Old Testament, through the types and the shadows and
the patterns. A type, the Ark of the Covenant. Here's the second thing I would
point out to us. We see the devotion of David. Now, he had not been king over
all Israel for very long when this took place. And we see his
devotion. If you read in verse 3 of this
chapter, he said, let us bring again the ark of our God to us. Remember David, the scripture
says, God's testimony concerning him was he was a man after God's
own heart. Yes, the devotion of David. When that ark of God was placed
by Moses in that most holy place in the tabernacle and it was
set up, But in Israel's history, we know, there in the wilderness,
when God first gave the instructions for the tabernacle, and it was
set up, and it was moved a few times through the wilderness,
but when they came into the land of Canaan, it wasn't long before
they turned away from God. And they began to sin, and God
sold them into the hands of their enemies. And at one time, and
we read about this in 1 Samuel, at one time it was with the Philistines. The Philistines, they were in
battle. And the Philistines had a great
host, and the Israelites thought the thing for us to do is to
bring the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of God, the Lord. Let's
get it. Let's fetch it. And so they called
for the two wicked sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, two wicked
men. And they brought the ark of the
Lord into the camp of Israel. And the Israelites shouted. I mean, they caused the earth
to move with their shouts. You see, by this time they were
looking upon this ark, someone said, like maybe a good luck
charm. When I was a young boy, I remember
the saying, carry a rabbit's foot in your pocket. Carry a
rabbit's foot in your pocket for good luck. You know, I had
a pastor friend out in California. I still have him as a friend.
He's not pastoring any longer, but he used to say this. He would
say, there's three ladies we don't want to have anything to
do with around here. Three ladies we don't want to
have anything to do with around here. Lady Luck, we don't want
to hear about her. Miss Fortune, don't want to hear
about her. Mother Earth, we don't want to
hear about her either. Yeah, it's funny that people
take these things and they believe that somehow they have power.
Rather than the Israelites confessing their sins, forsaking their sins,
praying unto God, turning unto God, praying and asking God to
help them, they send for this Ark of the Covenant. And those
two wicked men bring it into the camp. But it didn't bring
victory. In fact, the Philistines defeated
the Israelites in several battles, and they took the Ark of the
Covenant into the land of the Philistines. You know, the Philistines, they
took the Ark of the Covenant into their land, and they thought
that their God, they worshiped a God that they had made up,
a God by the name of Dagon. And they just thought, well,
our God is stronger. Our God is more powerful than
the God of the Israelites. Well, it wasn't God's lack of
power that caused Israel to be defeated. It was Israel's sin
against God. God sold them into the hands
of their enemies, but God showed The Philistines, in these three
ways at least, God showed them who is the true and the living
God. The first thing he did, they
put the Ark of the Covenant in the house of their god Dagon. And so the next morning they
get up and Dagon is falling down at the feet of the Ark of the
Covenant. And they stick him back up. Wouldn't you hate to have a god
you had to prompt up? Wouldn't you hate to have a God
that you could place here and carry here and take there? No,
the God of the Bible, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ is a God who is all-powerful and omnipresent. He's everywhere present. Well,
they stuck their God back up, prompting back up. Well, the
next morning, he not only was falling down, but his hands and
his head were disconnected from his body. God showed the Philistines
that He is God Almighty. That's one way He showed them.
A second way, He smote them, that is the Philistines, with
an awful affliction and sent a plague of mice into the land. Mice everywhere, mice. And then a third way, They decided
they would see if this was really God that was doing this or not,
and the way they decided they would find it out, they would
put this Ark of the Covenant on a cart, and they would hook
up two milk cows that had never drawn a cart before, that had
never pulled a cart before, and they would watch, and they would
see what happened. Now, they said within themselves,
if those cows I remember these cows had calves. When I was a
young boy, one of my uncles had a place,
and he had cattle. And I remember spending several
summers with him. And I saw this. It seemed like
in the daytime, they would keep the calves. They had several
calves, and they'd keep them in a pen. They let the cows go
out, you know. But those milk cows, When it
was time for their calf to nurse, I've seen that cow running up
and down that fence, bellowing, bellowing for her calf. She's ready for that calf to
eat. But here these cows, they go along, and the scripture says
they go along bellowing, but all the time leaving their calves.
And God is showing that yes, He has power even over The animals. And He rules and He controls
in all nature, my friends. God Almighty. God showed the
Philistines. And for at least 20 years, it
came to Beth Shemesh, I believe, first of all. And those poor
people, they opened up that lid and God killed a number of them. Israelites, yes. You see, they
were exposed to the law of God, the holiness of God, the justice
of God, and there was no mercy seat between them and the law. And so they sent that ark onto
another place there that we read about, Kerjath-Jerim. And it had been there for many
years, at least 20 years it had been in this place. All the time
that King Saul was king over Israel. And so David, I said
we see the ark of the Lord, the ark of God the Lord, the type
of Christ. We see the devotion of David. Let's fetch this ark. Let's bring
it back. Let's bring it unto us, yes.
But here's the third thing I want us to see. We see the error of
David. We see the error of David. And no one doubts his sincerity.
You can't doubt David's sincerity. You cannot doubt the sincerity
of the Israelites here. What did we read? They played before God, that
is, they had their musical instruments, their harps, and their psalteries,
and their timbrels, and there was a great parade before the
Lord. You cannot doubt their sincerity,
not at all. But we see the era. And what
was David's era? Well, it's the same error that
many sincere men and women make today, and always have made. Same error. We wouldn't say they're
not sincere, not in the least. But a person may be sincerely
wrong. David was. He was sincerely wrong
in the way he tried to transport, the way he was transporting the
Ark, the Ark of God, the Lord. God's way of transporting the
Ark was very precise, as I said earlier. They were to put those
two staves between, through the rings on either side of that
Ark, and then that one family, and remember this, it was just
one family. There were several, three families
of the Levites, but God said only one family is to carry the
Ark of the Covenant. They're to carry it on their
shoulders. the era that David made. Now, where did he get the idea of
carrying it on a cart? He got it from the world. He
got it from the Philistines, didn't he? That's the way they
had carried it. That's the way they had transported it. And
my friends, today we see this all the time in churches. They
go out into the world and try to use the methods of the world.
See, it's not just our message, but also our methods that are
very important. Our message must be God-honoring
and our methods must be God-honoring just as well. We don't go out
into the world and get some entertainer, some worldly entertainer that,
yes, he can attract people, she can attract people, But that's
not God's way. But that's the way of the world.
And that's the error that David made, my friends. He chose the
way of the world over the way of God, the Word of God. As I was preparing these notes
for the message tonight, I looked at this verse of Scripture and
I found three times Three times in the book of Proverbs, the
same word, three times. There is a way which seemeth
right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. This way seemed right to David,
put it on a cart, but the end thereof was the way of death. Now the way of the world, The
way which seems right unto men in all ages, nothing has ever
changed, my friends. The way that seems right unto
men in all ages and in all places is the way of works, works, and
it always will end in death. I was reading last week, I believe
it was, or two weeks ago, maybe a chapter in the book The Doctrines
of Grace by a pastor, Presbyterian preacher of days gone by, by
the name of Bishop. Very scholarly man. And he told
in one chapter, the chapter that I read about visiting in Egypt. And reading a manuscript that
was written 4,000 years ago, this is probably early in the
20th century, 4,000 years before that, Ramses II was a pharaoh
at that time. And he said that this man, the
way to make a person right with God, he need make himself right. He needs to make himself right.
In other words, the way of works, the way which seems right unto
man. But it is the way that ends in
death. And he went on to say that's
what Confucius taught. That's what Socrates taught. That's what human philosophy
always teaches. There's only two religions in
this world, remember that. One is works religion, and one
is grace. That's it, there are no others.
The works religion may go under a number of different names,
but still it all comes down to the same. A man makes himself
right with God. by his ethics, by his morality,
by whatever rules and regulations he may come up with. And then
there's a way of grace, a way that tells us that it's all in
Christ. It's all in Christ. This way
we see ended in death. The oxen stumbled. The oxen stumbled,
and Ezra put forth his hand to hold the ark. And the anger of
the Lord was kindled against him, and he died before the Lord. You say, what was his sin? What
was his sin? His sin was, my friends, unbelief
and presumption, as though God needed his help. God doesn't need my help, and
he doesn't need your help. As though God needed his help,
he would stay, he would support. You know, I remember years ago
reading about a saint called Saint Damien,
Damien, Saint Damien. This is one of the saints on
the calendar, the Roman Catholic Church's calendar, for years.
You can still look it up. But the miracle that they ascribed
to this particular saint, someone cut his head off and he picked
up his head and ran for 50, 100 feet. And I like what Charles
Spurgeon said about that. He said, if I could just make
myself believe he took the first step, I wouldn't have any trouble
believing he ran the other steps. And isn't that what religion
tells men today? You take the first step, God
will take the second. That's what has been taught for
so long in our country. It's a religion of works, very
subtle, very subtle, that's true. but it is a religion of works. You do your part, God'll do his
part. No, salvation is all by grace,
pure, unmerited, free, sovereign grace. For by grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. Faith isn't of yourself. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. So this touch here in the Old
Testament ended in death. Now I want you to look with me
in the New Testament. I want you to turn with me to
Matthew, if you will. Matthew chapter 9. And we want to look at this touch
that resulted in deliverance. Matthew chapter 9 and verse 20
through 22. Matthew 9 verse 20, and behold,
a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood 12 years came
behind him and touched the hem of his garment. For she said
within herself, if I may but touch his garment, I shall be
whole. But Jesus turned him about and
when he saw her, he said, daughter, be of good comfort, Thy faith
hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole
from that hour. Now, I told you I had three things
I tried to point out to us from that touch of death. Now, here's
three things I want to point out to us about this touch that
ended in deliverance. First of all, we see Jesus. That's the first thing. We see
Jesus. The ark of the Lord, that Old Testament type. Our picture
that we read about and I've spoke about, now we don't have him
in type, here he is in person. The Lord Jesus Christ. The type
has been fulfilled. He's come. He's come. He who is both God and man is
here in the flesh. I could not help but think of
the words of Philip. was found of the Lord, or found
the Lord, and then he found his brother Nathanael. And this is
what he said. I looked this up in John chapter
one. Philip goes and he finds his
brother Nathanael, and he says this to Nathanael. He says, we
have found him. I just hear and feel the excitement
in that, don't you? We have found him, him. of whom
Moses and the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth. And then you remember Nathanael's
response. He said, can any good thing come
out of Nazareth? Evidently, Nazareth had a bad
reputation. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Well, Philip didn't stay to argue
with him. He just said, come and see. Come with me, come and
see. And when Nathanael came to the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord spoke to him, now this is that
man who just before had said, can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? Now we hear him saying, rabbi,
master, master, thou art the son of God, the king of Israel. We see Jesus, first of all. We
see Him, who is both God and man. And did you notice here
in this text, we read here in Matthew chapter 9, verse 19,
it said, And Jesus arose. Now I know it was a custom for
the teacher, different from our day, I'm standing and you're
sitting, But in that day, the instructor, he said, and the
people stood. And so Jairus, this ruler of
a synagogue, had come asking the Lord to come and help him
because his daughter was at the point of death. And we read,
and Jesus arose. One of the last prophecies in
the Old Testament It's found in Malachi chapter
four and verse two. It says, shall the son of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings. Now I know Jesus arose, he stood
up, but I could not help but think of that prophecy. Concerning
him, shall the son, S-U-N, the son of righteousness arise with
healing in his wings. And I say, first of all, of these
three things I want to point out, the first thing we see,
we see Jesus. And may the Lord help all of
us to see Jesus as this woman saw him. There was a number of people
that day who saw Jesus. With these physical eyes, they
saw him. But my prayer is for myself and
for you, for all of us, is that by the grace of God, we might
see Jesus as this woman saw him. And here's the second thing I
would say. We see a needy person. When we see this woman, we see
a needy person. Let me just remind us of a few
things about this woman's need. Her need, we are told, resulted
from an issue of blood. And that meant that she was prohibited
by the law of Moses. She was under a curse. She was
prohibited from coming into the sanctuary of the Lord. We're
living right now at a time when we're not able to assemble. And
just today, someone told me texted me and told me that this is something
that their son says every Sunday since this has happened. I wish
we could go to church today. I wish we could go to church
today. I do too. I wish we could gather together
today. This woman, she couldn't come into the sanctuary of the
Lord because of her need, because she had a need which was an issue
of love. And something else about her
need, she'd had this for a long time. It wasn't something that
just happened, this was something that for 12 years she had suffered. And something else that Luke
tells us, now Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they all record this,
this touch, they all record it, and all of us tell her something
somewhat more. But Luke tells us this about
her need. She'd spent all her money. She'd
spent all her money on worthless physicians, physicians of no
value. And then in Mark chapter five
and verse 26, he tells us this about her need. She was only
getting worse. She was getting worse day by
day, month by month, year by year. Her condition was only
getting worse. And then here's the third thing
I want you to see. Her touch was a touch of faith. I said, I pray that all of us
may be able to see Christ as this woman saw him. She saw him,
first of all, as someone with great need. with great need. We all have a great need because
of our sin. But she touched him. Here's the
third thing. She touched him with the touch
of faith. You say, how do you know that?
Because that's what our Lord said here. Notice in verse 22. But Jesus turned him about, and
when he saw her, he said, daughter, be of good comfort. Now notice,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Be of comfort, be of good comfort,
thy faith hath made me whole. Now I want you to turn to one
other passage. I want you to look over in the
next gospel, Mark chapter 5. And this is the same incident,
this woman touching him for deliverance. But I must point this out to
us. Mark chapter 5, let's begin in
verse 25. And a certain woman, Mark 5 and
verse 25, a certain woman which had an issue of blood twelve
years, and had suffered many things of many physicians, and
had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather
grew worse, when she had heard of Jesus, faith cometh by hearing,
doesn't it? Hearing by the word of God. When
she heard of Jesus, came in the press behind him and touched
his garment. For she said, if I may touch
but his clothes, I shall be made whole. And straightway, straightway,
immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up. And she felt
in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus immediately
knowing in himself, now watch this, that virtue had gone out
of him. You see, the virtue for her deliverance
wasn't in the clothes he had on. The virtue for her healing
was not even in her faith. The virtue, the power for her
deliverance was in Him, in Christ. The touch resulting in her deliverance
was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver her. Salvation is
of the Lord. It's not our faith. It's not
our repentance. Both are important, but it's
not our faith that saves. It's not our repentance. There's only one who paid sin's
debt, and that's Christ. There's only one who brought
in that everlasting righteousness, and that's Christ. Touch Him. Touch Him by faith. Reach out
and touch the Lord as He passes by. You'll find He's not too
busy to hear your hearts cry. He's passing by this moment your
need to supply. How do you touch Him? Touch Him
by faith. You look to Christ, just like
this woman did. Thy faith hath made thee whole. This afternoon, before I came
back for this service tonight, for some reason, I began to think
about a story that I read many years ago now. And Charles Spurgeon
is the one who told this story. It was about a man who applied
for baptism and membership in a local church. And so he was
to meet with the elders or the deacons, and they asked him to
give them his testimony. And he said, I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. Oh, they said, but give us your
creed. Jesus Christ is my all in all. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. Jesus Christ is my all in all. Well, they thought, we better
hold off on this. And so they put him off for several
months, maybe, and he applied again. And so they asked him
again to give his testimony. And his testimony was still,
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. Jesus Christ is my all
and all. And I thought about that story
and I thought to myself, what a good way, what a good way to
begin a person's Christian life, Christian experience in this
world with that truth. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. Jesus Christ is my all and all. And then I thought, not only
is that a good way to begin, that's a good way to end. That's
a good way to end. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. Jesus Christ is my all and all. That's my testimony. I trust
it's yours. I pray God to bless the message
tonight, a touch that ended in death and a touch that ended
in deliverance. Kevin's going to come now and
he's going to sing Sweet Hour of Prayer, number 361 in the
hymn book, number 361, Sweet Hour of Prayer. And when he finishes
singing this hymn, he's going to sing one verse of that God
be with you till we meet again. And we will be dismissed with
that hymn. God be with you till we meet
again. But let's sing out on this hymn, Sweet Hour of Prayer,
number 361.