We have two passages of scripture I want to invite you to. The first would be 2 Samuel 6. And then if you'd like to use your bulletin for a page marker, you can also turn to 1 Chronicles 13. 2 Samuel 6, 1 Chronicles 13. We do not have it on the PowerPoint, but I am going to have you read some portion of Scripture with me this morning. It will be taken from 2 Samuel 6. The title of the message this morning is God's Will, God's Work, God's way. 2 Samuel chapter 6. Would you stand with me, having your Bible open there? And I will read. If you have the KJV translation, you can read out loud with me. Otherwise, you're going to be hitting and missing the word so it will not be on the PowerPoint but allow me to read and if you have it please read out loud with me 2 Samuel chapter 6 and we read again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel 30,000 And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baal of Judah to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, draved the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of firwood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on coronets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Anakon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and he took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error. And there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Per-Uzzah to this day." And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? And so David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David. But David carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom of Gittai. And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. Let's pray. Our Father, we come today to an unusual passage of Scripture, maybe to some here that have never heard it or read it. And yet at the same time, we see there things that are true for our day, principles that we can take from the Word. And we read, as David chose a new cart, he chose a new method. It was not the method that you had chosen, and as a result of that, Uzzah put forth his hand. and He dishonored that which you had called holy." Lord, we live in a day in which there are many methods that are tried by many churches, and yet I wonder how many have put forth their hand to that which is holy and dishonored you. And so, Lord, I pray today as we open Your Word as a congregation and as a church that we'll be reminded that Your work is deserving to be done your way because it's your will. And Lord, we would desire to do that not only as a congregation, but as individual believers. And so, Lord, may we take from the Word today truths that will shape our thoughts, that will chart the course for our lives, that will be a compass to keep us on the path of your perfect will, we pray. We ask all this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. You can be seated. It's been several years, probably about 11 years since I have looked at this portion of Scripture with you as a congregation. But I wanted to remind you today, we're at the beginning of Missions Conference, and it's possible, even for a church like Hillsdale, to get into a tradition. We do things. Why do you do that? Well, it's what we always have done. and tradition becomes a law unto itself When we do that without principles, we end up easily being charted off course If we don't go back, look at the Bible, and do a course correction if necessary to make sure we're doing things God's way and following His will. I wanted to give you an introduction today for this church, once again, just to be reminded of why we do what we do. I used to preach that to the teenagers as a youth pastor. Every year I would come to September and I would take about two weeks and I would teach why we do what we do. I would give Bible and verse for what we do. Have you ever, as a parent, had a teenager challenge you and they want to do something and then you say, no, you're not going to do that. The teenager says, why? Then you're left coming up with, why? I don't know why, but I just don't want you to do it. And so the teenager says again, but why? And that kind of thing just drives you crazy, doesn't it, you know? Because I said so. Well, that will last until they are adults. And now they're going to make their own decisions. So I wanted to start off today, not going chapter and verse. We'll dive into that in a moment. But I wanted to make about five statements. And the first is this, and it's actually in the bulletin today, that I believe that Hillsdale's philosophy of ministry is timeless, not trendy. You can look for any kind of church throughout Tampa Bay, and everybody's got their flavor, right? And so when people go looking for a church, they act like they're looking for a restaurant. And then you decide, well, I'm going to go for the buffet. Now, why the buffet? Well, because everybody can have what they want. And I'm afraid that American, quote, Christianity has become a buffet. Everybody can choose what they want. And it seems so few people ask, but what does the Lord want? And what is His will and what is His plan? Now, let me make a statement that is a statement of the obvious. Our preaching here at Hillsdale runs counter to culture and popular trends. I have gotten flagged on more than one occasion recently on Twitter and Facebook and YouTube for teaching things that are biblical, and probably 20 years ago, no one would have ever questioned it. Well, now it's become politically incorrect. Well, welcome to a politically incorrect, unwoke church. You're here today, and I appreciate you being here. Let me give you another. Our purpose is biblical. We still preach, we still pray, we are still reverent, and we still sing hymns. Most churches have abandoned the hymn book. They have gone to 7-Eleven. And you say, well, what is 7-11? It's a seven-word phrase that's repeated 11 times until the church goes, ah, and they go into a trance. You've been in those churches. Seven words, repeated 11 times. And all that is doing is engendering an emotional response. And nobody even bothers to say, but are these biblical words? Are these truths? Let me state for you this morning that our purpose as a church is to glorify God and not entertain the masses. You can go to a football game and be entertained. You can go to a circus and be entertained. In fact, you can sit at home and be entertained. But the coming together of a body of believers to worship the Lord is not only commanded to forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, but it is essential. This thought of glorifying the Lord, let me give you two verses, Colossians 3 verse 23, and whatsoever you do, do it heartedly as to the Lord and not unto men. So as a pastor, we have to ask the question, Is it my desire to please people or is it my desire to glorify God? Another verse that goes with it, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 31, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And so we came to church today. We call it come to church, but technically when we come, we are the church. When you're not here, this is a empty building. So it's where Hillsdale Church comes, but it's just a hollow building without the presence of the believers. But when we come, our desire is that we would glorify the Lord. And then another thought that goes with that, Our focus is to preach the gospel to the world. It is the Great Commission. But it's more than preaching the gospel. A lot of churches get on the subject of the only thing that they ever teach is the gospel. And so Sunday after Sunday and year after year, the congregation never grows spiritually because all they're focused on is the infant formula of biblical Christianity. Well, according to Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19 and 20, we are to be busy as a church body about going, going to our neighbor, going to our friends, going to our family. We are to be busy about supporting those missionaries who do go, whom God has called. I was looking at the Steinbart's card and they're sending churches in Indiana. They have been over in Kenya. They're far from family. They're far from their sending church. But they are where God has called them. But they can't be there unless people like us as a church body, unless we support them. And in the going, we're given two things that we're to do. One is we're to teach. And so I'm going to read Matthew 28, 19. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Now, the idea there is one of evangelism. And then the baptizing is the one of identification with. You know, one thing I've learned, even at Hillsdale in recent years, it's possible for some of you to raise your children at Hillsdale, and they've grown all the way up, and they've gone all the way up, and they've gone to Sunday school, and they've gone to vacation mom and school, and yet they've never even been baptized. Well, as a mom, as a dad, it's your job, your calling, your first-line responsibility to make sure that your children know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. It's a wonderful thing to bring them to a church where they're taught, but it's another for you as a mom and as a dad to be guiding those children to Christ. And then to make sure that they understand baptism is identifying with the death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, in this verse here, Verse 20, teaching them to observe all things. This is a church that we strive to teach Genesis to Revelation. We're not a church that says, well, we're going to take the New Testament. We're not going to worry about the Old Testament. But taking the New Testament without the Old Testament is like building a building without a foundation. Eventually it will fall. And so we're to be busy about going, teaching, baptizing, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever the Lord has commanded. And so I wanted to bring us back to that thought today. And then I have one more statement and we'll dive into the message. Our ministry is not fashioned by polls or surveys. because we have a high view of God. Do you know modern church planters, the first thing that they do, not our kind of church planters, but when people are going in and they're planting a church, one of the new churches that doesn't know its doctrine and it doesn't have the name of the church, it's a community church or whatever church it might be, you know one of the first things that those churches do is they have a survey of the community. And you know what they do? They ask the community, what kind of church would you have us be? That is a truth. That is exactly what modern-day church planning looks like. You tell us what you want, and we'll design your church for you. But we don't want to be that kind of church. We want to be a church that has a high view of who God is. and that He is a holy God, that He is an omniscient God who knows all things, and He is a God who is sovereign. And I pray as a church family that it will be your passion that you will never allow this church to go off course. Do you know that you can lose your church sitting in the pew? In fact, some of you have, haven't you? You're here. Because while you were sitting in the pew, your church went off. A different way. And you sit there and you wonder what happened. And the answer is. They changed course. I urge you. To let the word of God. be your course. Now, with that said, there's a purpose in it. You have your Bible and open it to 2 Samuel chapter 6. We're continuing our chronological study of God's word, and I have 32 minutes, so here we go. We're gonna dive into the 16-foot end of the pool, and hopefully you can bring your head up to the surface before we're done here today. As we come to 2 Samuel 6, David is king of all Israel. For seven and a half years, At 30 years of age, he was crowned the king of Judah. At 37 and a half years of age, he was crowned the king of all Israel. As he became the king, he was challenged by enemies of Israel, particularly the Philistines. The Philistines have been the old nemesis of Israel throughout the 12 tribes era in the province land. Well, God then gave David a season of peace. The wars were over. The Jebusites who had been the citizens of Jerusalem had been driven out. David had made Jerusalem his capital. And you notice in our scripture reading today, it is already known as the city of David. Well, the Philistines twice attacked David, and he and Israel drove them out of the land. I have a verse for you, and you've already read it today. 2 Samuel chapter 6, and I want you to notice that as David experienced a quietness in his kingdom, the heart of the king turned to the Lord, and it was to worship and serve the Lord. In 2 Samuel then, chapter 6 and verse 2 we read, "...and David arose, and he went with all the people that were with him from Baal of Judah to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubims." The celebration was national. There was an excitement in the air. In fact, the Bible describes David as dancing in front of the ark as it's being carried on this cart that he had fashioned for it. But we've already seen in our reading of the Scriptures, as he neared the place that it was going to stay for the night, suddenly the ark began to topple. And a young man, seeing that it may fall from the cart, he reached up to push the ark back with his hand. And immediately, God struck him dead. You have your Bible. Let me tell you a little bit about the Ark this morning. First of all, what was the Ark of God? It's also known as the Ark of the Covenant. Some other places, it's known as the Ark of the Lord. What was that Ark, and why is it significant? Now, I'm not going to be able to read all the verses because of the time, but let me give you a few things. Now, this Ark was the principal piece of furniture in the tabernacle in fact it was beyond the outer corridor of the tabernacle the ark was actually in a place that was known as what the holy of holies it was the holy place only the high priest dare go in to the holy of holies and that was only once a year And so as we come to this passage of scripture, let me tell you a little bit about the ark itself. It was essentially a wooden box. that was overlaid with gold. Now, if I had time to read it this morning, Exodus 25 and verse 10 and 11, you can see the description of it. Essentially, the ark was about two feet wide. It was four feet long, rectangular, and it was two feet deep. That was the ark. Now, the ark had a covering. that was known as the mercy seat. In fact, you read in Exodus 25 verse 17, And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. Now, I'm going to come back to that. On the mercy seat there were what? Two cherubim. Now, the two cherubim were also made of gold, and they faced one another. The wings of the cherubim reached out one toward the other, Exodus 25 and verse 20. Now, inside this box, this ark overlaid with gold, were the contents that would remind Israel forever that the Lord had been with them. In fact, you read in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 4, which had the censer and the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna. Now, what was the manna a reminder of? That God supplied the needs of his people in the wilderness. There was also the rod of Aaron that was there that budded. And then there was finally the tables of the covenant. What were they? the commandments. And so inside this ark were those things that represented not only God's authority, but God's love and God's care for Israel as a people. And then we come to another thing that is prominent here. Now we know it was located in the Holy of Holies, but I wanted to show you what the Bible said about how they were to carry the ark The covenant let me read it to you Exodus 25 and verse 12 and thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it the ark and put them in the four corners thereof and two rings shall be on one side of it two rings on the other and thou shalt make Staves and that is rods of Shittam would overlay them with gold verse 14 and thou shalt put the rods the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark that the ark may be born with them and so how was this ark to be transported? The answer is it was to be carried by rods of gold on the shoulders of the priests. There was no other way it was to be transported. That was God's law. That was God's command. No other way would satisfy God's will. And then on the outline, the presence of God. What did that Ark of the Covenant, Ark of the Lord, what did it represent? In the midst of the angels, the cherubim, that were on the mercy seat, the covering of the Ark, was represented God's presence. and God's heavenly throne on the earth. Let me read to you. You have your Bible, you can look. Exodus 25, verse 21 and 22. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony, the covenant, the commandments that I shall give thee. Verse 22. And there, between the cherubim on this ark, there will I meet with thee. I will commune with thee above the mercy sea from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things. which I give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. And so that is the ark. I wanted you to grasp that today. The ark of the covenant, the ark of the Lord, the ark of God, this golden overlaid box with cherubim on the top and the mercy seat that was there represented God's presence in Israel. It was sanctified. It was a holy object. It was an object that would not have been seen by common men. It was the place that represented to Israel God's presence in the midst of that nation. Now, a thought that goes with that, the significance of the art. Now, I don't have time to teach this, but I'm going to tell you a quick story. You might remember the sons of Eli. Do you remember Eli, the judge? He was really, in many ways, kind of like the final judge of Israel, even though Samuel, the prophet, arguably could have been noted as that as well. But Samuel had wicked sons. Those sons had taken the ark that I have described and taken it to the battlefield against the Philistines. The battle went wrong. for Israel. As a result, the ark was captured by the Philistines, and you might remember that they themselves then carried the ark back to their temple. They placed it inside the temple beside their God, and they rejoiced over the fact that Israel was defeated. But not only Israel, but Israel's God had been defeated. Well, you know the story goes that in the night, And Israel's God decided to knock over and crush the God of the Philistines. And so the Philistines got up the next day and they said, we've got to get this thing out of here. Somebody needs to take it back to Israel before we all die. And so the Philistines made a new cart. They put the ark on that new cart. They put, pulling that cart, two milk cows with calves. Now, the calves, they separated from the mother cows, and they set this cart toward Israel. And the Philistines said, let's watch the two mother cows. If it is the God of Israel, then he will drive those cows back to Israel rather than the instinct of the mother cows would have been what? To be with their calves. And so the Philistines watched as these two cows, these two mother cows departed, leaving behind their calves, pulling that ark all the way back to Israel. Well, when it arrived, there was a celebration of, look, the Ark of the Covenant is back. But in the process of the celebration, Samir decided to lift the mercy seat and to look to see what was inside. 50,700 men were slain that day. Why? Because they had dishonored God's holiness. The Ark represented God's presence in Israel. And they had treated it as though it was merely a piece of furniture, an object of curiosity. And God's judgment was swift. on your outline. David, 75 years later now. 75 years, Israel has been without the ark. It was taken to another place and it was left there. And for 75 years, Israel turned its heart to serve idols. But David is now king, a man after God's heart. And with the peace of Israel now, David decided, I'm going to bring the ark to Jerusalem. On the outline, let me fill it in a little bit. First of all, we have here David's first attempt. There are two attempts. I've already read to you 2 Samuel 6, verse 2, the wonderful celebration, the agreement, the unified purpose that the ark of our God will be brought to Jerusalem. I want to give you some thoughts about David. First of all, I want you to consider David's faithfulness. This was a good thing that David had done. Now, first of all, consider it was his duty to be the spiritual leader of Israel, not just as a king, but really as a spiritual example to his people. And so he set his heart to bring back that which had been neglected for 75 years. In fact, I'm going to read a little bit. You have your Bible there in 1 Chronicles 13. I would invite you to turn there. In 1 Chronicles 13, we read, and David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, with every teacher. David said unto all the congregation of Israel, let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we inquire not at it in the days of Saul. So basically, in verse 1, David took a pole. He consulted. Let's get together on this. This is a good thing. Do we all agree? This is a good thing. And they all unanimously said, this is a right thing to do. But then I want you to consider David's devotion. 1 Chronicles 13 and verse 4. And all the congregations said that they would do so for the thing was right. in the eyes of all the people. First Chronicles 13 and verse 8, and David and all Israel played before God with all their might and with singing and with harps and psalteries, timbrels and cymbals and with trumpets. So this is a wonderful moment of a public statement of devotion to God. But that brings us to David's failure. Here's a thought for you today in David's failure, and that is that right motive, wrong method. Right motive, wrong method. I'm going to invite you to consider, first of all, that David violated God's law in how the ark was transported. All right? So we're not questioning his motive. It was the right motive. Bring the ark. It represents God's presence in Israel. David says, I long for the presence of God to be near me. And so we've got the right motive, but the problem was the method. Now, 2 Samuel 6, you have your Bible there, and I'd invite you to look. Oh, it's up on the PowerPoint. In verse 3. And they, that is David and all the others, set the ark of God upon a new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah and Uzzah and Ahio. The sons of Abinadab draved the new cart. Now here's the question. Where did they get the idea about a cart? Remember the Philistines, right? What did the Philistines do? They made a cart to take the ark of the Lord back to Israel. And so David says, well, you know, somehow we've got to transport the ark to Jerusalem. And somebody must have said, I've got an idea. Why don't we make a new cart?" And somebody else said, sounds good to me. Well, let's take a vote. They took a vote. We're going to make a new cart to bring the ark to Jerusalem. Here's the question. Was the motive good? Yes. But he's soon going to find out the method was what? It was absolutely wrong. Here's a lesson for you. This is practical today. The lesson is this, the danger of using worldly methods to do God's work. Do you realize that in taking this poll among the people, and they all said, sounds good to me, that we have no evidence that David ever consulted with the Scriptures. He never even consulted with the Lord in prayer from what we can tell. So he made the decision, which was a right one, to bring the ark to Jerusalem. But he made that decision without consulting God's Word and God's plan. 1 Chronicles 13 and verse four, all the congregations said that they would do so for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. Here's another lesson, may not be on the PowerPoint. What pleases people does not always please God. I've been amazed over the years, and I've been in ministry a long time now, and I've watched churches lose their way. They go off course. They become something they never were. And as a result of that, they start losing their families. They start losing their children. The church itself begins to either diminish, implode, or maybe it explodes because they are trying something new. But you need to know that what pleases the people is not always what pleases the Lord. You see, church, quotes, is not a buffet. God has a plan and God has a purpose. And you as a congregation ought to always be testing, is this God's way? Not is this good, but is this God's way? Here's another thought for your outline. I know I'm throwing a lot of principles at you, but I hope they'll resonate in your heart. Wrong is wrong regardless of one's sincerity. You know, today, you'll hear people's, somebody does something just absolutely foolish. And you'll hear a parent will say, but they were sincere. Do you know it's possible to be sincerely wrong? Now, poor Uzzah, he's gonna find out the hard way. Let me give you a thought. You have your Bible again. 1 Chronicles 13 and verse 7. And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab. And you've already read that about draving the cart. And then we come to verse 9. And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, I believe it would be, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark, for the oxen stumbled. the ark, this representation of God's throne, this representation of the testimony of God's presence in Israel, it's going to fall off the cart. And so it was a spontaneous moment, right? To steal it. It's kind of like if you ever have something, you're getting something, and you start to drop it, and the first thing you do is what? You stress out, and you reach for it, and you grab it, and then you go, whew, or you break it, and you think, as a husband, she's gonna kill me when she gets home. It's gonna be ugly. This thing with the cart, we understand. He was trying to do a good thing. The problem was it was built upon a wrong thing. Another verse, I'm going to take it down a little bit further, verse 10. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzziah and he smote him because he put his hand to the ark and there he died before God. It wasn't his fault that the oxen stumbled. But in touching that which God had sanctified, he dishonored God's holiness. And God struck him dead. Let me say this to you this morning. The characteristic of our generation is that we seem to have lost any concept of God's holiness. We seem to have forgotten that God is omniscient. He knows your thoughts. He knows your heart. He knows your ways. He knows your motives. He is constantly testing our hearts. Notice, if you would, also, not only the Lord was, anger of the Lord was kindled, 2 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 7, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Oslo, and God's swooning there for his error. The error there is sin, but it's his irreverence. One of the things that we desire as a pastor and as a staff to do is that there is a sense of reverence to our worship here. We often refer to the steps here as the altar, but we understand this is not an altar, but it can be a meeting place. I don't like to see children running across the platform up here, or running up and down, because my parents taught me to show reverence when I was in the place where God's people worship. We ought to be instilling in our children, not that any of these objects here are holy objects, but this is a holy place when we come. is a congregation and worship. Let me give you another thought to go on your outline there is my time is almost gone. David's faithfulness, David's failure. Notice David's frustration. And that is he failed to respect God's holiness. I think I may have left off wrong, regardless of one's sincerity. Now moving on, David's frustration, he failed to respect God's holiness. I'm going to give you the verse, verse 11 and 12. David reacted with anger against the Lord. First Chronicles 13, 11, and David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, wherefore that place is called Perez-Uzzah. to this day, and then verse 12, and David was afraid of God that day, saying, how shall I bring the ark of God home to me? I find it interesting looking at the response there. In verse 11, David is angry. Who's he angry with? What are you doing? He's angry with the Lord. His anger is with the Lord because the Lord struck Uzzah dead. Here's a principle for you. God's work must be done His way to enjoy His blessings. God's work must be done His way to enjoy His blessings. The act of Uzzah, though it might have been innocent, was nevertheless a defiance of the holiness of God. Here's a quote for you as we near the end of our outline here. It is this having the right motives and the people's affirmation does not justify methodologies that detract from God's holiness and depart from his instructions. Let me read it again. Having the right motives. And the people's affirmation, their applause, does not justify methodologies that detract from God's holiness and depart from his instructions. Let me make a modern-day example. There's something wrong with a church body when it paints all the walls inside the building black. has strobe lights set up that are shooting back and forth, back and forth. None of that is an appeal of the holiness or a reverence or a holy God. I realize it's the popular movement, but let me say this to you. It is wrong. I make no apology for it. They can have thousands and thousands. But often the majority of the people are always going to be wrong. Very few people are really searching the scriptures to get a sense of God's heart. But pastor, they're sincere. They're excited. About what though? Does the music reflect the holy character of God? Are the words of the songs that they sing biblical truths? Or is it more an exercise in entertainment than it is in worship? Let me give you, finally, the last point on our outline, number three. I want you to see David's response to God's judgment. Now, I've already talked about it. First of all, he was furious. We read, and David was displeased. Literally, he burned with anger. You see, choices have consequences, don't they? And then we notice, too, that David was fearful. We read, he was afraid. of the Lord. It's amazing how fast the current spiritually changed, isn't it? Excitement, music playing, dancing, exciting, and all of a sudden it comes to a screeching halt because God is holy. I've seen pictures of young people and megachurches with their bands playing, the strobe lights going, and the kids jumping up and down and dancing all over the auditorium. Let me tell you, that has absolutely nothing to do with the God of the scriptures. Nothing to do with that. And then if you would, not only that was David furious and David was fearful, but I also want you to know that David was frustrated. And so in verse nine, he says, how shall the ark of the Lord come to me? Now that would have been the right question to ask in the beginning, right? David went to the men and thousands of them, they all said, yes, we should bring the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. And David should have said, and how Lord would you have us to do that? But see, he did like we do. When it goes badly, then we ask the question that we should have asked in the beginning. In the beginning, he should have asked the question, how shall the ark of the Lord come to me? And I want to finish up with this. It's interesting. First Chronicles chapter 13 and verse 13, David said, that's enough for today. And he sent the ark to a place, a man's home, named Obed-Edom. Obed of Edom, it would be better said. And we read in 1 Chronicles 13, verse 14, these words. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. I love this. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had. Shelah has up here 2 Samuel 6 and verse 12. And it was told King David, David's in Jerusalem, right? The ark is down there with Obed-Edom. And he gets this news, the Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertains unto him because of the ark of God. And so David went, he brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness. When he heard how God was blessing David said, what? We're gonna go and get the ark, but this time we're gonna do it the right way. And so this ark, and I don't have time to tell you, come back on Wednesday and I'll finish the story. But the priests are carrying the ark on their shoulders, the poles, and they walk into Jerusalem and this great celebration. David has prepared a tabernacle, a temporary dwelling where the ark would stay until Solomon is king. And the celebration breaks out. Now, the rest of the story is, when he got home that day, he had a very unhappy wife. And you're wondering why. And I would say, come back for the rest of the story on Wednesday. I'm going to close with four things, and this is the end of the day. Here we go. The first, violating God's precepts, regardless of one's motive, is unacceptable to God. Thou shalt not touch any holy thing lest they die. It's never right to do wrong to get a chance to do right. It's never right to do wrong. Here's another that goes with that. Letter B. Treating as common what God has declared holy invites his judgment. When we come as a body of believers to worship the Lord, here's a question. Is this a holy time? Is it a time of reverence? Is it a time of worship, a time of prayer? Is it a time of fellowship? Very conscious of whether or not we're honoring the Lord. I thought of Luke 12 verse 48, unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required. I wish I had time to tell you the story. Did you know that Uzzah, the young man that touched the ark, was very familiar with that object? He had actually lived in the home where it had been kept and stored. You see, we can be around sacred things so much that we take it for granted. And it could be possible that those two boys, Ohio in the front and us at the side, have been around the sacred thing so much that it was no longer sacred to them. You see, as parents, we have to teach our children to honor the Lord first. If they grow up in a church like Hillsdale. They will not appreciate Hillsdale. Perhaps until they are gone. We pray that they'll come back one day and value it. Thirdly, on your outline. God's work must be done God's way to enjoy his blessings. Pragmatism is the standard today, right? If it works, what? Do it. But the culture doesn't ask, is it right? You know, as a pastor, as deacons, as Sunday school teachers, as leaders, we ought to be always asking the question, not only how do we do it, but is this right, what we're doing? And fourthly, and I gotta close, God deserves and demands our utmost reverence. You agree with that? There are a lot of new carts in our society today. I would suggest to you that contemporary rock music in churches is a new cart. There's never been anything like what we're watching in churches today. Some churches are bigger than they've ever been. But listen, listen. But it doesn't mean that they're right. And just because we're sitting here today and we've got our Bible and you've listened to a loud mouth preacher. But you have a responsibility of weighing God's word. and examining those things that I have said today, are they true? You see, in order to have discernment, you have to have a knowledge of God's word, and you have to have a knowledge of God. Without that, you can sit in the pew, and one day you'll wonder, what happened to Hillsdale? People will be asking that. You know what some would have to say? I don't know, I just sat there and I watched until there was no church. Oh, there can be a church and you can number in the thousands, but popularity has never been God's test of what's right and what's wrong.