at when good intentions are not enough. When good intentions are not enough. Obviously, as you survey the church landscape, you can take note very quickly that much of church is driven by tradition, much of church is driven by habits, and a lot of churches are driven simply because of cultural preferences. not necessarily by scripture. We hear things like this when we begin to talk about the way in which church should flow or leadership should flow or different things like that. We'll hear things like, well, it just feels right to do it that way. Or we'll hear slogans like, well, we've always done it this way. That's the famous one in South Mississippi, amen? And little by little, not necessarily intentionally, but little by little, what happens is that reverence gets replaced with routine. Reverence gets replaced with routine. Emotion begins to take the place of obedience. And before long, the church begins to handle the holy things of God in unholy ways, all with good intention. But God is not honored merely by what feels sincere. He is honored by what is true. Many have allowed the reverence for God's Word to fade. The fear of God has been softened, and worship now is more casual, entertainment-driven, man-centered. And we show up to church like we are the ones waiting for somebody to put on a show so that I can leave saying, it felt good today. We talk about God's love and grace, but we rarely mention His holiness. And the tragedy is this little phrase, many people actually do mean well. They want to worship. They want to serve the Lord. They want to see the church grow. They want to see the church flow well. But like Uzzah in this account we read, many forgot that God does not accept worship on man's terms, only on his terms. Uzzah's story is not just about a moment of poor judgment. It's about what happens When reverence for God's word is replaced with assumption of man. When obedience is replaced in the name of efficiency, that's what tends to happen. When good intentions are elevated above God's clear instructions. Today we see in First Chronicles 13, a very sobering account in the life of Israel. And we're not necessarily using this chapter to critique Uzzah, but more so that God would examine our own hearts. Asking questions maybe like this today, have we forgotten about the holiness of God? Have we approached him just casually? Have we done things our way, assuming that it pleases God? God is not a God who can be molded into our preference. He's holy. and His holiness demands that His creatures approach Him in the way in which He's commanded. So, in saying all of that, we wanna observe a few headings in chapter 13 of 1 Chronicles. The first heading I would like for you to note with me is verses one to four. Simply this, a desire for God's presence, a desire for God's presence. Verses one to four. Consider again the text. Verse one. Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and hundreds. even with every leader. And David said to all the assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you, and if it is from the Lord our God, then let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in the land of Israel, also to the priest and the Levites who are with them in the cities of the pasture land, that they may meet with us. And why? Verse three, that they let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. And did the congregation agree? Verse four, yes. Let's do it, David, that sounds great. And so, the first thing we see this morning is a desire for God's presence, verses one to four. Now, to understand chapter 13, I need to help bring us up to steam. And I want to do that just by surveying just briefly a little history regarding this bringing the art back. You need to go back to the days when Eli was preached. Israel, you could say, had grown careless to the things of God in the days of Eli. The Ark of the Covenant, the very, the very dwelling place of God on earth had sort of become a lucky charm for Israel, not a respected holy place, but just a lucky charm. In other words, if we've got this with us, everything's odd. Not that they love God, not that they revered God, not that they deemed him holy or his presence holy, but that the fact, the only reason they wanted the ark near them is just so it would bring them good luck. Good luck. See, that's a lot of people who really say they won't God, but they don't want nothing to do with God. They just hope he'll give them something good. So when the Philistines threatened Israel in battle during the days of Eli, the Israelites would bring the Ark into the camp and they thought that just because the Ark showed up, we're guaranteed victory guys. But can I say something to you very seriously today? God will not be treated in such a way. Israel was defeated and the Ark was captured. The Philistines then paraded the prize that they had acquired, placing the Ark in the temple of their God, Dagon. But soon, one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament, if you remember when they sent the Ark of the Covenant in there, that Dagon, the statue, they came in finally one day and his hands were chopped off and his head was chopped off and he was laying face down on the floor. I'd have tucked tail and run too, amen? But not only that, because the presence of the Ark of God was in the people, in the land of Philistines, you might remember as well that the people broke out with tumors, They broke out and death was following them everywhere that ark went. It lasted seven months. And it terrified them so bad that they put that ark on a cart with cows and basically slapped them and said, get out of here with that thing. Let it go, get rid of it. And the ark ended up in the house of Abinadab, in that place we read of Karathiaim. And there it sat for 20 years. forgotten, neglected, began to collect dust. And see, as we're approaching the 125 years, you see, churches can go through that same moment in their own existence. We celebrate 125 years. Praise God that he's allowed the church to be here. But it is a sobering reminder for the people of God never to let your guard down. Don't set God in a windowsill and allow it to collect dust just because you've got a building and air conditioner to keep you comfortable. 20 years it sit there. And David said, we need to restore worship. We need to restore worship. He wanted the presence of God back at the center of the nation. So he gathered 30,000 men, musicians. Brother John, can you imagine that? Musicians and singers and leaders. The praise team and the soloists were mixed within the congregation. They placed the ark on a cart, just like the Philistines had done. And Uzzah and Ahio and the sons of Abinadad were guiding the cart. Here's what I want you to know. David's began with a noble desire. David had a good desire. You know what that lets me know? There was spiritual hunger present. There was. After decades of spiritual negligence, David wanted the Lord to be central again. And he knows that the Ark is not some relic, not some artifact, not some lucky charm. The Ark of the Covenant is indeed interesting to read about. It was a beautiful piece of furniture within the Holy of Holies. It was made of acacia wood. It was drenched in gold. And they put the little, Circles on the side a little rings on the side so they can put the goat poles through and carry it On top of it was on top of the lid was called the mercy seat From what I understand according to Exodus 25 that the mercy seat was almost as big as the same size of the Ark the Covenant It was made with a kale wood covered with gold It was transported with two gold covered poles that they would put through those rings and they pick up on their shoulders and carried it along and And then the lid, the mercy seat, uh, basically was the place of God's dwelling, but with the two cherubs that were ingrained and carved out. And you remember, isn't it funny that God, you know, he gifts, he gifted to the people of Israel, someone who had a particular gift engraving would. gifts in the new for his church, gifts in the old for his church. God gives to his church what the church needs. They fashioned it, shaped it, all of those things, and between those cherubs is what was referred to as the Shekinah glory. That word Shekinah means residence, the residence of God. and they were to carry this piece of furniture. So David longing for God's presence to be among his people. Then in verse number four, we see that all the people agree, but here's the problem. What seemed right in the eyes of the people was not according to the command of God. A desire for God's presence was good, but passion without knowledge can be dangerous. Passion without knowledge can be dangerous. In other words, hence the title of the sermon today, good intentions do not make wrong actions correct ones. Just because you had a good intention behind a wrong action don't mean that the good intention can justify the wrong action. when serving God. Brothers and sisters, from the Garden of Eden to Sinai itself, from the tabernacle to the temple, access to the living God of glory has always and will always be regulated by the terms stipulated in his word. He is holy and we are not. And we only are able to draw near as he has instructed. Well, how do we think about applying that today? Brothers and sisters, you could have a church filled with passion. You could have a church filled with zeal. You could have a church filled with a desire for God's presence, but it's only worth anything if they're seeking to do this in accordance with his word. Worship is to never be regulated by our feelings. Worship is to be regulated by what God commands. Hence the argument for what I preached on Wednesday night, the regulative principle of worship. We do what God has required. You know, in the church today, the standard for the majority of determining leadership and different things like that, I call it the good old boy religion. Well, he's a good old boy, he'll be a good one. You can say whoever's a good old boy, but if good old boy don't meet the standard and don't follow the instruction, he shouldn't be no boy. He shouldn't be the boy, so to speak. You could go on and on with that logic. But brothers and sisters, the way you and I carry out ourselves before God here in this moment today, and when the life of the church should be regulated by the way in which God has written it to be. So, firstly this morning, remember as David here, he had a desire for God's presence. The second I want you to note in verses five to 10, is a disrespect for God's purity. A disrespect for God's purity, verses five to 10. So here we are, David assembled in verse five, all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt, even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark from Kerath-Jahim. David and all Israel went up to Bala, that is to the place Kerath-Jahim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from the ark of God the Lord who is enthroned above the cherub where his name is called. Well, how did they do it? They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart. David and all Israel were celebrating before the Lord all their might, even with songs, loudest hearts, tambourine cymbals and trumpets. And when they came to the threshing floor of Shittim, Uzzah put his hand out to hold the ark because the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, so he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark and he died there before the Lord. Well, this is one of those passages that really trouble people, especially liberal theologians and those who think they have to defend God and his holiness. But we're told here is David assembled all the people that the art was placed on a cart and it was pulled by these oxen. Well, if you know Israel did exactly what the Philistines did. If you go back to 1st Samuel chapter six, which is really almost the same story. But if you go back to 1st Samuel chapter six verses seven and eight, it says that the Philistines prepared one new ark and two milk cows that they have never yoked and hitched the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pin them up, take the ark of the Lord, place it on the car, put the gold objects, send them off as a guilt offering in a box beside the ark, send it off and let it go its way. They put it on a new cart and send it off. Well, for you and me this morning, you may read it, preacher, what is wrong with putting the ark on the cart? I mean, my goodness, those guys probably didn't want to carry that thing around right there. They had good intentions. They had real good intentions. And maybe even David thought, well, if it worked for them, it'll work for us. Right? We're just innovators along the way. I think it'd be good to incorporate this into worship, or incorporate that into worship. Let's just add this here, let's just do this there, right? What's it gonna hurt? It worked for them, it worked for us. I said, that's nade dabbing a bihu. How'd that work? They offered strange fire and fell dead immediately in Leviticus chapter 10. Well, again, David could have thought, well, if it worked for them, it worked for us, but guess what, brothers and sisters? God had commanded differently. God did. The celebration in full swing, the oxen stumbled, the ark begins to get upset, and it's tipping, and Uzzah reaches out his hand to steady the ark from falling, and God struck him dead. Can you imagine that scene? I mean, that's a bunch of people, right? That's a lot of people. Lot of noise, I mean, joy everywhere. Everything looks great. They got more people than they can pack in. Everything's great and grand at the music is loud. Symbols are banging. Trumpets are blowing. People are singing. And all of a sudden someone falls dead in their midst. I don't know if you've ever watched some of those Disney movies with your kids, but you know, it just kind of goes dead. Just what happened? Well, as a lays dead, Suddenly all the music stops and a man lays dead beside the Ark of the Covenant. This man has been struck down by God himself. And all he done, all he done was reached out his hand to keep the Ark from falling off. And he died. I just want us to sit right here for a moment. And I want you to think about that. Some of us are thinking, well, my goodness. My reaction would have been the same thing. It's about to fall. What are you going to do? If you see that vase toppling over, what are you going to do? Are you going to touch it, steady it? Now, you can imagine that liberal theologians are those who are gonna say, that's a bad God, bad, bad, bad. And then there are those who just can't handle the fact that God took a man's life so quickly without taking him to court first, innocent till proven guilty, right? And so somehow we've got to explain and protect God from acting out a justifiable cause there immediately and swiftly. And so we say, well, it probably wouldn't God. He probably just had a heart attack. That's what it was. He had a heart attack and died right there. That's exactly what it was. He had a stroke, whatever it may have been. I mean, surely this wouldn't God just immediately just taking his life. You know, those are the kinds of things that began to want to rise up in people's minds. But verse 10 is clear. The Lord struck him down. This ark, lavished in gold, beautiful, and the presence of God dwells there. I mean, instead of being struck down, should not God have rent the heavens and shouted out, thank you, Uzzah? But instead he died. So what should be our question here? What's the sin, right? What's the sin? Well, if you read the word in Numbers chapter four, verses 15 to 20, it says that part of the people that would carry the things of the tabernacle had certain responsibilities. And these individuals were known as the Cahothites. The Bible says in Numbers 4, 15 and 16 that the Cahothites will come and carry them, but they are not to touch the holy objects or they will die. And that was the transportation duties. It also says at the end of that section in verse 20 that the Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects as they are covered or they will die. So they couldn't touch it. They couldn't look at it. But guess what else was the sin? Number seven, verse nine. He did not give any to the Kohathites since their responsibility was service related to holy objects carried on their shoulders, not an oxen cart. So they were not to be carried on an oxen cart. They were not to be looked at and they were not to be touched. If it happened, they will die. But you say preacher, he had good intentions. Maybe he had good intentions, but God had previously written instruction. Brothers and sisters, you may have a lot of good intentions, but it must line up with God's word. You may have good intentions, but it needs to line up with God's word. You can say, well, they were caught up in the moment. They were parading with the Ark and dancing. I mean, it was a religious activity. It was exciting. It was moving, but it was disobedient. This is not the only only instance. Nadab and Abihu, Ananias and Sapphira. These things are not foreign to the Bible. You remember that old proverb, Proverbs 14 verse 12, there's a way which seems right to a man, but it's end is what? Death. Whether you know it or not, as a Christian, you are a part of a covenant with God. You are in the covenant people of God, if you're a Christian. And within that covenant, God has required certain ways of worship. We are to approach him, not by means that have been innovated of man, but rather by means that have been ordained by God. We do not get the freedom to innovate new things as we enter the presence of holiness. Uzzah died because he touched the ark, something that God had clearly forbidden. Some would again think that God should just owe him a thank you since he steadied it from falling. I mean, some would even deem him a hero. Let's give him a cape, give him the Superman logo, and parade him through Jerusalem, and let's have a celebration, not only that the ark has come home, but Uzzah kept the ark from falling. Well, I hope you've had an opportunity in your Christian life to read the book, The Holiness of God, by R.C. Sproul. If you have not, leave today and run and buy it. But here's what he said. We had a book study here. We actually went through it together here. But this is what R.C. said about that. And I'll never forget reading this about 15 years ago. The sin of Uzzah was the sin of presumption. You ever presumed anything in your life? We gotta be careful, don't we? But the sin of presumption, well, what did Uzzah presume? And this is the statement that rocked my world. Uzzah presumed that his sinful hand was cleaner than the dirt. but the dirt has never disobeyed God. The ground freezes, it thaws, it produces as God's designed, but human hands are stained by sin. It was not the dirt that would defile the presence of God, it was the touch of man When we divert from the commands of God and we innovate and stipulate according to our regulations, brothers and sisters, then what we are doing has been tainted by sin. Uzzah, therefore, was not an innocent man. He was not punished without a warning and he was not punished without violating a law. But there's something unusual about it, isn't it? And here's what's unusual about it. It was sudden and it was final. No questions asked. That's what surprises us. That's what shocks us. And that's almost what rubs us the wrong way. Some people, a lot of people get offended by this story. And here's the reason why. Because we do not understand four basic, important biblical principles. You ready for them? We don't understand what it means to be holy. We don't understand what justice is. We don't understand what sin is. And we don't understand what grace is. The story of Uzzah is an example of divine justice. Hear this statement. In all of eternity, God has never done wrong. In all of eternity, God has never done Rome. He took the life of Nadab and Abihu. He took the life of Uzzah. He took the life of Ananias and Sapphira. He has never done Rome. Because every one of those was righteous acts of judgment. You see, brothers and sisters, the Bible clearly teaches to you and me that God is the supreme judge of all creation, of all the universe. And the question that really holds our minds, yet we won't verbalize it for fear that someone may think we actually thought it, is simply this, is God qualified to act in such a way? Brothers and sisters, you need to know that God, there's no corruption in him. No one can bribe him. He refuses to show partiality. He shows no favoritism. He never acts out of ignorance and he does not make mistakes. But you and I are not the only ones to ever wrestle with the holiness of God showing up on the scene. Guess who else wrestled with it? You ready? Abraham. Abraham. God had announced that he was about to wipe out the entire city of Sodom and Gomorrah. Every person that lived in that town was going to get wiped out. From small to the greatest, every one of them. What did Abraham say? Genesis 18 verse 23, Abraham stepped forward and said, will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are 50 righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing that place for sake of 50 righteous people who are in it? You could not possibly do such a thing to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that. Won't the judge of all the earth do what is right? Abraham assumed the correct assumption. that God can never act in an unjust way. For God to destroy the innocent with the guilty would violate his holiness. If God ever stopped being holy, he would stop being God. But what's amazing is how patient God was with Abraham. 50, I can't find 50. What about 45? Would you spare it for 45? I'll do it, you go find them. Can't find them. Wait a minute, what about 30? 30 righteous, innocent people. Can't find them. 20? Sure. Can't find them. What about 10, God? Would you spare it for 10 righteous, innocent people? Just 10. I'll do it, I'll spare it. So the next morning, Abraham wakes up and looks out and all he could see was smoke. And not a single innocent person had suffered unjustly. God had done what was right and had judged wickedness. Here's the way we want to respond, you ready? That's not fair. You want fair? No, you don't want fair. Suppose you have 10 people, and I'm going to draw a circle around that 10 people, okay? And God comes along and he says to five of them, I give grace and they're saved. To the other five, he gives judgment and they're condemned. Can I ask you the question this morning? Did God do wrong? No. In that example, you would say five received mercy and five got what they deserved. No injustice was committed on God's part. Brothers and sisters, the reason you and I struggle with stories like Uzzah, Nadab and Abihu and Ananias and Sapphira is because every day of our lives we get up thinking that God owes us grace. And God don't owe us nothing. He owes us no grace. He owes us no mercy. It is the grace of God, every breath you take. It is the grace of God, every heartbeat that you have. And you want to deem that God owes you something. He owes you nothing or me nothing but hell for all eternity. And God has been patient with you. God has been long suffering. The patience of God is given that it may lead men to repentance. You ask, why does the sun come up again today? For the glory of God. And another day for the gospel to go forth. God never owes grace to anyone. Never. And I want to apply all this by saying, brothers and sisters, you and I should take very carefully the way in which we approach the ministry of the church itself. The Bible has given very strict regulations on how a church is to function. So what if so-and-so down the road has done it a certain way? So what if so-and-so has done it this way? So what if you've done it a certain way for 50 years? Let me ask you the question. Is this the way God said do it? That's the question. That's the question. I pray that as a people of God, We would never presume that our good intentions are worthy to be accepted by God, but rather we would stand in earnestness with humble hearts and say, oh God, help me obey your word. There's another aspect to this. Anybody ever heard of Jonathan Edwards? I hope you have. There's a pretty famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Do you know he sat down in the front of his congregation, never lifted his head up, and just read his manuscript as the preaching of that sermon? That sparked one of the greatest revivals ever been known to man. You wanna know what verse he used? I'm so glad you was inquiring. Deuteronomy 32, verse 35. This is what it says. Vengeance is mine and retribution. In due time, their foot will slip. In due time, their foot would slip. There may be some of you this morning toying with the idea of eternity. And what Edwards goes on to say in that sermon is picture a spider web. and this rock, this boulder, you're in the spider web, so to speak, just hanging out, and one day, it's gonna be like a boulder comes down and crashes that web and takes it all the way to the ground. One day, your foot's going to slip. And it's the common grace of God that it hadn't already happened. And I wanna invite you this morning, maybe you're on the limb, so to speak, maybe you're wondering, well, should I, I don't need Christ. I want you to know we all need Christ. We all need Christ. And it's just a matter of moments in the mind of the writer here in Deuteronomy that your foot could slip. Brothers and sisters, you may be here this morning. You've never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior. Can I plead with you today to do so before it's everlasting too late? that your foot is slow, is quick to slip. God has been so patient, so kind. Can I beg you this morning on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to God and be saved so that you don't have to endure the wrath of God. Run to Christ, find forgiveness. It'd be a great thing this morning for this church to say, oh Lord, you've allowed us to have been here 125 years. Help us to see the error of our ways and help us to follow you better and more straightforward, straight and sturdy. Well, what about old David? Well, how did David respond? Well, look at verses 11 and 14, the third heading. A disruption of fellowship with God, a disruption of fellowship with God. Verse 11. David became angry. Because of the Lord's outburst against us. Brothers and sisters, ever been anything in your life where you had a moment of anger? Maybe you had a moment of anger rise up within your heart. Can I encourage you today to notice what happened with David as well? Verse 12, but then David was afraid of God. It don't take us quick to get back to common sense, amen? David got mad and the next verse he said, oh boy, I need to straighten up. He said, if that happened with us or right here on the road, I can't bring this thing to my house. David was angry. that the Lord slammed the gavel. His plans were ruined. God did it in the middle of a joyful parade. Procession stopped, and now the ark is diverted again down to the house of Obed-Edom. And old boy was blessed for three months. Boy, don't God, he's always working, isn't he? The lesson is clear, brothers and sisters. God's presence will rest Or let me say it this way. God's presence will not rest where his holiness is neglected. God's presence will not rest where his holiness is neglected. Hear me say this. The Ark did not come to the city, not because God is ungracious, but because God is uncompromising. That's why I didn't go. David had to learn it. Do you think David learned the lesson? Aren't you glad for chapter 15? Well, I'm not gonna read it to you, but I'd encourage you to go home and read it. Chapter 15, verse 13 says that David said, because we did not seek him according to his rule, David learned. David learned. Can I conclude today by saying, some of you just thought silently, yes. Some of you got used to two 30-minute sermons last week. I heard that, Brother George. I love Brother George. The story of Uzzah is a hard one, isn't it? Let's just be honest. It hits us right between the eyes. But you know what also it should do? It should humble us. It should humble us. Here's what it reminds us of, brothers and sisters, that no matter how sincere you might be, God's not impressed with how sincere you are. You can wring sincerity out of that rag as tight as you wanna go, but if it ain't according to his word, it don't matter. Can I say this as well? God is not honored when we take shortcuts. He's holy and he should be treated that way. Uzzah did not die because he hated God. He died because he forgot who God was. Remember him. He approached God casually and not according to his standard. Which tells you and me as a church body, hear me say this, God's holiness cannot be handled lightly, even if it has the best intention. But that's not where the story ends for you and me. I got some good news for you this morning. I feel like it's been a little tense. Uzzah was struck down for touching the ark. But the gospel tells us there was another one struck down. Not for presuming holiness, but fulfilling it. Jesus Christ, according to Romans three, became the mercy seat. He didn't steady the ark so that the wrath of God wouldn't fall. He actually became the greater and fulfillment of the ark to where the wrath and mercy of God would meet. Jesus was not spared. He was crushed. Not for his sin, but for our sin. Not because he violated God's standard, but because we did. Through his death, the veil was torn, and the way into the holy place now has been opened. Can I issue a very simple invitation to you this morning, Law Center? You ready for it? Come to Jesus and know what it is to be forgiven, to receive grace and mercy. You'll never be able to innovate another way to God. For Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father but by me. Good intentions won't save you. Rituals won't save you. Sincerity won't save you. Only Jesus can save you. Would you come? Let's pray.