ministry for us this morning. I invite you to find 2 Samuel chapter 6 and we have been working through our study of the life of David. We are now very early on in the life of David as in his time as king. He's just been named king over all of Israel in the last chapter or so and he's already been tested by the Philistines militarily and today we're going to look at the fact that he is now going to face a test spiritually. And we're going to take a look at that in just a moment. If you were here a few weeks ago now, Pastor Wes actually preached through this same text during our vision time when we were looking at our Vision Sunday and looking forward to this year. We were looking at the issue of worship And Pastor Wes spent some time preaching through this same chapter, and so I'd encourage you, if you did not hear that message, to go back and take a listen to that particular message. It should be out there on our website, and that would be a help to you as well. It's always interesting, I remember when I was in seminary a long time ago now, that We would be assigned verses of scripture, passages of scripture. You would have to pick from a list of scriptures to get up in front of the class and preach. And it was always interesting when you heard sometimes in the same class period, two people preaching from the exact same text. And what's interesting is the text never changes. The text is the text is the text. It says what it says. But what is always interesting is how it's packaged and how it's communicated, how it's illustrated. And so go back and take a listen to Pastor Wes's. Mine will be a little bit of a different angle from this text, but it would certainly do you well, I think, to go back and listen to that sermon as well. So let's pray together and then we'll jump together, jump in together at this text, in this text. Father, we thank you this morning that we come together once again around scripture. It's comforting to know that my opinion is really profoundly irrelevant about what Your Word says. And what we want to know today is why this account is given to us, what it means, and how we are then called to believe it, and how we are then called to live it. And so I pray that you would draw our hearts and attention to what I believe to be a very important truth for us as Christians, for us as believers, and that we would then learn to live it and learn to apply it to our individual lives. So we ask now your blessing on this time together around your word, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I have never in my life, one time, placed a bet on anything. Never. Many reasons for that. One of them is I don't particularly like the idea of losing money frivolously, but I also am just not a person who likes to make wagers like that. But if I was going to make a wager with you, a wager I'm pretty sure I could win. In fact, let me restate that. I am confident that I would win. That I would bet my life savings, all 64 cents of life savings, I would bet you that none of you have ever gotten up on a Sunday morning and your household pet, your dog, your cat, your snake, your turtle, your rat, your whatever, has ever said to you, you know what? Why don't you come worship today at my church? That's never happened, has it? If it has, you might be seeing and hearing things, I'm not sure. We would say, I would say, that you would agree with me, I assume, that as human beings, we are created differently from the rest of creation. One of the areas in which we are different, going all the way back into the book of Genesis, is we are told that we are created as mankind, we are created in the very image of God. That doesn't mean that we are God. It doesn't mean that we will become a God. It simply means that as image bearers of God, there is something about humanity that is set apart from the rest of creation. One of those differences leads us to the place that we are by nature worshipers. When people say to me something like, I don't worship anything, I lovingly say to them, you're a liar. You have no choice but to worship. You will venerate someone or something in your life because being created in the image of God means that you will have faith and you will worship Well, David, like the rest of us, was also a worshiper. And in 2 Samuel chapter 6, we have a chapter that is given to us. We're going to look at in two sections, one today and one next Sunday, that in these two sections of this passage, we are going to see two very different attempts at worship. And we're going to prayerfully learn something from these two accounts so that we can then be a more effective, a more Bible-centered worshiper. The question is not whether or not you will worship. The question is whether or not you will worship creation or whether or not you will then worship the creator. Another question for us is how will we worship? Will our worship be based on pragmatism? Will our worship be based on human wisdom? Or will our worship be based on what pleases God? And so this morning, as we are beginning this two-week journey through this chapter, we're going to see a balance, I believe, between the need for reverential worship and also joyful celebration worship. We'll look at that more next week. And so in this opening part of this chapter, verses one through 10, I want us to look the swarming of the reality of the truth of the fact that we are to worship God and understanding and respecting his untouchable holiness. Watch what happens in chapter six, verse number one. David gathered again all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him to Baal Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And they carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart. With the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. Everything seems to be going according to plan. This seems as if things are working out perfectly fine. Verse five. And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord. with songs, and lyres, and harps, and tambourines, and castronets, and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. That ought to rattle your chain a little bit. That ought to get your attention. And David was angry. because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah, and the place is called Perez Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David, but David took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite. So let's try to understand what is happening here. This is a very interesting text for a lot of different reasons. As we mentioned, David now is early on in his kingship. He's already been tested militarily by the Philistines. Following this victory, he now is going to begin to turn his attention toward the matters at hand, which include the responsibilities of being a king. He's also going to begin to lay the groundwork for his administration, for his leadership. One of the aspects, one of the characteristics of David that set him apart from Saul and arguably from all the rest of the kings over Israel was his character. He is described, as you know, as the man who had a heart after God. And one of the elements, one of the aspects of David having this heart after God was he has a particular interest and a particular affinity to bring the Ark of the Covenant, which we'll talk a little bit more about in just a moment, the Ark of the Covenant, he wants to bring it back to Israel where his new capital has been set up. Now, I would suggest to you that David has two reasons for doing this. One, he has a military reason for doing this. If you remember back during the battle with the Philistines, that when the Philistines realized that they're going to be beaten, they dropped their idols, the ones that they were carrying around on carts, the ones made of stone and wood and that sort of thing, that they had dropped them on the battlefield. And as we described when we looked through that text, most kings would have taken those gods and they would have added them to their pantheon of gods and tried to seek the power from these gods. But David and his men didn't do that. They destroyed the gods and they did away with them. Now, if you're thinking militarily, And as one army has destroyed the gods of another, that would lend you to believe that the Philistines are soon going to retaliate. And one of the idols or not idols, excuse me, but one of the elements, one of the aspects of Israel worship that they would want to take possession of would be the Ark of the Covenant. They had already done this previously when they had taken possession of the Ark. before and so David from a military perspective wants it in Jerusalem so that he can protect it and it can be set apart from the Philistines and protected from them. But David has a second reason for this decision I would suggest to you and that is more importantly a spiritual decision. The Ark of the Covenant was of great importance to the people of Israel. Now, by the way, I know that the Ark of the Covenant was popularized in pop culture in the golden age of the 1980s. In Indiana Jones, the Ark of the Covenant, sorry, the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Okay, we all have seen that movie. I've seen that movie. many, many times. And it certainly popularized the idea of the Ark of the Covenant, but please understand that is fiction and it is great, takes great liberty with the actual Ark of the Covenant. But this was a real piece of furniture, if you will. This was a real item, and it was of great importance to the people of Israel. And so before David, if you remember, before he went into battle with the people of Philistines, with the Philistines, he took time to pray. And David was a man of prayer. He understood that as king, as a leader over God's people, that he was incapable of fulfilling his call as king in his own strength. He knew that he needed God's divine help, but he also knew that he needed God's presence. Now the Ark of the Covenant served as a picture, if you will, as an illustration of God's presence among God's people. Well, in David's experience, in his desire to experience God's preservation and God's blessing, he wants to return the Ark of the Covenant back to its place, important place, in Israel's community. Now, I want to spend a few moments today and read a few more verses of Scripture about the Ark of the Covenant. And then in a minute, I'll put a slide up there for you to give you a picture, mental picture of what this may have looked like. But if you would turn back to Exodus chapter 25, and we'll get a picture of what the Ark of the Covenant was to be and how they were to make it and get a picture of what was happening with this ark. By the way, if we think about the fact that David is bringing the ark, taking possession of the ark and bringing it back into Jerusalem, his new capital, that the last time, one of the last mentions of the ark was found in 1 Samuel 7, when Abinadab takes possession of the ark and he took it to protect it for many years in 1 Samuel chapter 7. But let's take a look at what was the Ark of the Covenant and why was it so important to God's people? And again, I'm going to read a number of these verses. I won't read all of them, but I want to read some of them. Begin reading in verse number one. The Lord said to Moses, speak to the people of Israel that they take for me a contribution, an offering. I've been studying the issue of generosity again lately. And it is interesting to me how often we find these occasions when God is in need of God's people to contribute to the work of the ministry. And this isn't an Old Testament principle. This is a New Testament principle as well. That in order for the work of the ministry to happen, there has to be ongoing regular financial and otherwise contribution from God's people in order for ministry to become a reality. And so he says to Moses that they're going to take this contribution, tell the people from every man, whose heart moves him, you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them, gold, silver, and bronze, blue, and purple, and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen, goat's hair, tanned ram skins, goat skins, and you can read on from there. There's a long list of items that they are asked to bring so that they can begin to outfit the tabernacle and they can have the items that they are going to use in worship. If you go down to verse 10. He says, they shall make an ark of acacia wood, two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. By the way, when you read through books like Numbers, books like Exodus, when God gives you very specific instruction, it's very tempting to skip. Just skip over all of that. Why is all of this detail here? Why would God give them such specific instructions on how to build and how to construct this ark? Well, there's many reasons for that, but one of the reasons is simply this. God is a God of purpose. He is a God of design. He is a God who has given them specific commandments, understanding at this point there is no written text for them to read, and so he is giving them these very specific commandments about the ark. Verse 11, you shall overlay it with pure gold inside and outside, shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. Now listen to verse 12. This is going to come into play in just a moment. You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet. Two rings on the side of it and two rings on the other side of it. You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall." This doesn't say, and you ought to. It doesn't say you ought to consider. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. It was never to be touched. It was never to be placed on a cart to be carried. It was only supposed to be carried by the specific instruction of a pole running through the sides of the ark, and it was to be carried on their shoulders. This is what God had told Moses to tell the people. This is how it was supposed to be. supposed to be transported. Verse 15, the poles shall remain in the rings of the ark. They shall not be taken out. And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you. Then he goes on with a little more instruction here. I'm not going to read all of this, but if you jump down to verse 18, and you shall make two cherubim of gold. of hammered work shall you make them on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end and one cherub on the other end of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. Now if you jump down to verse 22, notice what God said. He said, there I will meet with you. I will meet with you there. Not that God wasn't everywhere. Not that God wasn't going to be limited in space and time, not that he was going to be limited to this one particular place, but this was this imagery that God says to them, there I will meet with you. I will come and commune with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the Ark of the Testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel." Now, I didn't read the text there to tell you, but also the Ark of the Covenant was going to be the place in which the tablets of the Ten Commandments were to be stored. Now, I want to just show you a brief picture on the screen behind me of what this ark may have looked like. And you can see some of the intricacies of this ark, and it's just a picture of what this may have looked like. And the point of this ark was to draw the attention of God's people to God's presence, to God's mercy, and to God's deliverance of them as a people. Now, I would suggest to you that not only was David interested in military might, not only was he interested in this important item in their worship not to be taken by the Philistines or other enemies again, that there was this desire within David's heart that he would commune with God, that he would have this kind of presence among his people and that David would realize the importance of resting in God's mercy and in God's grace and in God's presence. So what does David do? Well, he has a plan. And on paper, this seems like a very worthy plan. He begins, as 2 Samuel tells us, by collecting 30,000 men to go and to get the ark and to move it to a safer location. As respectful as this decision is, by the way, when he goes to get it, he gets for them a new cart. At least he went out of his way to have this cart that had never been used before. But this new cart, while it signifies an aspect of respect, it was a decision that was foolish because it violated Numbers 7, verse 9. as I mentioned, because they were told to carry it on their shoulders, and only the Levites could carry it. The Levites, even when they carried the ark, were not permitted to touch it. When the Philistines took possession of the Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel chapter 6, they put it on a new cart. You could say it this way, the people of Israel are acting recklessly. They are acting foolishly. Maybe worse than that, they are acting just like their pagan neighbors, the Philistines, that tried the exact same means to transport the ark when they took possession of it. Now this seems like reasonable, a reasonable approach, does it not? And we see in verse five as they are now beginning their trek back to Jerusalem. And verse five tells us they are having a celebration. They are singing. There is music. They're having a phenomenal time and they're enjoying their time together. But as they travel along, one of the donkeys trip and the ark begins to fall over. Now ask yourself a question. What would you do in that moment? When you open a cabinet in your house and something falls out of it, what do you do? When something in your house goes to fall over, what do you do? When a person trips and they're getting ready to fall on their face, what do you do? Some of you may let them fall, but most people would actually try to reach out and to stop it. Especially when it's something of tremendous value. This thing is made of solid gold. This is of great importance to the people of Israel. And Uzzah sees it, begins to tip. What does he do? He touches it. And he drops dead. Now that may shatter you, shock you. That may surprise you. Why would God take the life of this man that seemingly was doing a good thing? God's judgment seems harsh. The ark had no business being carried on a cart. The problem began when David decided to do something out of what God had told him to do against clear instruction and commandment. David decided, this is good enough. We'll just do it this way. If we believe, as I do, in extreme leadership, then leadership says, David, this is your fault. You should have known better than to put Uzzah in a situation where any human being, when they saw this fall, would do something. And when Uzzah did, it cost him his life. Now, clearly, the people of Israel forgot 1 Samuel chapter 6. And there in those verses, verses 19 and 20, we find this account. And he, reference there to God, struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh. This is, by the way, this is when the Philistines are bringing the ark back to the Israelites in 1 Samuel 6. It says, This wasn't the first time that someone had lost their life. because they disobeyed God's commandments. You know, it's interesting David's reaction to this. David becomes angry. Why was he angry? Oh, I don't know. Is it possible that he was a little agitated that God had ruined his celebration? This was supposed to be an act of kingship. This was supposed to be an act of bringing God's people back into right worship with God. And yet this tragedy rattles David to his core. In fact, he says, you know what? I don't even want the thing in Jerusalem anymore. We're going to take it someplace else. Let somebody else watch over this ark. David is shaken to his core. And David is angry. But he's also afraid he should be. Because there is a sense that David had violated scripture. So verse 10, he wasn't willing to take it back to the city of David. Instead, he takes it to the Levite, Obed-Edom, and leaves it there. Now, in our last few minutes, here's my question. What does this have to do with us? How in the world does this text apply to you and me? I would suggest to you that there are three points that we need to consider, and three lessons that we would be wise, I believe, to learn. Is that too often we keep driving our own new carts down the road, void of respect for God, void of concern for his commandments, You see, without a sense of God's abiding presence in your life, without fellowship with God, without an understanding of God's untouchable holiness, how far afield we often wander off. When you look at your life right now and you start thinking through the clear commandments of Scripture, None of us are perfectly obedient. We understand that, and may that never be an excuse for us, by the way, as a license to just sin and do whatever we want. But when we lose touch, we lose perspective of God's untouchable holiness. How far afield do we wander away and figure, eh, it's no big deal. I can live life on my terms. I can keep plowing forward. I don't need to really worry a whole lot about what God has said. And yet in this passage, David is learning a lesson I would suggest that we are all reminded of is the sanctity of God's presence and the magnificence of his untouchable holiness. You see, the God that we worship is absolutely holy. Apart from God's mercy and grace, You have no hope. You cannot bend God to your will. You can't mold him into your own image. You can't bring him down to your level. In fact, Pastor West is saying Psalm 115, part of the issue with idolatry was let's make a God after my image. Let's make a God that looks like me. Let's make a God that I can control. Let's make a God that I can tame. The God of heaven is profoundly greater than all of us. He is perfectly righteous. He is perfectly holy. David lost touch of that reality. David thought it was okay to do things his way. He thought a new cart was good enough to transport the Ark of the Covenant when God said, that's not how you do it. You transport it this way in this particular fashion. This is how you are supposed to do it. In Isaiah chapter six, we are reminded of God's holiness. When Isaiah writes in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings. With two of them he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. In Revelation 4, we get a picture, we get a snapshot of the throne room of God, and we find these words, and the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night, they never cease to say, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Notice carefully, the problem in the opening verses of this chapter was not David's celebration. As conservative Christianity, we've talked about this many, many times, is we believe any display of emotion, any display of joy can quickly lead into sin. As Pastor West said in his message on this very same chapter, he said, at grace, we are profoundly far from that line. The problem was not the celebration. In fact, in the next part of this chapter, the problem isn't the celebration. The problem is they forgot God's holiness. And when we forget God's holiness, His commandments are reduced to simple suggestions. I'll just, yeah, that's good. That commandment looks good on the plaque in my living room, but I'm not going to live that. Are you looking in your life right now, today? at God's commandments of how he has commanded you to live? And are you like David saying, I know a better way. I know an easier way. I know a more convenient way. And when we are devoid of an understanding of God's holiness, we are not far away from disobeying God's commandments, sometimes in unthinkable ways. Second, Too often we put our hands out for ministry without our heart respecting God's untouchable holiness. Uzzah thought he was doing the right thing. He was serving. And yet reality, while it was arguably David partially had put him in this situation, he had disobeyed God as well. In this passage, David had to learn that Never does it make sense to disregard God's commandments because it can bring dangerous consequences. Now, for leaders especially, I put, as I mentioned, some of the blame on David. He's the one who created the situation where Uzzah is put to death. Do we as parents, do we as leaders, do we as pastors, do we as Bosses in our places of business, do we think through the responsibility that we have to lead others? That when we as individuals lose sight of God's holiness, that we often put people under our leadership or under our parenting or under our position and our jobs or something of that nature. How often do we think through that when I lose touch of God's holiness, that I may very well be putting people at risk. David, wasn't only risking his own well-being, he risked those whom he was called to lead with here drastic outcome on this man's life. Number three, too often we overlook our depravity and ignore God's untouchable holiness. The penalty for our sin is eternal judgment and death. When we think about this as a New Testament believer, we look back all the way into the Old Testament, living under the Old Testament law, which we are not bound to live under the law. We don't have the Ark of the Covenant. We don't possess it. We don't have it. This isn't an altar. We don't have an altar. We don't sacrifice animals on the Lord's Supper table. We don't do those things as a New Testament believer because those things have been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ once and for all. that the Lamb of God came and took away the sins of the world. Now, you're either here this morning, you're in one of two groups. One, you're here this morning and you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have put your faith in Christ, you have been born again through the blood of the Lamb of God, and you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you are a believer, and that one day, should the Lord tarry, that you will one day spend an eternity in his presence. Not because you earned your way to heaven, not because you bought your way to heaven, but because you put your faith in Christ and in him alone. We saw the detail with which that God said, this is how you build the Ark of the Covenant. This is how big it's supposed to be. This is where the rings need to be placed. This is how you move it. This is how you carry it. All that detail, to show that God has a plan for this world and part of God's plan was to send his son to die for your sins and for mine. And for those who have put our faith in Christ and in him alone, we understand that we have been now forgiven of our sins through the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary to which the Old Testament law was pointing toward his coming. But you may be here this morning and you have never put your faith in Christ. And it may strike you as cruel and profoundly unfair that this man Uzzah died because he disobeyed God's command. I would suggest to you that there is something far more dangerous, is that when we reject God's plan of salvation, which centers around Christ, that when God said, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes unto the Father, but through him. What God meant by that is this, there is one way to heaven, and one only. It is by Christ, and Christ alone, by faith alone. But so often we reject that, and think there's a different way. There's a better way. God said, carry the Ark of the Covenant on two poles on your shoulder. Never touch it. Don't put it on a cart. There's a better way, easier way, a more convenient way. The Ark is good enough. The cart is good enough. And sometimes with redemption, we think, yeah, Jesus is one way, but there's many ways. I'll find my way. I'll do it my way. There's certainly an easier way to go to heaven than Christianity. There's gotta be something different. My friend, if that is your approach to redemption, your life is heading down the same path that Uzziah experienced. When we violate God's holiness, when we violate God's commandments, there is always going to be consequences that follow. They may not come immediately, but there will be consequences for our disregard for God's holiness. So as a believer, I close with this. As a believer, in what part of your life are you disregarding God's holiness? Where are you disobedient? Where have you gone afield? Maybe you, like Isaiah, need to remember God's holiness and fall before him in repentance and restore your relationship and restore your fellowship with Christ. Maybe you're here this morning and you have never in your life put your faith in Jesus Christ. You have tried religion on your terms. I would suggest to you that the account of Uzzah is given to us for many reasons, but one being to show and to demonstrate that when we live life our way, on our terms, it brings horrific consequences. And to deny Christ, to deny salvation through him alone, puts you in a place where you would experience an eternity separated from a holy, righteous, perfect God. None of us are perfect, none. But by faith, and by faith alone, we are declared righteous. One of the clearest illustrations I find in scripture on the eternal security of the believer is a man by the name of Lot in the Old Testament. If you're familiar with Lot, you know what I'm talking about. If you're not familiar with Lot, let me summarize it this way. He was messed up. He did some pretty messed up stuff. And when you look at his life, there is very little to say, wow, Lot, good guy. And yet, in the New Testament, he's called righteous. Remember righteous Lot. Why? Because of his redemption by faith in his creator. That's what makes us righteous. The finished work of Christ and in him alone so that with all of our lives we can worship him and recognize his goodness, his mercy, his holiness. So worship that ignores God's untouchable holiness places the worshiper on very dangerous ground. I wonder this morning, where do you stand? Let's pray. Father, I thank you this morning for the opportunity to present this text today. God, I pray that in the closing moments of our service that we would be reminded of your holiness, of your mercy to us. And God, that you would show us specifically, even now, that if there are areas in our lives where we are living in disregard to your holiness, God, that we would repent even now and understand that we cannot live life on our own terms, that you have given to us commandments to obey And I pray, God, that you would show us those areas where we need to grow and change. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I'm going to ask Scott to come. He's just going to play a stanza or something on the piano today. We're not going to sing this morning, but I would invite you to just stand as Scott plays. And as you listen to the song, you pray where you are, and then I'll close this once again in prayer.