If you want to see a full-scale representation of Noah's Ark, there's only one place in the world you can go, and that's to Williamstown, not Williamston. To Williamstown, Kentucky. I'm hopeful that this spring my wife and I are going to get a chance to to see the ark. Some of you know my son, Justin, who's an artist, made some of the dioramas that are used in the ark on the top floor. We've wanted for years to at least see those, something that our own son has done. So we're hoping to get there sometime this year. But in terms of importance There's another Ark that is much more significant to the religion of the Old Testament. The Ark of the Covenant was the centerpiece of Old Testament religion. Now, it's not difficult to find a full-scale representation of the Ark of the Covenant. You don't have to be Indiana Jones. Anybody can find them online. There are companies out there that make them and sell them. They'll be happy to sell one to you if you really want one. But whether we ever see any representation of the Ark of the Covenant, it is vital for us as New Testament Christians that we understand its meaning, its centrality, to the religion that God revealed in the Old Testament. The Ark of the Covenant was a revelation of God. And in particular, it revealed one specific character trait of God. It emphasized His holiness. And so I know many of you are waiting for us to return to our study of Acts and 1 Corinthians, and we're going to get back there starting next Sunday, but we're gonna spend one more Sunday in the Old Testament. And since the Old Testament focuses primarily on one attribute of God, on the holiness of God, we're going to focus on God's holiness this morning. Now the specifications for the Ark of the Covenant are found in Exodus 25. So I'm going to read them very quickly, beginning in verse 10. Exodus 25, in verse 10. And they shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits shall be its length, a cubit and a half its width, and a cubit and a half its height. And you shall overlay it with pure gold inside and out. You shall overlay it and shall make it on a molding of gold all around. Down in verse 17, we read, you shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two and a half cubits shall be its length and a cubit and a half its width. And you shall make two cherubim of gold of hammered work. You shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim at the two ends of it one piece with the mercy seat. And the cherubim shall stretch out their wings above, covering the mercy seat with their wings. And they shall face one another. The faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I will give you. And there, I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, which are on the Ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel." So the Ark of the Covenant or the Ark of the Testimony was a box or a chest. It was approximately four feet long, two feet wide, two feet high. It was covered with gold. Its lid was called the mercy seat, and there between the outstretched wings of two worshiping angels, God manifested His presence. This is where the Shekinah glory of God regularly manifested itself to the children of Israel. There I will meet with you, God told the nation of Israel. Now, the Ark of the Covenant was the apex of the tabernacle and later the temple. Or let me turn that sentence around and say it this way. The entire tabernacle was constructed to set the ark apart. The tabernacle and then later The temple was one huge object, Leston, intended to illustrate that sinful human beings are barred from the presence of a holy God. The Ark abode in the Holy of Holies. And the closer one got to the Holy of Holies, the more restrictions were imposed by God. Non-Jews were not permitted even into the courtyard of the tabernacle. Common Jews were permitted into the courtyard, but they were permitted no further. They could not go into the tabernacle proper, into what was called the holy place. Only priests could go into the holy place. But priests, even priests, could not go into the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant abode. Only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year on the Day of Redemption, and then only with the appropriate blood sacrifice for himself and the nation. God called men to set Him apart in how they treated Him. And that's the meaning of the word holiness. That word holy or holiness. or hallowed. They all come from the same root. They all mean the same thing. That men are to set God apart because He's unique, different, unlike anything that we know in this world. And therefore, He demands to be treated differently than anything else in this world. And so the Ark was the place where the glorious presence of God dwelt there in the Holy of Holies, but it was set apart from human beings because we are sinful. By the very plan on which the tabernacle was constructed, God called men to treat him in a special, unique, uncommon manner. And yet for all that, the Ark of the Covenant did not stay in the Holy of Holies for much of its history. And that's where we pick up the story. Throughout its history, we find the Ark of the Covenant in three unusual settings outside of the Holy of Holies. And in each of these settings, It holds lessons on how men fail to treat God as holy and instead profane Him. That word profane, we speak of profanity. The idea of profane is to treat something as common, to treat it in an everyday manner as we treat other things. And so these three instances in which we see the Ark of the Covenant outside of the Holy of Holies, they teach us that we as sinful human beings have a tendency to treat God in a common way, to profane Him. And we learn also how God responds when we do so. So in the first instance, we find the Ark of the Covenant in battle. The Ark in battle. Turn with me please to 1 Samuel chapter 4. We're going to trail through 1 Samuel 4 and 5 and 6. So please have your Bibles open to 1 Samuel 4. 1 Samuel 4 and verse 1. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and encamped beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel, and when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about 4,000 of the army in the field. And when the people had come into camp, the elders of Israel said, why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh that they might bring from there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the covenant, with the ark of the covenant of God. They would have been the sons of the high priest at that point. So here we find the men using the ark, the place of God's glorious holy presence as a good luck charm. Men profaned God by using the ark as a good luck charm. Now, as we look carefully at this event, we see two types of men involved in this event. First of all, the priests were involved. The priests were involved. Now, even though they were priests, Hophni and Phinehas were not godly men. In fact, they represent the type of human being who has knowledge of the truth, but whose lives remain unchanged by that truth. Back in 1 Samuel 2 and verse 17, we're told that these men abhorred the sacrifices of the Lord. And I believe despite their religious positions, they were not saved to men, they were not regenerate. They did not belong to the Lord, and so it's not really surprising that they had no problem with using the Ark like a good luck charm. That really aligned with their view of God. Now, I've got to tell you, our society is full of people like this today. They have some concept of the true God. They perhaps attended Sunday school at some point. They may have had a godly grandmother who prayed for them, who tried to share the gospel with them. Perhaps they read the Bible once upon a time. They may even attend church. But when all is said and done, they have not truly been saved. They are not regenerate. Their hearts do not truly belong to Jesus Christ. Despite whatever religion they have, their lives have never really been changed. But what happens to these type of people when they run into big problems? These are the first kind of people to say, oh, we need to pray. Did you notice this week, you know, the president called down this attack on this general from Iran, killed him, and Iran started rattling their sabers, and immediately you started seeing politicians who never utter the name of God other than to use it as a curse word, saying, it's time to pray, we need to be praying for our military men. I just wanted to laugh. They don't want their lives to change. When they talk about praying, there's no idea in their prayer of submission to God. Prayers from those kinds of people are on the same level as rubbing a rabbit's foot. Bad things are happening, it's time to rub my rabbit's foot. They consider themselves religious because they depend on God when they're in big trouble, but they only keep God around as a good luck charm. They have a form of godliness, but they deny the regenerating power thereof. That's what Paul says. And there are hundreds of thousands of them in our nation today and around the world. So what was the outcome of this story? Look in verses 10 and 11. So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent. And there was a very great slaughter and there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. Also the Ark of God was captured. and the two sons of Eli Hoffney and Phineas died. Literally without saying a word, the voice of God boomed, I will be regarded as holy by those who draw an eye onto me. I will not be used as a good luck charm. Ask yourself this morning, when do you pray? What place does it have in your life? You use prayer as a good luck charm when things get bad? Then look to your heart, my friend. God says, I will not be used as your good luck charm. I am a holy God. You will set me apart." Prayer is a means of us submitting to God. That's why we bow in prayer. And prayer that does not bring that attitude of submission is not biblical prayer. Then there was another group involved in this account. The elders were involved. And the elders represented the nation of Israel, represented the people of Israel. And so the children of God here were also willing to use the ark. the symbol of the very presence of God and His glory as a good luck charm. And that ought to tell us something this morning, folks. It's not just on believers out there who fall into this error. We who know God can as easily fall into this error as they can, but I think it comes more in this form. My religion becomes more a matter of me making sure that God is on my side. A matter of using God for my own purposes. Listen, God commanded that once the children of Israel were in the land of Canaan, the ark was to stay in its place and they were to come to the ark. Do you see what happened here? Rather than coming to God and His presence on God's terms, they say, no, we're going to have God serve our purposes. Listen, biblical religion is not a matter of God serving our purposes. It is a matter of each of us vowing the need to God and aligning ourselves with His will. My relationship with God, your relationship with God is is not a magic wand that I can use to make sure that no trouble befalls me, that I progress nicely in my career to make certain that I somehow live the American dream. I repeat, God refuses to be used in that way, even by his own people. And yet, that is much of what is called evangelicalism today. Joel Osteen has no problem getting millions of people to listen to his weekly sermon because quite often this is the message. God's ready to sign on to your plan for your life. Rick Warren has sold millions of books entitled, A Purpose Driven Life. No, I'm painting with a broad brush here. There's good things in Rick Warren's book. Joel Osteen preaches the gospel every now and again. I don't want you to think these are evil men. I believe they're both regenerate men. I believe they both belong to the Lord. But quite often, the idea that they communicate to God's people is that God is here to sign on to your plan for your life. Whatever direction you're going, God is going to bless you. Listen to a paragraph written by John MacArthur reviewing Rick Warren's book. What you've got is a feel-good kind of approach. This is telling people exactly what they want to hear. Telling people that God agrees with you. God wants you to be what you want to be. And this is pretty heady stuff to tell somebody that the God of the universe wants them to be exactly what they want to be. But that is not the Christian. message." I'm very afraid of what I see happening in some of the broader circles of evangelicalism today, because in the end, was God on their side? Think about the story. They brought the Ark of the Covenant to them saying, we'll make sure God is on our side. Let me ask you, was God on their side? No. 30,000 men died. You can't make the point any clearer. We must be careful that we don't fall into this trap. Many who claim to worship God today, many who I believe are genuinely God's people, are actually profaning Him instead of setting Him apart for who He is, who He tells us He is. And that's always dangerous, Gordon. Now in the battle, as we just read, the Philistines captured the Ark. How did they treat the Ark? Turn over a page if you need to to 1 Samuel 5. 1 Samuel 5 verses 1 and 2. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the temple of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Now we're dealing with pagans now. These are heathen. They don't have any knowledge of the true God, but notice that they treat the ark with respect after a sword. They put the ark in their temple. They place it next to their god Dagon, beside him, on equal footing with Dagon. And so in the second place here, we find the ark beside Dagon. And here we have an example of pluralism. Pluralism. This is the reaction of much of our American society to the true and living God. We practice pluralism in this country. Our constitution ensures that everyone is free to express and exchange ideas. We're all free to advocate for our own religion. And these are freedoms that we as Americans and particularly we as Christians hold dear. We need to be careful. Just because all persons in our land have equal rights to advocate for their viewpoint does not mean that every viewpoint is equal. Can I repeat that? Just because all persons have equal rights to voice their ideas does not mean that all ideas are equally right. Now, that's what many in our land think pluralism means. They've been trained in our educational institutions, they've been trained by the media to think that pluralism, and we are a pluralistic society, pluralism means that all ideas are equally valid. You have your truth, I have my truth. Everybody's truth can be true. But that idea is nonsensical if two ideas are mutually exclusive and completely contradictory. How can you say Islam is true when Islam says Jesus Christ is not God and say Christianity is true when Christianity says Jesus Christ is God? I'm sorry, but you can't have both at the same time. Now, there are people that say, well, you can say that. Yeah, you're the kind of person who says, my car has gas in it, at the same time you say, my car doesn't have gas in it. Let me see how that works out for you. In real life, that doesn't make sense. Why would we think that that makes sense in the area of religion for some reason? But there are a lot of people who think that they're doing us a favor because they're willing to put the Ark of the Covenant in the temple beside Dagon on the same frame. So I'm willing to accept your God, and I'm willing to accept the God of Islam, and I'm willing to accept the God of Joseph Smith, and I'm willing to accept the God of the Jehovah's Witness, and I'm willing to accept the God of the Hare Krishna. Everybody has their truth. and they think they're doing us a favor. But let me ask you, what is God's response to this treatment? See, I think the Philistines thought that they were treating God well, that they were treating the Ark of the Covenant well. What was God's response? He wanted no part of this arrangement. They treated him as common. just as they would any other God. And God said, I will not be treated as common. And we see his response here in verses three and four. And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. If I wasn't such a reverent pastor, I would be laughing right now. That is one of the great pieces of humor in Scripture. They come in the next morning and Dagon's on his face before the Ark of the Covenant. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again, and when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both of the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of it. God cast down this false god and dashed it to pieces. That is what God thinks of other ideas, beliefs, faiths, religions, philosophies, isms, you name it. In Isaiah 44, 6, God says, beside me there is no God. And so you and I need to make certain that we don't let the pluralism as it's being defined in our culture infiltrate our lives and our brains and our ideas. God calls us to bring every idea into captivity to Christ. God calls on us to be ready to give a defense for the hope that lies within us at any moment. I recently read a really good book on this, and I'm hoping to share this at some point. I'm not sure when. It's a book called Tactics, by a guy named Kuchel. And it teaches from some very simple techniques for helping all of us, even those of us who don't really get into apologetics, for helping all of us to defend our faith. You and I must be ready to treat our God as holy, as uncommon, and refuse to let Him be treated like any other God. Well, the story continues here in 1 Samuel. Not only did the true God cast down their idols, He struck the Philistines with plague. Wherever they took the ark, there were five major cities among the Philistines and they were shuttling the ark around between these five cities because everywhere that they took the ark, plague broke out. What could they do? Well, finally, their priests weighed in. And here in 1 Samuel 6, verses 7 through 12, we see what they recommended. Read with me. 1 Samuel 6, beginning in verse 7. Now then, prepare one new milk cart and two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. Take the ark of the Lord, place it on the cart and put the gold objects in a box beside it, which you're sending him as a guilt offering. Send it off and let it go its way. Then watch. If it goes up the road to its homeland toward Beth Shemesh, it is the Lord who has made this terrible trouble for us. However, if it doesn't, we will know that it was not his hand that punished us. It was just something that happened to us by chance. The men did this. They took two milk cows, hitched them to a cart and confined their calves in the pen. Then they put the Ark of the Lord on the cart along with the box containing the gold mice and the images of the tumors. The cows went straight up the road to Beth Shemeth. They stayed on that one highway, lowing as they went. They never strayed to the right or to the left. The Philistine rulers were walking behind them to the territory of Beth Shemeth. And so the Ark was returned to the people of the Lord, but that's only half the story. The Ark remained at the house of Abinadab for decades. Remember this took place in the time of Eli. And the Ark remained in the house of Abinadab until the days of David. And we find the rest of the story in 2 Samuel 6. So turn over a few pages to 2 Samuel 6. And here we find the ark on a cart. The ark on a cart. Read with me, 2 Samuel 6, beginning in verse 1. David again assembled all the choice men in Israel, 30,000. He and all his troops set out to bring the ark of God from Baal Judah. The ark is called by the name, the name of the Lord of hosts who dwells between the cherubim. They set the ark of God on a new cart. and transported it from Abinadab's house, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, the high priest, I believe, were guiding the cart. Now, notice carefully, how did they move the cart? Excuse me, how did they move the ark? I just gave you the answer. They moved the ark on a cart. God's people had never moved the Ark in that manner ever before in the history of Israel. The Law of Moses gave very specific instructions for how the Ark was to be moved. Where did the people of God take their cues from to figure out how to move the cart? This is important. Where did they figure out how to move the cart? Who were they looking at? Where were they taking their direction from? From the Philistines. From the heathen. Can you say that Hebrew word with me? Wow! And so we see illustrated here another error into which the people of God often fall, handling their God in a way that they copy from the world. Now, the rest of this story is interesting. We don't have time to read it, but treating God as the world treats God, cost. There was a cost involved. We're told that Uzzah, one of the men moving the cart, thought that the ark was going to fall off the cart, so he put out his hand to study it, and God smote him dead. And it says that David got bent out of shape with God. David couldn't figure out what was going on. He had profaned God. He had refused to treat God as he demanded to be treated. And then he got bent out of shape. I wonder how often that happens to us today. We treat our holy God and we take the direction for how we treat our holy God from the world and then we get bent out of shape when God responds like a holy God. Now, use some sanctified imagination. We really could discuss this, you know, like in the second service. We could probably discuss it for the whole time. We're not gonna do that today, but I mean, use a little imagination. In our culture, in our time, how does the world treat God when they're trying to do their best for Him? That's an interesting question, isn't it? And as I pondered this, as I meditated on this, I came up with two answers. I'm sure there are many more, but let me just share two applications here with you, two observations. First of all, the world thinks God is interested in their performance. For the worldling, the best often involves doing something for God. That's what a lot of worldly religion boils down for. I'm going to do my best for God. That's what God is interested in. God's interested in my best. How many of you are glad that we're not listening to Christmas songs anymore? You know, we've just been through a month where, you know, all you hear morning, noon, and night are Christmas songs. And some of them, some of them just, they stick right here. They just can't quite get them down, you know? And one in particular, there are probably many, but one in particular is the Little Drummer Boy. OK, what is this rump-a-pum-pum stuff? But listen, I'm not going to do the whole thing, but listen to the last couple of stanzas. Little baby, pa-rump-a-pum-pum, I am a poor boy too, pa-rump-a-pum-pum, I have no gift to bring, pa-rump-a-pum-pum, that's fit to give a king, pa-rump-a-pum-pum, pa-rump-a-pum-pum. Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum, on my drum? Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum. The ox and lamb kept time. I would have liked to have seen that. Pa rum pum pum pum. I played my drum for him, pa rum pum pum pum. I played my best for him, pa rum pum pum pum, pa rum pum pum pum. Then he smiled at me. me and my drum. Now, besides being sentimental pablum, which many of our popular Christmas songs are, it teaches that all God really wants is my best. The best that I can do with the little that I've got, that's what will bring the smile of God. I got to tell you something, that holy God that we're talking about is interested in a whole lot more than your best or my best. That God demands perfection. He demands that we perfectly keep His law. In other words, God wants me to realize that my best is never good enough for a holy God. You see, worldlings give their best to God because they believe that that's the right way to get back from God what they want. I mean, if I'm a worldling, if I don't understand the God of Scripture, and I need to get something from that God, well, what am I gonna do? Well, essentially, I treat Him like a vending machine. I put in the coin of my best, okay, God, I'm giving you my best, and then I make my choice. This is the blessing I'm expecting from you, oh, vending machine God. or this is the forgiveness that I expect because I'm giving you my best. And here's the deal, okay? I'm going back to my original point. David copied how the world handled God. You and I fall into this same performance orientation so easily. thinking that if I just do my best for God, then somehow I can get that blessing that I'm after. Somehow I can make sure that God answers my prayer by twisting his arm, by giving my best. Some years back, A famous fundamentalist preacher, if I named him, many of you would know him. This preacher basically preached that if you win enough souls to Jesus Christ, he will overlook the sin in your life. Again, it's the idea, if I give enough to God, if I do enough for God, I can get what I want from him. God is my heavenly vending machine. We must never fall into this error. God is not interested in dealing with us on a performance basis. God says to us, do not profane my name by treating me like a vending machine. You and I can never, never put God in our debt. Though we gave every penny that we had, though we spent every minute of every day with every fiber of our being serving God, we would yet be unprofitable servants. God doesn't give to us like a vending machine. God is completely unlike a vending machine. He gives to us when we have nothing to give Him. He gives to us out of a heart of mercy and grace, unmerited favor, no coin to put in the machine, that's what that means. And no way ever to deserve, no way ever to deserve what God has done. and continues to do. That's how our holy God demands to be treated. And then in a similar way, in the second place, the world thinks that God is interested in trappings. Trappings. You look throughout Christendom at large, look throughout the world religions, and one thing becomes clear. Whatever the religion, men of the world tend to think that God will be pleased with expensive trappings and buildings and so on. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area. Downtown Pittsburgh, there's the Syria Mosque. Now, the Syria Mosque has been there for decades. I don't know if it has anything to do with Islam, but it's one of the most beautiful buildings in Pittsburgh. Beautiful gold dome, huge building. I know the building because that's where I heard Jack Van Impey preach, if you can believe that. You can go a few blocks away to the Heinz Cathedral. perhaps the most beautiful church in Pittsburgh, and there are three-story stained glass windows looking upon you. Of course, built by the Heinz fortune. Or if you travel across the country, you can go out to Utah and you can see the Mormon Tabernacle. And that grand building, Or you can head out to the West Coast to the Crystal Cathedral, which by the way, I don't think is being used for religious purposes anymore. They sold it to somebody. It's like an insurance company now. Or go to Bangkok or go to Japan, see the ornate temples there encrusted with precious stones and metals. This is how the world believes that you need to approach God. Now, do you think we tend to approach God in that way? I think sometimes we do. You look at how many Bible-believing churches are focused on building what? A big beautiful building complex, because God has to automatically be pleased with a big, beautiful building complex. Let me ask you something. Can you find a command anywhere in the New Testament that tells us to build a building? No. Now, am I glad we have a building here this morning? I'm glad we have a building. These buildings serve a practical purpose, but that's all they do. You see, God does not dwell in buildings built with the hands of men. God dwells in hearts. God is much more interested in what's going on in your heart and my heart than he is in this building this morning. He says, my son, give me thine heart. Not my son build me a big building. As we close, let me say God is interested in your heart. That's what he wants. Have you given your heart to him? Have you offered your heart to Jesus Christ and asked him to cleanse it with his blood once and for all? Have you offered him your heart and said, Lord, I want you to sit on the throne of my heart. That's what he wants. Let me ask you, how can you deal with an all-powerful, holy God who refuses to be manipulated, who refuses to be treated like a vending machine? How do you handle a God like that? It's really pretty simple. You come to that God on His terms and not yours. Now I have to wonder if there's someone in a crowd this big this morning who thinks that you're going to somehow handle this holy God. That somehow you're going to put this God in a box, carry Him around in your pocket like a good luck charm, and get Him to do what you want Him to do. I'm sorry, that is not the God of the universe. The only way to come to the true and living God who says, I am holy, the only way to come to that God, the only way to approach that God is on His terms. And the terms of this God are His Son, Jesus Christ. He died to bear your sin and my sin. And we can only come into that holy of holies, we can only come into the presence of God, as it were, through the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. And so again, I say, have you given this holy God your heart? Have you said, take my heart and cleanse me of sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and then take my heart and make it your throne? Have you prayed that prayer from your heart and meant it? Is that you this morning? That's how this holy God says, you must approach me. And listen, sooner or later, we all have to deal with that God. You can put it off for as long as you can, but someday we're all coming face to face with him. There's no manipulating him. There's no horn swaddling him. You and I must deal with this God, and we must deal with this God on his basis. Could I have ever had Bob pleased every eye closed? There's someone here today, perhaps two or three or four, who somehow think that they're going to manipulate God. And God says, I am a holy God. I refuse to be manipulated. The only way that you and I can come to this God is on his terms. And his terms are Jesus Christ. I challenge each of us to make certain as this service ends today that we have given that God our heart or Jesus cleanse me by your blood or Jesus make my heart your throne. Would you pray that simple prayer this morning? Lord Jesus, here's my heart. Take it and cleanse it. Lord Jesus, make my heart your throne. That is the way, the only way to approach a holy God.