Morning everybody. What a beautiful day we've got. Another day to serve the Lord. Just glad to be here in the Lord's house. You can go ahead and be turning to 2 Samuel chapter 6. Second Samuel six and we've been in the the college and career class we've been in Galatians chapter five we've been the book of Galatians, but here recently in in chapter five and we'll head over there Here in a little bit so it won't be a total repeat y'all so you need to listen But there will be some things that will bleed over from our last time together, but I've also been in 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles and reading this account and it's also here in 2 Samuel 6, the one we'll look at today. It's probably pretty familiar to some, the account that we'll look at here this morning. I can't believe I was talking with Brother Rick before church and he was talking about something, we don't have to worry about it until next year. And that is coming up on Wednesday. And I can't believe how fast 2024 has went. Life is accelerating and we're getting older every day. So sorry for the sad part to start. The message this morning then going into 2025 is how to thrive in 2025. No, I'm just kidding. We're not going to do that. So, let's go ahead to the Lord in prayer, and then we'll read 2 Samuel 6. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for your Word, God. I thank you that you speak to us, Lord. Through it, God, I pray that, Lord, the way you spoke to me, the things that you've given me, Lord, those will be relayed here this morning. Nothing of myself, nothing of man's wisdom Lord nothing of the flesh Lord, but pray we just look to you you'd be honored and glorified and All that's done here this morning Lord. I pray for the 12 o'clock and 11 o'clock service Lord that you bring those in Lord and someone that needs to hear the gospel Lord I pray you bring him in Lord. I pray that you'd save their soul. We thank you. We love you in Jesus name. I pray Amen 2nd Samuel chapter 6 will start in verse 1 and Again David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baal of Judah to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwells between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, draved the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord. on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and timbrels, and on cornets, and cymbals." So they're bringing the Ark of the Covenant, they're bringing it back from where it had been, in Abinadab's house. You can see they're celebrating. And then in verse 6, and when they came to Nathan's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error. And there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, how shall the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. And it was told David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertaineth unto him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness. And it was so that when they had bare the ark of the Lord and gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatling. And David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was girded with a linen ephod. And David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of a trumpet. We see here the ark as it's on this cart, it shifts. It looks like it's going to fall. Uzzah stretched forth his hand to save the ark from falling off the cart, and it says that the Lord killed him. Well, why is that? Look at Numbers chapter 4. We'll do some turning here. I just want to set a foundation of what exactly is going on. Numbers chapter 4. And we see in verse 15, Numbers 4, verse 15, touch the ark. So the ark was shifting. It may have fallen. And you think, well, he did the thing that seemed right. But what was the command? It was not to touch the ark unless they die. And that was still the command regardless of circumstance. What is this ark? The ark held the Ten Commandments. And we can go to 1 Kings, 1 Kings 8. 1 Kings 8 verse 9, in the Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments. This has been a word of God, instruction that he had given to the children of Israel. These Ten Commands, they were commanded to do. That was what was contained in the Ark of the Covenant. So it was God's word. Also, go to Exodus 25. And if you have a bookmark or something, you can put it here in Exodus 25. We'll come back to it later to save you a little looking. But in chapter 25, look at verse 21. And thou shalt put the mercy seat, Exodus 25, 21, and thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark, and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. there will I meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel Thou shalt also make a table of shiddim wood, two cubits be the length." Let's stop there, let's stop there for now. But the two things that we can see about the Ark of the Covenant is it contained the, and this is just two things for today, but it contained the essentially Word of God, the tablets, the Ten Commandments. It talks about how God communed with them from between the cherubs that were on top of the Ark. So that's how God would have spoken to the priests. That's the place that says that He dwelt between those two things. The Ark of the Covenant was obviously a holy thing. It was a representation of God and His Word and His commandments. It went before them as they left out of Egypt on their way back to Israel for those 40 years. So go back to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel 6. In this account that we have in 2 Samuel 6, and you see Uzzah puts forth his hand and touches the ark and he's killed. Where do we think the mistake is made? in this chapter. Is the mistake him reaching forth his hand and touching the ark? Well, obviously, yes, because it was commanded not to be done. But the Word of God, the presence of God, was handled incorrectly. And that was what put Uzzah and these people in the position where they were able to commit this sin that caused his death. And what I mean by that, back in 2 Samuel 6, in verse 3, it talks about the transportation of the Ark of the Covenant. And it says in verse 3, "...and they set the Ark of God," and notice what they put it on, "...upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab," that was in Gibeah, "...and us in Ohio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. So they take this cart and they put the Ark of the Covenant on it. And it says when they got to this certain place, there was a shift. The Ark of the Covenant maybe looked like it was about to fall. So Uzzah had to catch it. He had to put his hand on something he was directly instructed not to do. Look at, go to, back to Exodus 25. Exodus 25, if I can read my horrible handwriting, 25 verse 10. And this is the instructions for the making of the ark. And they shall make an ark of shiddom wood, two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold within and without, and thou shalt overlay it and shall make upon it a crown of gold round about, and thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof. And two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of shiddom wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be born with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark, they shall not be taken from it." So there's some things that we learn about the ark. The ark, as it was made here, on the corners they were to put these rings, and the rings had the staves, so these would have been like long poles that went through on the two sides of the ark. And it says here, if you're back in Exodus 25, and it says that in verse 14, by the size of the ark, and the ark may be born with them. So it has the idea here of the ark needing to be carried, not to be placed on a cart. The priests were supposed to carry this, and we'll see that here in a minute. But in verse 15, also the commandment that they were given, the staves shall be in the rings of the ark, and they shall not be taken from it. Because this was designed to be carried by the priests, not to be put upon a cart. And go to, Go to Numbers, no, we've been there. Go to, actually yeah, let's go back to Numbers chapter four. Because it's important to see what is there. Numbers 4 and verse 15. And when Aaron and his sons had made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is set forward after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it. They shall not touch any holy thing. They die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath and the tabernacle. the congregation. We read this verse earlier to see the fact that it couldn't be touched, but the command was to be given that they were to carry this ark. Again, not to be put on a cart. Go to Joshua chapter 3. Bear with me, I'll make a point of this soon. I know we don't have Ark of the Covenant to carry around here today, but there's an application to be made in our lives. And we look at Joshua chapter 3 and verse 3, and they commanded the people saying, when you see the Ark of the Covenant and your Lord God and the priest the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about 2,000 cubits by measure. Come not near unto it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore." Again, we see where the priests are supposed to carry this ark, but then also it says for the children of Israel to follow 2,000 cubits behind, that would have been roughly about 3,000 feet, so a little over a half a mile that they were to follow behind the Ark of the Covenant. So they were not supposed to be close to this ark, it was supposed to be carried by the priests. Go to 1 Kings 6 now. 1 Kings 6. At this point, this is prior to what we read, obviously, in 2 Samuel 6. The Ark of the Covenant is in place here. It's had by the Philistines. I think I can't read my own handwriting here. Maybe it is 1 Samuel. Yes, 1 Samuel 6. And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners saying, what shall we do to the ark of the Lord? Tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. And they said, if you send it away, the ark of God, the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty, but in any wise return him a trespass offering when you shall be healed and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. Then said they, what shall be the trespass offering, which we shall return to him? They answered, five golden emeralds and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For one plague was on you all and on your lords. So they have the Ark of the Covenant, they have the Ark of God and they want to send it back. So here their idea is to give an offering, but in verse six, wherefore then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?" Notice in verse 7, so this is how the Philistines, and if you know much about the Bible, what are the Philistines pictured? They're not godly, they're not holy, they're not God's chosen people, they don't have the law of Moses. So this is their idea for the transport of God's Word, God's presence, who God is to them, who God is to Israel, this is their idea to transport the cart, or to transport the ark. So notice, isn't that interesting? The godless people that are the Philistines decided that they were going to transport what is the presence of God for the children of Israel, their idea to carry it. And it had, remember the command that we had in Exodus, that it should have staves, it should have a way to carry it? So, you know, a lot of things are kind of just obvious. If you walk up to something with handles, you pick up that item and you carry that item, right? So they're a value for, God, it was so low that they're like, I don't want to be burdened by having to carry this. Let's just throw this thing on a cart, this thing made out of wood and covered in gold. I'm sure it wasn't light. It was full of tables of stone, right? This wouldn't have been a super light item. They're like, why worry about carrying it? Let's throw it on this cart. the Israelites did the same thing in 2 Samuel. They just, they decided they were just going to carelessly, let's throw it on a cart. Right. And it seems like that would have been a little more difficult, right? If it had staves, if it had, who know how, how, how, you know, the length of those to adjust it and get it on a cart, all these things would have been, had to been thought about. But the value that they held for God, you see reflected in their actions. They didn't do the things that they should have done according to the law. And then also just from the standpoint of seeing it, man, this is probably a better way. This is a new way. This is an easier way. We're just going to throw it on this card and let the oxen do the work for us. After this event, with David and the children of Israel, go to 1 Chronicles. We see now their handling of the ark in 1 Chronicles 15 and verse 2. This is David. Then David said, "'None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites. For them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God and to minister unto Him forever.' And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord unto the place which he had prepared for it." So what does David do after the first time where this happened with Uzzah and stretched out his hand and he realized that they didn't respect the presence of God and it caused death? We see that he gets it right, obviously. And then what's important about this also, now go to 1 Kings. 1 Kings. There's people watching the things that you do. 1 Kings chapter 8. Look at verse 4. Well, actually in verse one, then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel. If we know who Solomon is, this would have been David's son, right? So this is the next generation. Then in verse four, and they brought up the Ark of the Lord, the tabernacle of the congregation on all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those the priests and the Levites bring up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled under him were with him before the Ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. We see there was a misstep, the thing that was wrong originally back in 2 Samuel 6, the thing that allowed the death of Uzzah, yes, he did the thing that was wrong, but it was because of a mishandling of God. It was because God was, his presence wasn't seen as valuable, it was haphazard maybe, hey, let's throw it on a cart, whatever. who God was wasn't truly valued at this point. And you see that misstep, that sin, that thing that was wrong, ultimately caused the death of Uzzah. He was then put in the position to be able to do that. Well, there's an application that's made for us today. We need to be careful with how we handle the presence of God, the power of God, the word of God. We need to make sure we get some things right in our life to make sure that we're not so far down the road that it puts us in a position that we can do something that can cause harm to ourselves, to our family. And that's the thing as a father and a husband, It's so humbling and scary as a position to be put in. If I mishandle the Word of God, it doesn't affect just me. If I mishandle the presence of God, it doesn't affect just my life. It affects my wife, and it affects my children, and it affects their children, and generations after that. Just because I couldn't get the things right and who God is in my life, I couldn't get those things right. It affects years and years and other families and other things. We don't just live and die to ourselves. Go to Galatians, Galatians chapter 5. And I am going to have to kick it in high gear. So I'm just going to throw this last bit at you real quick. Hope you can digest it all. And I hope I give it where it makes sense. That was the first mistake. But notice there is a new mistake. Remember when it talked about the cart, they put it on a new cart? The same for the Philistines, they decided they were just gonna, this is good enough, we'll just build a new cart. So it's new, so it's good, right? And we're gonna put the ark on there and we'll get it back on this cart. It's a new way, it's fine, it's not that important. We'll just, it's on a cart and we won't have to work as hard. It's gonna be a little bit easier. Whatever the reason behind it, look at Galatians chapter five. And verse 13, This new mistake that we have is the abuse of what liberty is in the Word of God. Every generation has a fault, a thing that's taken out of context, and I think for my generation, the thing that is really abused is what liberty means, liberty in the Word of God. Because if you look at this verse, even back in the beginning of chapter 5, verse 20, it says, Stand fast, therefore, in liberty, wherewith Christ is made free. Liberty's important, right? And then in verse 13, For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty, Does the verse stop there? No, it doesn't. Notice after he gives them liberty, he gives them, you have liberty, it's followed up by a command. Only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, for by love serve one another. There's a generation today who's taking this liberty, the idea of once I've trusted in Christ and I'm saved, it's under the blood, I can do whatever I want and live however I want, and in the end it's gonna be okay. That is just simply not the truth. That's not what liberty is. We've been freed from the penalty of sin. We've been freed from the power of sin. There's things in our life that we would have decided we wanted to get right, but we can't get right without the power of God in our life. So we need to make sure that we treat the power and presence of God in our life properly for ourselves and for the next generation. Use it not for an occasion to the flesh. And this is so much what it's used for today. It's just an occasion to the flesh. And I think this liberty, this liberty is obviously turned into license. And in this idea of this license, it's almost become the standard of some. They want to say, just because you have a standard of the way you live, you dress a certain way, you act a certain way, you don't go to certain places, all those things, they'll call you a Pharisee. And they'll say, essentially, that they're better than you because they have no standards. Oh, look at what I've achieved. I know another level of Christianity that you know because I'm walking in my liberty. But it's a complete misunderstanding and a twisting of the word of God. And here is why, as we continue, for all the laws fulfilled in one word, even this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. We could spend a long time here, right? I mean, we all love ourselves. And if you don't believe it, if you're hungry, you feed yourself. If you want something, you go buy it. I found, as older I get, if you want to do something, you'll do it. And I've learned that about people. I've learned that about myself. And the minute you think, I just can't do this, no, it's that you really just don't want to do that. That's a whole nother thing, a whole nother day, and I got four minutes. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Here, this is that live by the sword, die by the sword thing, right? If you want to talk about somebody, don't be surprised if they talk about you. This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Another command, right? Oh, we've been given liberty. I can do whatever I want. No, it says, This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if you be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh, here's the works of the flesh, are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, and heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, they that which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Does anyone want to live a life of those things that I just mentioned? And for sake of time, we don't have time to go through each and every one of them. But does anyone want to live that life? I mean, just not even from a spiritual standpoint, just from an everyday waking up and living the life, do you want to live that life? I don't want to live that life. And then it says in verse 22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. That's the life I want to live. Well, both of these are an outgrowth of how we view liberty. You can say I have liberty to do whatever I want, and you will do whatever you want, and you're going to end up in that whole list of horrible stuff that we just read. It will happen. It's not an if, it's a when. But we've been given liberty from the power of sin to live after God, to then have the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. In the Bible, there's things that are given for us to do and to live, obviously because these things are holy. But there is an outcome of living your life in a certain way. If we live it for ourselves in the flesh in this false liberty, this is what we will have. But if we live after the Spirit and we follow after God, this will be the outcome. You reap what you sow, right? You can't sow a life of sin and then get peace. You can't live a life of sin and all these horrible things and have joy. Can you have long suffering? I don't think so. And here's an illustration of all of this played out. If I was to say, me as a toddler, two, three, whatever, there's Interstate 20 here behind us, the Autobahn of South Carolina. 20 over or you're crushed, right? Three or four, I decide, oh, that's cool noise here, fire truck, whatever, let's go check it out. And I run towards 20. My parents are with me. What do you think they're going to do? Grab my hand, spank my rear, and say, don't do that. You think that's because my parents hate me and they just want to beat me? No. There needed to be physical consequences in this mind to understand that I shouldn't do that because that thing is harmful for me. Well, that's what was the Old Testament. That's what the law was. It was guardrails to keep Israel intact and do the things that they should do that are right. And as time came in Galatians, it talks about the schoolmaster and the schoolmaster would have been one that had raised these children up to a certain point. And then they're on their own. Well, the job of the schoolmaster was to keep them from harming themselves. Well, just as the law did that for Israel, there was a time now that they had liberty and that liberty is to be able to trust in Christ and to be saved. As when I grew up, If I run towards 20, my parents aren't here to smite me, right? My parents aren't here to beat me. I'm hopefully smart enough to realize that I don't need to run out to Interstate 20. Why? Because of some truth that had been put in my life. And what are the consequences going to be if I run out on Interstate 20? I'm going to get hurt. I'm going to get injured. That's the best of it. I'm probably going to be dead. That's the outcome. And everyone today wants to think that we can just live our life in this liberty and license and do whatever we want. But there's a reason the word of God tells us things that are right and wrong is because we should live by those things. Because the outcome of doing those things that are wrong. is not a life any of us want to live for ourselves or our children to live those lives. Be careful how we handle the presence and the Word of God. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you for your Word. And again, Lord, I pray that it was help to someone here this morning. Lord, help us to live for you. Help us honor and glorify you in all that we do. We thank you. We love you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.