Please turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 26 beginning in verse 16. 2 Chronicles chapter 26 beginning in verse 16. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were valiant men. And they withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him, It pertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense. while he was wroth with the priests. The leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence. Yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. Last week I shared with you my strange dream. For the better part of 20 years I have desired to preach through the books of the Chronicles, and I think that now is the time. So I suppose these first few sermons are something of an apology for the timeliness of this book and its several messages. There are obstacles to the study of the Chronicles, and last time we were together I labored to try to clear those obstacles. in this day in which dispensationalism exerts such a large influence, and sometimes exerts an influence upon us whether we like it or not, the Old Testament is comparatively little studied. And maybe even just to back up, we might say that Here in this Western world, and even by evangelical Christians, the Bible as a whole is too much neglected. And which one among us could say that even for one single day, maybe even for one single hour, we have really loved the Lord with all of our mind in the study of his word and meditation upon its lessons. But if the Word of God as a whole is being neglected in this age of dispensationalism, how much more so the Old Testament? Nevertheless, there are some books in the Old Testament that will still get a reading. The book of Genesis, first half of Exodus, Isaiah. So there are some books that will still get some attention, but within the Old Testament The historical books are among the more neglected. There are some narratives in them that get quite a bit of attention, but the books as a whole are largely neglected. So maybe we know a few stories out of the first half of Joshua, but the second half is largely undiscovered. Maybe we turn to judges, and almost everybody knows Samson. A number we'll still maybe know, Gideon and Jephthah. Probably still a good number, Deborah. But Othniel, not so much. And the purpose of the book as a whole and why these stories are told, not so much. You might think of the books of the kings. The Elijah and Elisha narratives are very famous, but could you provide a list of maybe seven kings from the south and four from the north, most of us would struggle to do a thing like that. These books are very much neglected. And probably the most neglected historical book of all is the book of the Chronicles. So we talked about two particular hindrances for the Chronicles. First of all, After having read Kings, we might feel like we just read this. And there's a sense in which that's understandable because Chronicles does deal with the same history. But as I pointed out, it's altogether possible to look at one and the same history for very different reasons. The writer of Kings, and I grant that this is a bit of an oversimplification, but the writer of Kings is explaining how it is that they ended up in Babylonian captivity. How did? The people of God, God's covenant in Israel, how did they end up in captivity? And so you get a very heavy emphasis upon the sins of the king and the sins of the people. Chronicles is written for a different reason, written to give direction to the restoration community. So here there's a much more emphasis upon the things that were done correctly, both from the royal throne and in the temple. Because, of course, as the restoration community, those good things, those right things must be done again. So yes, same history to be sure, but very different lessons and lessons that I hope will become clear quite timely for us at this period in our nation's history. Also hindering the reading of Chronicles is the almost 10 chapters of genealogies right up front. I would just say, as I mentioned last week, we shouldn't give up. God has bidden us not to speak to him in vain repetition, and he's certainly not speaking vain or empty things. The genealogies in the Bible are important. And when you look at this genealogy or that genealogy, they serve important particular roles in the particular books. And so in coming weeks, I'm going to try to do some explaining as to what these particular genealogies are doing here at the beginning of the Chronicles. So let's not give up on those precious chapters, because there is much good fruit in them, even if it's not easy for us to see. So hopefully that sweeps away the hindrances. And it's important for us on a practical level, if you have other hindrances in your own heart, what are they? It would probably be a very good practical exercise if you feel reluctance still to try to identify what it is that's producing that reluctance and then consider what would the Bible have to say about it. But moving on now to more positive things. There are good reasons to study the Chronicles and some particularly good reasons to study it now. And if I were to take my several reasons and try to summarize or capture them in a single point, it would be to emphasize the kingship of Christ and not just in say a theoretical and doctrinal way, most Christians would already affirm that, but in a practical way. The simple fact of the matter is there is probably no more common Christian profession than Jesus is Lord, and all Christians will want to affirm Jesus as King. But as I mentioned last week, when we began to examine that doctrine as it's expressing itself in the practical life, not just of broader culture, but in the church as well, we find that there's really not that much left. Could it be that we are left with the empty sound of words, or are we liable to the criticism of Paul in Titus chapter 1, professing to know God with our mouths, professing that He is King, that Jesus is King with our mouths, but then denying Him in our lives and in our conduct? I think that there are reasons, and I'll start to itemize coming up here in just a minute, but I think that there are reasons for us to focus upon the kingship of Christ at this hour in the life of the Western world as a whole. but these United States of America in particular. And just in a general way, if the kingship of Christ and its practical outworkings, if these things seem like a small matter to you, It's an indication that you just don't get it yet. Is there a single one of us with a beating Christian heart that could doubt that the kingship of Christ is a large facet of His glory? And you see throughout the Scriptures, the Father's zeal to glorify the Son. If we don't have that same zeal, It's an indication that something is wrong with us spiritually, isn't it? And we know that we're supposed to love the Savior Christ. You know, as I mentioned last week, part of loving is desiring the welfare of the beloved. We actually can't do anything to improve Christ's condition. He is seated in majesty at the right hand of the Father, and there he is He is altogether happy. The Father has shown him the way of life and is granting to him joys forevermore. We can't add to that. and we can't add anything to His glory, but the one thing that we can do is display it. And so if we're not interested in His kingship, and that's so pivotal for the revelation of His glory in this world, so pivotal for the revelation of His glory in our lives, can we say that we are loving Him? Is it possible that we, even as the people of God, while saying that Jesus is king, have actually done what in us lies to knock that crown off of his head. This is something for us to think about. And hopefully, if you're not feeling the pinch of this, hopefully as we look at the various jewels in his crown, we might begin to see something of this. So first, let's talk about the kingship of Christ over the church. So if Christ's kingship as a whole would be his crown, this certainly would be one of the precious jewels on his crown. And this is a good place to start because American Christians in particular will debate how his kingship would relate to civil life, civil society, and civil government. But almost all Christians with one voice would say that we believe that he is king over the church and king over his people, right? So right away, we're starting from a position of agreement. But what's so very interesting about this, and really this shouldn't be surprising, but we become forgetful of these things, our king has given to his church a government. And when the king has given a government, are his underlings free to change that at their whim and will? or is his government to be maintained just as he gave it? This is one of those uncomfortable moments where we're wanting to say that he's king, but here, for the most part, the practical bearing of that kingship upon the government and the administration of his church is being denied. And in this sense, the Protestant churches have come to differ but little from Rome. It was the Roman Catholic doctrine and position that the church could add, for example, officers that you won't find in the Bible. So our king has spoken in his word and he has given us a form of government. If you were to compare that word to the government of the Roman Catholic Church, you might find yourself struggling to justify archdeacons and bishops and archbishops and cardinals and the pope. You'll find these things difficult to derive from the word. You'll find these things, because of that, you'll find these things difficult to derive from the kingship of Christ himself. But Rome is not overly troubled with this. They will try to give some weak indications that perhaps it's not altogether inconsistent with the Word, but they will say that the Church is free to add officers and institutions as they find it convenient and advantageous for the church. So basically you have the form of government at the pleasure of fallen man. But when we turn to the scriptures, and maybe before going on, I should also say, so what's interesting about that too is almost all Protestant churches our following Rome in that general idea that we can alter the form of government at will. We can alter the form of government at our pleasure. But when we turn to the pages of Scripture, what we find is that the High King gave to the Church a government. And almost all of us will be familiar with the fact that he established the Aaronic priesthood. So he gave the office of priests and set its qualifications. He established the office of Levite. and established its qualifications. He designed a system of courts moving from ecclesiastical courts moving from the local level to the national level and so on. Interestingly enough, this will be one of the concerns of the chronicler. the very book that's in view for us. And it's going to start right up front with the genealogies, because at least one aspect of the qualifications for priesthood and Levitical office is genealogical. You have to be from the right family, otherwise you can't stand to the office. You have to be from the right family and be able to prove it genealogically. So this would be very important for them, practically speaking. Very important for them in the immediate, in the concrete, but for us important in principle, right? God has given a form of government, he has instituted offices, he's established those qualifications, and his people must observe what he has instituted. And maybe even to take that same thing and express it negatively, we see in that 2 Chronicles 26 text concerning Uzziah that we're not free to change it. So just consider, Uzziah is king of Judah. Generally speaking, he is a good king. But God had instituted the priesthood for the offering of incense. He established the incense service and exactly how to do it. None of that was to be changed. When he endeavored to change it, he immediately faced the objection of the priests. But that's not what's most important. When he tried to change, that particular point of the administration of the church, he faced not only the opposition of the priests, but the opposition of God. Because he dared to violate that form of government, God struck him immediately with leprosy, a leprosy that never left him for the rest of his life. I wanted to look at another text. Turn with me to 1 Chronicles 28. We will begin reading in verse 11. 1 Chronicles 28, beginning in verse 11. When the Levitical order was first established by the Lord, he gave qualifications, but he also assigned the duties that belonged to those officers. Those duties were actually divided up among the major Levitical families. There were three great families, and actually Aaron's family was a was an important subset of one of those three great families. But to summarize their duties, they were divvied up. But to summarize their duties, mostly they were priestly assistants. And in the wilderness with Moses, they had the responsibility of packing up the tabernacle and moving it. when the Pillar of Cloud and Fire departed and led the way. They also had the responsibility, once the Pillar of Cloud and Fire had stationed itself, to station the tabernacle beneath it. So they were packing it up and unpacking it, and then when it was time for the administration of its worship, they were there to help the priests. Because these were issues pertaining to the government of the church and its administration, and because they had come from the king, I don't mean the earthly king, I mean the high king of heaven, they could not be changed by any mortal. Now you fast forward 500 years and we run into, in the Chronicles, and interestingly enough, only in the Chronicles, we run into an amazing fact. David is going to reorganize the Levitical duties. And it makes a lot of sense, right? Because they're no longer going to be serving in a tabernacle. a movable tent with the duties that accompany that, now they're going to be serving in a temple. But nevertheless, what we find from the text is that in spite of the fact that David is the agent of the change, as it were, he's just an instrument that is used by the Lord because ultimately only the Lord could change his government. So again, 1 Chronicles 28, beginning in verse 11. Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat. and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things. Now let me just pause. You will remember, you can look at this in Exodus chapter 25. It's actually repeated twice in that chapter, that when the tabernacle was made under Moses, It was to be made exactly the way that God commanded. And there are many chapters in Exodus that are taken up, basically the whole second half of the book, with God's commanding, the making of the particular items, and then a rehearsal item by item that those things were made in obedience to God. They were to make it according to the pattern that had been shown to Moses on the mount. I think this was evident to Moses and the people, but at this remote period of time, it might have been less evident to us without the help of Paul and Hebrews. But basically, on the Mount, heavenly spiritual realities were revealed to Moses, and how to incarnate them, if you will, in the tabernacle was shown to him. But this was not a time for Moses' creativity. This was not a time for the craftsmen to make a particular display of their own genius in the making of the things. God is revealing himself in the tabernacle. This is a communication from God, and so it's very important that they do it exactly the way that the Lord said. We're not going to get the same amount of detail on temple design. Happily, we don't need it. But I just want you to notice verse 12. This is important that the pattern of all that he had was from the Spirit or by the Spirit as it were. So David is not doing this on his own authority. This is God's authority. So we pick up verse 13. Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites and for all the work of the service of the house of God, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord. He gave of gold by weight for things of gold, for all instruments of all manner of service. Silver also for all instruments of silver by weight, for all instruments of every kind of service. Even the weight for the candlesticks of gold, and for their lamps of gold, by weight for every candlestick, and for the lamps thereof, and for the candlesticks of silver by weight, both for the candlestick, and also for the lamps thereof, according to the use of every candlestick. And by weight he gave gold for the tables of showbread for every table, and likewise silver for the tables of silver. Also pure gold for the flesh-hooks, and the bowls, and the cups. And for the golden basins he gave gold by weight for every basin, and likewise silver by weight for every basin of silver. and for the altar of incense refined by weight, and gold for the pattern of the chariot of cherubim that spread out their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this, said David, the Lord gave me to understand, in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern. Now in the midst of this you will have noticed that even while you're getting a description of the physical things of the house, the courses of the priests and the Levites for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, verse 13, what they were assigned to do was also given, as you see in verse 19, The Lord made David to understand all of these things and establish the pattern of them. If you want some additional study material, there is at least an equally striking example of this in Numbers chapter 16. If you remember, Other Kohathites, so that was one of the large Levitical families, under the leadership of one Korah, desired to offer incense before the Lord the way that the priests do, and they claimed that they were holy, every bit as much as the priests were. Moses protests that, in some ways that's really irrelevant, that God had placed the family of Aaron in its position and office. And so the Kohathites had other work which was very honorable in its own right. Why is it that they couldn't be satisfied unless they did the work of the priests also? So when they make bold to offer incense anyway, then Moses puts it to the test and he says, let you 250 men put on incense before the Lord with Aaron and let the Lord show whom he has chosen for this office. And when they put on incense before the Lord, a fire erupts from the presence of the Lord and consumes them. It must have been a striking scene. Fire breaks out in the midst of 251. 250 lie dead and Aaron stands in their midst with his incense censer. Very striking, but you see there the Lord jealously guarding the government as he had instituted it. Because dispensationalism exercises such an influence over us, whether we like it or not, there's always a temptation at this point to think something along the lines of, well, I grant or I concede that under the Old Testament, the Lord was pretty rigid about the form of church government that he had given to them and did not suffer them to change it. But this is the New Testament and we have more freedom, right? Now that's a larger question. There are some aspects of greater freedom and liberty in the New Testament, but the real question is, Is the form of church government one of those aspects of greater liberty? Are we really any more free when it comes to the form of government? We do read in the New Testament that Christ has reworked the system of government So now church government is no longer going to be centered in one nation, Israel, no longer going to be centered around a physical temple. He's going to rework the government for a church that's spreading out all over planet Earth. But still he gives officers. We see some extraordinary ones. You can see this in Ephesians 4, apostles. evangelists and prophets, some ordinary ones, pastors and teachers, elders and deacons, and then the question becomes Are we free to change that? Can we invent other officers that are not instituted by Christ in his own word? Some of you have been with me for a recent study through Titus chapter one, and we're just going to read this and hopefully this will suffice. But as you turn through the pages, and if you're not altogether satisfied with this at this point, that's okay because this is part of what we're going to do by way of developed study as we move through Chronicles. But I'll just be comparatively brief on this. we still find a form of government appointed by Christ in his word. And so the question becomes, are we free to change it? Can we add stuff to it if we want to? Can we get rid of stuff if we don't want that? And here's what Paul says to Titus when he leaves Titus behind expressly for the purpose of erecting ecclesiastical government among the newly planted churches of Crete. Titus 1, beginning in verse 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee, if any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly, and so on. If we look carefully and particularly at these verses, Basically what has happened is, as Paul has been to the Isle of Crete with Titus, he has been preaching the gospel. People have been converted. As people are converted, they're beginning to assemble. They're beginning to congregate. Paul, at that point, for reasons that are not known to us, thinks it's more consistent with his apostolic office to press on and to go to other places and preach the gospel. But that doesn't mean he leaves these churches without provision. He leaves Titus, the evangelist, behind him to set in order the things that are wanting, to set in order the things that haven't been done yet. And his first concern has to do with eldership, the government of the church. But there's a very important clause that qualifies this. He wants the ordination of elders in every city And there are no wasted words. He says, and he wants it to be done as he had appointed Titus. That deals with the manner. So Titus is not left free to do it in any way that he wants. Paul is telling him to ordain elders. He can't make up something like, I'm going to ordain cardinals instead or whatever. And even then, that office and how it functions, you'll see the teaching and governmental functions before you get to the end of the chapter, but also the qualifications to be able to do those functions. laid out very much in the same terms that you will see in 1 Timothy chapter 3. And these words are equally applicable to us as government is erected in our midst, it ought to be as appointed. not whatever we want, but according to the commandment of the king. We will talk about these things some more. Hopefully this is enough of a prima facie case to at least stir thought and establish some plausibility. We're going to be talking a lot more about this as we go. But let me talk a little bit about what I'm hoping might be gained. Part of what we lose, we lose a lot of things when we do whatever we want in the government of the church. We start to see the profound wisdom of our king in setting it up the way that he set it up when we maintain it. But one of the things that we lose is a practical sense of living in the presence of our king. When all things in His house are arranged according to His commandment, and we are alive to that fact, there's this wonderful, precious sense that we're living in the presence of the King. Something that really can't be duplicated if we're just doing whatever we want. If we're just doing whatever we want, it's not living in the presence, but the sense of the King. But when we have all around us indications of the king's rule in the midst of us, we realize that even though the body of our blessed Lord is in heaven, wherever that is, it might seem very, very distant. Nevertheless, the king is near to us. And he's governing in the midst of us. So two things I'm hoping that you might take away from this this morning. One is I hope that there will be roused in you some zeal to study form of government in the Bible and in the New Testament. Not so that you can become a lawyer, But as part of your practical relationship with your king, and hopefully as you see government in the church formed according to his commandment, you'll have a sense of living in his presence. If the government is not being conducted according to his commandment, it's a problem. And it should raise questions about, well, what do I do now, right? But to reestablish his practical kingship in the government of his people. And my second thing is in as much as Chronicles deals very much with the king and his institution of government in the midst of his people, hopefully this is stirring you up. for the study of the Chronicles.