Amen, so it's great to be here at Steadfast Baptist Church in Oklahoma.
We've been real excited about coming out here and meeting you folks, real excited about
seeing new churches like this springing up.
It's great to come into a church where we all kind of have the same goal.
The first thing I notice is that big map there.
That's such an encouragement to walk into a church and say that that's the focus of
this church.
For those of you that don't know, my name is Brother Corbin Ressel, I'm from Phoenix
there.
I've been a member of Faithful Word Baptist Church for six years.
I've been the deacon there for coming up on a year.
So I've been there for a little while and doing a lot of preaching down in the Tucson
area.
We've got a plant kind of like this one.
This is what I really appreciate about this is we have a plant of similar size.
I don't know that our building is quite as nice as your guys' and I feel like our chairs
are right there with your chairs.
You've got some good chairs.
So I can relate a lot to this church being a satellite church of sorts and I'm just excited
to be here and preach for you folks.
So let's just get in the message this morning.
Of course, 1 Chronicles chapter 13 is a very familiar passage.
This is where David's bringing back the ark.
If you recall, the ark had been taken away and had been in the land of the Philistines
and then they tried to send it back and it didn't quite make it.
We won't go into all of that.
But David here in 1 Chronicles 13, he's setting out to do a really good thing.
I don't think anybody here would argue with the fact that what David is trying to do is
a good thing.
He says there in verse 13, or chapter 13 verse 3, excuse me, let us bring again the ark of
our God to us.
So David here, he's trying to do something good.
He's got the right motives.
And you know, really David in this chapter, you can see he's anticipating this to be a
great day.
He's saying this is going to be a great day.
We're doing a good thing.
We're bringing back the ark of the house of God.
And it says there in verse 5, so David called all Israel together.
He wants everybody to be there.
He wants them to see this great day.
He's got really high expectations of how this day is going to go.
And of course, we know the story here in verses 9 and 10, things go very badly, where it says,
and when they came under the threshing full of kidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold
the ark for the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and
he smote him because he put his hand to the ark and he died before God.
So you know, you've got to imagine the roller coaster of emotions that David must have gone
through on this day.
I mean, he's thinking everything's going to go great.
We've got everybody here to watch this.
And the next thing you know, poor Uzzah, you know, is laying there on the ground dead.
You know, he's going through this, you know, these unexpected emotions.
These things kind of came out of the blue for him, I'm sure.
So rather than going out and experiencing a great day, you know, these high emotions,
he's actually experiencing very negative feelings at this point.
You can imagine how David must feel.
In fact, it tells us how David feels there.
It says in verse 11, and David was displeased.
You know, he's downhearted.
This is not how he expected things to go.
He was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, therefore that place
is called Perez Uzzah to this day.
And David was afraid of God that day.
So here's David starting out thinking, this is going to be a great day.
There's a lot of joy.
There's a lot of gladness.
But how does day end?
Fear, displeasure, downheartedness, disappointment.
And you know, we read this story, and sometimes we have to be careful when we don't charge
God foolishly here.
You say, well, why would God just kill Uzzah for touching the ark?
Well, because the Bible makes it very clear that nobody else is supposed to touch that
ark.
And we'll see that here later in the story.
But you know, before we charge God foolishly or get a bad attitude, well, I don't think
that was fair.
You know, this is kind of just a side note.
You know, we should consider, you know, the poor timing of David's question here.
What I mean by that, if you look at verse 12, and David was afraid of God that day,
saying how shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
You know, that would have been a good question to ask before you did this.
That would have been the appropriate time to ask that question.
How is this to be done?
And unfortunately, David doesn't do that.
But it did get him thinking, didn't it?
So David eventually does accomplish this task, if we know the story.
He does eventually accomplish the task, and he gets to experience that great joy and thrill
that he was probably anticipating on this day.
But if you would, turn over, keep something there in 1 Chronicles.
We're going to be in 1 Chronicles right in this area for a bit.
And if you go to 1 Chronicles chapter 15, it says in verse 25, so David and the elders
of Israel and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of
the Lord out of the house of Obed-Edom with joy.
So chapter 13, we see this great disappointment.
But then we see him succeed over here in chapter 15.
So David does get to accomplish this goal.
He does get to experience this joy.
But really, what's happening in verse 15, where it says that they brought him up out
of the house of Obed-Edom with joy, my thought is this, is that David is probably experiencing
even more joy than he would have originally.
Because he got to experience not only joy of doing a great work for God, bringing back
the ark of the covenant to the house of Israel, but also, he had to experience the joy of
actually getting right with God.
And that's what I want to preach to you about this morning, the joy of getting right.
Whether it be getting right with God, getting right with another person, whoever it might
be, there is joy when we start to do things right.
When we get the sin out of our life, when we start doing the bad things or the wrong
things and we start to do things the right way, there is a sense of joy that should come
with that.
And I believe that's what David's experiencing here.
And we see David, he made a failure.
It cost somebody dearly.
He's very downhearted.
But then later, he gets to accomplish that goal after he gets right.
And now, not only is he accomplishing a great work, but he's also experiencing the joy of
having gotten right with God.
Now here's the thing about this.
Of course, everybody in the room probably wants to experience joy.
Everybody in here, I would think, is probably just looking to beat themselves up and just
be a downhearted individual.
Everyone here wants to experience this joy in their life.
But here's the thing.
If we want to experience that joy, there's a process that we have to go through.
It sounds really easy just to say, hey, you need to get right with God.
But there's a process behind that.
Yeah, we want the joy.
We want the peace.
We want all of that that comes with getting right with God.
But you have to understand that in order to do that, you have to go through a process
of getting right.
You can't just say, well, I'm sorry, and that's it, and all of a sudden, I've got the joy
of the Lord again.
You have to actually go do some things.
There's some actions, some steps that you have to take.
And right out of the gate, this is only going to work for somebody who has a tender heart.
The process of getting right is not for a stiff-necked person.
The process of getting right is for a tender-hearted individual.
The stiff-necked person will not get right.
That's why they're stiff-necked.
If you would, turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
The Bible says in Proverbs 29, a very familiar verse, he that being often reproved, hardened
at his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.
See, the stiff-necked individual, they're not going to get right because they're stiff-necked,
and there's not going to be any joy.
In fact, it's going to be the opposite.
There's going to be destruction, and there will be no remedy.
Now it says over here in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, if you would, look there, actually just
turn there.
Now let me just, before I get into this, let me just clarify by saying this.
What I'm not saying this morning is that you can just do all the bad things.
So you can just go, get out of sorts with God, and as long as at the end of the day
you get right, that there's no consequences.
There are still going to be consequences for sin.
Uzzah here that died in this chapter, Uzzah wasn't resurrected.
That family still went without that father.
That husband was gone.
That son was gone.
So there are still consequences, so I don't want to clarify that.
I don't want to give anyone the idea of like, oh, we can just get all sorts with God, and
then when we feel like it, we can get right and we'll experience that joy.
That is the case, but there's still going to be the consequences that come along with
that.
Now if you're there in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, let's see here.
Look at verse 12.
He says in verse 12, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he fall.
So we want to be careful that we're not people that are thinking, oh, everything's fine,
I can do whatever I want, I'm not going to fall, everything's good, and nothing bad's
ever going to happen.
If we get out of sorts with God, there's going to be consequences.
The Bible says, sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.
That's what happened.
That's how that formula goes.
You have sin, it's not sin when it is finished unless God decides He's just going to give
you some mercy and there's not going to be consequences.
God can still give mercy, God can still give grace, but there's still going to be some
form of death.
Whatever way that shows up can come in different forms.
If you would, actually, let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10.
Look back at verse 10.
He says in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 10, Neither murmuring ye, as some of them also murmured,
and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for in samples, and they are written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Now who are they talking about here?
He's talking about Old Testament Israel when they were coming out of Egypt, when they were
destroyed of the destroyer, the serpent, the plague, and those things.
The generation that was supposed to go over across Jordan into Jericho and take over the
promised land, that's who this is referring to.
And he's saying, look, these guys are in samples.
Let's not be like them.
And what were these people like?
What were these people like that were destroyed of the destroyer?
What did God call them in Deuteronomy and elsewhere?
Stiff neck.
And Moses even said to him, You have been a rebellious people since the day I knew you.
So getting right is great, there's joy in it, but it's not for everybody.
Who is it for?
The tender-hearted person.
The person who's not stiff necked.
The person who has enough humility to bow the head and say, I'm wrong.
Forgive me.
And get things right.
That's why the Bible says, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest
he fall.
It doesn't say he stands, it just says he thinks he does.
It doesn't say this guy's got everything right.
It just says he thinks he does and he's stiff necked and he doesn't want to get things right.
So this message is for the one, not the one who thinks he stands and everything's right
and he's got it all together, this message is for the one who maybe has stumbled, maybe
has fallen, but has a tender heart and is able to get right with God and they can experience
that joy.
Now turn back to 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
You see, David, despite all his failures, you look at the life of David, this wasn't
the only thing he did wrong.
David did some other things wrong and things even worse than this.
Things that weren't even necessarily out of a right motive.
David is the one that committed adultery and murder, but he was able to get grace from
God and he still suffered the consequences.
Again, don't get me wrong, but why was it that David was able to recover when others
couldn't?
Because David, I believe, at his core, was a humble man.
He was a very humble man and he had very humble beginnings.
If you recall in 2 Samuel chapter 7, I'll read to you, the Bible says, Say unto my servant
David, I took thee from the sheep coat.
These are David's humble beginnings.
Just a shepherd boy, he was the youngest in the family, and today we tend to romanticize
being a shepherd.
We always have the oil painting and it's a very beautiful scene.
Being a shepherd back then was not a glorious job.
You're away from the home, you're sleeping out under the weather.
It was the job that you gave to the person that you didn't want around all the time.
It was the person that was the less desirable job.
We tend to think, oh, what a great experience that must have been.
Well, go do it for years on end and see about that.
You guys probably around Oklahoma, in this area, are probably familiar a little bit with
ranching and that kind of thing and the beef and all that.
That's hard work to go out there and handle livestock, but he here, that's what David
did.
It was humble beginnings.
Out there by himself with these animals, God said, I took thee from the sheep coat to be
ruled over my people.
And what was David's response in that same chapter?
He said, who am I, oh Lord?
And what is my house that thou has brought me thus far?
And that's the type of person that God's going to use.
That's the type of person that God is going to give grace to.
That's the type of person that's going to get to experience the joy of getting right
even if they get things wrong.
The person who understands that they're nobody and that it's all of the Lord.
David said, who am I and what is my house?
He always remembered his humble beginnings.
He never lost sight of that.
So I believe that David's humility, him having that tender heart, like I was talking about
earlier, him having that tender heart, that's what allowed him to take the first step in
getting right in this passage where we were.
That's what allowed him to get right here.
If you look there, I'll turn back there with you in 1 Chronicles chapter 13.
1 Chronicles chapter 13 and verse 11, it says, and David was displeased because the Lord
had made a breach upon Uzzah, wherefore that place is called Perez-Uzzah unto this day.
And David was afraid of God that day, saying, how shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
So David brought not the ark home to himself, the city, but carried it aside in the house
of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
So this is David.
That's a very humble thing for him to do.
He didn't persist.
He didn't say, let's drag Uzzah out of the way.
We're going to get this done today.
He said, whoa, something's wrong.
We've messed up.
We made a mistake here.
What did we do wrong?
Let's stop what we're doing and evaluate and figure this out.
And the only reason he was able to do that is because he was, again, a tender hearted
person.
He was somebody who was not stiff necked.
He was a humble person who was willing to admit that he's wrong.
And really, that's the first step.
That's the first part of the process of experiencing the joy of getting right is the ability to
admit you're wrong.
And that seems very simple, doesn't it?
But often, it's very hard for us to do.
It's very difficult for us sometimes to say, I am the one that's wrong in a situation.
And really, that's the difference, if you think about it.
That's the difference between Saul and David.
You recall King Saul, he got ousted from the throne, and David got set up in his place.
Now, if you think about the life of Saul, did he really do anything much worse than
David?
I mean, really, the straw that broke the camel's back for Saul was when he went to and he didn't
kill all the Amorites.
He left King Agag alive, and Samuel had to come along and finish the job.
Was that really the worst thing in the world?
Was it adultery?
Was it murder?
Was it some of the things David's been guilty of?
No.
But what was the difference is when they got called on the carpet for it, it was their
reaction.
It showed what was in their heart.
Saul said, the people took of the spoil.
You know, I have sinned.
And if you read that passage, he says, I have sinned, semi-colon, and then a bunch of excuses.
Whereas when David gets called on the carpet for a much worse sin that Saul committed of
adultery and murder, when Nathan pointed that finger and said, thou art the man, what was
David's response?
And there was nothing about the people.
Just I have sinned, period.
It was an ability for him to just admit that he was wrong.
And that only comes from a person who has a humble heart, somebody who is not stiff-necked.
And this is the most important step in this whole process of getting right and experiencing
that joy of getting right, is being able to admit you're wrong.
And quite frankly, it's something that's just completely lacking today in so many people.
It's the difference between, I don't consider myself an old man by any stretch of the imagination.
I shaved, I got the baby face going on, right?
But it's amazing to me that, even as young as I am, just the next generation behind me,
I'm already seeing this, that they have this inability to admit that they're wrong.
And I don't know if it's, maybe it's not a generational thing, maybe it's a maturity
thing.
Maybe I'll get into my 40s and say, these 30-year-olds, maybe I'll get into my 50s and
say, ah, those 40-year-olds.
Maybe that's it, I don't know.
Or maybe it really is that there's just this generation coming up in our country that just
can't admit they're wrong.
They'll say they feel bad, they'll say, you know, I wish things had turned out differently,
but you'll never hear these words, I'm sorry, I'm wrong.
And this is something that has to be there.
We have to have this ability to admit that we're wrong.
Because here's the thing, we're all going to be wrong from time to time.
And you know, I do think it's a generational thing, because here's the thing, I've had
older people come to me, and they've actually apologized for me about things that I had
nothing to do with.
They just wanted to clarify a situation like, hey, I just want to know if this happened,
and I took care of it, and I'm sorry, and I'm like, well, first of all, it didn't affect
me.
And two, I had no idea about it, but I appreciate you coming to me and talking to me about it,
you know, apology accepted.
I didn't even know it was a thing, you know.
But that was something that I've noticed in an older generation of people that understand
this.
And then I have other, I've noticed with the other younger people, you know, that they
just can't seem to take the mildest correction sometimes.
Just the slightest little rebuff, like, hey, you know, you need to work on this, or would
you mind even trying to put it politely, trying to put it tactfully.
They just get all offended, and they blow you off, and they get upset.
And that's the wrong attitude to have.
Because if you'll never get right, if you can't admit you're wrong, I mean, think about
it.
How can you get anything right if you don't think you're wrong?
It's just like the lost person, that you got to get them lost before you can get them
saved.
I don't need to get saved.
I'm a good person.
Well, no, you're not a good person.
You're wrong, and you need to acknowledge that.
And really, that's the difference between, you know, maybe a generational thing, or it's
the difference between Saul and David, but it's also the difference between a sincere
apology and an insincere apology.
A sincere apology, somebody's, you know, the person who's offended acknowledges the fact
that they have offended somebody.
You know, I remember, I'll never forget when I heard somebody, they'd offended somebody,
and it was getting dealt with, and this person was told, this is what you did, this is why
I'm offended, and all we're looking for are you to be sorry, and just to say you're sorry
and get it right.
And the person just couldn't do it, and here's what they said, well, I'm sorry you're offended.
That was their apology.
I'm sorry you're offended.
That's not an apology.
That's almost like you're looking for an apology, but maybe you should apologize to me for being
offended.
That's insincere.
And why is it insincere?
Because it's the person who cannot acknowledge that they're wrong and just admit that they're
wrong.
And here's the thing, why is it so important?
Because if you can't admit you're wrong, if you would, turn over to Proverbs chapter 17.
If you can't admit you're wrong, you're doomed to fail.
You'll never get right.
It's the first step.
Proverbs chapter 17, there in verse 20 it says, he that hath a forward heart findeth
no good, and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth in a mischief.
That is not the verse I wanted whatsoever.
So we're just going to move on.
I wrote it on the wrong reference, I apologize.
Proverbs 12 though, it says this, the way of a fool, go to Proverbs 12 verse 15, I think
that's where I needed to have you.
Proverbs 12 verse 15, the Bible says, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes.
He's right in his own eyes.
He's never wrong.
He can never be told that he's wrong.
He can never accept the correction, and what does the Bible say that, what does that make
him?
It makes him a fool.
He's a foolish person.
He says, the way of the fool is right in his own eyes, you know, in his own eyes.
Everybody else is going, buddy, you're out to lunch.
You're all sorts of wrong, but in his own eyes, no, I got it all right.
But he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.
The guy that's like willing to accept correction almost wants it, is saying, hey, show me what
I can do better.
Where am I wrong?
What can I fix?
How can I make this right?
He's hearkening unto counsel.
Go to Proverbs chapter 21.
We talk about this more.
We're talking about the process of getting right with God and experiencing the joy that
comes with getting right with God.
There's joy there.
He says in Proverbs chapter 21 verse 2, every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but
the Lord pondereth the heart.
Now it does say there every way of the way of every way of man is right in his own eyes,
meaning this applies to everybody, you know, every man, every way of man.
We're all going to be wrong from time to time because nobody, you know, lest I'm mistaken,
nobody in this room is perfect, you know, and we're all going to be wrong.
And I can hear the wives and they're not saying, but they're like, amen, they know what it's
like, right?
Yes, even us husbands, we will be wrong from time to time, but we all are going to be wrong
and we need to be prepared and be willing and be able to say, I'm wrong.
You're right.
I apologize.
Let's make this right and move forward.
So because here's the thing, everyone thinks they're right.
Every man, every way of man is right in his own eyes.
Everyone thinks they're right until they're not, you know, oh, I thought I was, this was
the right thing to do.
You know, David was bringing back the ark and thought, well, this is the right thing
to do.
This is where the ark belongs.
Yeah, it was a good motive, but you're wrong, David, and you got to get this right.
And God, you know, it says there, God is pondering the heart.
God is looking at the motive.
God is going to show us what's right and what's wrong and where we need to get things right.
Because here's the thing, you know, God doesn't demand perfection out of us because he's never
going to get that.
We're not perfect.
Until we get the glory, until we're new creatures in Christ, you know, we're going to be flawed
until the day we die.
So it would make no sense for God to demand that you'd be a perfect individual, but what
God does demand is obedience.
God wants you to obey.
He doesn't ask you to be perfect.
He just wants you to obey his word.
And he expects, as a result, humility.
You know, God has every right to demand obedience out of us and to expect some humility out
of us.
Because if we're going to try to obey this book and do what it says and live our lives
in accordance to it, we're going to find out how often we're not right.
How often we, you know, even if we have everything right on the outside, if we got the family
in line, you know, we got, you know, we got our, we got our, you know, all our ducks in
a row.
Everyone can look out from the outside and say, that is just ideal.
You got it all together.
We still have this heart and we still have this mind and the things that go on in there
and we have to so often step back and say, whoa, where did that come from?
That wasn't right.
That was wrong.
Why did I think that?
Why did I say that?
Why do I feel that way?
Forgive me, Lord.
So God, again, he's not asking us to be perfect.
He's just asking us to obey and that's going to require some humility because we're all
going to come up short and we have to have that humility to admit that we're wrong.
You say, well, that doesn't sound easy and here's the thing, admitting you're wrong is
not easy.
No one ever said it was going to be easy and here's what makes it hard to do.
It's not just the fact that sometimes it goes against our pride.
Sometimes it's just hard for us to verbalize those words and we lack the humility sometimes,
but you know, admitting you're wrong isn't just some intellectual exercise where you
examine a situation, determine who's right and wrong, and then just mouth the words I'm
sorry and that's it.
Often admitting you're wrong requires some action on your part.
You have to take steps.
Yeah, you say I'm wrong, I apologize, and then you have to take some steps beyond that
to make things right.
Often you have to cease doing something.
It's something that we've done or said.
We have to stop saying things or stop doing certain things in order to stop doing the
wrong thing.
It would be kind of like, you know, I mean just consider the foolishness of continuing
to do the wrong thing knowing you're doing the wrong thing and expecting that everything's
okay because I admit that it's the wrong thing.
If I got, you know, in the car today and went out on the road and drove on the wrong side
of the road and said I don't belong over here, this is so wrong, you know, this is against
the law, someone's going to get hurt, this is bad, but I just kept doing that.
You know, I'm sorry.
Is that going to cut it?
No, I got to get out of that lane and get over on the right-hand side.
You know, there's an action that has to follow and that's what we see here in First Chronicles
chapter 13.
You know, David, he recognizes the fact that something's wrong.
He says in verse 13, so David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David
but carried it aside in the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite, and the ark remained with the
family of Obed-edom in the house three months and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom.
David stopped what he was doing.
He did not persist, and I know I kind of alluded to this earlier, but he didn't just, you know,
drag Uzzah out of the way and continue to drive the cart and get another guy over there,
hey, take over for Uzzah, we're going to get this thing home.
He stopped.
There were some actions that were taken.
That's what part of admitting you're wrong is, is stop doing what you're doing that's
wrong.
It's not enough to just feel sorry, you actually have to take some steps.
You see, David, he ceased doing what he was doing when he saw the negative consequences.
When he saw, you know, he's bringing home the ark, the ark stumbles, Uzzah touches it,
and now Uzzah's dead on the ground.
He says, well, that didn't go the way I expected.
And he stopped doing it when the negative consequences came.
And you would think so often that would be enough for us to stop doing the wrong thing
and get things right, but so often it's not.
So often we continue to do the wrong thing knowing the negative consequences that are
coming.
And I remember when I was writing this, it reminded me of a foreman I used to have when
I worked in excavation, and he called it pushing the stupid button.
Anyone ever heard that?
Don't push the stupid button.
Where you do something and you're like, why did I do that?
Because you're stupid.
You know, you push the stupid.
They don't call it the stupid button because it's stupid.
You know, it's because you're dumb for pushing it.
But what did you think was going to happen?
You know, what did you think was going to happen when you did that?
Well, that.
Why'd you do it?
I don't know.
Well, that sounds stupid.
That's because it is.
It's dumb in a more eloquent way to put it.
Doing the same thing over and over the same way expecting different results is the definition
of insanity.
I forget who said it.
But it's the same concept.
If we continue to do the wrong thing, even though we might feel sorry about it, and even
experience the negative consequences, that's not enough.
We have to stop what we're doing, or we have to start doing something, start doing the
right thing.
So we see, first of all, that if we're going to get right with God, there's a joy that
comes with getting right with God.
Anybody that's ever done it can tell you that.
I mean, think about just in salvation, the joy that comes with knowing that you're at
peace with your Savior, that you have eternal security, you're born again, you're on your
way to heaven.
Nothing's going to change that.
You don't have to worry about hell or the penalty of sin ever again.
That's a real peace.
But even beyond that, in our own Christian lives, where we get backslidden, we get our
sorts with God, hopefully it makes us feel bad.
Hopefully we don't enjoy it.
And eventually we get to the place where we get right with God.
Anybody who's done that knows that there's a real joy that comes with that.
There's just something about me not having to look over my shoulder, me not having to
pull out of that parking lot and wondering if anybody recognized me, me not having to
whatever it is, have somebody getting, the joy of not having to worry about getting caught,
the joy of not having to pay for the consequences of sin that always catch up to us, to know
that there isn't just one day this is all going to catch up to me and I'm going to have
to pay the piper.
There's a joy there.
There's a joy with being right with God.
And we should all want that.
But what's the first step?
You got to admit you're wrong.
You got to be willing to do that.
What's the next step?
Admit you're wrong and then take the actions necessary to get it right.
Don't just say, oh, I'm sorry and then continue to do it.
You're not really sorry then.
True sorrow, that's repentance.
They stop doing what they're doing and they get things right.
So admitting you're wrong, that entails ceasing the wrong actions.
And that's what we saw David do.
He stopped doing the wrong thing and tried to do the right thing.
But here's the thing.
Learning to do the right thing doesn't come easy.
It sounds like it is.
Like, well, just do the right thing.
Well, sometimes we don't even know what the right thing is to do.
But often that's a real trial.
Sometimes doing the right thing is a hard thing to do.
And if you would, go over to 1 Chronicles chapter 15.
Because in David's instance, if we were to go from 1 Chronicles 13 to 15, it seems like
the answer came to David real easy.
He got it right real easy.
If you're there in 1 Chronicles chapter 15, look at verse 1.
It said, and David made him houses in the city of David and prepared a place for the
ark of God and pitched a tent for it.
Then David said, not not to carry the ark of God, but the Levites.
Of them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God and to minister unto him forever.
So David gets it right.
Well, I'm hesitant to read the whole chapter, but I think we might have to.
What happened between 13 and 15?
Chapter 14 is what happened.
But if we read chapter 14, nobody comes and tells David, hey, the Levites are supposed
to do that.
You don't see David getting out the Bible and reading it and figuring this out.
It just happens.
You have to ask yourself, who told David?
It's not there in chapter 14.
Did he always know maybe?
That's kind of what I have leaned towards, and I'm not trying to bash him or anything.
Maybe he kind of already knew that when he got Uzzah down there, was just trying to do
things the easy way.
I don't know.
This is all speculation.
Maybe he just forgot.
Maybe he knew, but he forgot.
Still not an excuse.
But something happens in chapter 14 that I believe ties this all together.
You see David trying to do the right thing, having these high expectations, he does it
the wrong way, he suffers the consequences, he admits he's wrong, stops doing what he's
doing, and then all of a sudden, chapter 15, he's doing it the right way.
There's this interlude in chapter 14, I believe, and that's where we kind of see what happened,
that God helped David to get things right.
And you know, it is a short chapter, and I think I'm good on time, so we're just going
to read this real quick.
It says in chapter 14, verse 1, Now Hyrum, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to David,
timbers of cedar, and masons and carpenters, to build him a house.
And David perceived that the Lord had confirmed him king over Israel, for his kingdom was
lifted up on high because of his people Israel.
And David took more wives at Jerusalem, and David begat more sons and daughters.
Now these are the names of his children, which he had in Jerusalem, Ashamuah and Shobab and
Nathan and Solomon and Ibhar and Elishua and Eliphelet and Nogah and Nepheg and Jephiah
and Elishama and Beeladiah and Eliphelet.
And when the Philistines heard, okay, this is where we want to focus in, when the Philistines
heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek
David.
Now they weren't seeking him because they wanted to bring him gifts.
They were going there because they wanted to kill him.
They seeked David, and David herded it and went out against him.
And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines, and will thou
deliver them into mine hand?
And the Lord said unto him, Go up, for I will deliver them into thine hand.
So they came to Baal Peresim, and David smote them there.
And David said, God hath broken in upon my enemies, by mine hand, like the breaking forth
of waters.
Therefore they called the name of that place Baal Peresim.
And when they had left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with
fire.
And the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley.
Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said, Go not up after them, turn away
from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees, and it shall be when thou
shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that thou shalt go out
to battle, for God is gone before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines.
And David therefore did as God commanded him, and they smote the host of the Philistines
from Gibeon even to Gezer.
So what happened there?
Here's what I want to point out, is that it's the same enemy.
It's the same enemy in both instances.
The first time the Philistines come up, they spread themselves in the valley, David inquires
of God, he says, Go out and smite them, and he does it.
The same enemy comes back again, in the same valley, it's the exact same situation.
David goes to God and says, Shall I go and smite them, he says, Go not up.
Go over this way, over by the mulberry trees, and when you hear the sound of going, when
you hear the wind in the trees, then go out and I'll smite them.
So what's going on there?
Why does God give him this complete, I mean, what's the difference?
Everything's changed except God's instructions.
And I believe that's because that's where David's learning this lesson of doing things
the way God wants them done.
God's taking this opportunity to show him, Look, I want you to win this victory, but
I want you to do it my way, that God wants things done a certain way.
I believe this is where he learned this, or he was reminded of it, and that God wants
things done a certain way.
It's the same enemy in the same way.
And I think sometimes God wants things done a certain way just to see if we'll do it
his way.
I think that's what he's testing David.
He's saying, Look, I'm telling you to do it this way just to see if you'll do it.
Because if you recall, there's been other instances in the Bible when the children of
Israel were going to go up and defeat the children of Ai.
They didn't inquire of the Lord.
That was their big mistake.
They didn't check to see how God wanted things done.
That was David's mistake when he brought back the ark.
He doesn't ask how does God want this done until all the bad stuff had happened.
I think sometimes God just wants things done a certain way just to see if that's the way
we'll do it.
If we'll be what?
Obedient.
If we'll obey his voice.
Now that also shows us another thing in this passage, that doing things God's way isn't
often the easy way.
Fighting the Philistines was not easy.
Maybe that going around the other way by the mulberry trees, it's a longer trek, we've
got to go over there.
Then we've got to hide in these trees, we've got to wait for the wind.
It's more difficult.
Why can't we just go out and fight them?
Not that that's easy.
But God's showing him, look, I want things done a certain way, and that way is not always
going to be the easy way.
And I think this is why people so often fail to get things right.
This is why so many Christians go without experiencing the joy of getting right.
Because it's not easy.
And we're just living in a culture where everything has to be easy.
It's your way right away.
The way you want it.
It's just got to be the easiest way possible.
We want a drive through Christianity where it's just pick a meal and it's out in 10 minutes
and less than that, right?
And that's not the Christian life.
That's not getting right with God.
Getting right with God isn't always easy.
Especially if you get saved later in life, you come with a bunch of baggage.
You've got these sins that you were into, and now you've got to get rid of this stuff,
whatever it is.
That's not always easy.
Whatever it might be, doing things the right way, it's not easy to admit you're wrong.
It's not easy to stop doing certain things.
It's not easy to start doing the right thing.
But that's the process of getting right with God.
And if you would, turn over to 2 Timothy chapter 2.
Another real familiar verse.
Because here's the thing, we were talking about the stupid button earlier, right?
That button's there.
We want to push that all we want.
But there is no easy button.
Don't let Staples fool you.
You could put that on your desk if you want.
It's not going to work.
Boy, life's getting hard.
This Christian life's hard.
Where's that easy button?
Nothing's happening.
It's a gimmick.
It's not real.
It's fake.
The Christian life is hard.
You know what?
And I'm glad the Christian life's hard.
I'm glad it's not just a cakewalk.
I'm glad that it requires something out of us, that it takes character, that it takes
effort.
Because then you feel like you actually accomplished something.
You get some sin out of your life and you're like, wow, I did that.
Through the grace of God, I've gotten the sin out of my life.
There's joy there with getting right with God.
If it all came easy, there would be no joy with it.
There's no satisfaction.
And that's why we're living in a world where people are so unsatisfied, where everything's
just coming easy to them.
Everything's just easy, easy come, easy go.
Look here in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 5.
He says, and if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
Here's the thing.
There's no cutting corners with God.
You can't cut corners in the Christian life.
There's no easy way.
It'd be like the guy, he's on a track, he's going to run a race, he's down on the blocks,
the gun goes off, and everyone starts down the track and he just takes a hard left-hand
turn, cuts across the middle of the track, goes over there, runs across the finish line,
woo, I won.
They're like, you cheated.
You didn't win, does it?
Well, I'm the first one across the line.
I won.
That's the goal, right?
Yeah, but you have to make the loop, buddy.
You got to go around.
You got to stay in the track.
There's no cutting corners.
There's no easy way in the Christian life.
It doesn't exist.
You have to strive lawfully, which means this, you're going to have to do it the hard
way.
If you want to get right with God, if you want to have that joy, you're going to have
to do things that are hard.
So let me just close it up here.
Wherever you are, whatever area in your life, wherever you are in life, whatever area it
is in your life that you insist in doing it your way and not God's way, that's where us
is going to show up.
There's not an area in your life that the Bible does not address.
There's not a concern you can't handle that the Bible doesn't address.
And we could just touch on a few.
One I think about often is the area of child rearing.
God has a very specific manner in which He tells us to raise our children, but we have
a lot of different philosophies and ideas that are out there today that say, no, do
it this way.
And they'll even say, that's totally wrong.
Don't do what the Bible says.
You're going to scar your children.
Sometimes that's a good thing.
I want that in their memory that if you do this, bad things happen, that there's consequences
for your actions.
That's a good thing to put into a child's mind.
But the world will say, oh, don't do it that way.
And if we allow ourselves to get, and again, this is just one area in life, if we allow
ourselves to get influenced like, well, maybe doing things that way like the Bible says,
maybe that's kind of old school.
Let's try this other way.
Let's try this positive reinforcement only way.
And I'm for positive reinforcement.
There's a time and place for it.
But I'm saying that's all it ever is.
And I've been around these parents, and their kids are complete rats, and the kid's just
throwing a fit.
I love you.
Oh, don't do that.
Why would you do that to me?
Don't you see how that makes me feel?
I don't know how it makes you feel.
It should make you feel furious sometimes.
But here's the thing.
That's the area where you start to think, well, in this area of child rearing, I'm going
to go the world's way.
That's where us is going to show up.
That's where you're going to have a wrecked life.
That's where you're going to have heartbreak over some child who went astray.
You know, in marriages, we want to do the things the way the Bible says.
Wives are like, oh, I don't want to submit to my husband.
The Bible says wives submit to your husbands.
And I thought about this, and I've used this illustration in the past.
It's actually a true story.
Does that really happen in a Baptist church?
Is there really anybody in the room even here potentially that would ever even think that?
Yeah.
I remember one preacher telling me, he preached that, and he said, hey, the Bible says wives
obey your husbands and all things to be obedient to their own husbands.
And after the service, this sweet, godly lady came up, or pure godly, and she said, look,
what I did.
And she'd taken a marker and crossed that out in her Bible.
And she was proud of it.
He's like, look what I did, preacher.
I don't like that verse.
You know what's going to happen?
That's where us is going to show up in your life.
That's where us is going to show up in the form of divorce, or a bitter husband who doesn't
want to be around you, or whatever it is, a poor, failing marriage.
That's what that's going to result in.
Well, you know, that's hard.
He doesn't always do the right thing.
It's hard.
You know, my husband, he's this, he's that.
Yeah, you know what?
You're probably right.
It's that way sometimes.
But you know, that's part of the Christian life, doing things at heart, just trusting.
So whatever area it is in our life where we're thinking, hey, I know better than God, that's
where we're going to suffer, where we're not going to say, you know what, actually God's
way is better.
We're refusing to say, you know what, I'm wrong, God's right, let me do it His way.
That's where we're going to struggle.
That's where we're going to suffer, we're going to fail, or at the very least, we're
going to be inefficient, you know, at the very least.
Now we'll turn to one more place back in 1 Chronicles chapter 15, say, well, this just,
I don't know, I mean, I read the Bible, I listen to the preaching, I hear what everybody's
telling me to do, and it just sounds like God wants a lot, and it's hard to do, and
it is, and God does.
But you know, if you're saved, the Bible says you're not your own, you're bought with a
price.
Glorify, therefore, God in your bodies.
And God has every right to make every demand of you that He does, because you're His.
And thank God for that, thank God that we're His.
I wouldn't want to be anybody else's.
But here's the thing, you know, God does ask a lot, but God also helps.
I think sometimes we lose sight of that.
We forget that, you know, yeah, God asks us to do a lot of hard things, but a lot of times
God steps in and He helps.
That's exactly what you see here in 1 Chronicles chapter 15.
You know, David figures it out, you know, and says, oh, we've got to do it this way.
You know, it's a lot easier to just put it on the cart and let the ox drag it up there,
you know, let some beast of burden do all the heavy labor, rather than get the Levites,
you know, get them in all the right apparel and get them all organized and, you know,
figure out who's going to stand where, and then they've got to pick that thing up.
I mean, it's plated in gold, and that's heavy stuff, right?
I mean, bearing the ark was, when you read that, he's like, that must have been pretty
heavy to do.
They had the staffs there, they're trying to bear this thing up, but when we're trying
to do it God's way, when we're trying to do things the hard way, even, you know, when
God asks us to do it these ways, God steps in and He helps.
If you would, look there in 1 Chronicles chapter 15 verse 25.
It says, so David and the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands went up to
bring the ark of the common Lord out of the house of Abed-Edom with joy.
So they go to do it the right way, right?
And what happens in verse 26?
And it came to pass when God helped the Levites that bear the ark in the singers.
God looks down and says, oh, you're doing it the right way.
You're doing it the way I told you, and it's hard for you to do it.
I can see that it's difficult for you.
Let me step in there and help you.
You know, I think those Levites, when they started doing that, that all of a sudden that
ark was just light as a feather.
God was just going, whoop, let me help you with that.
Thanks for doing it my way.
I appreciate that.
I'm glad you're obedient.
Because here's the thing.
You say, well, it's the hard way.
Why should I want to get right?
Is it really that important for me to experience the joy of getting right with God?
It is, because God does all of this for our own good.
You know, God's just not making up all these rules and putting all these things on us just
because He just, heh, heh, heh, gets up there and just wants to watch them struggle.
No, because it's good for us to be obedient.
He's watching out for us.
That's our best interest in mind.
So that's my admonition to you this morning is, you know, don't miss out on the joy of
getting right.
If you're out of sorts with another person even or God or whoever it is or even in your
own heart, maybe there's just some area in your life where it's not right.
You're wrong.
Just be willing to admit that and just take the next step.
Stop doing what you shouldn't be doing.
Start doing what you should be doing.
And you know what?
When God sees that, He'll step in and He'll help you and you'll get to experience the
joy of getting right.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Holy Father, again, thank you for the many examples in the Bible of men who, Lord, who
came up short but were still mightily used of you despite their own shortcomings, Lord.
Thank you for the example of those men having a humble heart, a soft heart, Lord, that were
willing to accept correction, and Lord, and to get things right.
Lord, help us to be that same type of people, people that are willing to understand that
we mess up, we slip up, but Lord, when it happens, that we're willing to make things
right and keep things right.
And Lord, I just pray that you would be with the soul waiting this afternoon and bring
us back this evening.
We ask in Christ's name.
Amen.
All right, so we'll go ahead and sing.