Amen, the title of my sermon tonight is The Sin of Uzzah, The Sin of Uzzah.
I've heard a lot of sermons preached out of this passage, I've preached a lot of sermons
from this passage, and typically the emphasis is placed upon the new cart.
And that's definitely a legitimate angle to take on this story, but tonight I'm going
to focus more on the sin of Uzzah himself, what he did wrong, because of the fact that
as we study this scripture, the Bible says that God's anger was kindled against Uzzah.
Okay, so obviously Uzzah himself did something that angered the Lord.
Just that right there deserves looking at and talking about.
So typically the way that I've heard this preached and the way that I've always preached
in the past, which is legitimate, is that they weren't supposed to have the ark on the
new cart in the first place, which is of course true.
God clearly told them that when they wanted to move the ark of the covenant, that it had
rings on the top of it, and they were supposed to put these staves through the rings, and
the Levites had to carry the ark on their shoulders.
So here they've got this new innovation of instead of doing it God's way, where God told
them to carry it on the shoulders of the Levites, they're going to use this new cart.
And where did they get this idea?
Of course they got it from the Philistines, because the Philistines, when they stole the
ark of God, they transported it in a new cart.
And so the Israelites have borrowed this heathen practice.
And so, you know, you can see how you can get a lot of great sermons out of this, right?
About the new cart, and we don't need the new cart, and stand with the old time religion,
don't copy the world's methods, don't copy false religion.
That's all great preaching and important.
But what about the sin of Uzzah himself?
You know, a lot of times when we think about this story, because we focus so much on the
new cart, we kind of just make Uzzah out to be a victim here.
You know, and that's how David feels too.
When Uzzah is killed, it says in verse 11 here, and David was displeased, because the
Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, wherefore the place is called Perez-Uzzah to this day.
So it's easy to have David's attitude and feel bad for Uzzah, and he's a victim, and
that it's all that cart, you know, that new cart, and the oxen stumbled, the thing was
going to fall.
I mean, what's he supposed to do?
Just let it fall?
Just let it crash and burn?
But you know what?
That's just making excuses for Uzzah, and that's not in the scripture.
The Bible says God's anger was kindled against Uzzah, what he did was clearly wrong.
And let me explain to you why it was wrong.
Why was it wrong?
What is the lesson that God wants us to take away from this?
Obviously, they weren't supposed to touch the ark, they weren't supposed to look into
the ark, because the ark is too holy for just some random guy, Uzzah, to just reach out
and grab the thing, okay?
But what does this represent?
What can we learn from this?
Well, one of the major things that the ark of the covenant represents is the Word of
God.
It's the ark of the covenant.
The covenant, you know what covenant also means?
Testament.
Testament and covenant are words that are used interchangeably in scripture.
So it's the ark of the Old Testament, and it had a copy of God's law in it, it had the
tablets of stone with the covenant on them, with the Ten Commandments, the abbreviated
form of God's covenant, inside of it.
So one of the things that the ark of the covenant represents is the Word of God.
Now if you would, flip over to Ecclesiastes chapter 3, Ecclesiastes chapter 3.
And the point that I want to make with this tonight is that there are certain things that
God can take care of on his own, and he doesn't need our help to do it.
And what Uzzah is doing is reaching out and trying to stop the ark of the covenant from
crashing and being destroyed, but God is well able to take care of his own ark of the covenant,
and God is able to take care of his own word.
So what I want to talk about, first of all, is the preservation of God's word.
Okay, God has promised to preserve his word.
The Bible says over and over again that God's word will be preserved.
Jesus said, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
We need to have the faith to believe that.
Just as Uzzah should have had the faith to believe that the ark of the covenant is going
to be okay without me violating God's word, without me violating God's law to save it.
You know, and immediately upon thinking about this story, my mind went to Dagon.
Because if you remember the false god Dagon in the presence of the ark of the covenant
did what?
He fell upon his face.
And when Dagon fell upon his face the second time, actually not only did he break his face,
but he also bust off his limbs so that only the stump of Dagon was left.
And it talks about how the Philistines put their god back in his place.
You know, and when you're putting your god in his place, you got a problem.
You got the wrong god.
God of the Bible doesn't crash and burn.
He doesn't need us to protect him from destruction because he is able to fend for himself, unlike
Dagon who crashes and burns if he's not intended to.
He falls on his face and smashes up.
And so we believe that God will preserve his word just like God could have taken care of
the ark of the covenant.
Uzzah didn't need to step in there to save God or something.
We believe that God can preserve his word and take care of it.
See Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 14 says this, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall
be forever.
Nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it and God doeth it that men should fear
before him.
Now if this would apply to anything, would this not apply to the inspiration of the Bible?
I mean if God inspires the Bible, if God delivers the Bible to us as human beings and then promises
to preserve it, wouldn't that fall under this promise of, well whatever God does is going
to be forever, nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it.
Does that sound familiar?
Like when God said don't add anything to his word, don't take anything away from it and
guess what?
God's word will be forever.
The Bible says the grass fadeth, the flower fadeth, the grass withereth but the word of
our God endureth forever.
I mean is that true or not?
Does God's word endure forever or not?
Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away.
The Bible says in Proverbs 30 verse 5, every word of God is pure.
He's a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar.
Matthew chapter 5 verse 18, for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one
jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.
Luke 16 17, and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to
fail.
I would to Psalm 12 but today's modern textual critics, those who do not believe the King
James Bible but they're part of the Bible of the Month Club and they typically will
use the ESV or the NIV or one of these other modern translations, you know, they are using
a Bible that comes from a philosophy that says that God has not preserved his word in
all ages but that rather, and I'll read for you the title of the book that they use because
the ESV, the NIV, and all of them, they're all in the same boat, my friend, and they
are following the philosophies of textual criticism laid down by a guy named Bruce Metzger.
Okay, Bruce Metzger, which is funny because that's German for butcher and he's truly butchered
the word of God.
But Bruce Metzger is like the godfather of textual criticism and all these textual criticism
books and all these Greek books that are in seminaries, they're always dedicated to Bruce
Metzger.
I mean, this is the guy who has come up with a lot of the philosophy, a lot of the rules
for the textual criticism for the text of Scripture that deviates from the traditional
text which underlies our King James Bible.
Our King James Bible is translated from the traditional Hebrew and Greek text.
The modern Bibles are not.
They're translated from different Greek, different Hebrew, and the guy who basically has taught
them their philosophies is Bruce Metzger.
Okay, well here's the title of Bruce Metzger's book.
And by the way, this book is by Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman, okay?
This is what the book's called and this should tell you everything that you need to know
about these people.
It's called the text of the New Testament.
It's transmission, corruption, and restoration.
The text of the New Testament, it's transmission, corruption, and we are the saviors that are
restoring it for you.
That's basically what they're saying.
Basically this book is written by Uzzah.
It should be called the Ark of the Covenant.
It's transmission, the stumbling of the oxen, and me putting my hand forth to save it.
I mean wouldn't that be another title for the book?
Basically, you know, God, he has transmitted his word and then something went wrong.
It all went astray.
It didn't, it wasn't preserved, it was lost, it was corrupted, it got ruined, and so now
we need all of these geeked out German scholars who don't even believe in many cases that
Jesus even rose from the dead.
A lot of these guys that are over in these theological think tanks over in Germany controlling
the text of the New Testament at these institutes for New Testament research by unsaved, unbelieving
academics who are going to restore the text.
And you know what these guys will tell you?
They'll say, well, we're not really trying to get after the original text because that's
impossible.
We just want to try to get it closer, you know.
We just want to at least get to what it was when it first started being copied.
I mean we have no idea what the apostles wrote.
Well, you know what?
I know exactly what the apostles wrote because of the fact that God promised that his word
would be preserved and that one jot or one tittle would not pass from the law and that
it's easier for heaven and earth to pass than for one tittle of the law to fail.
And I know that Jesus of the New Testament, he said, my words shall not pass away.
What sense would it make for God to go through all the trouble of inspiring his word if he's
not even going to preserve it?
Of course, we have all these verses on preservation, but even just logically it makes no sense
for God to deliver his word and to allow it to be lost.
And then it has to be dug up by an archaeologist.
You know what?
If an archaeologist digs up something that doesn't agree with the traditional text, I
would say he dug up a piece of trash.
You know, there's all kinds of trash under the earth that you could dig up.
You could grab a shovel and dig and dig and you're going to find some trash eventually.
You know, good things get buried, but trash gets buried too.
Oh, I dug this up, it's really old, it must be worth something.
What about all the junk we're throwing away right now?
Someday it'll be dug up.
Is that going to prevent it from being trash?
Look at this Coke can from 2021, so cool.
You know, they could dig up the Book of Mormon in 2800 AD, they could dig up the Book of Mormon.
Here's the real scripture, it's old.
It's garbage is what it is.
Now look at Psalm 12, this is a great passage, Psalm 12, it says in Psalm 12 verse 1,
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children
of men.
Help, Lord.
Look at verse 5, for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will
I rise, saith the Lord, I will set him in safety from him that puffeth in him.
The words of the Lord are pure words.
As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times, thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever, the wicked walk on every side when
the vilest men are exalted.
Now, it's so funny to me how the textual criticism crowd, the critical text crowd, they're always
so quick to jump in and say, you're misusing that scripture.
You're using that wrong.
If you go back to the Hebrew, that's not possible to use it the way you're using it.
And here's what's funny about that, is that they act like this is the only verse on God
preserving his word.
Didn't I just rattle off to you a whole bunch of other verses on God preserving his word?
Like say, from Matthew and Mark and Luke, which all three record Jesus saying, heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
I told you Matthew 5.18, Ecclesiastes 3.14, I mean, it's pretty obvious from scripture
that God will preserve his word from multiple places.
So number one, this text is not the only text that we would point to and say, well, this
is how we know God's going to preserve his word.
No, no, we already know that from several other scriptures as well.
Okay.
But they'll say that, you know, if you go back to the Hebrew, then the genders don't
line up so when it says thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this
generation forever, it's talking about he's going to preserve God's people, not the words,
you know, because the words are feminine and the people are masculine.
But here's the thing about that, is that, okay, fine, thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
Isn't it interesting that in verse 6 we just said what?
The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven
times.
Now, just put on your thinking cap for a minute, okay?
Is God's word pure or not?
So what are we, let's take this one phrase at a time here.
The first thing we learn is that God's words are pure.
Now when is this being written?
You know, okay, well, we're thinking the time of David, right, Psalms?
Time of David?
So we're looking at around 1000 BC, right?
Okay, so okay, this is being written in the time of David.
What words of God is he talking about?
He's talking about stuff that goes back all the way to about 1500 BC, like 500 years earlier,
with who?
Moses, right?
Because you've got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy being written by
Moses about 500 years earlier.
And so he's saying the words of the Lord right now 500 years later are pure words.
And how do I know that he's implying anything about it being 500 years later?
Because he says as silver tried in the furnace of earth purified seven times.
So God's word has existed in the earth.
Is everybody following?
The words are pure and they've been in a furnace of earth purified seven times.
So over the last 500 years, have they been corrupted?
Have they been lost?
Have they been forgotten?
No, the psalmist is saying that here we are approximately 500 years later and God's word
is still pure.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, it's still here, it's still pure, and the
earth has not destroyed God's word or corrupted, no, the earth has been there as a furnace
of fire to purify it and keep it pure.
Does everybody understand?
The words of the Lord are pure words.
Now look, were the words of the Lord pure words in 1000 B.C., but now they're not anymore?
It's ludicrous.
Then I wonder why God tells us to sing this in the New Testament.
God tells us in the New Testament to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
songs.
We're supposed to be singing this, what would be the point of singing this if it's not even
true anymore?
Like, well, the words of the Lord are pure words, well, I mean, yeah, that was cool back
when they were pure.
Unfortunately the text of the New Testament has been corrupted and we must restore it.
It's absurd.
And you know what?
I'd expect that coming from atheists in Germany in some think tank, sharpening their pencils
and putting them in the, you know, putting their pens and their pocket protectors over
in Germany, trying to figure this out.
I expect that from an atheist, but you know what?
I don't expect this kind of garbage from people who claim to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why do you think like an atheist if you claim to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ?
But then you approach this like an atheist, like the Bible is just any other book.
Like this is just some academic exercise.
No, it's the word of God.
It is the thing that we need more than anything else.
It brings life.
It does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
So we better have an every word Bible.
But oh no, the text has been corrupted beyond repair.
It's nonsense.
I expect that from an atheist because the fool has said in his heart there is no God.
So I know that every single person who says in their heart that there's no God, I already
know something about them.
I know something about their intelligence.
They're a fool.
It's a foolish thing to think that there is no God.
And so I'd expect this kind of foolishness of saying, well, God delivered his word, but
you know, unfortunately, scribal errors and here we are.
No, you know what, here's the thing about the furnace of earth here.
You know, God's word has been kept pure in this furnace of earth here.
Okay, it has not become impure.
Now so we've got that from verse six, right?
The words of the Lord are pure words.
Thou shalt preserve them, or excuse me, the words of the Lord are pure words as silver
tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
Okay, now let's just insert here the people of God, right?
Let's say that the them here is referring to the people of God.
Is referring to the people of God.
God's gonna keep the people of God and God's gonna preserve the people of God from this
generation forever.
So even though the wicked are walking on every side in verse number eight, even though the
godly man ceaseth in verse number one, what is going to be preserved according to verse
seven?
God's people are going to be preserved, am I right?
Okay, so if God's people are gonna be preserved from this generation forever, what does that
have to do with the word of God being kept pure and purified in the furnace of earth
seven times?
Well, go to Romans chapter three for the answer.
Romans chapter three, look at Romans chapter number three.
In Romans chapter number three, it says in verse one, Romans three one, what advantage
then hath the Jew or what profit is there of circumcision much every way chiefly because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
You see, God's word was perpetuated in the Old Testament by the people of God, right?
So God delivered his word in Hebrew to the Hebrews.
In the Old Testament, it was delivered in the Hebrew language to the Hebrew people and
God preserved his word by preserving the people because if the nation of Israel had ceased
to exist, if the people of God had completely just failed and gone away, well here's the
thing.
It's the word of God is preserved by the people of God.
It was committed unto them.
It was entrusted to them.
They were the ones copying it, preaching it, and believing it, and using it, and calling
upon the name of the Lord.
Folks, let me explain something to you.
Not only has God's word been preserved in all ages, but you know what else has been
preserved in all ages?
God's people have been preserved in all ages and the word of God has been transmitted through
his people.
So you can't really separate these two things of the word being preserved and the people
being preserved.
It's both.
It's both, okay?
And here's the thing about that.
You know, if you're going to preserve both, then you put a male gender on it anyway because
whenever you have a mix of male and female, you know, you just end up using a male...
It's sort of like in Spanish, you know.
If it's five men and one woman, it's nosotros.
And if it's five women and one man, it's nosotros.
It has to be 100% female to go to nosotras, right?
So the thing about this is, it says, you know, the words of the Lord are pure words.
As silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times, thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.
The natural reading of that, if you're just reading that in English, you know, your natural
reading of that, you're going to be thinking about the words being preserved, just reading
that.
You're going to be thinking about the words being preserved, okay?
And you say, well, but it's the people being preserved.
Well, you know what?
Great.
That's good news that he's preserving both because that's what the passage is about because
he preserves the word through the people.
See, if the word is, you know, it'd be like if you had the word of God and it's in a box,
you know, if he preserves the box, then the word ends up getting preserved.
You know, God's people were the vessel or the container by which his word was transmitted
and kept pure and copied and repeated and preached and so forth.
And so, you know, they think they're really on to something, you know.
When they go to the Hebrew and say, hey, this doesn't mean God will preserve his word, okay,
what about all the other verses where he said he would preserve his word?
What about all the other verses where his words aren't going anywhere and not even a
jot or a tittle will fail from the law?
What about that, okay?
So don't get all smug about Psalm 12 because even if you make it about the people, which
I have no issue with that, I have no problem with that and, you know, I looked at the grammar
in Hebrew and I believe that, you know, they're correct in the sense that, yeah, it is masculine
and the words are feminine, but so what?
He's preserving God's people.
You can't just ignore verse 6.
Verse 6 has to fit in there somewhere about God's word being kept pure and refined in
a furnace of earth and that 500 years later it's still pure.
So the bottom line is God preserves both his people and his word because the people are
the vehicle by which he preserves his word.
How does God's word get perpetuated?
In a museum?
No, it gets perpetuated by the people.
And you know what I want to say to these textual critics who get all excited when they go back
to the Hebrew here and say, see, it's not the words that are being preserved, it's the
people that are being preserved.
Okay, well, you know what, maybe you should learn something from that.
Maybe you should learn the fact that God's word is preserved through his people and you
know what that means?
That means that the Bible that God's people have been using is the right Bible.
How about that?
How about the Bible that God's people used in the 1600s and in the 1700s and in the 1800s
is the right Bible, not the one you dug up later.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
How does God preserve his word?
Unto whom were the oracles of God committed?
They were committed to the people of God.
How were they preserved?
God preserved his word by preserving the people.
How were his words pure 500 years later?
How did he deliver the word and 500 years later it's still pure.
Why?
Because he preserved the people.
Because he said, I will preserve them, the people from this generation forever and if
he preserves the people, the people preserve the words.
It all works together.
Okay, but here's the thing.
God is the one who's ultimately responsible for keeping his word pure and we don't need
to violate God's word to help him.
Oh, you're going to crash, God, here let me steady you.
The ark represents the word of God, the ark represents the presence of God.
God's not Dagon.
He's not going to fall over if you don't jump in and help.
He's okay.
And so the textual critic says, well, you know, I know God said not to add or remove
from it.
I know God said he'd preserve his word, but he clearly needs my help here or he's going
to crash and burn and so I better restore the text that has been corrupted.
That is a Uzzah mentality of God's word, reaching forth your hand and tampering with that which
you ought not to tamper.
You are Uzzah at that point.
But let's go with that.
Go to Jude, verse one, Jude, verse one, because we talked about the fact that yes, God will
preserve his word.
God's word today is the same word that he delivered on Mount Sinai.
It's the same word that he delivered when he inspired the psalmist, you know, around
five hundred years later.
It's the same word that he gave to the prophets.
It's the same word that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote.
We have God's word preserved.
And how did it get preserved?
Not only an unbroken chain of God's word being on this earth, but an unbroken chain of saved
Christians.
You know, have you ever heard this foolish doctrine that says, oh, back then everybody
was Catholic.
Who's heard somebody say something like that?
Well, in the Middle Ages, everybody was Catholic.
I mean, they're all Catholic.
You know, you look at the Wikipedia page for something about the Reformation or something.
I saw on the Wikipedia page, it literally said like, in such and such the date, in 1520
whatever, I forget the exact date, the first adult convert was baptized, you know, like,
by immersion.
Like, oh wow, like, like, so they give a date in the 1500s and say like, this is the first,
you know, adult convert being baptized by immersion, you know, because the Catholic
Church over here is sprinkling babies and everything else, right?
And then all of a sudden in the Reformation, you know, somebody dunks an adult convert
underwater.
It's like, well, it's the first time in history.
No it's not.
Because guess what?
Not only did John the Baptist dunk Jesus underwater as an adult, not only did he dunk thousands
of people under the water as an adult, not only did Jesus' apostles dunk thousands of
people, you know, when Jesus was baptized, he came up straightway out of the water because
he was underwater.
That's why the Bible says we're buried with him by baptism into his death.
It doesn't say that, you know, a little dirt is sprinkled on us.
No, no, no, we get buried.
It's a death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, signified by baptism.
And so we see that, yes, in the New Testament, people are being dunked underwater after they're
saved.
You know, uh, hey, what hinders me from being baptized?
If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
Act 837, if you've got a King James Bible.
If thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest, and he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
That's when he got baptized.
He first had to believe on Christ and confess that, and that's when he got baptized.
But let me tell you something, I promise you, I guarantee you, that from that time until
this, there have always been saved, Bible-believing Christians, and there have always been people
who baptized by immersion, and there have always been people preaching the same type
of stuff that I'm preaching to you today and every other Sunday, because there's nothing
new under the sun.
Now here's the thing, just, and by the way, just because Europe went through dark ages,
that doesn't mean the whole world went through dark ages, my friend.
Because guess what, what if I told you that Europe is not the only place that Christianity
existed during that time?
You know, if you'd actually study some history, you'd realize that Christianity was very prevalent
throughout the Mongolian Empire, and that even many of Genghis Khan's sons and grandsons
were married to Christian wives, and there were huge Christian populations all over Asia
during that time.
Now you wouldn't know that today.
You look at Mongolia today, you look at those places, and they have such a tiny percentage
of Christians.
But you know what, there was a time when they had a massive proportion of Christians.
You know, Christianity has circled the globe many, many times, my friend.
Over and over again, Christianity has circled the globe.
So you go, well, you know, everybody was Catholic.
Oh, you mean everybody in the history book you're reading that was written by Catholics?
Oh, you mean everybody in the history book that you're reading that was written by Protestants
who are basically saying, hey, we, you know, well, the only reason we were Catholic is
because that's all there was, okay?
And so now we're splitting off from that.
Folks, do you realize how little we know about what took place a thousand years ago, fifteen
hundred years ago?
You know, you just take everything as gospel that you read in a history book, you don't
know very much about how history works, especially ancient history.
Now look, I'm sure modern history is pretty accurate in a lot of ways because obviously
we have today all kinds of cameras running all the time and audio recorders running and
photographs are being taken.
So we have a lot more data to work with that's a lot more concrete and in stone.
I mean, look, I've got, I've got more photographs of my children than all the photographs that
exist in the world from the time of, from before the time of Christ combined.
Think about every picture on the entire planet, BC, right?
There's probably more pictures on my wife's phone.
I mean people today, I mean how many pictures do you think we have?
Like family pictures, like 10,000, 50,000, 100, no I'm just kidding.
Folks let me tell you something.
The vast majority of historical documents have been destroyed, they've turned to dust.
Most pictures have been destroyed.
There's very little hard evidence on things.
You could think of the most famous, some of the most famous characters.
Here's a little guy you might have heard of, you know, Alexander the Great.
I don't know, is he kind of important?
Yeah, I mean talk about a mega historical figure.
You know, I read a poll somewhere that he was the most well-known historical figure
outside of biblical characters, outside of Jesus and Abraham and people in the Bible.
The most famous non-religious historical figure in a poll that was taken was Alexander the
Great.
Okay, but you know what?
When you actually go and do research on his father, Philip II of Macedon, and on Alexander
the Great himself, you'll find that there's so much unknown, so much just conjecture,
and it's like sometimes, you know, you're just looking at a coin, or you're looking
at a piece of pottery, or you're looking at some guy writing about it 400 years later,
or 150 years later, or his enemy writing 75 years later about how bad he is, you know,
there's very little to go on.
You know, I did research on Philip of Macedon, super powerful man who, you know, basically
set up Alexander the Great to take over, you know, this giant empire.
You know, Philip was the one who, you know, pioneered all the methods and built the machine
and set him up.
Actual contemporary sources of Philip, I found two.
Two contemporary sources on Philip, and they wrote like a couple paragraphs.
One of them is like a major enemy of his, Demosthenes.
And so, there's not, you know, you think, oh yeah, we know everything about what happened
back, no we don't.
And you know what, the Middle Ages, yeah, we have historical documents to go on, but
not very many.
I mean, there's a lot of, I mean, how much old English literature do we really have?
Very little.
I bet you that pretty much every scholar in old English has read every bit of it a bunch
of times because there's not much to read.
They probably just keep reading the same stuff over and over again.
The venerable Bede and Beowulf, you know, on repeat, and a few other things.
The point is, you can't sit there and say, well, you know, we know that this is what
religions existed.
Okay, what happens when they go to write the history of Arizona, the religious history
of Arizona?
Oh, I'm sure it's going to be all about Faithful Word Baptist Church, right?
Faithful Word, if they're writing a history of the United States, a religious history
of the United States right now, who would they bring up?
Who would it be about?
Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, right?
It would be Bill Hybels, Billy Graham, Robert Shuler.
Is that who it would be?
And let's say that Pastor Steven Anderson got mentioned.
He would get a little footnote saying this is a hate group, this guy is a cult leader,
you know, this guy is a liar and a fraud and he taught, and they'd make up a bunch of weird
stuff I didn't even teach.
True or false?
And it'd be a little footnote and then the whole chapter would be on Joel Osteen and
Billy Graham and Bill Hybels.
So hmm, but I'm sure back then it was totally different.
I'm sure the real preachers got all the air time back then.
But you know what?
Here's the thing, like love or hate me, I have had an influence.
You know, millions of people have heard my preaching.
We have knocked the doors.
We have physically, our church has physically knocked the doors of over a million people
in this area over the last 16 years.
We've done mission strips all over the world.
We've been in the news all over the world.
You know, I've traveled and preached at all these different places and you know, even
people who hate me have been influenced by me in many ways amongst independent Baptists.
But let me say this, I will not be in the history books.
And if I am, it won't be in a good way at all.
What about other men of God?
What about literally 6,000 independent Baptist churches in America that are King James only?
About 6,000.
How many of them are going to make it into the history books?
But yet what are they doing every week?
Right?
I mean obviously some of them are losers.
But you know what?
A lot of them are doing what?
A lot of them are winning people to Christ.
I guarantee you that all across this world there are thousands and thousands and thousands
of churches and people that are winning people to Christ, preaching the truth, preaching
the Gospel, and even in our modern society where we're taking 7,000 pictures of each
baby, you still won't remember.
They'll still be forgotten to history books, let alone back when, in times when almost
nothing survives.
When the greatest, you know, works of literature survive in like one manuscript or many of
them are just lost forever.
I mean look, we know so, look, how about William Shakespeare?
He's a pretty famous guy, right?
Did you know that some people argue that William Shakespeare wasn't even a real person?
Because they know like nothing about him.
There's just like that, there's that one picture and people don't really know anything about
him.
People debate about his life.
It's like they don't really know that much about the person.
But oh, we just know everything about every religion that was going on in 1,000 A.D.
I mean in 1,200 A.D. we know every, no we don't, my friend.
And you know what, I guarantee you, you say that was a little bit of a rabbit trail.
Okay, let's get back on track then.
Here's the point.
The point is, God's word has always been on this planet and guess what else has always
been on this planet?
God's people.
They've always been saved, born again, children of God, preaching the word of God, winning
souls to Christ, traveling the world, taking missions trips and preaching the true gospel
and baptizing adult converts underwater after they get saved.
It had never stopped.
It might have stopped in Germany but it did not stop in this world, my friend.
There could be a place where it stopped but there's never been a time when it stopped.
Jesus said upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it and there has never been a time when the whole church went apostate.
The whole church sprinkled babies.
The whole church believed in, you know, losing your salvation or they believed in works-based
salvation.
No.
False.
There have always been churches preaching it right at all times throughout history.
And you say, well, show me, show me the perfect word of God in 700 AD.
I don't have to because you know what, listen Thomas, I don't have to put my hand into the
hole in Jesus' side to believe that he was crucified and that blood and water came out
of his side and that he rose again from the dead.
I don't need to put my hand there to believe that, do you?
Who saw that?
Who believes that?
Who believes that that took place?
Yeah, we don't have to see, Thomas.
And you know what, I don't have to see the perfect word of God in 700 AD or a Bible believing
leather lung face-ripping preacher in 800 AD or, you know, somebody preaching the gospel
that I preach or the baptism that I preach in 900 AD.
I already know it's there.
I don't have to see it.
I already know it's there because God promised he's going to preserve the people and the
word.
I mean, you know, he's not going to preserve the words, he's going to preserve the people.
Great.
That's even better.
Because I already had all these great verses on preserving his word, now I got a great
verse on him preserving the people.
Great.
But look at Jude, verse 1, Jude the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them
that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called.
So not only is the word of God preserved, but we're preserved.
We're preserved.
What's this got to do with Uzzah?
Well, it's the, you know, the arc of the covenant.
It represents the word of God, it represents the presence of God, but you know what else
it could represent too is it could represent our salvation because it could represent the
new covenant also because, you know, the new covenant has taken the place of the old covenant.
And so let me tell you this much, you know, God doesn't need my help in order to keep
me saved.
Just like he doesn't need my help to fix his word and repair it.
He doesn't need my help in order to keep me saved.
You know, I'm preserved in Jesus Christ and so I cannot lose my salvation.
And it's not based on me.
I don't have to wake up every morning like, okay, don't screw this up.
You know, I got to stay saved because you know what, I would screw it up and so would
you.
If there was a way to mess it up, we'd do it, wouldn't we?
Because we're human, we're, you know, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Thank God that our salvation doesn't rely on us, it relies on him.
He will preserve us.
You say, well, what would we do without Bruce Metzger and Barnard Ehrman?
We don't have a corrupted text of scripture without guys like James White, you know, helping
out.
We'd be still using that darn King James version.
Folks, we were just fine before these bunch of idiots came along and started thinking
about how smart they are and professing themselves to be wise.
They became fools because let me tell you something, when you're smarter than God, you're
a fool.
If you think you're smarter than God, you're a fool.
Nobody's smarter than God.
Okay, but they think, no, no, no, no, you don't understand.
I know I'm not supposed to touch the ark, but you don't understand.
It's going to fall.
I have to get in here and do this.
And God gets angry and says, no, you don't, Uzzah, leave it alone, Uzzah.
It's under control, Uzzah.
Mind your own business.
Do what you're supposed to do, Uzzah.
It was never your job to protect the ark of God.
The ark of God does fine on its own.
Without Uzzah jumping, oh, let me fix it, die, Uzzah.
You know what?
Guess what?
You think it's bad what happened to Uzzah?
It's going to happen to every single person who says, oh, I've got to stay saved, got
to make sure I'm still, oh, I've got to make sure I'm getting to heaven.
You know what?
People who are actually saved, they leave it in God's hands.
Look at Romans chapter 10, I'll prove it to you, Romans chapter 10.
People that are actually saved believe that God has it under control.
They don't think that they have to earn their way into heaven and do it themselves.
Look what the Bible says in Romans chapter 10 verse 1, brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved, for I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth.
So they are trying to establish their own righteousness through the law and the Bible
is saying that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
Now it's not the end of the law.
The law is still there.
We should still follow God's commandments, but what it's, it's the end of the law for
righteousness.
When you believe on Christ, you no longer need the law for righteousness.
You're not relying on the law for your righteousness because your righteousness is the imputed
righteousness from Jesus.
The righteousness which is of God by faith.
The apostle Paul said, be found in him not having my own righteousness, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
And Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
But these people being ignorant of God's righteousness, not believing or realizing that God has it
under control, that God has done everything, Jesus paid it all, his death, burial and resurrection
pays everything, they say, no, no, no, I need to stabilize this thing.
I need to secure this thing.
I need to make sure that I go to heaven by doing all these good works and doing all these
deeds.
And you know what?
They're going to suffer the same fate as Uzzah.
They will suffer the same fate as Uzzah.
They will die in their sins because they're not trusting Christ.
They're not trusting the finished work of Christ.
They're going about to establish their own righteousness.
And you say, well, maybe they're saved, though, even if they're trying to establish their
own righteousness.
Well, the Bible says in verse 1, my desire is that they might be saved.
What does that mean?
That means they're not saved.
If God's desiring them to get saved, it's because they're not saved.
Why are they not saved?
Because they're ignorant of God's righteousness, so they're going about to establish their
own righteousness.
So they're ignorant of the fact that the righteousness comes from believing on Jesus, that Jesus
paid it all, that it's the imputed righteousness, that it's the Lamb of God that takes away
the sin of the world.
They think, no, no, no, I've got to go out and establish my own righteousness.
I've got to follow these commands, do this, don't do that.
I've got to obey the commandments and repent of all my sins and live a Christian life.
And I've got to keep going to church and keep confessing my sins and keep asking forgiveness
and keep doing good deeds and abstaining from sin.
Folks, that is going about to establish your own righteousness instead of submitting yourself
to the righteousness of God and just saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
And what does it say later in this chapter, you know, in verse number 9?
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Oh, but also you've got to keep living right and you've got to do all this other stuff,
turn over a new leaf and get all the sin out of your life.
No, it's pretty clear in verse 9 there, isn't it?
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confessions made unto salvation.
And with the hands you do all the works that you need to do to get the, no, it's the heart
and the mouth, that's it.
It's not the feet and the hands, it's not you putting forth your hand Uzzah, no, no,
it's just faith, that's it.
Faith alone, we're saved, okay?
So God doesn't need our help to keep us saved.
God doesn't need our help to restore the text of the New Testament because he's done just
fine at preserving it.
Now how did God preserve his word over the last 2,000 years?
We said it was through his people, right?
But you know, specifically, what is it about God's people or who is it in God's people?
It's the Holy Spirit.
Like how have there always been true Christians on this earth?
How have there always been people dunking adult believing converts?
How have there always been people preaching the right salvation?
Because there have always been saved people who were indwelled by the Holy Spirit and
what is the Holy Spirit's ministry to guide us into all truth?
So if 1,000 years ago and 1,500 years ago or any time you want to pick, millions of
people on this earth or it's just some huge number, whatever the number was, hundreds
of thousands of people, millions of people, whatever, have been indwelled by the Spirit
of God so God's never going to tell any of them, hey idiot, quit sprinkling water?
It's immersion?
Like then what is the Holy Ghost even doing?
If the Holy Ghost is supposed to guide us into all truth, he's never going to tell you
ever like, hey idiot, you're bowing down to an idol of Mary?
Like are you telling me that people for hundreds and hundreds of years with the Word of God
and the Spirit of God like can't figure this stuff out?
Because you know what?
I was taught a lot of things by my parents.
I was taught a lot of things in church.
But I also figured out a lot of things by myself because of my pal the Holy Spirit guiding
me into all truth.
And so let's say any true doctrine, any right doctrine were to fall off the face of the
earth.
Let's say there were, let's just pick a doctrine, a minor doctrine.
And let's say some minor doctrine fell off the face of the earth for six months.
It'll come right back because the Holy Spirit's going to move in the heart of some believer
who's reading his Bible and it's going to be like whoop, whoop, whoop.
Like when you read your Bible, doesn't God show you things?
Don't things just jump out at you and God's like, look at this.
I mean I don't know about you, but when I read my Bible, it's not just me reading a
book like a scientist reading a science book.
This is not any book.
It's a living Word of God.
And when we read the Bible, the author of the Bible lives inside of us.
And guess what?
He's there with the express purpose to teach us, to guide us into all truth, and to bring
all things to our remembrance.
So as I'm reading my Bible, isn't God going to show me what he wants me to know that day
if I'm, if I'm faithful at reading?
If I show up, now if I don't show up and read my Bible, then I'm not going to get, you know,
you can't get something out of the Bible if you didn't read the Bible.
But if I show up, if I show up tomorrow morning, right?
If I show up at my Bible tomorrow morning and open it tomorrow morning, is God going
to be there or not?
What if I even pray first and say, open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things
out of thy law?
Is God going to be there or what?
Is he going to teach me things or what?
But I'm supposed to believe that for hundreds of years, he didn't teach anybody the right
baptism.
He didn't teach anybody the right salvation.
He didn't teach anybody that idolatry was wrong.
He didn't teach anybody not to call the priest father, even though it's all right there in
Scripture, plain as the nose on your face.
I'm supposed to believe nobody figured that out.
And you know what, even the Catholic Church is reading the Bible out loud for those thousand
years of the Dark Ages.
They're reading the Bible out loud, reading the Bible out loud, even if it wasn't always
available in a hard copy because of a lack of a printing press or whatever.
You know, it's still being read.
It was still being quoted.
It was still being recited.
People were still talking about it.
And it was written down, in many cases, it was just written out by hand.
There's no printing press, but you know, you can write down a lot of stuff.
You know, I could show you, you know, from back when I was in school, I could show you
like a year's worth of schoolwork.
You know, at the end of the year, you ever throw away all your schoolwork at the end
of the year?
And you, it's like this much that you handwrote between history, English, math, science, and
you're doing all your schoolwork, right?
Okay, what about my kids are being homeschooled right now.
How about the schoolwork that they churn out?
It's boxes.
You know, I've thrown away boxes of their schoolwork and they're not exactly scribes.
And sometimes they're not always super dedicated to it.
But yet, they churn out page after page after page of handwritten.
So guess what?
Before the printing press, guess what?
The Word of God still got around.
It wasn't as easy to go to the Dollar Tree and pick one up for a dollar.
But guess what?
It was still being handwritten and copied, maybe not the whole book.
But I'm sure there were plenty of people handwriting and churning out the book of John and the
book of Romans and the most important stuff, the most key stuff was getting churned out.
And the Holy Spirit was very active.
He didn't, the Holy Spirit didn't just take a break for a thousand years.
I'm gonna, you know, I want you guys to appreciate me, so I'm gonna take off for a thousand years
and show you just how screwed up the Catholic Church can get if I'm gone.
And then he comes back in the Reformation and then the, you know, save the day.
Folks, there were always Bible-believing Christians that were never part of the rotten
Roman Catholic Church.
It's just that simple.
I'm kind of running out of time, but let me just touch on a few things.
Go to Psalm 131.
I'm just gonna wrap up here.
So you know, what are we learning from the Uzzah story?
You know, we talked about, hey, God's Word's gonna be preserved.
He doesn't need us to restore the text because he already preserved it.
And when I was born in 1981, God's Word was already there, it was already preserved, it
was already in my language, it was just handed to me, and it's just done.
So I don't have to dedicate my life to trying to fix it because it isn't broken.
I just received it.
That's what it means, the received text.
It's what's been handed down, the traditional text, passed down.
Not only will God preserve his Word, God will preserve his people.
God will preserve doctrine.
God will preserve preaching.
He'll preserve the truth.
It will always be around, it always has been around.
You know, I could die tomorrow, and you know what?
God's work would go on, life would go on, Christianity would go on.
Because it was going on long before I was born, it'll be going on long after I'm gone,
and I am not thinking that, I'm like, ooze, I'm like, well, if I don't fix it, no one
will.
Now, look, I can make a difference in individual people's lives.
I can make a difference and win people to Christ, but you know what?
At the end of the day, though, the ark is going to be fine without me reaching out my
hand and grabbing it.
So I'm just going to shut up and do what I'm told and not worry about things that don't
concern me.
And that's really the key that I want to get to here.
And so let's read Psalm 131, because I want to kind of wrap this all up and put a bow
on it here at the end.
So look at Psalm 131, it says, Lord, my heart is not haughty, haughty means prideful, nor
mine eyes lofty, neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for
me.
Boy, that's a great verse.
Don't get so prideful that you start exercising yourself in great matters and things that
are too high for you.
Surely I've behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother.
My soul is even as a weaned child.
Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth forever.
Just a short little Psalm, but a powerful truth.
You know, there are certain things that are God's business.
Let God handle the things that belong to God and lets us worry about the things that
he has committed unto us.
You know, when I first started Faithful Word Baptist Church, one of the most liberating
thoughts that I had, one of the most encouraging thoughts that I had was, it's not my job to
build this church.
That's not my job.
Because I, you know, humanly speaking, I was worried, like, you know, I don't know, do
I have what it takes to build this church?
And then I just decided, no, I don't have what it takes.
But I don't have to build this church because it's not my job.
Jesus said, I will build my church.
And so this is what I used to tell myself frequently when I first started the church,
I was 24 years old, I was married with three kids, you know, and I started the church in
my living room with just my family only and just to whoever we could drag in that first
Sunday out knocking doors and dragging people in.
Almost literally dragging people in.
And you know what, I'd frequently remind myself is, you know what, what did God command
you to do, Stephen Anderson?
God commanded you to preach the gospel to every creature.
God commanded you to preach the Word, to be in season out of season, to reprove, rebuke
and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
You know, and I just decided, you know what, God, I'm going to worry about my part and
you worry about your part.
I'm just going to worry about just preaching the Bible, I'm just going to worry about getting
people saved and you know what, you're going to have to build the church.
It's your responsibility.
And you know what, that felt good to not have to worry, because it's stressful when you
start worrying about everybody else's responsibility.
You know, I've got a lot of things on my own plate.
What if I had to worry about everything on your plate and I'm just trying to, what if
I was trying to run everybody's life and trying to, oh here, let me fix all your problems.
It's like, whoa, that's too much.
Let, look, there's certain things that are out of our control, that God has under control.
Let him handle those things and we just need to worry about what we need to worry about.
So you know, don't try to get into God's territory.
How do people do this?
Well, you know, there are so many people out there, they think that the Bible is not really
palatable for our generation here in America in 2021.
So they feel like they have to kind of like censor the Bible, trim the message.
You know, I mean, literally I, you know, I've seen a pastor reading through a passage of
scripture and just skip a verse and say, well, I'm, I'm not, you know, you can read that
at home.
I'm not going to read that because it had a cuss word in it.
Says who?
Tipper Gore?
Like who's saying, you know, who, who are we to decide which part of God's word is too
inappropriate?
Oh, this story is kind of rough and I don't think we should read this in front of children.
Well, you know what?
I read every part of this book in front of my children and you know, I bet a lot of the
same people that are saying like, I don't think you should read that.
They're letting their kids watch all kinds of junk.
That's from Hollywood.
That's way worse than anything that the Bible says.
You know, they're worried that the Bible says bastard or piss or damn or ass, probably giving
somebody a heart attack right now.
Hey, it's all in the Bible.
Shut up and do what God told you to do and quit worrying about censoring God's word.
I got enough problems.
I'm not going to try.
Well, I hope God's word is okay with America.
I hope Americans are too.
I hope the Republicans can handle it.
I hope the Democrats can handle it.
Nuts to them.
It's not my problem.
You know, I never sit there and think like, I know this is in the Bible, but should I
preach this?
Hey, that's God's problem.
If God told me preach the word and he gives me this book, then you know what?
If there's something in here that I preach that's too offensive, that's his problem.
Let him worry about that.
I'm not worried about that.
I mean, you think God's up in heaven like, okay, well, I didn't mean for you to preach
Leviticus 2013 though.
I know I said preach the word, but use a little common sense.
I didn't mean Romans 1.
Oh, there he is.
You think God's up in heaven and you know, some angels reporting to God up in heaven
like Lord, he's preaching Leviticus 2013 again.
And it's just like, how many times?
Doesn't he realize that I didn't mean that verse when I said all the counsel of God?
Folks, I don't sit and wonder like, I don't know if people can handle this because it's
not my problem.
My problem is to just say, yes, sir, to obey what God told me to do.
And by the way, this mentality might even help you at your job.
Quit worrying about stuff that doesn't concern you.
You know, you're always correcting your superiors, right?
And you're always telling the boss how to do it.
You're always telling the foreman how to do it.
You're always telling them, you know, why don't you just mind your own business and
do your job?
You know, instead of thinking that you're smarter than everybody.
But you know what?
You can do one thing on your job to think you're smarter than everybody and you know,
it's probably going to hurt your career a little bit.
But if you think you're smarter than God, you know, then you're just a complete fool
at that point.
And so you're, you're, you're, I, oh, I'm so impressed with your clean mouth.
Your mouth is so squeaky clean that even the Bible's too dirty for you.
You know what?
It's possible that your mouth might've just got a little too clean.
And you know what?
I'm literally accused of cussing from the pulpit all the time.
Like literally people tell me all the time that they, they they'll mention me to their
pastor or something.
He'll be like, oh, you mean the preacher who cusses, the cussing preacher?
That's what they'll literally say about me.
Like I'm the cussing preacher.
When have I ever cussed behind the pulpit?
Not using a Bible word.
Yeah, but you didn't use it the way that the Bible, you have chapter and verse on that.
Where's that, where's that section of the Bible that tells me how to use Bible words?
Cause you know what, as far as I'm concerned, the word bastard, I can use it however I want.
But it's, but it's bad though.
Really?
Do you have some evidence for that?
You have proof for that?
Folks, the bottom line is this, okay?
If your mouth's too clean for God, you know what?
There are some, there are some ladies, they're too modest for God.
They're too modest for God.
That's why they, I mean, what about Islam?
Did God tell women to dress up like a ninja?
Did God tell women to wear black cloth on their body, head to toe, so that only their
eyes are showing through a little slit?
You know what?
You are at that point.
You're more modest than God.
God didn't tell you to be that modest.
God talks about women wearing modest clothing and he didn't say that.
He never taught that.
So is it possible to where you're holier than God?
You're an idiot is what you are.
If you're just going to get, you're, you got a cleaner mouth than God.
You're holier than God.
You're smarter than God, right?
You're so much more loving than God.
You even love people that God hates.
God specifically says there are people that he hates and you love them because you're
just so much more loving than God is.
You're more loving.
You're more modest.
You're smarter.
You got a cleaner mouth.
I'm very impressed with you.
And you know what, Uzzah, you know, he felt like, hey, I better get in here and do something.
I know God said not to touch it, but hey, I know better.
I know what needs to be done here.
So I'm just going to go ahead and do it anyway.
You know what, Uzzah, mind your own business.
Do what you're told and quit violating God's law to save God.
God doesn't need you to save him.
The New Testament doesn't need you to save it.
God saves us.
We don't save him.
God gave his life for us.
We don't need to give our life for him.
Okay.
God doesn't need us like we need him.
Okay.
So don't be an Uzzah where you think that it's all down to you.
Okay.
You know, preservation of God's word.
I got to get in there and fix this darn thing.
No, no, no.
You're a fool because God has preserved it.
You know, well, I got to make sure I stay safe.
No, no, no.
God's already got that covered.
Jesus paid it all.
You know, well, you know, I got to make sure that, you know, I, I clean up this, this filthy
book a little bit so that people can handle it, you know, and I better make sure to leave
out the parts that are too offensive.
And so I've literally heard people talk like this.
They're like, well, and look, let me tell you something there have even been, and look,
let me just lay it out right now.
Psalm 139.
I'm talking about the song now.
So, you know, our brother in Christ over at the First Works Baptist Church in LA, he put
part of Psalm 139 to music.
It's just a scripture song.
There's no original lyrics.
It's just surely thou, let's all sing it, surely thou wilt slay the wicked, surely thou
wilt slay the wicked, oh God, depart from me therefore ye bloody men, depart from me
therefore ye bloody men, do not I hate them, oh Lord that hate thee, do not I hate them,
oh Lord that hate thee, and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee, do not
I hate them, oh Lord that hate thee.
I kid you not, there are people that have gone to an independent fundamental Baptist
church for years and years and years and years and years.
I'm not talking about a babe in Christ that just got saved.
I'm talking about people that have gone to an independent fundamental Baptist church
for years and years and years that were offended by that song.
And let me tell you something.
If you're offended by that song, you have a major problem with God.
You have a major problem because you know who your real God is?
Your God is CNN.
Your God is MSNBC.
Your God is Fox News.
Your God is Rush Limbaugh.
Your God is Glenn Beck.
Your God is some church somewhere or some radio station somewhere or some TV station
somewhere.
Hey, this isn't your God if you're offended by God's word.
If God's your God, why are you offended by stuff he says?
Well, I just don't think we're supposed to sing that then.
Okay, is that what God said?
Oh, that's a little footnote that he put in Ephesians.
You know, sing the Psalms, you know, except those really gnarly ones.
Folks, I'm sorry.
That's next level stupidity to be offended by that song.
It's like flat earth level stupidity.
To sit there and say, you're in a Baptist church and you're singing about hating people?
I'm singing the word of God.
Is there something wrong with God's word?
Let's say I composed an original song that mentioned hating people and people got offended
by it.
I can understand that.
I'm not saying they'd be right.
But let's say I composed an original song.
It talked about hating reprobates or something.
You know, I could see somebody saying, I don't like that.
I'm offended by it.
I don't think that's appropriate.
But you know what?
If we are literally singing God's word verbatim, why don't you just shut up, Uzzah, lest God
strike you dead for your foolishness, Uzzah, because you know what you're doing?
It's like basically there's this, there's Psalm 139 is on a cart and you're like, whoa,
I got to stabilize that sucker.
You better be careful that God doesn't strike you dead for that idiotic thought of being
offended by God's word.
You know, if I ever got upset or offended by God's word, if I ever cringed when I heard
God's word being read publicly or if I ever cringed when I heard God's word being sung
publicly, you know what?
I would fall on my face and beg God for forgiveness immediately and say, God, I'm an idiot.
I'd be like Job, like I loathe myself and repent in sackcloth and ashes.
I mean, does everybody hear what I'm saying?
I mean, if that stupid thought entered my mind for one second of like, does he have
to read that verse?
Do you have to sing that song?
I would literally just fall on my face and just confess to God that I'm the biggest idiot
on the planet.
I'm serious.
But it's Uzzah, it's Uzzah, we got to fix that song.
Maybe we can give you the Psalm 139 song and maybe you can make it better.
Maybe you can fix it by adding to and removing from God's word.
Ooh, that's a scary thought when you put it like that.
Oh, so what do we do then?
Or is it the tune they don't like?
What do we do with it?
What do we do with Psalm 139?
We can't throw it in the trash.
How can we fix it by adding to or removing from God's word?
Maybe it just needs a different tune.
I mean, is the tune the problem?
Folks there's no, folks, I mean, is anybody out there like face palming in their heart
as hard as I am right now, just thinking like, wow, and you say, why would you just park
it on this point?
There's literally, I literally heard about somebody like this a few weeks ago that, yeah,
they were offended by that song.
In one of our friend's churches.
And we've had other people bring it up to us and say like, oh, I don't know about that
song.
I mean, it's just like, oh, man.
That's funny because the first time I heard it, it was an instant classic is what it was.
And the tune rules.
It's literally like, it's one of my favorite songs put to music.
I mean, my favorites are like Psalm 11, Psalm 67, and Psalm 139.
Those are my favorites.
Oh, they love Psalm 67.
God be merciful unto us and bless us and cause us, and you know what?
I wrote that song.
The hate preacher.
I composed that tune.
But you know what?
Psalm 139, you got to take both.
You can't just have all the Psalm 67 happy songs.
Oh, I don't want the Psalm 139 though.
Hey, you better take the whole thing.
You better eat your vegetables.
You better clean your plate.
And your name is Uzzah.
If you are offended by Psalm 139 being sung in God's house, your name is Uzzah and you
don't want your name to be Uzzah because Uzzah dies, right?
You don't want to be Uzzah.
You need to understand your place in the universe.
You need to stay in your place and not start thinking that you know more than God like
Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman and everybody else who, uh, tries to usurp God's position
in any area of life.
Let God be God.
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word and, and Lord, thank you so much that
it's done.
We don't need Bruce Metzger to fix it.
And Lord, we also don't need any whining, sissy church members to fix it either because
they're offended by, uh, some of the words, Lord.
Thank you for giving it to us perfect the way it is and Lord, help us to be good stewards
of it.
Lord, help us to use it and to preach it and to do our jobs as Christians but, but Lord,
we're going to let you do your job.
We're just going to worry about our job.
We're going to let you do your job, Lord.
And thank you for giving us this great story about Uzzah so that we could, uh, grasp this
truth and, and it could illustrate this truth to us so vividly, uh, by looking at how Uzzah
died when he tried to, uh, save you or, or save your word or something instead of just
letting you, uh, do your job, Lord.
And, and so we thank you so much for our church, Lord.
We have a great church and, and thank you, Lord, that you have built this church over
the last 16 years, Lord.
You, you've built this church into a great congregation and we're thankful, Lord, and
we pray that you'd give us many more years to continue serving you and in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.