Amen, all right we're back in 1 Chronicles chapter number 13 and the
title of the sermon tonight is The Ark is Mishandled. The Ark is Mishandled and
we're not gonna see the correcting of this until chapter 15 but we're
gonna see how the Ark is mishandled and why it's mishandled but I just have
basically two points for the sermon tonight. The first point is David is
going to consult his leadership and the people on corrective measures so he
basically wants to correct things that have been going wrong and the first
thing he wants to correct is found in verse number one where the Bible reads
and David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every
leader so basically David is gonna have you know he's been made king Saul's
already died Samuel was the last judge and now David has taken over as the
leader he's the outright leader of all of Israel he started as the leader of
Judah as the king of Judah just over the over the people of Judah and then he now
is the king of all of Israel and so he takes this leadership council this
meeting and so notice it's he consulted with the captains of thousands and
hundreds and every leader so to take counsel literally means I mean excuse
me to consult with someone means to take counsel with them so he's he wants to
find out where their where their mind is at and I I'm not I don't think that
David's just like saying well whatever you guys think that's what I'm gonna do
that's not how strong leaders rule David is the king and David's gonna make the
best decision and he's really just kind of I think fishing for where are you
guys at who's with me and who has a different opinion and I think ultimately
this is a picture of the millennial reign of Christ and in a way because
this is what Christ is gonna do he's gonna unify everybody in the millennial
reign and when we go to eternity future then of course everything is going to
be unified once and for all but during the millennial reign Christ is gonna
rule and reign for a thousand years and we are gonna be the leaders that we're
gonna be these leaders and captains of thousands and hundreds and all these
leaders that are gonna be carrying out justice in the land wherever you know he
puts us and he's made us kings and priests unto him and so when we are
raised with glorified bodies then we will be like him and so we will be able
to know the mind of Christ Christ will be able to send us and we will enforce
the rules because there will be people born a millennium that won't have
glorified bodies they'll live a long time like the people in the Garden of
Eden live for a long time or not the Garden of Eden but after the fall people
live to be 900 years old in the Bible people like that that can happen it did
happen you know the genealogy in Genesis shows how long people lived in the
beginning parts after Adam fell so people live long lives during that time
also and someone's gonna be ruling over them and guess who it is it's gonna be
us so this is a picture of David you know and you know because David
represents who Christ he's Christ is called the son of David even though
Christ has been from old from everlasting but so David you know he's
smart he's gonna confer with his leadership and find out hey where are
you guys at you know we all need to be on the same on the same wavelength here
look at verse 2 it says and David said unto all the congregation of Israel and
so what would this be well the people you know they're basically like what we
would call today the church so he's going to the congregate the congregation
of what of Israel because in the wilderness there was a congregation to
Moses had the congregation of the Lord in the in the wilderness also right so
this is all the congregation of Israel if it seemed good unto you and that if
it be of the Lord our God let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere so
there's people that live in other areas of it of what's the borders of Israel in
these different places like Issachar and all these different tribes not everybody
lives in Jerusalem but this is where David rules from he rules from the city
of David he rules from Jerusalem and so he's saying hey let's send to our
brethren everywhere that are left in all the land of Israel and with them also to
the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs and so it
wasn't just the Levites in and the priests living in Jerusalem but there's
also those that had there were suburb cities in all these different places too
that had Levites and teaching priests and they had synagogues or whatever they
didn't all just go to Jerusalem Church every single week so times were
different it's it's like you know we have local independent churches here
well they had local churches so to speak back then also of course they weren't
called I mean they I guess they would have been called local churches if
congregation means church then you know so this but this is the congregation of
the Lord at Jerusalem that there that he's talking about and then he's talking
about sending off to these priests and Levites which are in their cities and
suburbs that they may gather themselves unto us so what's he talking about he's
saying that we need to gather everybody together from the whole land everybody
in one place and let us bring again the ark of our God to us for we inquired not
at at it in the days of Saul and why would they what does he mean by this
because you know my understanding or maybe your understanding might have been
that this is just a place where once a year they you know they go into the
holiest place and flick the blood on the ark and all that and it's the Day of
Atonement and God comes but but if you remember any of the stories of the
teachings in Exodus God's presence came down into that holiest place and came
down upon the mercy seat of the ark and that's where God met with his people but
of course that people couldn't go in there people could not see him that
place had veils around it had the cherubim and their wings stretched
forth and this all you could see was the staves and the wings you know the the
wings of the cherubim sticking out on either side but it says so yeah so I
mean basically what what David's saying here is that it had the ark had not been
inquired of basically God had not really been inquired of in the way he
should have in all the days of Saul how long was Saul king for who said that
yeah 40 years so it's been a long time and so David wants to start doing things
the way that they're supposed to be done but we know the story here you heard the
scriptures read that were they doing everything right no they weren't so but
at least he's trying to start doing things the right way he wants to unify
the nation he's had a meeting with his leaders he's had a meeting with the
congregation of the Lord and he's like hey let's get everybody together let's
bring the ark back to the place where it needs to be in Jerusalem and let's do
things right so David wants to unite the kingdom and he wants to make sure that
everybody is on the same page let's look at Acts chapter 2 though look at Acts
chapter 2 and you can kind of see where this happened after Christ left now of
course Christ wasn't here to be part of this thing that happened but in the
early stages of when the day of Pentecost happened you know Christ left
in Acts chapter 1 and he said that the Spirit of God would come and that power
would come upon you from the Spirit and they were waiting for that promise to
come and that's called the day of Pentecost right so Acts chapter 2 verse
1 the Bible says and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all
with one accord in one place so isn't that what David's trying to do in the
chapter we're in now so you know I mean you can see similarities this is what
God wanted at first but he also you know he want you know he doesn't want you
know nowadays right now everybody to be in one place he wants us to be out
reaching everybody so that everybody can go to one place eventually that place is
called heaven right he wants us all to be in heaven in one place that's the
ultimate goal but it says and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a
rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house where they were sitting and
there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire and it sat upon each of
them and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other
tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance and there were dwelling at
Jerusalem Jews devout men out of every nation under heaven so how did that
start well everybody was gathered together in Jerusalem kind of like in
the story we have now and then what what happened will Peter preaches great
sermon a whole bunch of people got saved 3,000 people got saved and baptized on
the same day they were added to the church look at what it says in verse 41
skip down to verse 41 for sake of time it says and they that gladly received
his word were baptized and the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls
and they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and
breaking of bread and in prayers and fear came upon every soul and many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles and all that believed were
together and had all things in common so at this point in time they're all
together one big church one big team one the same mind wanting to do the same
things and that's that's what you call unity and that's what this church should
be like which it is that's what churches should be like but of course we
want you we don't want just everybody like at the Tower of Babel or something
where everybody's speaking the same language and there's just one you know
obviously if everybody is Christian that'd be one thing the Tower of Babel
is completely not a not a Christian that wasn't a Christian thing but God doesn't
want us all just in Jerusalem only and staying there he said go to Jerusalem
and to Judea and Samaria and the other most parts of the earth and all these
you know he wants us to go everywhere so that but with the unification in mind so
he wants that unification our hearts he wants the people are in those places
where we're going to have that unification that David is showing here
that you see in the book of Acts here we still have to have that one mindset you
know that we're striving together to accomplish a goal the goal is to get
people in heaven Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost and it says and
continued daily in one accord in the temple breaking bread and from house to
house did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart praising God and
having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as
should be saved but see when they all try to stay in Jerusalem that's when God
had a problem see it's good to have everybody come together and hey we're all
on the same page but once they tried to stay there then persecution came and
drove them out and so God doesn't want us all just bunched up in one mega
church somewhere he wants us to go out and do other things and as much as it
hurts me to have families leave our church and go do something else
especially families that are do that do a lot in our church we I have to
grudgingly let them go I mean it's gonna hurt to have two great families in our
church leave and you know but somebody has to step up and and fulfill those
roles but we need people in those places to do the things that you know replicate
the things that we're doing here and replicate and be of the same mind be of
the same heart be of one accord in those places because the goal is to fill the
world with places like this church like churches that we're friends with in
Sacramento and Phoenix and wherever else you know we want a unity but we don't
want to be in one conglomerate place turn to Philippians chapter 1 verse 27
Philippians chapter 1 verse 27 Bible says only let your conversation or your
lifestyle or the way you live your life only let your conversation be as it
become at the gospel of Christ that whether I come and see you or else be
absent I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit with one
mind striving together for the faith of the gospel he's like hey you know
because Paul planted all these churches I mean he wrote this church to this
church in Philippi he's the one that started this church he's like hey when I
hear about the things that you're doing this is what I want to hear that you are
standing fast with one spirit one mind striving together for the faith of the
gospel that's what Paul you know he's like I didn't come to baptize people I
came to preach the gospel that's my goal that's why I'm starting these churches
replicate move on to another place do the same thing it says as and in nothing
terrified by your adversaries which is to them an evident token of perdition
but to you of salvation and that of God we're gonna have adversity that happens
David had adversity that happened Jesus Christ had adversity that happened any
any good work that is being done for God is gonna have adversity so we are
gonna we've had adversity every pastor that I know has had adversity and it's
gonna happen every you know our churches have had adversity but that means we're
doing something right that doesn't mean we're doing something wrong see the
world says we're doing something wrong other weak pastors or other weak churches
will say they're they got to be doing something wrong why is everybody hating
so much well that's not what the Bible teaches folks the Bible teaches when
they per when they persecute you you shall be hated of all men like what
Bible are they reading that see they go to churches where those things never
happen and so those pastors never preach on those things why would they because
it's never happening to their church so what why would they not skip those big
chunks of the Bible I mean there's huge have you read the Psalms lately I mean
it's just like I'm in trouble I'm trouble I'm troubled Lord I'm I'm I'm
encumbered and by every side I'm I'm you know that the wicked are coming against
me Lord you know the the dogs have compassed me roundabout what's another
word for dogs I mean David just like going through adversity constantly
people are lying about him people are trying to murder him and gnashing in
their teeth at him look this this Christian life yeah and some of the
things that we go through can be get a little old the drama can get old the
constant like you know the winds been taken out of my sails again can get old
but we should just understand that we're gonna go through stuff like this it's
always you're like it's always just one thing after the other why can't I just
go to a church where that doesn't happen you can it's called lily-liver Baptist
right down the street Trinity Baptist the stones throw from here you're never
gonna have to go through that there you know why because the pastor probably
isn't saved the people that go to the church there probably aren't saved
they're doing nothing for God that's why how about the one next to the hospital
down here on Mill Plain Boulevard where they have all those doors in the front
of it that whoever keeps knocking them down why everyone's welcome well you
know we don't agree with that and because we don't we are the off scouring
of the world so I believe that David here you know obviously has the goal of
bringing everybody in it's like I'm going to you know I'm I'm going to bring
the and unify the kingdom this is what he's doing because he is the one King
and so he's unifying the kingdom he's bringing everybody from the outskirts
let's bring them all in let's bring the ark back let's start doing things right
and he's also reading the room who's who heard that term kids you read the room
David's reading the room he's not stupid he probably wants to see who's with me
and who has a problem because in the past when David does stuff there's
always that little bird chirping come Israel let's go back to our tents away
with this man they did it to Saul too when he first became king they're like
come on man let's go back in their children abelial sons abelial they're
doing this there's always a naysayer right but date but David doesn't hear
this everybody's happy and content for this to happen so number two so I mean
so far so good right but number two unfamiliarity with the Word of God can
have dire circumstances for leaders and followers and in this case and in this
chapter we know the dire circumstance that happens somebody's gonna die
because people didn't know the Word of God look at 1st Chronicles chapter 13
verse 5 it says so David gathered all Israel together from Shihor of Egypt
even unto the entering of Hemath to bring the ark of God from Kerjath Jareen
so the last time we actually saw the ark or if you've read the Bible multiple
times you might remember the last time the ark was actually seen or that you
can remember in the chronology of the Bible when it was when it was seen
well the last time it was actually seen was when the Philistines had taken the
ark and remember Eli's sons who were reprobates took the ark and went to try
to fight the Philistines and of course God wanted to kill them and so they died
in the battle and when Eli heard it he felt that the ark was taken by the
Philistines Eli heard it fell back and broke his neck and so the house of Eli
was judged his sons were killed in the battle and I want to say that one of the
sons wives was giving birth and then she named her son Ichabod because the glory
of the Lord has departed from Israel and so they took the ark the Philistines
did thinking oh yeah we know this is a good yeah let's take the ark dumb idea
because then the ark plagued them with all kinds of plagues and it says they
had emerods and their secret parts now what what plague can you think of that
sounds like emerods put an H before that and then you might kind of guess what
it's talking about right I don't want to get too graphic and kids might not know
what that is but you'll learn someday maybe hopefully not but very painful not
not a fun thing to go to and when it's when there's an S at the end of it that
means it's multiple which makes it even worse so they're being plagued they're
being vexed by God for having the ark and they're moving it around to the
different cities like you know you take it it's like hot potato or something so
then the Lords of the Philistines get together the five Lords because there's
five cities of the Philistines the five Lords get together and they're like what
are we gonna do let's talk to our holy men or whatever they're you know
basically heathen devil worshipers but they're smart enough to know they're
being plagued by God and so they get together and they say well what are we
gonna do and they're like let's make these little golden mice because mice
were plaguing them too and they were getting pestilence from the mice or
whatever but they make all these little golden mice and and make these little
offerings and they and they make a cart and then they put the ark on that cart
and they just kind of let it go let it ride into the sunset right with these
two you know the I don't know if those two but they put these oxen or whatever
and just get rid of the ark and they hope that they want it's a peace offering
to God so at least they're trying to make amends for what they did even
though they don't know whether they were doing the right thing or not because
it's not like they have the Bible they're just like whatever we're doing
wrong we want to make it right we don't really like your Israelites but we're
trying we don't want to mess with you anymore here's the cart here's the ark
so now let's turn to first Samuel chapter 6 verse 19 first Samuel chapter
6 verse 19 I don't want to have to read the whole story about it but I'll read a
few things about it here though so first Samuel chapter 6 19 it says any smoke
so so they get the ark back they find the ark they get it back if you want to
read the whole story it's in first Samuel chapter chapter 6 chapter 5 but
it says and he smote the men of best Shemesh because they had looked into the
ark of the Lord so when the people got it back they looked inside you know it's
like Raiders of the Lost Ark when he when he look inside you know they just
yeah bad things happen but they looked in the ark even he smote of the people
50,000 and three score and ten men so he's killing thousands of people it's
not the Philistines he's killing the Israelites for just looking inside they
want they're just curious what's it look like they're not even supposed to be
looking at it at all but then they're bold enough to walk up and go it's like
curiosity killed the cat you know it's just like you know whatever they just
had to look didn't they people are the same way though but it says and the
people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great
slaughter and the men of best Shemesh said who is able to stand before the
Holy Lord God and to whom shall he go up from us and to whom shall he go up from
us excuse me and they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kerjath Jareim saying
the Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord come you down and fetch
it upon you keep them oh yeah fetch it upon you so so basically they're just
like we're getting rid of this thing hey Kerjath Jareim you take it from us so
they're like playing the same game as the Philistines right they're like here
no you take it now they've killed 50,000 so I mean apparently this town that
they're already in is enough to kill 50 what 50 something thousand people here
right 50,000 and three score and ten fifty thousand seventy people right now
look at chapter seven verse one turns turn or whatever that's the next verse
in the next chapter it says and the men of Kerjath Jareim came and fetched up
the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab in the hill and
sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord and it came to pass
while the ark abode and Kerjath Jareim that the time was long for it was 20
years and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord so there you
have a 20 year span where they it's at somebody's just at somebody's house
somebody's just taking care of it is that where it belongs well it belongs in
the tabernacle it belongs where the priests are taking care of it they're
doing the sacrifice I mean so the sacrifices are probably not taking place
like they're supposed to be or unless they just have the tabernacle there but
it doesn't sound like that's what's happening doesn't sound like Saul was
doing things right with it either but I don't think that this is when Saul is
even leading yet I think this is when Samuel is leading so look at first
Samuel chapter 7 verse 3 this is why I think that so the Samuel spake unto all
the house of Israel saying if you do return unto the land with all your
hearts then put away the strange gods and Asheroth from among you and prepare
your hearts unto the Lord and serve him only and he will deliver you out of the
hand of the Philistines so if you go through chapter 7 of first Samuel he has
made the judge over Israel in place of Eli because Eli died right so Samuel is
the last judge of Israel and then when he you know when Saul becomes king then
Samuel kind of takes a back seat but the Bible actually says that Samuel judged
Israel all the days of his life so is it being tongue-in-cheek there or or what
well remember when Saul was supposed to kill Agag and didn't do it who's the one
that came up and chopped him into pieces it was Samuel so I mean did he still
judge Israel at that time it sounds like he did to me so I think that this 20
year period is talking about is the time that Samuel is judging Israel and
then you have Saul come and then they're demanding a king when because when
Samuel gets old too old to kind of do everything himself because Samuel is
judging Israel just fine he did his little circuits and you know then then
his sons are he tries to put them as judges and the people reject him and
that's why they asked for the king finally there's like yeah your sons are
wicked they're taking bribes and so that's when they asked for the king this
is years later so between chapter 7 and chapter 8 you have like a 20 year time
period happen somewhere around there so you have Saul turn to Acts chapter 13
you have Saul who becomes king after around 20 years okay I'm guesstimating
here because I think that Samuel also judged somewhat he was all he was in
charge in some way when Eli was still around too because Eli was like 90
something years old and blind so even though that news came back to Eli he was
still the high priest and because the high priest was the high priest until he
died and Eli was the high priest but that doesn't mean that Samuel wasn't
judging but he fully took over as the judge once Eli died so but you know you
have like regents and things like that so maybe he was just being trained or
groomed to that or whatever but let's see so you have the 20 year period what
were the scriptures just said that right but scripture also says for a fact that
Saul was the king in Israel for 40 years look at Acts 13 20 it says and after
that he gave unto them judges about the space of 450 years until Samuel the
prophet and afterward they desired a king and God gave unto them Saul the son
of sis he's a cis male right a man of the tribe of Benjamin by the space of
what to say they're 40 years so Paul the Apostle is stating in you know under the
inspiration of the Holy Ghost 40 years right and when he had removed him he
raised up unto them David to be their king to whom also he gave testimony and
said I have found David the son of Jesse a man after mine own heart which shall
fulfill all my will so I mean you got give or take 60 years where the Ark is
not being done you know they're not doing with the Ark that which should be
right is right in the eyes of the Lord they're not following the Bible by the
way it should be going so that's why the book of Judges it keeps constantly saying
that they did what that which was right in their own eyes and even with the
first King Saul he did not inquire of it like he was supposed to that's why we're
here in this chapter and David's like I want to bring the Ark back he goes to
his leaders he said and to his end of the congregation of the Lord and said
hey let's bring everybody together and we're gonna bring the Ark back what do
you guys think of that they're like yeah let's do it so he's like okay let's do
it so now let's go back to verse 6 of the chapter we're in so we got 60 years
they don't inquire of the Ark it was captured by the Philistines then taken
to Kerjath Jareim finally it's still there and David went up and all Israel
to Bela sounds like a good place that is to Kerjath Jareim so that's the same
place right which belong belong to Judah to bring up thence the Ark of God the
Lord that dwelleth between the cherubims whose name is called on it and they
carried the Ark God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab and Uzzah and Ohio
drave the cart and David and all Israel played before God with all their might
and was singing with harps and salt trees and with timbrels and cymbals and
with trumpets I mean just picture the scene here they're just like you know
they're just having like a worship service they're just like whoo you know
they're having a good time everybody's just you know just joyous and having
this great old time right and then when they came under the threshing floor of
Chidan Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the Ark for the oxen stumbled so that
cart that they're driving with is just all of a sudden it stumbles and it's
like the Ark is about to fall so Uzzah reaches forth and grabs the Ark with
his hand his bare hand and that was a big mistake it says and the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Uzzah and he smote him because he had put his hand
to the Ark and there he died before God so God killed him for trying to save the
Ark is that why is that why he died no he died because he touched something
that he was not supposed to touch you're like yeah but it was about to fall I
know but they weren't supposed to be pulling it on that cart that's the
problem what's the big deal isn't God loving I mean look at how spiritual they
were when they're you know doing a little concert on the way and they're
all dancing and jumping for joy and all this stuff this doesn't that matter man
no it doesn't why did he kill Uzzah like do you think Uzzah was a sinner worse
than the rest of them or something no was Uzzah just some bad guy doesn't the
Bible doesn't say that in fact I think he was David's friend and he was probably
a good guy it was probably an awe you know that he probably picked those two
guys because there were probably two good guys guys that he could count on
guys that he thought were gonna do a good job it seems like he was doing a
good job the arks about to fall on the ground it might have broke it probably
would have but I think that God probably would have rather have that arc break
and need to have some repairs done to it then for some guy that wasn't supposed
to touch it to touch it let's look at why why did God kill us oh let's look at
some Bible verses here numbers chapter 4 verse 15 numbers chapter 4 verse 15
just keep your place here in first the chronicle chapter 13 verse 10 and look
at numbers chapter 4 verse 15 see the thing is there's only certain people
that are allowed to touch the ark only certain people it says and when Aaron
and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the
vessels of the sanctuary as the camp is set forward after that the sons of Kohath
shall come to bear it who's supposed to come to bear it the sons of Kohath
they're they're not Aaron's sons even though Aaron's sons can touch it and
I'll show you that here in a minute but the sons of Kohath are the ones that are
supposed to touch the same the things that are in the sanctuary those special
pieces of furniture that were built including the ark were only supposed to
be carried out of the camp once they've been covered do you see that after they
have made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the vessels in the
sanctuary they had to cover them up with stuff people weren't allowed to just
walk in and look at them only the priests were allowed to go in and look
at them so it says then the sons of Kohath shall come and bear it but they
shall not touch any holy thing they weren't even allowed to touch them so
Uzzah was Uzzah one of the one of the Kohathites no was he a priest no and
even if he was a son of Kohath he was not allowed to touch it period end of
story lest they die what's what's the lesson God's teaching here it's there's
no exception to this rule you touch this thing you're gonna die that's that's
that's his judgment these things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the
tabernacle of the congregation look at verse 16 and to the office of Eliezer
the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light and the sweet
incense and the daily meat offering and the anointing oil and the oversight of
all the tabernacle so their job is to oversee everything in the tabernacle so
they're the bosses of the whole thing so not just you know the doing all the
offerings and lighting everything in the morning and doing all the you know all
the special stuff they're overseeing everything and of all that therein is in
the sanctuary and in the vessels thereof and the Lord spake unto Moses and unto
Aaron saying cut you not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites
from among the Levites but thus do unto them that they may live and not die when
they approach unto the most holy things Aaron and his son shall go in and
appoint them everyone to his service and to his burden but they shall not go in
to see when the holy things are covered so they're not even allowed to see the
things do you see that they're not even allowed to look at them or what happens
what does it say there those next three words what does it say lest they die so
fast forward into time they're like rolling off on this new cart the arcs
just you know rumbling around on this cart with all these with these oxen or
whatever and here's Uzzah not in the priesthood and he just reaches out and
grabs it these is killed instantly this is why because God does not play around
with when he makes a rule like this it's for a reason and he's just it's just not
for anybody to touch the ark you're like why cuz he says so that's why it's not a
loophole that you get to go around it's just not one of those things look at
Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 9 Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 9 it says
and Moses wrote this law and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi
which bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and said unto all the elders of
Israel so what do you say he delivered unto the priest the sons of Levi which
bear the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord so were the priests allowed to bear the
Ark not what it says but the Kohathites that was their job but the priests were
allowed to carry it because remember we just studied Joshua chapter 3 go to
Joshua chapter 3 and when they remember they were going into the river and they
had to stand on those rocks who was doing that was that the Kohathites that
did that or was that the priests well it says in Joshua 3 3 it says and they
commanded the people saying when you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your
God the priests the Levites bearing it then you shall remove from your place
and go after it it wasn't the Kohathites it was the priest so the priest remember
they have the oversight of everything so when it come to doing it to Karen so
this is a special thing though so there were special times when the priests did
carry the Ark but when the talk when you're talking about rolling up the camp
and just the general moving of things and the general you know when they would
pick up their camp and move someplace the Kohathites were the ones doing that
but when they're obviously this is a special event that happened so the
priests did it you know that's just what the Bible says so it's saying that the
priests the sons of Levi were allowed to do this so in certain situations the
priests were allowed so but this isn't just okay because David's heart was in
the right place you know the the road to hell is paved with good intentions have
you ever heard that saying before it's true there's a lot of people that
thought they were doing the right thing and I thought they were going to heaven
because they're a good person in fact we meet them every week when we go out
solely don't we I'm a good person I'm going to heaven because I'm a good
person well you can you can be right but you're wrong you can be right about
something but be really wrong I would agree with you but then we both be wrong
you know that's saying I like to say turn to first Samuel chapter 15 verse 22
but you know just because they were trying to do something right you have to
do it the way God says to do it that's the problem and what is the problem here
ignorance I mean how is it that nobody knew that this was not something they
should do maybe David just wasn't up on his Levitical laws maybe he thought well
this is not really my arena so I don't he didn't really think it was such a big
deal but I guarantee he knows the next time he goes to move the Ark doesn't he
and we do know that he knows very well what to do the next time he moves the
Ark and he does it right but at this point he doesn't but sometimes it takes
the fear of God to go into you before you'll do things the right way look at
first Samuel 15 22 it says and Samuel said half the Lord as great delight and
burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to
obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fad of Rams for
rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as the iniquity of
idolatry because thou has rejected the word of the Lord he hath also rejected
thee from being king this is when Samuel is talking to King Saul he's like God's
done with you man you're not gonna listen to what I say you're not gonna
do what the word of the Lord says well then you're done buddy and that's why
Saul was rejected and David replaced him because Saul just would not do what God
said and what is the Bible saying here to obey is better than sacrifice that's
why these Hollywood stars they're like hey I'm not gonna obey what God says I'm
not gonna obey you know anything I'll just put I'll just give money to this
charity and they think that they're a good person for that they think that
they're getting by their way out of hell but then they're given to these horrible
institutions anyway they're like murdering babies and all kinds of other
stuff so they're just misguided totally anyway but you can't buy your way out of
hell you can't sacrifice your way out of hell it's not ever gonna work God would
rather just have us obey him than to give us you know it's like it's like
with your wife you know if you're just been a jerk all day and you think that
walking up with a bouquet of flowers is gonna satisfy her you know I gave you
flowers wasn't that good enough for you it's not is it does that ever work don't
say yes because you're lying unless it's coming with an apology first it is
again Oh flowers thank you I forgive you it's like no come on maybe if it's a
diamond ring like that big around or something but even then you might have
to like go through some mental torture to make things okay but you know it's
the same thing with husbands like hey if your wife's been nagging you all day and
then like well dinner might actually dinner actually might work that might
help I mean you think about David like he's about ready he's like kill
everybody that you know like when Nabok was it was it Naboth yeah I was yeah
Naboth he's like refuses to help Dave and his men and they're like helping
mountain and like Abigail comes and runs with all this food to give him and right
before Dave was like kill everybody that pissed you know pisseth against the wall
and it's like how does Abigail so you know stop David's rage she's like here
you go here's a bunch of figs and a bunch of other stuff he's like okay
maybe I won't tell them all it's a good story so what's the application though
for all for us and all this well doing things right according to what the Bible
says is better than doing something that you think is right out of ignorance an
open defiance is open rebellion if you're oh if you say I don't care what
the Bible says I'm gonna do what I want anyway that is open rebellion just flat
out open rebellion and when you say that you're sticking your finger right in
God's eyeball and if you think that he's gonna just be okay with that you're
wrong you're deadly wrong and then you should just expect the smoke to come
next the Philistines did the same thing though why didn't they get punished well
they did but God's not gonna punish the heathen in necessarily the same way as
he's gonna punish the people that actually know what they're supposed to
be doing or should know did they have the Bible do they have the scriptures
that they have the law of Moses yes so the why are you building a new cart like
the Philistines are they knew better they should have known better apparently
they didn't that's because of ignorance because of a lack of reading the Word of
God those verses I read to you in Numbers and Deuteronomy and Joshua they
had those same verses that I just read to you and if I thought I had any chance
of getting killed I'd probably read those verses wouldn't you or getting
someone else killed because David didn't die but his man did so they're
unbelievers so when they made the mice and the gold mice and the golden
emeralds I mean they made golden emeralds that's kind of weird right I
don't even know how they would imagine to do that but and then they made the
cart they put the the the two cattle or whatever the or however many cattle they
had to take the cart that had never pulled a cart before I mean these are
like virgin cattle pullers or whatever David didn't do that I mean they took a
lot of precautions to take that ark out and they still appease God to a certain
extent because their smoke quit as soon as that ark left their town and the
Lords of the Philistines the five Lords of the Philistines they followed that
thing out until they knew that it got to the destination it was supposed to go
to until it went to a town in Israel and then they like okay our
responsibility is done and they didn't even know what they were supposed to do
they're just like let's go to the Wizards and find out what we're you know
they had no clue what they're supposed to be doing and the dip but what's the
difference well God's people should know what to do that's the difference here's
what the Philistines did I'm just gonna have I'm just gonna read it for you
first Samuel chapter 6 verse 7 it says now therefore make a new cart this is
what their wizards or whatever are telling them to do make a new cart and
take two milch kind on which there had hath no hath come no yoke and tie the
kind to the cart and bring their calves home from them isn't that what David did
did the same thing how is it that they ended up doing the same thing that the
Philistines did how do you explain that
maybe they heard I don't know maybe he heard they heard the story so you're
gonna go off of stories more than going off at the Word of God says doing things
the way the Philistines do is always an ill-advised thing to do especially when
it comes to the things of God we shouldn't do our church like the
Philistines we shouldn't treat God's people like the Philistines we shouldn't
treat pastors like the Philistines we shouldn't treat our work our boss at
work like the Philistines we shouldn't be workers at our jobs like the
Philistines we shouldn't run our home like the Philistines we shouldn't raise
These are kids like the Philistines.
We shouldn't run our marriages like the Philistines.
We shouldn't be envious of other people like the Philistines
always trying to take the Israelites' land.
We shouldn't serve other gods like the Philistines.
We shouldn't serve idols like the Philistines.
You know, we shouldn't do anything like the Philistines.
God's people should be different
in every way, in every situation,
but yet you have David's men here
pulling and bringing the ark back
like the Philistines, exactly like they did.
Pretty much.
But they weren't carrying gold and whatever else.
These coastal people,
I mean, they might as well have been San Francisco.
Yeah, bro, let's just send it back, man.
Go surfing.
But yet the people of God are still doing
exactly like they are.
Look back in our text, 1 Chronicles 13, verse 11.
The Bible says, and David was displeased
because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah.
Wherefore, that place was called Perez-Uzzah to this day.
Now, I don't have time to get into this,
but the first time, well, Perez, or Perez
was the name of the twin that was born of Judah.
That's the first time when it says,
how did you break forth, and his name is Perez.
That's kind of the etymology of the word breach.
So Perez, every time you see that word Perez
in the Bible, that means breach.
So, again, I don't have time to prove that,
but if you see where it says that's why it's called
Perez-Uzzah, and it says made a breach upon Uzzah.
And what's really interesting about this
is that I'm gonna give you the definition of breach.
Okay, there's two different types of breaches.
So you know how the Bible says
men are supposed to wear breeches?
It's spelled B-R-E-E-C-H.
So breach, you know, it's a split.
That's why they're called breeches.
Pants, as we call modern day, or jeans, or whatever.
But they're called that because there's a split.
And so when you talk about that, that's a different,
so it is similar, but it's a split.
Now when it's B-R-E-A-C-H,
listen to these two definitions.
Really interesting.
This is how God works.
The act of breaking or state of being broken,
a rupture, a break, a gap,
the space between the severed parts
of a solid body parted by violence
as a breach in a garment or in a wall.
You know, have you ever seen those movies
where they're like, you know,
they're bringing the battering ram
and they're trying to like knock the door open,
and they say breach the wall, or breach, you know,
they've breached the door.
Or a breach in a dam, I'm sure you've heard that,
where a dam just cracks and the water breaks forth.
So that's a very interesting, where it says
the space between the severed parts of a solid body
parted by violence.
And David was displeased because the Lord
had made a breach upon Uzzah.
Whatever was done to Uzzah,
I mean the Bible doesn't really give us the gross details,
but I don't think he just died with no violence.
It sounds to me like some kind of hole
was shot forth out of him or something.
I think he, I'm not saying he exploded or something,
I'm just saying that it probably was gross though.
It probably was gruesome.
You know, when he touched that ark,
I don't know if stuff shot out, like,
whatever it is, it says that he made a breach upon Uzzah.
And like, when I was looking at the liberal commentaries
on this, they were like, he didn't explode,
you know, like they just always want to soften
everything out.
So whatever they say, I always think,
maybe it's the opposite then.
But here's what it also means.
The violation of a law, the violation or non-fulfillment
of a contract, the non-performance of a moral duty,
non-performance of duty being a breach of obligation
as well as a positive transgression or violation.
So the two meanings of it, like you breached the law,
you've done something, you didn't fulfill something
that you were supposed to do.
Isn't that the essence of this story?
And then because they breached the part of the law
where they're supposed to have the coethites
carry that ark and not these stupid cows
on this stupid new cart,
God said, you know what, if you want to breach my laws,
then I'm going to breach you for touching it.
Those are the first two definitions that come up.
I mean, because there's other definitions that will pop up,
you know, modern day.
That really nails it right there.
David was upset that God made a breach upon Uzzah.
He's disappointed.
But God was upset that Uzzah and David and the Levites
and the priests and the children of Israel
breached the law of God by making a new cart
and by Uzzah putting his unsanctified hand
on the ark of God by doing it like the Philistines
and not doing it after the due order.
Because in chapter 15, that's what it says,
that David knew that he didn't do it after the due order.
Look at verse 12.
It says, and David was afraid of God that day.
It's a good thing.
It's a good thing to fear the Lord.
I think that maybe he was being a little too flippant.
Maybe he was just being a little too disregarding
the ark of God's word
and not really taking things serious enough.
Saying, how shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
Like he seriously just has no clue still at this point.
It's like, I mean, maybe he's just studying the parts.
I don't know what parts he's studying.
There's not a lot written yet at this point.
So David brought not the ark home to himself
to the city of David but carried it aside
into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
It's a good thing to remember
to have a healthy fear of God.
Because when you start losing your fear of God,
you start just being flippant with the things of God
and not taking God serious and not taking his word serious
and just not knowing what it says.
You don't know what the Bible says?
You think that ignorance is just gonna,
did ignorance help plead Uzzah's case?
Uzzah died and went to heaven
and woke up just kinda like, what am I doing here?
What, wait, what happened?
What happened?
It's like, come on Uzzah, I'm sorry, I have to tell you this.
I didn't even know!
What does the law tell you when you break the law
if you've ever gotten pulled over
and like maybe you missed some sign
or you got a parking ticket and you're like,
I didn't even see that sign.
What do they tell you?
Ignorance is not an excuse.
It's what they tell you.
I didn't even see the speed limit sign.
Well, you'll look next time, won't you?
I didn't know I wasn't supposed to pass in the carpool lane.
Ha ha ha ha!
Or whatever it is that you've done.
But,
God isn't your homeboy.
He is our friend, yes he is.
But, he's also our Lord and Savior and he's also our boss.
And we have to have a healthy fear of God
and yeah, he wants to be our friend.
Yes, Abraham is called the friend of God,
but Abraham also, when he's pleading with him
about Sodom and Gomorrah, he's like,
let me just ask one more time and I am but dust and ashes.
He's just like, he's going back and forth with him,
but he's doing it with respect.
He's not like, how dare you do this, God,
and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, what is wrong?
He had a healthy, he's like, shouldn't the Lord of the earth
do what is right?
He's just like, he's afraid.
And rightly so.
Because people just have these dumb t-shirts,
God's my homeboy, and you know,
just all these dumb Zoomer t-shirts or whatever.
And they better start having a little more healthy
of a fear and not just acting all flippant about things.
Everything rises and falls on leadership,
that's a true statement.
And David's failure here cost a man his life.
Because ultimately, who's responsible?
They're always gonna say, well, leadership's responsible.
But the Levites are responsible too.
Who had charge over all the things in the sanctuary
in the house of God?
Who had all the responsibility?
The priests, the sons of Aaron, right?
Where was there?
Was David have a bunch of yes men around him or something?
Like, they don't know that they're supposed to have
certain people carry the things?
They know.
Why aren't they saying anything?
Either they're cowards or they just didn't know themselves.
But someone I'm sure knew, someone, I mean,
do you really believe that nobody knew
that that was the case?
I don't know, it's hard for me to believe
that nobody knew that.
But again, it is the time of the judges
and everybody was doing that which was right.
But when one thing starts to slip,
other things start to slip,
and it is truly life or death sometimes.
This is a life or death situation.
Because they didn't know the word of God.
And when it comes to spiritual things, it's heaven or hell.
If you're caught and you don't know
how to give someone the gospel,
you're like, oh man, I wish I could have gotten saved.
They were ready, they wanted to hear,
but I just didn't know how.
It's a bad position to be put in.
So here's a good end to the story though.
Look at verse 14, it says,
And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom
in his house three months,
and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom
and all that he had.
So Obed-Edom was apparently doing something right.
And God blessed him.
Obviously he was respecting the ark
and one man's tragedy becomes another family's blessing.
But it was a tragic thing for that man to die.
And I'm sure he's in heaven right now.
He's like, yeah, I mean, I wish I would have known.
But I'm sure the guy was saved.
But the ultimate takeaway from this is that
when you don't know the law of God and the Bible,
you can be harmed or cursed without even knowing it.
That's why it's just so important to know the Bible.
And ignorance does not excuse you from being a law breaker.
I think about this story, this video that I've watched
many times actually, where his pastor is talking about
this kid that won't take the Lord seriously.
You guys ever seen this video before?
He's like, there's this kid and he's just goofing around.
He's like, he just wouldn't take the Lord seriously.
He said, so I just hit him as hard as I could.
Bam, right in the chest, crumpled the kid,
knocked him to the ground.
You guys ever seen this one?
He's like, and I said,
when are you gonna start taking God seriously?
Led that man to the Lord right there.
You gotta look it up after church, it's really funny.
But the reason why he punched him
is because he wasn't taking the Lord seriously.
So, let that be a lesson to you.
I'm not gonna punch anybody in the chest,
but God killed a man because he wasn't taking
the things of the Lord seriously.
Everybody's gonna be looking that video up afterwards.
I think you just have to look up like
preacher punches kid in chest or something like that.
There's a whole bunch of videos on it.
I don't know if he actually did it, but that's crazy.
Anyway, so that's all I got, let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for this great
chapter in the Bible and lessons it can teach us.
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to take things seriously
when it comes to the Bible and not being ignorant
of the things that you want from us
and the things that you find important.
I pray that you would help us, Lord,
to just take everything seriously.
Lord, it's okay to have fun, but not at the expense
of our lives and not at the expense
of somebody else's spiritual salvation.
Pray, Lord, you'd help us all to keep things
in perspective when it comes to how we act
around other people and the people who are watching us.
Pray, Lord, that we wouldn't try to bring anything
from the Philistines into our home and into our lives
and to our parenting and to our daily lives
that would hinder our walk with you.
Pray that you'd just bless us as we go
our separate ways tonight, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.