[0:00] going into the book of 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles, we will limit ourselves to chapter 13 tonight. 1 Chronicles chapter 13. I say that because if you've been with me, you know that as we've been going through 1 Chronicles, we really haven't started it that long ago, but we've been covering major sections of the book because much of it is redundant and repetitive, and even what we get into tonight will be repetitive, but the first nine chapters of the book of Chronicles comprises really just a list of genealogies, and then we get into, we see the people of God, and then we get into David, and we get into David coming ascending the throne, and we get into David's mighty men, so chapters 11 and 12, at least the latter half of 11, and all of chapter 12 really deal with David's men, so we kind of looked at those in bigger chunks. Tonight, we will be in all of chapter 13.
[0:59] It's not very many verses, but we will confine ourselves to that. Again, well, let's pray, and then we'll get right into it. Father, we're so thankful, thankful to have the opportunity of gathering together, thankful for just the grand privilege it is of being with your people, to be encouraged, and to take time to fellowship. Father, we also praise you that we have the opportunity to open up the pages of your word, and we ask that you would speak to our hearts and minds. We pray that the truth of scripture would be so much more than just a gaining and collection of information, but rather, Father, it would be a shaping and molding of our hearts and our lives to become more Christ-like. We ask that you lead those working with the children and the youth in the back. We ask that in all ways, in all areas, that Christ be glorified and honored. We praise you for this day. We praise you for this opportunity, and we ask your leading in it, and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. We won't spend an unbelievable amount of time, but it always does us well to put it in right context and to kind of reset the scene for us, because we do have much repetition. 1 and 2 Kings is written pre-Babylonian captivity, if you remember.
[2:08] 1 and 2 Kings actually is written right there at the brink of it, right as they're going into the Babylonian captivity. We're not 100% sure who the author is. Many people believe that Kings is written by Jeremiah. There are some internal evidence that kind of points to that, at least someone similar to that. There's this mourning and breaking over it, but Kings exists to show us why the nation went into captivity. That is, all the wrong they did, their rebellion, their rejection of the Lord God and His ways, their breaking of the covenant, and God fulfilling the discipline in which He said that He would do, according to the book of Deuteronomy. And then we turn the page, in our English Bibles, at least, we go right into 1 and 2 Chronicles. If you remember, in the Jewish scripture, it would have been at the very end of the Old Testament, because it is, other than the book of Malachi, one of the last books written in all of the Old Testament, only exceeded by the last one of Malachi. So it is really near the end of many of the events which follow it. Chronicles exist as the nation is coming out of Babylonian captivity. As a matter of fact, by the time the chronicler writes, whoever it is, again, there are theories, there are ideas. Some people believe it was Ezra, some people believe maybe it was a scribe according to the school of Ezra. More than likely, it was someone of Levitical ascent. We have internal evidence there. But it is writing to a nation that is now at least the grandchildren of those who came out of the Babylonian captivity, and they're still trying to reestablish themselves. If you want to set yourself in a historical setting, go to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. You can even go to the book of Malachi. And if you know anything about Nehemiah, you know the walls are torn down, the cities in shambles. You know anything about Ezra, they have yet to finish building the temple. So they build the temple, they establish worship, they rebuild the walls, and then Nehemiah is trying to get people to move back into the city. And there's just kind of this loss of national identity. Chronicles is written to remind them of who they are. There are two very important people in 1 and 2 Chronicles, David and the Levites. And now that should resonate with us because what we're seeing is the importance of the king and the importance of worship.
[4:17] And these are matters which are discussed throughout Chronicles of how important the king is and how important worship is. Because we're looking for the coming king who would be of the lineage of David, the seed of David. Now we find him when we flip over our pages and we open up the book of Matthew. But this is their anticipation. This is what they're looking for. Now they are a nation.
[4:43] They understand who they are. They know they should worship. They're restoring their worship. And they know the king they're looking for. Now we saw the sad reality is that they miss it. Part of that though is in this 13th chapter. And why this one is so important again and why we reread it because this one is too recorded for us in the book of 2 Samuel. I believe it's 2 Samuel chapter 6 that this event is recorded. There's a little bit of additional information given to us here in this passage. But you can read the parallel passage in 2 Samuel chapter 6. So let's read our text together. 1 Chronicles 13. Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds even with every leader. David said to all the assembly of Israel, if it seems good to you and if it is from the Lord our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands that they may meet with us.
[5:40] And let us bring back the ark of our God to us for we did not seek it in the days of Saul. Then all the assembly said that they would do so for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
[5:52] So David assembled all Israel together from the Shehor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath to bring the ark of God from Kirith-Jerim. David and all Israel went up to Bala, that is Kirith-Jerim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God and the Lord who is enthroned above the cherubim where his name is called. They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab and Uzzah and Ahiho, drove the cart. David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and with trumpets.
[6:31] When they came to the threshing floor of Chadon, Uzzah put out his hand to hold the ark because the oxen nearly upset it. Then the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah and so he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark and he died there before God. Then David became angry because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah and he called that place Perez-Uzzah to this day. David was afraid of God that day saying, how can I bring the ark of God home to me? So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom to the Gittite. Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months and the Lord blessed the family of Obed-Edom with all that he had. I want you to see this evening realizing the fear of the Lord, a realization of the fear of the Lord. Now I know we've preached this passage before when we were going through 2 Samuel, though we've covered a lot of ground since then, but even if we had just preached it recently, we would again readdress it because this is one of those central assets, one of those big rock issues, right? This is a big rock issue that faith is not even in the nation of Israel alone, but to all people. And it is this realization of the fear of the Lord.
[7:56] We said this before that when the word of God declares something, we pay attention to it. When the word of God repeats itself, then we do very well to set up and pay attention to it and say, why are we being told this again? So here we see this realization of the fear of the Lord. Now put it in context. You remember even before Saul ascended to the throne that the ark was carried into battle with the Philistines and the Philistines captured the ark. You remember this, right? This is when Eli, his son, said carried it to battle and Eli heard about it. He was sitting upon the stool and Eli was a heavy man and he heard the news. He fell off the stool and it broke his neck. There were some things that was going on there. First of all, the priest shouldn't be fat. Second, the priest should never sit down. There's a lot that's going on. There's a lot that's wrong in that because the only way you get overweight if you're a priest is if you're eating the sacrifices that are supposed to be burning. There's a lot there. So we say we can blame his children, but we need to also look at the dad. So the ark gets captured. The Philistines taken. The Philistines take it to their city. They put it in the household of their God and all the terror of the Lord starts falling upon their city. So they send it around to five different cities, put it in a nutshell. And they said, we don't know what to do with it because everywhere it goes and the last city they were sent into, the inhabitants of the sea like we don't want it to come here because everywhere it goes, these tumors are breaking out on people and the mice are ravaging and there's all these diseases.
[9:17] We don't want it. Don't bring it here. You know, it was supposed to be this great prize from the battle. So what did they do? They put it on a cart. They put two cows who had never pulled a cart on the cart, right? And sent it towards the land of Israel and there it took off walking, right?
[9:31] And they put all these gold tumors and these gold mice and everything. This is an offering to it. And it went. Now go in your mind. When it got there, it got to that place where it stood. It got into the land of Israel and it stopped and the ark was brought and they tore the ark, they took the ark off the cart. They tore the wood of the cart apart. They made an offering. They burned the cows.
[9:52] They gave a sacrifice and they put the ark up on a rock and then everybody wanted to look in it. Now I set you this because it bears repeating what had happened in the past. And it tells us that as the people were going up to it, the Lord struck the people of the land like 50,000 plus died because they were handling the ark. Now these are Israelites.
[10:14] So they took it over to Abinadab's house and they appointed one of Abinadab's children to be the keeper of the ark. Now I've tried to research it, but I don't know if Abinadab was of Levitical ascent. I don't know if he has the right pedigree. He just happens to be in the right place at the right time because Kirith Jerem is on the edge of the land of Israel.
[10:37] But he has a child that's present. Now when we meet Uzzah and Ahio, these are Abinadab's grandsons. So now all of a sudden they're walking in the course that their dad walked.
[10:49] Their dad was the keeper of the ark. Now they're the keeper of the ark. Again, very limited biblical information about these individuals as to were they really supposed to be doing this. But anyway, we digress. It remains there for 20 years. After these events, Saul becomes king. Saul reigns.
[11:09] We're told in our text that Saul never sought the ark. For 20 years it's over there. Saul dies in battle. David becomes king. He reigns seven and a half years in Hebron. And all of a sudden all of Israel comes, they make him king. One of the first things David wants to do is bring the ark back.
[11:25] Now he's a man after God's own heart. We understand this. He is the anointed and appointed. We say that right. He's the anointed and appointed king. One of the things that is big in the book of Chronicles is not only is he the right king, but he's the king that leads the nation to worship. Well, you can't worship without the ark because the ark is the representation of the Shekinah glory, the presence of God. It was the ark that was brought into the tabernacle that the glory of God fell in and the priest couldn't work. So he is enthroned, it tells us, above the cherubim, which is sitting on top of the ark, which is, by the way, what is that area called? It's the propitiation. It's the mercy seat, right, where the cherubim are facing each other because in the ark was to be the law and then above the ark was the glory of God and in the middle was where they put the blood so that the blood would stand between the presence of God and the law of God and the blood would be the atonement for the sin of man. That's why Jesus is our propitiation. He is our mercy seat because it is his blood that stands between us and the law of God. So anyway, so we have this reality here to restore worship.
[12:30] We have to have the right things in place. So now David has this idea. He's going to bring it. Now, first thing I want you to notice, this is a, number one, worthy ambition. It's a worthy ambition. Look at what the text says. Now, this is something in addition to the 2 Samuel account, by the way, because in 2 Samuel, we just see that David says, hey, let's go get this thing. The chronicler gives us a little bit more information. There was something in place that Saul probably never did because of the mannerisms of Saul, but it was something that God had established even all the way back in the wilderness. It said, then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds and with every leader. So it's not like there's one person making this decision.
[13:09] And again, the, one of the themes of Chronicles is the unity of God's people. So what we see here is that all of Israel is coming together and saying, yes, David, we want the ark back. Now, this is really worthy of paying attention to because for some of them, probably they don't remember a time when the ark was there. For over 20 years, the ark has, has been over here at Benadab's house. And the blessings have been falling on him, but it was supposed to be centrally located so that all of Israel could come to this centrally located place of worship. By this time, David has got the most central location in mind. That is Jerusalem. It's already there. It's the city of David. So what more central location to have the ark come into, and this is where he wants to bring it. And he consults the leaders and the, and all the military leaders and everybody says, yes, this is what we ought to do.
[14:05] So this ambition is not just one man's desire. This really is a national choice, right? They're saying, yes, we ought to do that. And then he says, then let's get all of Israel together. So what we notice is this is a good thing and it's a unifying thing and it's everybody on the same page.
[14:22] It's not like David's going to try to force the people to worship. Now the people want to bring back the ark so that they can really restore the worship. Because he says for it was never salt during the days of Saul. If you go read Saul, the life of Saul, you know why, right? Saul was man's king.
[14:37] David is God's king. Saul was all man. He looked the party fifth apart. He's had his shoulders taller than everybody else. He had good pedigree. He was from warriors. His grandfather was a warrior. His father was a warrior. You know, he was the right guy. Except for the only person he ever consulted was a medium and spiritist. You know, he neglected the commands of God. He never really sought the ark of God. He never had to desire. If he's such a warrior, why not go get the ark and bring it back?
[15:04] So what we find here though is David now is unifying the nation. He's calling them back and it is a worthy ambition. Now you know how the story ends because we just said it.
[15:15] We just read it. Understand this, even worthy ambitions for the right things can end up in sin.
[15:27] It's a worthy ambition. Number two, knowing is this a worthy ambition during this desire, this longing to bring the ark back, to restore this worship. There is also worship displayed.
[15:44] There's a worthy ambition. There's worship displayed. Now they come, they go to the house, they have everybody in place. All of us was gathered together there. Now we all of a sudden need a red flag.
[15:55] This is why it's good to know the backstory, the background of how we got here, right? Because it says they put it on a new cart. Well, they didn't want to just use any old cart to move the ark of the covenant, right? So they put it on a new cart. Well, the only other people we know that put the ark of the covenant on a cart were the Philistines. That's the only other people. But think about it.
[16:16] The only way they know the ark got there was on a cart. We like to say, well, they should have known better. Well, that's, hey, it got here on a cart. So let's take it there on a cart, right? But let's get a new cart, right? So they get this shiny cart. It says they put it on a new cart.
[16:33] They even have the grandsons of Abinadab whose son was the one put in charge of keeping it. So that now, theoretically, they have the right people in place. They have a cart. They have the right people. And then it tells us that they carried the ark of God. And then it says in verse 8, David and all Israel. Again, notice this unifying theme. David and all Israel were celebrating before God. And I love this, with all their might. This was not a casual worship experience. I mean, this is him bringing the nation and they're celebrating with all their might. Some translations say with all their strength. Some say with all their heart or wholeheartedly.
[17:22] The wording there, the implication is, is they weren't just casually going, you know, kind of clapping a little bit off beat. No, I mean, they were rejoicing. They were celebrating. This was church like they never had church. Why? Because up to this time, they hadn't had church. I mean, think about it.
[17:38] Holy God is coming back into our presence for over 20 years. He's not been here. We've been a nation that's went through all these different things. We've had civil war. We've had discord. Now we're united.
[17:50] And it says that they're worshiping before the Lord with all their heart, with all their might, even with songs and with lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and with trumpets.
[18:03] Another side note, Chronicles talks more of the instruments used in worship than any other portion of the Old Testament. Why do you think that is? Because it's a nation trying to learn how to worship. So the author is constantly telling them how they worshiped in the past so that they will know how to worship today. Some Bible scholar once said, unfortunately, 1 and 2 Chronicles is quite often the most neglected portion of the Old Testament, and that is to our own dismay. It has a purpose for being there, and it is reminding them how to worship. Why? Because worship is essential. It's important.
[18:41] It is what we were made to do, right? We were created to worship, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, with all our strength. That's our purpose.
[18:52] And now the author is telling them how to worship with all of their strength. And they even had songs and all these musical instruments, and they were dancing before the Lord. So here we see a worship displayed. Now pay attention. Their motive was right. Their worship was even right. But what went wrong?
[19:16] Is it possible to have the right ambition to even display proper worship and still be wrong?
[19:32] Or according to our text, it is. They were worshiping the right thing, right? Because it tells us what the ark is. The ark is not just a box. They're not worshiping a box. It says they went to get the ark of God, the Lord who is enthroned above the cherubim where his name is called.
[19:52] They're not worshiping a false god. They're not even worshiping the cart that it's on. They're worshiping the right God. They're doing it for the right motives. They're doing it even in the right manner in worship wise.
[20:08] So here we see a worthy ambition. Here we see worship displayed. Number three. We see a warning ignored.
[20:22] One glaring thing of how we begin to see that this warning is ignored is at the very beginning of our passage. Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader.
[20:44] And the clue there, I think at times, is what scripture says they didn't do or what scripture is silent about.
[20:57] There is no consulting the word of God. Everything that has taken place is taken place because all the people thought it was right.
[21:10] They were doing it how everybody thought they should do it. But the one thing they didn't consult was the Lord God.
[21:25] He said, oh, pastor, I mean, cut them a break. I mean, scripture wasn't done yet. Well, the law was there, right? The Pentateuch was present. And before you cut too many breaks, one of the commandments of the king was that they were to remember the Pentateuch and actually write the Pentateuch.
[21:43] And they were to transcribe it. And then one of the commandments of the king is they were supposed to teach it to the people, right? And then also, don't forget the fact that after David is anointed, when Samuel anoints David, there's this really cool thing that it tells us there in the book of 1 Samuel.
[21:58] And it's the only person in the New Testament that I have found that it says it about. And it is that the Spirit of the Lord was with him from that day forward. Right?
[22:08] So the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is so much different than the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. I know we kind of went through this a little bit one time before. So the New Testament, the Holy Spirit makes his abode within us.
[22:19] He abides within us. He dwells within us. Right? We have the fullness of the Godhead, it tells us in the Gospel of John, that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit come to dwell within us to make their abode. So we say we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are led by the Holy Spirit, that's an internal reality as believers, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit.
[22:36] In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit wasn't given to abide in an individual because he couldn't, because the Son had not yet come and ascended to the Father. Jesus said, I ascend and it's for your benefit, because if I ascend, then he will send the paraclete, or the helper of the Spirit, and he will dwell within you.
[22:51] So until the Son's ascension, the Holy Spirit could not dwell in an individual. Now, that doesn't mean the Holy Spirit wasn't present in the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, we find it in the very opening pages of Scripture.
[23:03] The Spirit was hovering over the darkness, right? But so the movement of the Holy Spirit in individuals' lives in the Old Testament is more like a coat. They cover, they were cloaked with the Spirit, not indwelt, but they were cloaked with the Spirit.
[23:17] They were covered, they wore it like a mantle, and he would cloak them and move them. He would abide here, move. And so we see all the time, Saul is moved by the Spirit to prophesy, and then the Spirit leaves, and he ends up sinning.
[23:31] So we know this, right? The Spirit can move. But with David, it's kind of, it's odd, because it tells us that when Samuel anointed David, that he was covered, or cloaked, with the Holy Spirit from that day forward.
[23:44] He's the only one in Old Testament that says that. That there's the covering of the Holy Spirit from that day forward. So before we cut too much slack, it's almost like telling a believer that they cannot discern the will of God, even though we readily admit that they have the mind of Christ through the presence of the Spirit within them.
[24:01] The only way we can't discern the will of God is when we don't try. It's when we neglect to do it. And I promise you that if you spend your life asking everybody else how you should behave and what it is you should do, then you'll eventually surround yourself with a number of people that will all come to the same consensus and a group of you can go do that cool thing.
[24:22] And you can neglect ever asking the Lord, am I doing what I ought to do? Because we have a natural tendency to surround ourselves with people that agree with us.
[24:35] And we like that. We like people who agree with us. We don't always like people who disagree with us. But we see here David, he doesn't consult the Lord. He said, if it's pleasing to the Lord, well sure it's pleasing for the ark to be back.
[24:48] But he never asked him how. Right? And if he had. I mean at this time, David had already heard audibly from the Lord God through the prophets.
[25:02] So we know that prophets are there. There had been the anointings that had come. I mean there are people that are there but there's no consulting of the prophets. There's no, it's just a bunch of people saying, hey let's go get the ark.
[25:14] Okay? How do you think we should do it? Well we need a new cart. That's how the Philistines done it. Alright, so who should be next to the cart? Well get the ones who've already been with the ark this whole time. Sounds good to me. Let's go. It's a good motive.
[25:24] They're even worshiping but there's something missing. Because if they had just taken some time and gotten into the Pentateuch, they would have seen that there was a certain group of people that was supposed to not walk beside the cart but supposed to carry the ark.
[25:37] And he would even notice, and we'll notice it later, when they have these poles, that even before the poles were inserted, that the descendants of Aaron were to cover the ark. And the covering, God says, now pay attention to this because we look at this and say, man God is just not fair.
[25:53] It was just trying to keep the thing from falling and he killed him. Wait a minute. God said, cover it and carry it, lest someone touch it and die. That's pretty specific, right?
[26:05] God said, cover it, carry it. That way no one puts a hand on it and dies. Never declare that God is unfair when he does what he says he will do.
[26:25] It's one of the most merciful, loving, righteous. He is the most because we serve a God who we don't have to wonder what he wants us to do.
[26:40] We serve a God of revelation who declares to us how we should do it. And when we ignore that, woe be unto us, not shame be unto him.
[26:56] The warning is very clear. Cover it, carry it, don't touch it. Why? The reason the warning is clear is because the holiness of God is a reality.
[27:18] Thinking that we can move this thing, which now, I know it doesn't contain God, it is not the throne that God sets upon, but this is where God had declared the name of the Lord would reside above.
[27:31] Thinking that we can move it however we want to and do with it whatever we want to and let me help God make sure he doesn't fall down is belittling the holiness of God.
[27:45] And so we see this warning ignored. And unfortunately, it was ignored by people who were doing the right thing even with the heart of worship but doing it in a manner that they thought they could.
[28:04] Friend, let's just go ahead and just sit right here for just a minute because that happens every day. There are people who have the right motive.
[28:18] I want to serve God. They want to worship God, they want to do it with all of their strength and all of their heart but they want to do it how they want to do it. And the way to the Father is a very narrow path.
[28:34] Jesus says broad is the way that leads to death and eternal punishment but narrow is the way that leads to life, right? It's very narrow. One of the most merciful, gracious things that I've ever found in Scripture is that not only does God dictate that the way to walk worthy of Him is very narrow, He tells us how we should do it.
[28:55] We must come through Christ. Right? We must walk in obedience and loving relationship with the Savior and it can only be through Him and we dare not impute all of our ugliness into how we're going to worship.
[29:12] I mean, we worship in spirit and truth and all these things. It's not a legalistic manner. It's just, this is how you do it now and this is how you come to me. This is how you're accepted by me. This is how you're worthy of me.
[29:23] And I love the reality in the book of Acts how we have such potent questions and pertinent questions. You know, the men of Israel said, what should we do? And it tells us in Acts chapter 2 that Peter is preaching this message.
[29:33] He says, repent and all of you be baptized for the remission of your sins. We can digress and all that. And so he's talking to Jewish people. But the first time we ever hear a Gentile ask, how can I be saved?
[29:44] That's the question is that. How can I be saved? It is Paul preaching to the Philippian jailer, right? And the question is, how can I be saved? Because all of a sudden the earthquake has come and the doors have come open and he's going to take his own life.
[29:57] And Paul says, don't do that. Every one of us are here. Remember Paul and Silas, they were rejoicing and worshiping in the middle of the prison cell. And all of a sudden he says, don't do that. We're all here. The biggest miracle was not the walls of the jail falling down.
[30:08] The biggest miracle was none of the prisoners ran away. Why? Because that spared the life of the Philippian jailer. And the Philippian jailer asked this question. I love that. How can I be saved? What's the answer?
[30:18] Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved in your whole household as well. That's pretty straightforward, right? I mean, there's no going back and forth of what must I do?
[30:29] Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's really simple. And I love the reality that God has this very, very narrow way but he consistently tells us how to go in this way like this ark.
[30:40] Cover it, carry it, don't touch it for I'm holy. You don't get to come to God any other way you want to. You may have a desire to approach his throne.
[30:51] You may have a desire to go before him. You may have a desire that I want to worship the God of the heavens and the earth and I want to worship the creator with all of my being and I want to do it this way. God says, if you don't come boldly through the blood of the lamb then don't come at all because you're running into the presence of the holy.
[31:13] And side note, everyone we find in scripture that ends up in his presence falls on their face and says, woe is me. Isaiah, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.
[31:30] Ezekiel, by the river, falls down and says, woe is me, I am ruined. I'm in his presence. John on the island of Patmos, Jesus is there and he goes, oh, I'm ruined. I'm in your presence. Right? Everyone that's in the presence of the holies, they're not saying, oh, I'm glad I got here.
[31:42] They're going, wow, I don't deserve to be here. None of them dare to reach out a hand and say, well, let me help you out there, God. The holiness of God is a reality. So we see this warning ignored.
[31:55] Fourth and finally, there's a worthy ambition, there's worship displayed, there's a warning ignored. Why is this even in here, right? Why is it in here twice?
[32:05] Fourth and finally, a wonder restored. A wonder restored. It tells us that when I came to the threshing floor of Chadon, Uzzah put out his hand and the Lord struck him, killed him because he did what he should not do.
[32:25] You say, well, he didn't know. He could have known. They could have known. But there's more going on than that because here you have a whole nation that's watching and now all of a sudden things got real.
[32:39] I mean, you talk about disrupting a worship service, right? They're worshiping with all their strength, they're playing all these musical instruments and this man dies and all of a sudden things get still but notice what it says.
[32:51] Then David became angry. More than likely, the implication is here that David was angry with himself. Right? David became angry. He was upset.
[33:01] Why? Because this man just died. They weren't in battle. They were in the middle of a worship service and he died and he became angry and he was probably angry with himself because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah and he named the place Perez Uzzah which means to outburst against Uzzah and so he's angry and he's upset and then says, now pay attention to this, David was afraid of God that day.
[33:30] Before you welcome him back into the middle of your nation, you need to know who he is. David was afraid of God that day.
[33:42] Up until that day, God was a God who had went with him in battle. God was a God who had anointed and appointed him to be king. Up until that day, God was a God who had helped him. He was a God who was with him in the land of the Philistines when he had to feign insanity.
[33:57] God was a God of restoration. God was with him when he slung the stone and he killed the giant. Up until that day, God was always a present help but not until that day did he really fear God and know who he was.
[34:12] Listen, you have a lot of encounters with the Lord God Almighty and you can walk in sweet fellowship for a season but when the curtains are pulled back and all of a sudden you realize he is God, it is astounding.
[34:31] He's not a genie in a bottle that I can get him to help me anytime I want to. One thing that I try to do just for my own discipline is every now and then make myself read things that, you know, I told you this before, make my brain smoke a little bit, right?
[34:44] Get a little deep and I try to make myself read things that are not so easy anymore and one of the things that I love to read that really makes me think about it is just reading on the attributes of God because he's so much other than and that's the only way you can explain it.
[35:03] He's so much other and there's wonder and you walk out and you cry out like the psalmist and I did it just the other night for one because we forgot to feed our chickens and you know, they get angry and we don't feed them so I went to go feed our chickens and they come off roost because we keep a heat lamp out there so they've been giving us eggs I know it's a complete side note so I walked out here to feed the chickens and I was walking back to the house and I love walking in the dark not everybody does that I love doing it so I just cut the light off and walked back to the house and I love it because then the heavens are opened up and I look at the stars and I say, wow, look at that and it makes you cry out with the psalmist and it says, what is man that he even thinks about us?
[35:43] Right? It tells us that he calls every star by name and puts it in place and he knows that it's there that he hung the earth on nothing and told it to stay there and it did and you look up to the heavens and you say, oh, wow, this is the God I serve?
[36:01] It's called wonder I'm afraid we get way too comfortable with God that we think we can stick out a hand and give him help anytime because he might fall over.
[36:14] Friend, listen, he who puts his feet on the earth doesn't need us to help hold him up. What he needs us to do is to understand who he is and to come to him in the right way.
[36:26] That day, David feared God. Up until this time, David had not feared anyone but that day he feared God.
[36:40] How much so? When we read this a little bit further, when they finally do for three months, God blesses this house of Obed-Edom and he's blessing them because the presence of God is a blessing. It is a blessing when he's in our presence but so much so that when they go back, guess what they do?
[36:53] They bring the poles, they bring the right people, they carry it so in case you wondered if they could have found out, they do later, only three months later. Somehow they figured it out. I wonder how that happened.
[37:04] Well, somebody died and what do they do? They take a few steps and they worship but how do they worship? They make a sacrifice. There's blood. It's no longer dancing with all your strength now we're coming before him with blood.
[37:20] All of a sudden we have this reverence, this holiness this fear of God. Much like in the book of Acts, the church is growing and people think they can come to church however they want to and they can do whatever they want to and they can say whatever they want to until that couple comes in and lies about how much they sold their land for and they die.
[37:40] The husband dies, the wife comes in and she dies. The poor guys who had buried the husband as soon as they got back into the building and the wife dies and they got to go bury her too, right? And they're just tired. They're wore out. They've been digging graves all day long.
[37:50] But what does it tell us? It says, and then there was a great fear that fell upon the people of God and God was adding to their number daily. We don't have to discount nor diminish the holiness of God for God to bring people and call people to himself.
[38:06] As a matter of fact, the moment we diminish the holiness of God, we're automatically cutting off the avenue by which he calls people to himself. It is the wonder that is restored because we see here in 1 Chronicles 13, there's a realization of the fear of the Lord and it needed to happen because until they knew who God was, they had no right welcoming him back into their midst.
[38:40] Praise God that he reminds us of his holiness and we are told in scripture to fear the Lord our God. It doesn't mean to tremble and shake but it means to have a holy reverence for who he is and to stand in wonder of that realization with all humbleness and humility.
[39:02] 1 Chronicles 13, thank you, my brothers. 1 Chronicles 13,