WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620 And Neva is going to come and read God's word for us. 00:00:03.800 --> 00:00:07.540 So over to you, Neva, 2 Samuel, chapter 6, page 309. 00:00:08.839 --> 00:00:09.240 Amen. 00:00:12.240 --> 00:00:16.899 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel, 30,000. 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:22.320 He and all his men went to Bala and Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:25.199 which is called by the name, the name of the Lord Almighty, 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:28.140 who is enfroned between the cherubim on the ark. 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:33.359 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:34.700 which was on the hill. 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:39.820 Uzzah and Ahiah, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, 00:00:40.219 --> 00:00:41.939 and Ahiah was walking in front of it. 00:00:42.859 --> 00:00:46.500 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord 00:00:48.659 --> 00:00:52.980 with castanets, harps, lyres, tambourines, rattles, and cymbals. 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.400 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:00.859 Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 00:01:01.619 --> 00:01:05.179 The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act. 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:09.200 Therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God. 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:14.019 Then David was angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, 00:01:14.379 --> 00:01:17.420 and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. 00:01:18.140 --> 00:01:20.379 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, 00:01:20.379 --> 00:01:22.859 How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me? 00:01:23.259 --> 00:01:27.179 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the city of David. 00:01:27.759 --> 00:01:30.699 Instead he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:35.539 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:38.699 and the Lord blessed him and his entire household. 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:40.719 Now King David was told, 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:46.719 The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has because of the ark of God. 00:01:47.239 --> 00:01:52.620 So David went to bring the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with rejoicing. 00:01:54.039 --> 00:01:59.359 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, 00:01:59.739 --> 00:02:02.039 he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:06.379 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 00:02:06.379 --> 00:02:12.199 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sounds of trumpets. 00:02:13.139 --> 00:02:15.840 As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David, 00:02:16.379 --> 00:02:18.900 Michal, daughter of Saul, watched from a window. 00:02:19.379 --> 00:02:22.599 And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, 00:02:22.900 --> 00:02:24.599 she despised him in her heart. 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:31.180 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. 00:02:31.340 --> 00:02:35.800 And David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:40.120 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:42.799 he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:49.099 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, 00:02:49.879 --> 00:02:52.979 both men and women, and all the people went to their homes. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:56.000 When David returned home to bless his household, 00:02:56.139 --> 00:02:58.879 Michal, daughter of Saul, came out to meet him and said, 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.939 How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:08.960 going around half naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:11.979 David said to Michal, 00:03:12.139 --> 00:03:16.379 It was before the Lord who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house 00:03:16.379 --> 00:03:19.120 when he appointed me rule over the Lord's people Israel. 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:21.500 I will celebrate before the Lord. 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:24.900 I will become even more indignified than this, 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:27.439 and I will be humiliated in his own eyes. 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:31.120 But by these slave girls you spoke of, 00:03:31.379 --> 00:03:32.620 I will be held in honour. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:34.599 And Michal, daughter of Saul, 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:37.099 had no children to the day of her death. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:37.800 Amen. 00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:39.620 Thanks so much, Neva. 00:03:39.659 --> 00:03:40.259 That's great. 00:03:40.259 --> 00:03:45.519 I don't know what you thought or felt as the passage was read. 00:03:45.620 --> 00:03:48.239 You might have got a lot of questions about the story. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:51.179 It's rather an extraordinary story, isn't it? 00:03:51.659 --> 00:03:53.539 But I hope what is super clear to you, 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:55.639 even before we have any of those questions answered, 00:03:55.639 --> 00:03:57.799 or even discuss any of them in any kind of detail, 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:03.560 I hope it's really clear to you that the God of 2 Samuel chapter 6 is not safe. 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:10.120 What I mean by that is that the God of 2 Samuel chapter 6, 00:04:10.219 --> 00:04:11.080 the God of the Bible, 00:04:11.819 --> 00:04:15.599 is not a cuddly friend in the sky for you. 00:04:16.699 --> 00:04:19.660 It is not God Almighty, as they say. 00:04:20.019 --> 00:04:22.860 It is not Father Christmas in the sky or the Easter bunny, 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:26.079 just looking to do nice things for us when we ask. 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:30.160 No, the God of 2 Samuel 6 is not safe like that. 00:04:31.660 --> 00:04:33.100 And as we were thinking with the children, 00:04:33.100 --> 00:04:34.580 that means that he is serious. 00:04:35.200 --> 00:04:37.760 I think we're to think more of God like a lion 00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:40.120 than we are like a domestic cat. 00:04:43.020 --> 00:04:44.120 And our story this morning, 00:04:44.220 --> 00:04:47.400 David finds that fact out in brutal fashion, doesn't he, 00:04:47.400 --> 00:04:49.300 as he tries to bring the ark to Jerusalem. 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:52.260 Now, let me try and explain what's going on here 00:04:52.260 --> 00:04:53.360 in a bit of the background to it. 00:04:53.420 --> 00:04:55.060 The ark, or the ark of the covenant, 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:56.000 to give it its full name, 00:04:56.020 --> 00:04:57.460 is the box that's made by Moses 00:04:57.460 --> 00:04:59.100 to hold, amongst other things, 00:04:59.180 --> 00:05:01.000 the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.279 Here's a little cartoon picture of it. 00:05:03.720 --> 00:05:06.420 It was kept in the holiest part of the tabernacle, 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:09.300 behind the curtain in the Holy of Holies. 00:05:09.639 --> 00:05:12.339 On top of the ark, between the wings of the cherubim, 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:16.800 was the mercy seat from where God spoke to the high priest 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.939 as he went into the Holy of Holies. 00:05:19.339 --> 00:05:21.379 Really, the ark and its presence with the people 00:05:21.379 --> 00:05:25.980 was to be symbolic of the fact that Israel were God's people. 00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:29.200 God was with them and they belonged to him. 00:05:30.200 --> 00:05:32.439 Now, the backstory to our passage this morning 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:35.520 is that just over 20 years before 2 Samuel chapter 6, 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:40.140 the ark had been foolishly taken by the Israelites into battle. 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:43.120 Without asking God, really, 00:05:43.439 --> 00:05:45.300 I guess it's something like a lucky charm. 00:05:45.460 --> 00:05:47.819 They'd taken it into battle with them 00:05:47.819 --> 00:05:50.200 in the hope that by taking the ark with them, 00:05:50.259 --> 00:05:51.340 they'd then win the battle 00:05:51.339 --> 00:05:54.579 with the Philistines in a place called Aflech. 00:05:55.159 --> 00:05:58.000 Turns out to have been a stupid mistake. 00:05:58.119 --> 00:05:58.799 They lost the battle. 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:01.519 The Philistines took the ark away as a trophy of war, 00:06:02.039 --> 00:06:04.000 transported it back to a place called Ashdod. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:09.079 Now, that was a national catastrophe for the Israelites. 00:06:09.239 --> 00:06:11.439 Okay, so they'd taken the ark into battle, 00:06:11.539 --> 00:06:12.659 thinking this is a lucky charm. 00:06:12.719 --> 00:06:13.399 It's going to make us win. 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:14.639 They lose. 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:18.779 As they came back and told the high priest 00:06:18.779 --> 00:06:20.219 that the ark had been captured, 00:06:20.220 --> 00:06:22.060 he fell backwards off his chair, 00:06:22.180 --> 00:06:23.700 broke his neck and died. 00:06:24.540 --> 00:06:26.320 That's how serious the situation was. 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:29.200 Now, as it happened, and perhaps unsurprisingly, 00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:31.680 God was more than able to look after the ark himself. 00:06:32.080 --> 00:06:34.820 So the Philistines put the ark in the temple of their God, 00:06:35.140 --> 00:06:36.480 a God called Dagon. 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:39.180 But when they came back the next day, 00:06:39.380 --> 00:06:42.260 Dagon, the idol, had fallen over 00:06:42.260 --> 00:06:44.780 in front of the ark of the Lord. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:46.780 It was like he was bowing down to him. 00:06:46.779 --> 00:06:50.459 So they quickly and hurriedly put Dagon back on his feet. 00:06:50.459 --> 00:06:52.399 But then the same thing had happened the next day, 00:06:52.459 --> 00:06:55.259 and this time his head and his hands were chopped off as well. 00:06:56.019 --> 00:06:58.199 Now, if that wasn't clear enough for the Philistines, 00:06:58.359 --> 00:07:01.559 also the residents of Ashdod started coming out with tumors. 00:07:02.699 --> 00:07:08.719 It got so bad in the end that they ended up voluntarily sending the ark back to Israel. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:13.080 They put it on a cart and they let it wander back on its own, which it did. 00:07:13.800 --> 00:07:15.460 But all that was 20 years ago. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.840 And for all of that time, the ark had been in the house of a guy called Abinadab 00:07:18.840 --> 00:07:22.360 in a place called Kareth-Jerim in 1 Samuel chapter 7, 00:07:22.700 --> 00:07:26.740 but now called Bala in Judah in 2 Samuel chapter 6. 00:07:26.820 --> 00:07:29.080 It's the same place, just two different names. 00:07:29.340 --> 00:07:31.720 And our passage begins, doesn't it, with David heading there 00:07:31.720 --> 00:07:35.040 with 30,000 people from Israel, the brothers Uzzah and Ayo, 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:40.880 to bring a brand new cart to collect the ark and bring it back east to Jerusalem. 00:07:41.480 --> 00:07:44.460 You're with me so far tracking the story. 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:46.860 I don't think it's hard for us to imagine, is it, 00:07:46.880 --> 00:07:49.540 what David is thinking at this point in the story. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:52.840 He's living in the fortress city of Jerusalem, as we found out last week. 00:07:53.180 --> 00:07:56.280 He's captured the idols of the Philistines and destroyed them. 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:58.879 So he wants to bring, doesn't he, the ark of the covenant, 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:04.419 God's presence with him into the fortress city of Jerusalem. 00:08:04.839 --> 00:08:08.279 And the whole thing takes on a kind of victory carnival type atmosphere, 00:08:08.839 --> 00:08:13.119 singing and dancing with all kinds of instruments being played in verse 5, 00:08:13.539 --> 00:08:17.819 including a rattle, which is the world's least complicated instrument. 00:08:18.299 --> 00:08:23.619 They're making merry and having a great time together until disaster strikes. 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:26.300 Somewhere along the way at the threshing floor of Nacon, 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:28.639 which we're not exactly sure where that is or who that was, 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.340 the oxen stumble, the cart wobbles, 00:08:31.840 --> 00:08:37.320 Uzzah puts out his hand to steady the ark and is killed. 00:08:39.100 --> 00:08:42.720 On first reading, it seems like a sort of reasonable thing for Uzzah to do, doesn't it? 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:45.060 Just a sort of reflex reaction. 00:08:45.299 --> 00:08:48.279 But to our shock, he dies, instantly dies. 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:51.100 In case you're tempted to think, oh, maybe that was just a horrible coincidence. 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:54.180 If you look down at verse 7, it tells you exactly why he dies. 00:08:54.279 --> 00:08:55.220 Take a look at the explanation. 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:59.100 God struck him down. 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:00.120 There you go. 00:09:01.060 --> 00:09:01.920 God killed him. 00:09:02.740 --> 00:09:05.040 God is a lion, not a pet cat. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:10.220 Now keep looking down at your Bibles and you'll see in the next verse that David is angry. 00:09:10.659 --> 00:09:12.340 He's angry because of the Lord's wrath. 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:14.700 He pretty much sulks off in verse 10, 00:09:14.779 --> 00:09:16.879 leaving the ark in the house of a guy called Obed-Edom. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:21.179 Now here's the challenge, I think, for us this morning as we come and look at the passages. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:22.360 Why did God do that? 00:09:23.220 --> 00:09:26.259 Why would God strike Uzzah dead? 00:09:26.659 --> 00:09:28.519 Uzzah is doing a good thing. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:32.480 They are bringing the ark of the covenant of the Lord because they are serious about the Lord. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.820 They want to bring that ark to the city. 00:09:36.820 --> 00:09:39.519 And they are dancing and worshipping and praising God. 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:41.799 And Uzzah dies. 00:09:41.899 --> 00:09:43.340 Why would God kill him for doing that? 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:48.500 What does God have to gain from making David afraid of him in verse 9? 00:09:49.560 --> 00:09:53.540 Well, I think the truth is that Uzzah should have known better than what he did. 00:09:53.700 --> 00:09:57.420 Way back in Numbers 4 and in Numbers 7, parts of the Bible that Uzzah should have known, 00:09:57.940 --> 00:10:00.540 especially given his father had been looking after the ark for 20 years, 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:05.460 that there are some instructions on how to move the ark that he should have known about. 00:10:06.120 --> 00:10:09.660 There really are two clear instructions in the book of Numbers about the ark. 00:10:09.659 --> 00:10:11.319 The one is, don't touch it. 00:10:12.079 --> 00:10:12.959 Don't touch it. 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:15.699 And the second is, don't put it on a cart. 00:10:15.819 --> 00:10:17.659 You need to carry it using the poles. 00:10:19.120 --> 00:10:23.259 Interestingly, the only people who put the ark of the covenant on a cart are Philistines, 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.139 and they do it because they're clueless. 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:31.819 And so Uzzah, Io, and David here are essentially behaving like Philistines, 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:35.299 like ignorant Philistines. 00:10:35.299 --> 00:10:39.519 And so Uzzah dies, just like those who'd done before him, 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:41.439 who treated God's presence as a light thing. 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:43.539 And David learns, and we learn, don't we? 00:10:43.620 --> 00:10:45.519 God is not safe. 00:10:45.740 --> 00:10:47.939 He's not a piece of property that you can move around at will. 00:10:48.359 --> 00:10:51.179 He's not a magic charm that you can use to support your cause. 00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:53.319 You cannot come close to God. 00:10:53.439 --> 00:10:58.419 There must be distance between a holy God and sinful people like you and I, 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:00.159 because God is not safe. 00:11:00.819 --> 00:11:03.059 Instead, he's holy, holy, holy. 00:11:04.579 --> 00:11:08.319 It's worth thinking some more about what the Bible means by God's holiness. 00:11:08.579 --> 00:11:10.980 Holiness is a church word, isn't it, that we band around. 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:12.620 What exactly does it mean? 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:15.819 I want to show you that holiness means two things, okay? 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:19.279 And I want you to imagine, because this will illustrate it for you, 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:25.079 I want you to imagine that you've just bought yourself a shiny new pair of trainers, okay? 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:26.980 You've just bought yourself a pair of trainers. 00:11:26.980 --> 00:11:30.060 They're not like your old trainers, okay? 00:11:30.460 --> 00:11:31.940 They're not like your old trainers for two reasons. 00:11:32.060 --> 00:11:34.560 One, they're not dirty, okay? 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:37.440 Your new trainers are clean. 00:11:37.980 --> 00:11:38.840 Not like your old trainers. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:39.940 Those trainers are dirty and mucky. 00:11:40.060 --> 00:11:40.659 They've been in the mud. 00:11:40.759 --> 00:11:42.980 They are no longer, they're no longer clean. 00:11:43.560 --> 00:11:45.019 They're dirty and soiled. 00:11:45.019 --> 00:11:49.379 But the second thing about your new trainers is that you keep them separate. 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:53.039 You keep them aside from all your other shoes. 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:57.120 I mean, you put them back in the box at night, don't you? 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:02.159 And you keep them specially on the top shelf so that your siblings don't have anything to do with them. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:03.939 Anything like the kids on Friday night. 00:12:04.259 --> 00:12:07.980 When you play the games, they say, don't tread on my air forces. 00:12:07.980 --> 00:12:10.960 I mean, we play the games, that's what they're interested in. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:13.379 Don't tread on my new trainers, yeah? 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:15.519 Because I want to keep these separate. 00:12:16.440 --> 00:12:18.519 They're not dirty and they are separate. 00:12:20.019 --> 00:12:24.039 And that's what the Bible means by holiness or being holy. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:27.659 It means about God that he is clean. 00:12:28.340 --> 00:12:29.980 He is morally clean. 00:12:31.060 --> 00:12:32.100 God is perfect. 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:33.600 He is without sin. 00:12:34.019 --> 00:12:34.659 He's pure. 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:37.679 You know, you and I do wrong things, don't we? 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:38.600 God does not. 00:12:38.759 --> 00:12:39.159 Not ever. 00:12:39.439 --> 00:12:41.339 You know, we think wrong thoughts. 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:42.459 God does not. 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:43.039 We lie. 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:43.600 We cheat. 00:12:43.699 --> 00:12:46.620 We can be unkind to other people in what we say. 00:12:46.959 --> 00:12:49.480 But God is unflinchingly faithful to his word. 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:50.959 Totally consistent. 00:12:51.559 --> 00:12:52.559 Absolutely trustworthy. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:55.519 You and I are full of selfish desires, aren't we? 00:12:55.839 --> 00:12:57.699 God is full of self-giving love. 00:12:58.500 --> 00:12:59.220 God is pure. 00:12:59.220 --> 00:13:06.279 In fact, God is so pure that to be moral is defined by God. 00:13:07.340 --> 00:13:09.519 Morality doesn't exist outside of God. 00:13:09.960 --> 00:13:11.980 Being moral is God. 00:13:12.420 --> 00:13:14.320 God is pure. 00:13:15.040 --> 00:13:15.360 Perfect. 00:13:16.480 --> 00:13:20.560 But his holiness also means that he is set apart from us. 00:13:20.740 --> 00:13:22.800 He is separate to us. 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:30.459 Not only because his moral perfection cannot be near us in our sinfulness, but also because God is of a different order to us. 00:13:31.319 --> 00:13:33.539 He is from eternity past. 00:13:34.099 --> 00:13:35.159 God has always existed. 00:13:35.299 --> 00:13:37.419 There was never a time when God was not. 00:13:37.559 --> 00:13:40.259 God has been there in eternity. 00:13:40.899 --> 00:13:46.819 You and I have been here since, I don't know, 1956 or 76 or 2010 or whenever it was. 00:13:47.479 --> 00:13:50.000 God has been there from the beginning. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.919 God created everything that we see, feel and touch. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.559 He created it from nothing by speaking. 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:01.679 God is not made up of anything that we can see or touch. 00:14:01.940 --> 00:14:05.580 We are made of flesh and bones and we make nothing from nothing. 00:14:05.720 --> 00:14:09.240 We make things with other things that God has already made. 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:14.759 God is present everywhere by his spirit ruling and reigning over every centimeter of the planet. 00:14:15.179 --> 00:14:16.379 We are only here. 00:14:17.659 --> 00:14:19.200 And we're only now. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.580 And some of us are not even fully here and fully now, are we? 00:14:23.220 --> 00:14:23.919 We're half asleep. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:27.200 God holds everything in his hands. 00:14:27.779 --> 00:14:31.500 From planets to electrons, he sustains the universe by the word of his power. 00:14:31.960 --> 00:14:33.580 We sustain absolutely nothing. 00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:35.919 God can raise the dead. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:36.960 He can make the blind see. 00:14:37.080 --> 00:14:37.960 He can calm the storm. 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:38.820 He can heal the sick. 00:14:39.100 --> 00:14:39.899 We get sick. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:40.419 We die. 00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:40.980 We're blind. 00:14:41.059 --> 00:14:42.059 We're thrown around by the sea. 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:43.519 We are helpless in the face of it all. 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:47.199 God is separate to us. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:53.120 It's not only that he's morally pure, but he's of a completely different category, different type altogether. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:56.500 Now bring that back to 2 Samuel chapter 6. 00:14:56.500 --> 00:15:00.039 And the wonder in 2 Samuel 6 is not that other died. 00:15:00.820 --> 00:15:03.879 The wonder in 2 Samuel 6 is that anybody lived. 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:08.000 Because God is not being pernickety. 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:11.840 He's not setting arbitrary rules and zapping people who fail to keep them. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:14.040 This isn't like the school uniform rules, right? 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:17.920 You know, the school uniform rules are just, they're just there to keep you in your place, right? 00:15:18.860 --> 00:15:20.100 These rules are not like that. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:21.980 These are like safety barriers. 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:27.160 The rules here are like the bars on the lion's cage at London Zoo. 00:15:27.780 --> 00:15:30.800 They're there to keep you safe from the lion. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.680 Don't touch. 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:34.399 Carry with poles. 00:15:35.160 --> 00:15:36.240 They're there for your protection. 00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:39.139 Because God is holy, holy, holy. 00:15:39.139 --> 00:15:42.039 It means his presence is not safe. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:47.939 Now, I wonder if I can ask you this morning whether you've thought about God like that before. 00:15:49.259 --> 00:15:52.439 Is your God like this God? 00:15:53.939 --> 00:15:58.259 My hunch is that as we read 2 Samuel 6, and as Neva read it for us so well, 00:15:58.600 --> 00:16:01.840 that our instinct is just to think, you know, poor Azar. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:03.179 Oh, poor Azar. 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:04.679 What a rough deal. 00:16:05.620 --> 00:16:08.080 But is that because we've forgotten what God is really like? 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:11.980 You know, actually, the truth is that 2 Samuel 6 is not an isolated incident in the Bible. 00:16:13.060 --> 00:16:19.259 You know, Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament drop dead in Acts 5 for daring to lie to the Spirit. 00:16:20.800 --> 00:16:26.680 Paul prays in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and calls God the one who dwells in unapproachable light, 00:16:27.040 --> 00:16:28.879 who no one has ever seen or can see. 00:16:29.680 --> 00:16:33.500 Mary is told by the angel that her child will be called Holy, the Son of God. 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:39.639 The soldiers who come to arrest Jesus fall down on their faces just when they hear him utter the words, 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:40.879 I am he. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:45.100 The church in Corinth is losing church members. 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:53.399 Church members are getting sick and dying in Corinth because they're treating the Lord's table without the seriousness that it deserves. 00:16:53.399 --> 00:17:01.279 Listen, my friends, the truth is that God is no less holy today than he was in 2 Samuel chapter 6. 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:06.799 Unless we understand that, unless we read 2 Samuel chapter 6 and say, do you know what? 00:17:06.940 --> 00:17:11.200 Azar, for all the tragedy of it, it was going to happen. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:16.980 Again, and I can suggest that we've never really met the God of the Bible and we stand in grave danger. 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:19.819 God Almighty is not the God of 2 Samuel 6. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:21.100 He's a God you've made up. 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:24.700 A domesticated God is not the real God. 00:17:24.779 --> 00:17:28.460 The God who is there is not safe and not to be messed with. 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:31.620 Let me try and say this gently. 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:34.920 There's a quietness in the room and I do want you just to think about this some more. 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:43.460 My concern for us as Christians this morning, for me, as much as it is for anybody else in this room, is that we just don't take our Christian life seriously enough. 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:48.800 It's possible, isn't it, for us to be Sunday Christians. 00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:53.360 Even just if we're Sunday morning Christians, right? 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:56.300 Or even occasional Sunday Christians. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:01.240 We treat God like a lucky charm that we bring out when we feel we need him. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:03.400 Oh Lord, please help me now, will you? 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:05.320 Bless my plans. 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:06.880 Do what I want you to do. 00:18:08.500 --> 00:18:13.140 You know, we treat Christian discipleships like our friends treat the lottery, don't they? 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:18.480 You know, they play just in the hope that it might come out when they need it at one stage. 00:18:19.420 --> 00:18:23.640 And we hope that God might come through for us one day in a dramatic way when we need him. 00:18:24.540 --> 00:18:28.220 But listen, if God is like the God of 2 Samuel 6, and he is, 00:18:28.220 --> 00:18:35.940 then being a Christian is the most serious thing in your life. 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:44.180 There is nothing that you are doing or engaged with that is more serious than the matters to which we're talking about this morning. 00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:52.340 Knowing God, loving him, living for him is the most serious thing. 00:18:52.339 --> 00:19:00.199 And to treat it lightly, to treat God as if he's a pussycat and not a lion, is a terrible tragedy. 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:06.380 So for some of us, and maybe all of us, we just need to take the Lord more seriously. 00:19:07.420 --> 00:19:09.980 It brings us to the other big idea in the story, which is this. 00:19:10.080 --> 00:19:11.220 God is rich in mercy. 00:19:12.180 --> 00:19:13.299 God is rich in mercy. 00:19:13.299 --> 00:19:18.859 I think the surprise in the middle of 2 Samuel 6 is that Obed-Edom is not destroyed by having the ark in his house. 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.299 I mean, given what we've seen, that's what you'd expect, isn't it? 00:19:23.319 --> 00:19:25.839 But instead, we find that he is blessed. 00:19:26.159 --> 00:19:27.379 Obed-Edom is blessed. 00:19:27.779 --> 00:19:34.379 So blessed, we're told, in 1 Chronicles 26, verse 8, with 62 sons. 00:19:35.159 --> 00:19:40.440 That might not be the kind of blessing that you would like, but he is blessed with 62 sons. 00:19:41.299 --> 00:19:43.340 And so David takes notice of that, as I guess you would. 00:19:43.380 --> 00:19:44.680 It'd be hard to ignore that many boys. 00:19:45.059 --> 00:19:50.420 Although, I guess not all of them are born by the time the three months are up, mentioned in verse 11. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:55.920 Anyway, as a result of seeing the blessing, David resurrects his mission to get the ark into Jerusalem. 00:19:56.279 --> 00:19:58.000 But this time, things are different. 00:19:58.660 --> 00:20:02.580 So instead of the noisy carnival, there is a sacrificial feast, isn't there? 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:08.019 David kills a bull and a calf every six steps, distributes the food for the people to eat in verses 18 and 19. 00:20:08.019 --> 00:20:11.859 And notice, too, that in verse 13, the ark is now carried. 00:20:12.019 --> 00:20:17.900 It's not on a cart any longer, as they bring it into the city and into a tent that is especially prepared for it. 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:23.579 And David, in verse 14, is no longer in his kingly robes, no longer dressed like a king. 00:20:24.039 --> 00:20:28.559 He is dressed like a priest, wearing a linen ephod, dancing with all his might. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:32.440 Now, this upsets Saul's daughter, David's wife, Michael. 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:39.160 She's looking out of the window, all of this going on, and is embarrassed, I think, because David looks like a fool and he's dancing. 00:20:39.360 --> 00:20:43.820 I've got a Lego picture of looking out the window and watching David dancing. 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:47.900 In her disgust, she accuses him of showing off to the young women, 00:20:48.660 --> 00:20:54.259 shockingly comparing him essentially to a perverted flasher in verse 20, in words which are really shocking. 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:56.240 But David is having none of this. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:58.819 In fact, he doesn't really seem to care what Michael thinks. 00:20:58.880 --> 00:21:05.220 He tells her in verse 22 that he is prepared to become even more undignified, even more contemptible. 00:21:05.480 --> 00:21:11.259 I don't really care what you think, says David to Michael, because I'm dancing before the Lord and not you. 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:17.779 I will be honoured by others, if not by you, he says, pointing out to her as if she didn't know it, 00:21:18.099 --> 00:21:21.720 that it's the Lord, verse 21, who chose him over and above Saul, 00:21:22.259 --> 00:21:26.200 who had never shown even a passing interest in the ark the whole time he ruled Israel. 00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:32.359 And now, in the end, Michael is cursed by God for her attitude and is unable to have children, 00:21:32.579 --> 00:21:37.500 meaning again, significantly, that no heir of Saul will ever be on the throne of Israel. 00:21:39.059 --> 00:21:41.059 Now, piece this together and see what's happening. 00:21:41.460 --> 00:21:43.259 Notice again how David is dressed. 00:21:44.599 --> 00:21:49.180 He's wearing, like I said, not the robes of a king, but the linen ephod of a priest. 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:54.839 And instead of bringing the ark into his fortified city in a show of power and strength like a king would, 00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:59.740 he's performing sacrifices and worshipping on behalf of the people like a priest would, 00:22:00.379 --> 00:22:03.379 an undignified, weak priest. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:05.240 You know, God is the show of power. 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:08.579 And now he is throwing himself on God's mercy. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:10.039 And what happens? 00:22:11.339 --> 00:22:16.740 Well, amazingly, David finds out that the God who is holy is also rich in mercy. 00:22:16.740 --> 00:22:23.359 The unapproachable, untouchable God welcomes David as he comes with him into the city. 00:22:23.460 --> 00:22:27.839 So at the end of our chapter, the God who is not safe has drawn near to his people, 00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:35.500 not to destroy them, but to bless them through the actions of a weak-looking priest who is despised by onlookers. 00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:43.700 Now, I suggest to you that it's not hard in that way to see David as a picture for us of Jesus. 00:22:43.700 --> 00:22:47.940 You know, jump forward about a thousand years and there's another man in Jerusalem, 00:22:48.840 --> 00:22:54.160 another king who's also a priest, who has set aside his kingly robes, 00:22:54.580 --> 00:22:57.680 not to dance in a one-piece ephod through the streets of Jerusalem, 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:02.940 but to walk in a one-piece smock through the same streets on his way to the cross, 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:06.319 sacrificing not the blood of animals along the way, 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:10.180 but shedding his own blood in his own death on the cross, 00:23:10.180 --> 00:23:12.940 paying in his own flesh the price that Uzzah paid, 00:23:13.380 --> 00:23:17.380 but not for his own sin, but rather for the sins of all those who will trust in him. 00:23:18.340 --> 00:23:21.039 Now, if that's right, and I think it is, 00:23:21.240 --> 00:23:23.820 it means, doesn't it, that the application of the story, 00:23:23.900 --> 00:23:25.440 the point for you and me is not only, 00:23:25.860 --> 00:23:28.680 let's not make Uzzah's mistake and not take God seriously enough, 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:31.299 but also let's not make Michael's mistake 00:23:31.299 --> 00:23:34.860 and be embarrassed by this priestly king. 00:23:34.859 --> 00:23:40.359 See, the easiest thing in the world is to look at the cross and at what Jesus has done 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:43.339 and just be slightly embarrassed about it, slightly ashamed. 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:47.479 I mean, just think about it for a moment. 00:23:47.740 --> 00:23:49.240 Sounds so foolish, doesn't it? 00:23:49.719 --> 00:23:53.799 If I tell you my only hope in life and death 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:58.799 is a naked man hanging on a cross, bleeding out. 00:23:59.719 --> 00:24:01.339 That's my only hope in life and death. 00:24:01.659 --> 00:24:02.740 Sounds foolish, doesn't it? 00:24:02.740 --> 00:24:06.720 Imagine believing that the death of a man in the first century 00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:08.960 could atone for my sins today. 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:10.819 How ridiculous. 00:24:12.039 --> 00:24:12.920 How crazy. 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:16.819 But the truth is it's not ridiculous at all, is it? 00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:19.440 Because it's in the moment of great human weakness 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:21.880 in the streets of Jerusalem and the cross outside 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:25.240 that we find the mercy of the holy God. 00:24:26.779 --> 00:24:31.000 The eternal son in weak human flesh dies for our sin. 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:35.500 Yet in the power of God becomes the means by which we can draw near to the holy God 00:24:35.500 --> 00:24:36.539 who is not safe. 00:24:37.319 --> 00:24:39.660 You can put this application in a slightly different way too, 00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:40.700 just to see it more clearly. 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:44.680 You can see as we finish, you can compare these two parts of the story. 00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:51.440 The surprising holiness of God is that the Uzzah reaches out in strength 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:53.240 to help God along the way, doesn't he? 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:53.740 You notice that? 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:56.279 God needs some help, says Uzzah. 00:24:56.380 --> 00:25:00.900 So I will steady the Ark of the Covenant on that card. 00:25:00.980 --> 00:25:02.720 God needs my help, so I'll help him. 00:25:02.859 --> 00:25:03.620 How kind of me. 00:25:04.140 --> 00:25:05.559 And he dies for his trouble. 00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:08.599 But at the end of the story, we see what? 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:12.880 A king stripped of robes, in great weakness and shame, 00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:16.960 dancing in the streets of Jerusalem, sacrificing for sins. 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:20.680 And he is rescued and saved. 00:25:22.019 --> 00:25:23.779 Because here's the truth of it. 00:25:24.880 --> 00:25:28.900 God's holiness, approaching God in his holiness, 00:25:29.299 --> 00:25:32.019 we cannot trust in our strength, 00:25:32.799 --> 00:25:34.180 but need to come to him, 00:25:34.680 --> 00:25:38.900 finding his mercy in human weakness of his kingly priest. 00:25:40.279 --> 00:25:41.460 See, what is it that makes us Christians? 00:25:41.460 --> 00:25:43.680 What is it that means that we can have such confidence 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:44.819 that God is with us, 00:25:45.100 --> 00:25:48.480 working every detail of our lives for our good and his glory? 00:25:48.620 --> 00:25:52.220 What gives us confidence in his promise to bring us safely home? 00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:54.160 What is it? 00:25:55.400 --> 00:25:56.960 Is it because we've given God a hand? 00:25:58.200 --> 00:26:01.920 Oh, you'll be very grateful, God, that I prayed to you, won't you, God? 00:26:02.160 --> 00:26:02.960 Yes, of course you will. 00:26:03.100 --> 00:26:04.960 You'll be very grateful that I came to church. 00:26:05.380 --> 00:26:07.740 You'll be very grateful that I put more money in the offering box 00:26:07.740 --> 00:26:09.120 than anybody else in church, I think. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:11.919 How dare we think like that? 00:26:12.739 --> 00:26:15.979 That's us as thoughts, and it ends in death. 00:26:16.739 --> 00:26:20.259 Instead, our confidence is in the mercy of God, 00:26:20.539 --> 00:26:22.919 meeting us in the weakness of the cross, 00:26:23.639 --> 00:26:25.959 that bowing down there, not pretending any strength of our own, 00:26:26.039 --> 00:26:27.500 not claiming any goodness of our own, 00:26:27.579 --> 00:26:29.799 not faking any gift or power or moral goodness, 00:26:30.179 --> 00:26:33.119 but looking to the cross of Jesus Christ and honouring him, 00:26:34.239 --> 00:26:36.519 there we find God to be rich in mercy. 00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:39.339 See, here's the odd thing about the Christian life. 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:41.500 The greatest danger for you as a Christian this morning, 00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:42.319 if you are a Christian, 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:44.859 or your greatest barrier to becoming a Christian, 00:26:44.940 --> 00:26:46.319 if you're not a Christian this morning, 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:49.259 is not your weakness, but your strength. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:50.119 You know that? 00:26:51.879 --> 00:26:55.160 The problem is that you might be conned into thinking 00:26:55.160 --> 00:26:58.900 that you're too strong to need God's mercy, like Michael was. 00:26:58.900 --> 00:27:02.900 But the truth is, is God is not disturbed by our need for mercy. 00:27:03.060 --> 00:27:06.580 He has mercy in abundance, but God is hostile to our self-reliance, 00:27:06.680 --> 00:27:09.680 to our arrogance, to our, I've got this, I can do this, 00:27:09.740 --> 00:27:10.460 I don't need anyone. 00:27:11.300 --> 00:27:13.820 That's the hand of us, and it ends in a terrible place. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:19.700 The truth is, God is holy, holy, holy, 00:27:19.700 --> 00:27:25.759 and we can only approach him trusting in the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:27:26.759 --> 00:27:28.840 Who else commands all the hosts of heaven? 00:27:29.960 --> 00:27:32.319 Who else could make every king bow down? 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:35.380 Who else could whisper and darkness trembles? 00:27:35.600 --> 00:27:37.600 Only a holy God. 00:27:38.299 --> 00:27:40.059 What other beauty demands such praises? 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:41.940 What other splendour outshines the sun? 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:44.340 What other majesty rules with justice? 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:46.779 Only a holy God. 00:27:46.779 --> 00:27:50.819 What other glory consumes like fire? 00:27:50.940 --> 00:27:52.559 What other power can raise the dead? 00:27:52.980 --> 00:27:55.059 And what other name remains undefeated? 00:27:55.299 --> 00:27:57.019 Only a holy God. 00:27:57.180 --> 00:27:59.339 Come and behold him. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:00.980 The one and the only. 00:28:01.180 --> 00:28:02.319 Cry out, sing holy. 00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:04.339 Forever a holy God.