WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.400 I suppose it's happened to most of us. 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:10.480 You're in a city or a town that you don't know very well, perhaps on holiday, and you 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:17.879 become aware as you're walking the streets that there's a crowd gathering. 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:23.879 And there are two instinctive reactions to that site. 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:28.920 First of all, you want to know what the crowd is all about. 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:29.920 Why are they gathering? 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.520 Why are all these people going in the same direction? 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:37.439 And the second instinctive reaction is, I want to be there. 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:39.079 I want to be where the action is. 00:00:39.079 --> 00:00:41.920 I don't want to miss out on whatever it is. 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:47.120 I remember this happened to us quite a number of years ago when we were in holiday in Paris. 00:00:47.120 --> 00:00:50.320 We happened to be out on the streets one night just going for a walk. 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:56.520 And like I say, you can became aware of large numbers of people all going in the one direction. 00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:59.240 So we went in the same direction as the crowd. 00:00:59.240 --> 00:01:02.000 We had no idea what was happening. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.320 And we discovered that it was the 14th of July. 00:01:06.320 --> 00:01:08.240 We should have known that anyway. 00:01:08.240 --> 00:01:12.840 And we should have known the significance of the 14th of July, which is Bastille Day. 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.840 And to my great embarrassment, I had no idea what Bastille Day was. 00:01:16.840 --> 00:01:18.800 I had to go and look it up afterwards. 00:01:18.800 --> 00:01:22.439 It was a lesson in French history. 00:01:22.439 --> 00:01:26.359 Nonetheless, we didn't want to miss out on the action. 00:01:26.359 --> 00:01:28.799 We wanted to know what the crowd was all about. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:35.519 There had to be something which attracted such a large number of people. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:42.920 We are now going back 3,000 years, 1,000 BC, and we're going to a little city in Israel 00:01:42.920 --> 00:01:44.840 called Kiryath Jiram. 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:48.879 And there's a large crowd of people gathering. 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:50.760 Two instinctive reactions. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:52.760 What is this all about? 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:54.719 It's not just a small... 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:58.560 I mean, this must have been the greatest crowd there ever was in Kiryath Jiram because it 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.039 was only a small village. 00:02:01.039 --> 00:02:08.280 There were 30,000 people and not only the 30,000, but the King, the newly installed, newly 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:13.079 appointed King David, was there leading them. 00:02:13.079 --> 00:02:16.319 And so you ask somebody, what is this all about? 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:22.319 And you find out that at the heart of this great celebration, because there's a huge 00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:28.199 amount of noise taking place, there is a box. 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:30.400 A box stands at the heart. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:35.159 It rests at the heart of this celebration. 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:43.400 I want to concentrate this evening on this procession, which was probably the only... 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:46.799 It was quite unique in the history of Israel. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:52.560 Nothing ever happened, nothing ever like it happened before, and nothing ever like it 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:54.560 happened since that time. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:58.600 And it all revolved around this box. 00:02:58.600 --> 00:03:04.920 The rejoicing because of the box, and because of what the box means to them all. 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:08.200 I want to ask what kind of rejoicing there is. 00:03:08.200 --> 00:03:10.120 What kind of celebration is it? 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:12.280 Is it a historical event? 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:14.160 Is it someone's birthday? 00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:16.280 Is it a royal event? 00:03:16.280 --> 00:03:18.680 What kind of event is it? 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:25.319 And what is it within that event that interrupts it so badly halfway through? 00:03:25.319 --> 00:03:30.960 In actual fact, we're going to see that there are two disappointments, two things that spoil 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:34.360 this great momentous occasion. 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:40.960 But I want us to look at it by way of three contrasts, three contrasts. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:47.080 I want us to look at it, first of all, and this may not be apparently obvious at first 00:03:47.080 --> 00:03:52.800 sight, but first of all, there is the difference between Saul's reign, Saul was the previous 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:56.360 king to David, and David's reign. 00:03:56.360 --> 00:04:00.000 This is what brings this contrast to the four. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:07.500 There is a massive difference between Saul's reign and David's reign, and it all centers 00:04:07.500 --> 00:04:10.760 around this great box. 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:18.560 And then I want us to look at the difference between David's anger and his joy, the anger 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:27.480 that takes place halfway through the chapter, and the joy that David takes part in as he 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:34.519 both begins the chapter, but particularly as he brings this great occasion to a conclusion. 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:39.360 So there's the contrast between Saul's reign and David's reign, that's number one. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:47.720 Similarly, there's the contrast between David's anger at God, by the way, his anger is directed 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:53.360 at God, there's no question about it, and his joy in the Lord as he finishes this great 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:54.680 procession. 00:04:54.680 --> 00:05:02.800 And then at the third contrast is the contrast between what I'm going to call true worship 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:12.400 from our hearts and being a mere spectator, true worship which takes place, first of all, 00:05:12.400 --> 00:05:20.600 in our hearts, and which is again directed in the Lord and being a mere spectator to 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:28.560 that worship, and as Mikal discovered, or as Mikal felt in her heart, a bitterness, a 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:33.360 severe bitterness towards everything that was going on. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:35.959 So there's three contrasts then. 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:42.519 What was going on was simply this, that David was taken, what symbolized the presence of 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:48.680 Yahweh, or the presence of the living and true God, the God of Israel, he was taking 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:56.680 that symbol and he was putting it in its rightful place at the heart of the community of Israel. 00:05:56.680 --> 00:06:01.160 Now that's the opposite to what Saul had done before him. 00:06:01.160 --> 00:06:06.240 Remember that Saul was installed as the first king of Israel, but he turned out to be a 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:07.639 massive disappointment. 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:09.560 We saw this with Derrick last week. 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:15.439 He turned out to be a massive disappointment, and the reason for that was because, and of 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:19.199 course Derrick asked this question last week, was Saul a real believer or not going to leave 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:26.199 that aside as he did, but nonetheless he was a great disappointment because as far as you 00:06:26.199 --> 00:06:33.839 could tell, God was not at the heart of his kingship, of his reign. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:38.599 And one of the ways in which you know that is attitude to this great box. 00:06:38.599 --> 00:06:40.839 Well, look at this in a few moments. 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:42.519 This, he dismissed it. 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:44.199 He laid it to one side. 00:06:44.199 --> 00:06:48.000 He marginalized the ark of the covenant. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:52.240 He was content to have it sitting for many, many years. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:59.040 The entirety of his reign in fact, in one house away from the heart and the center of 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:00.040 Israel. 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:01.840 Now that told us a lot. 00:07:01.840 --> 00:07:10.720 That tells us a lot about the kingship of Saul and particularly where his heart lay. 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:14.759 This box was the size of an ottoman. 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:21.000 It was precisely 1.1 meter long, what was 0.7 meters wide and 0.7 meters high, and it 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:26.560 had been constructed at the time of Moses during the journey of the children of Israel 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:27.920 in the wilderness. 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:34.160 And it was part of the structure that God had ordained so that he could dwell among 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:41.319 his people and so that his people could gather and worship him in the way that he had chosen. 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:45.920 And right at the heart of this great structure, the tabernacle, we don't have time to go into 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:50.360 this in great detail, was a place called the Holy of Holies. 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:54.199 This was the most sacred location of the tabernacle. 00:07:54.199 --> 00:08:00.720 And the most sacred item within the Holy of Holies was this box, this chest, this chest, 00:08:00.720 --> 00:08:02.199 the size of an ottoman. 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:04.720 Let me just say two things about it. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:08.520 It was called the Ark of the Covenant. 00:08:08.520 --> 00:08:17.720 And it was one of the most intriguing items in the Old Testament for two reasons. 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:21.920 First of all, because of what lay within it, it was a box that was made with wood, it was 00:08:21.920 --> 00:08:26.680 overlaid with gold, and inside that box, inside the Ark, there were three things. 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:31.440 There were the Ten Commandments, the Tables of Stone that Moses had collected from God 00:08:31.440 --> 00:08:34.879 on Mount Zinai. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:41.320 Then there was the rod that miraculously blossomed and budded that belonged to Aaron. 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:47.680 God had made it bud and blossom on one occasion, and that was to be kept as a momenter to remind 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:52.279 the people of Israel of the power and the life-giving power of God. 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:56.959 The commandments, of course, were there to remind the people of the permanence of God's 00:08:56.959 --> 00:09:00.120 law, the Ten Commandments. 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:06.000 And then thirdly, there was the pot of manna that was collected in the wilderness that 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:10.159 reminded the people of God's provision for the people. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:15.599 All of these, of course, they point to God. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:21.560 The Ark of the Covenant was an emblem, it was a symbol, it was a location that drew 00:09:21.560 --> 00:09:27.480 the attention of the people of Israel to the nature and the character of God, but it was 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:29.480 more than that. 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:33.800 Because the most important, if I can say this, the most important feature of the box was 00:09:33.800 --> 00:09:40.519 not the fact that it was a box, it was the cover, the lid, the top of the box. 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:43.279 This wasn't made out of wood covered in gold. 00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:45.639 This was made out of solid gold. 00:09:45.639 --> 00:09:52.319 It was a massive slab of solid gold, and it was shaped, it was fashioned in the form of 00:09:52.319 --> 00:10:01.799 two cherubim or angels, and they were shaped in the form, first of all, of the angels looking 00:10:01.799 --> 00:10:06.720 or covering the box itself, the ark itself. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:15.000 But they were also shaped in the form of a throne, the Ark of the Covenant was the location 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:23.680 where God chose to enthrone Himself, to locate Himself at the very heart of Israel as their 00:10:23.680 --> 00:10:30.080 present glorious, awesome King. 00:10:30.080 --> 00:10:36.240 So the Ark was God's throne, and it was identified with God, it was identified with the presence 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:46.720 of God, and God chose to sanctify or consecrate this item of furniture, if you like, as the 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:52.680 place where He Himself would descend and where He would rule in His glory at the very 00:10:52.680 --> 00:10:56.879 heart of His people, Israel. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:59.720 We'll come back onto that in a few moments' time. 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:09.600 David understood its significance, and David understood that as part of his newly installed 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:16.639 or newly inaugurated kingship, that he was going to put God at the very heart of everything 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:20.639 he was and everything he intended to do as king. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:27.480 So David, by doing this, he's gathering all the leaders of Israel, all the important figures 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:34.680 of Israel, the government, and he's saying to them, my kingship is going to be God at 00:11:34.680 --> 00:11:38.320 the very heart of our nation. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:44.920 And in order to do that, I'm going to take the Ark of the Covenant out of obscurity, 00:11:44.920 --> 00:11:54.960 and we're going to publicly and solemnly and yet joyfully elevate God to His rightful position 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:00.320 on the throne of Israel. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:06.440 So this you can understand, the nature, how solemn and yet how joyful and how unique this 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:08.200 occasion was. 00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:13.240 It wasn't about David, although David had just newly been appointed as king. 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:19.480 This was about God and who David and the nature of how David wanted to reign. 00:12:19.480 --> 00:12:22.360 He wanted to see himself, first of all, as a servant of God. 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:27.919 He never lost sight of the fact that he was only a shepherd boy that God had taken and 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:30.560 had placed on the throne of Israel. 00:12:30.560 --> 00:12:33.360 He never lost sight of who he was. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:38.039 A great lesson there for all of us, isn't there, that all we are are sinful, ordinary 00:12:38.039 --> 00:12:43.360 human beings, and whatever we are today, it's what God has made us. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:48.680 Whatever abilities and gifts and place and status God has given us, it's there. 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:52.479 He's given us for a purpose so that we can serve Him. 00:12:52.479 --> 00:12:59.159 This was David's way of saying, my kingship is going to be in service, first and foremost, 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:04.279 to the God of Israel. 00:13:04.279 --> 00:13:10.479 So there was a massive difference between leaving God on the margins, as Saul had done, 00:13:10.479 --> 00:13:17.719 and placing God at the very heart of everything that David represented. 00:13:17.720 --> 00:13:24.080 Is God at the heart of everything you are tonight? 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:26.040 That's the great challenge. 00:13:26.040 --> 00:13:33.480 That's the great example that David brings us this evening in worship and in joy and 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:43.800 at a time of honouring God and giving Him the glory and the honour that He deserved. 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:50.079 And yet there was a tragedy, an interruption. 00:13:50.079 --> 00:13:55.159 All did not go well on that occasion. 00:13:55.159 --> 00:14:03.399 All of a sudden the noise stops, the celebration stops, the joy turns into dread and panic 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:09.919 and fear, because what happened was that they had been transporting the ark of the covenant 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:11.199 on a cart. 00:14:11.199 --> 00:14:12.559 And that cart was led. 00:14:12.559 --> 00:14:20.279 It was pulled by two oxen, and at one point the oxen stumbled. 00:14:20.279 --> 00:14:24.719 And it looked as if the ark was about to fall off the cart. 00:14:24.719 --> 00:14:30.839 So Yusah, the ordinary man, Yusah, he happened to be right there. 00:14:30.839 --> 00:14:39.439 He put his hand out to stop the ark falling off the cart. 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:44.720 And the moment he touched the ark, what we read is that the anger of God was kindled 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:54.720 and Yusah was put to death, because he had put his hand out to stabilize the cart and 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:59.440 to stop the ark of God falling off it. 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:06.840 Now at first sight, unless, admit, we're reading the Bible, we don't want to avoid it, we don't 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:08.760 want to minimise this. 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:13.759 We don't want to dismiss a chapter like this, because it makes us feel uncomfortable. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:19.960 Believe me, I feel just as uncomfortable reading this as you do, as many people have done. 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:21.080 We want to face up to it. 00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:23.200 We want to ask, well, what does it mean? 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:27.200 What can we learn from this? 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:32.600 At first sight, let's be honest, it appears as if God is acting somewhat unfairly. 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:39.040 Severely, He's overreacting, if you like, to what was well meant. 00:15:39.040 --> 00:15:46.680 After all, what's wrong with putting your hand out and just to make right what appears 00:15:46.680 --> 00:15:50.200 to be going wrong? 00:15:50.200 --> 00:15:58.000 And when God put Yusah to death because of that, you can understand both David's anger 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.000 and his fear. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:02.160 I can well imagine what David would have thought. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:05.439 Here I am, I'm trying to give God His rightful place in Israel. 00:16:05.439 --> 00:16:08.759 I'm trying to show an example to all these people. 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:12.719 These people have ignored the Ark of the Covenant for all these years during the reign 00:16:12.719 --> 00:16:16.279 of Saul, and I'm trying to write that. 00:16:16.279 --> 00:16:20.319 I'm trying to redress the balance. 00:16:20.319 --> 00:16:21.879 Saul has got it wrong. 00:16:21.879 --> 00:16:26.799 He's marginalised God all these years, and here I am, I'm publicly trying to restore 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:33.439 these people back to a right relationship with God, and this is how He repays me. 00:16:33.439 --> 00:16:35.559 This is what He does. 00:16:35.559 --> 00:16:42.120 All Yusah did was to put His hand out to do what He thought was best, and God reacts like 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:43.679 this. 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:49.319 I can also understand the fear that David felt, because if God is going to do something 00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:57.120 just, just because Yusah simply, as a matter of instinctive reaction, He puts His hand 00:16:57.120 --> 00:17:00.440 out to stabilise the Ark. 00:17:00.440 --> 00:17:03.480 If God is going to act like this, then what hope do I have? 00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:08.120 Who knows who's going to make the next mistake, and who knows what's going to happen? 00:17:08.120 --> 00:17:11.039 I might be the next one. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:16.559 Who knows what disaster God's going to bring about just for an ordinary action like this 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:17.559 one? 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:19.679 We can understand that, can't we? 00:17:19.679 --> 00:17:21.159 We can understand that. 00:17:21.159 --> 00:17:23.839 Well, that's David's anger at God. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:24.839 He's honest. 00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:28.799 What I love about the Bible is its honesty. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:34.159 You'd never expect a man who God calls a man after his own heart to be angry with God, 00:17:34.159 --> 00:17:36.440 and yet he was. 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:40.599 That's just how he honestly felt, just like I suppose we read a chapter like this, and 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:42.319 we feel really unsettled. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:43.799 We really feel unhinged. 00:17:43.799 --> 00:17:46.639 That's okay. 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:50.520 We have to be honest with ourselves and honest with God, but don't stop there. 00:17:50.520 --> 00:17:52.480 Don't come to your own conclusion. 00:17:52.480 --> 00:17:58.880 Don't write God off just because something happens to make us feel uncomfortable. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:04.560 Let's try and understand what is happening, because notice the transformation between 00:18:04.560 --> 00:18:09.800 David's anger and his joy at the end of the chapter. 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:18.079 What takes place in the middle of the chapter is not how the chapter ends. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:27.240 David's reaction was to run away from God, and his way of showing that was just to put 00:18:27.240 --> 00:18:29.519 the ark in the nearest house I can find. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:34.799 It belonged to a man called Obend Edom, and we'll just forget about this. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:38.399 I'll go back to Jerusalem and we'll think no more about it. 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:43.040 I'm just going to call a halt to this whole process. 00:18:43.040 --> 00:18:50.680 But then sometime afterwards he discovered that God had actually blessed the household 00:18:50.680 --> 00:18:56.240 of Obend Edom from the moment that the ark had entered it. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:57.240 I don't know what that meant. 00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:01.759 I don't know whether it meant that all of a sudden his crops blossomed, or he had 10 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:07.000 times more crops than more of a harvest than anyone else, or something to do with his family, 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:08.359 or something to do with his wealth. 00:19:08.359 --> 00:19:14.680 I don't know how God blessed him, but from the moment that the ark of the covenant entered 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:21.359 into the household of Obend Edom, things changed for the better, dramatically and spectacularly. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:24.720 So obvious that it was clear that God had blessed. 00:19:24.720 --> 00:19:29.880 God had done something great for the household of Obend Edom. 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:37.060 You see, what David had discovered all of a sudden was this, that the God who punishes 00:19:37.060 --> 00:19:41.000 is the God who blesses at the same time. 00:19:41.000 --> 00:19:44.880 The God who punishes is the God who blesses. 00:19:44.880 --> 00:19:53.000 And he discovered also the reason why God does act in this way. 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:55.640 Just let's remember two things very briefly. 00:19:55.640 --> 00:20:03.320 First of all, God has to act according to his nature, and his nature is one of holiness. 00:20:03.320 --> 00:20:07.640 His is, you see, we talk about an awesome God. 00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:09.320 We sing it, don't we? 00:20:09.320 --> 00:20:13.759 Our God is an awesome God. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:18.720 Do we have any idea of what we're singing? 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:21.040 We sing about the holiness of God. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:27.119 We sing sometimes of Him that goes, He burns with holy fire. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:29.920 Do we know what we're singing? 00:20:29.920 --> 00:20:34.879 This is what we're singing about. 00:20:34.879 --> 00:20:41.480 His otherness, His awesomeness means danger. 00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:45.279 It means that you cannot come too close, a bit like Moses. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:49.119 Remember when God appeared to Moses in the flames of the burning bush, and Moses was 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:54.959 just going to sidle up to the burning bush, and God said, Stop where you are, because 00:20:54.959 --> 00:20:58.799 the ground you're on, take your shoes off, because the ground you're standing on is holy 00:20:58.799 --> 00:20:59.799 ground. 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:05.399 You see, that's the nature and the character of God, and God has to be consistent with 00:21:05.399 --> 00:21:11.399 that nature and that character, which means that God's awesomeness is dangerous. 00:21:11.399 --> 00:21:17.639 There's so much of, even in the world, actually where this is true. 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:21.360 There's so much of what we think is awesome. 00:21:21.360 --> 00:21:25.759 It's actually quite dangerous. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:28.560 Thinking of electricity, what could we do without electricity? 00:21:28.560 --> 00:21:29.560 It lights our buildings. 00:21:29.560 --> 00:21:31.440 It gives us a power. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.280 It heats our homes. 00:21:34.280 --> 00:21:36.400 What would we do without it in a modern world? 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:38.480 And yet you can't get too close to it. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:40.240 You can't touch a live wire. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.320 You touch a live wire and you're dead. 00:21:42.320 --> 00:21:44.759 And we know that. 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:45.880 We don't complain about it. 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:47.000 We know it. 00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:53.480 We just don't touch it, and that's it. 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:59.240 Much of what draws a crowd is also awesomely dangerous. 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:04.160 New Zealand has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons, I know. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:09.759 And our hearts go out as we were praying earlier on to those who have suffered in that terrible 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:11.759 tragedy. 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:17.200 And you'll know that New Zealand is a very remarkable place. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:18.359 Thousands of tourists go there. 00:22:18.359 --> 00:22:21.240 One of the places where tourists go is a place called Rotarua. 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:23.839 I don't know if any of you have been there. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:25.480 I'm sure that many of you have. 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:28.640 It's a place that draws thousands upon thousands of tourists. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.920 If you go to New Zealand, you have to go to this place because of, because if you go to 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:39.319 some of the parks nearby, the parks have walkways where there's lakes. 00:22:39.319 --> 00:22:43.639 And the lakes are all boiling. 00:22:43.639 --> 00:22:46.679 And that's what draws the crowd, because they're boiling. 00:22:46.679 --> 00:22:54.559 It's volcanic, and it's incredible to stand there and watch these lakes bubbling away. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:55.559 Fascinating. 00:22:55.559 --> 00:22:59.000 Yeah, you can't get too close. 00:22:59.000 --> 00:23:03.599 You take the wrong step, and if you fall in, you're finished. 00:23:03.599 --> 00:23:06.679 And that's why there are warnings all over the place. 00:23:06.679 --> 00:23:08.200 Do not cross the line. 00:23:08.200 --> 00:23:09.840 Do not cross the fence. 00:23:09.840 --> 00:23:13.400 And God had said this in the book of Numbers. 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:16.279 Do not touch the ark. 00:23:16.279 --> 00:23:17.480 Why did He say that? 00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:19.039 Because He loved His people. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.279 He didn't want this to happen. 00:23:21.279 --> 00:23:23.920 So He gave warning after warning after warning. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:27.120 Do not on any occasion, I don't care who you are. 00:23:27.120 --> 00:23:28.559 I don't care what status you have. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:29.840 I don't care how old you are. 00:23:29.840 --> 00:23:35.080 Do not touch the ark, because it is the most sacred, because it's identified with me. 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:41.319 And touching the ark is tantamount to coming too close. 00:23:41.319 --> 00:23:45.679 So how can you blame God for just being true to His Word? 00:23:45.679 --> 00:23:49.679 For bringing about what He had warned them about in the first place. 00:23:49.679 --> 00:23:51.319 Use un-you. 00:23:51.319 --> 00:23:53.119 God is true to His Word. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:58.439 And yet the same God who punishes is the God who blesses. 00:23:58.439 --> 00:24:05.039 And this is what David came to discover when he saw not only the holiness of God breaking 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:11.519 out against us, but the kindness of God, the generosity and the love of God. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.480 And that's where the gospel comes in. 00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:17.480 See, we don't have the ark of the covenant anymore. 00:24:17.480 --> 00:24:22.879 Don't have any items that symbolize God that are sacred anymore. 00:24:22.879 --> 00:24:29.720 We live at a different time. 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:34.359 And yet we worship and serve and love the same God. 00:24:34.359 --> 00:24:41.079 And what makes the gospel so remarkable this evening is that God hasn't changed. 00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:47.039 He's the same God as David worshipped, as Moses worshipped, as Abraham worshipped, the 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:50.599 God of holiness and the God of glory. 00:24:50.599 --> 00:24:56.279 But the reason we can come close to Him tonight is because something truly remarkable has 00:24:56.279 --> 00:24:58.399 taken place. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:04.600 But you know what that is, that God Himself has taken the punishment that we are reading 00:25:04.600 --> 00:25:06.880 about here that you deserve. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:13.240 He has Himself taken the punishment on Himself at the cross. 00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:18.800 He has become guilty for our sinfulness and our transgression. 00:25:18.800 --> 00:25:25.720 And because Jesus has taken our place and has become the sacrifice for our sin, we can 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:35.880 confidently and joyfully come into His presence this evening, knowing that we have an awesome 00:25:35.880 --> 00:25:45.120 and a God, a God who loves us and a God who has called us into fellowship with Himself. 00:25:45.120 --> 00:25:50.880 And that is what I believe transformed David's anger into David's joy in this chapter, because 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:54.680 he saw these two elements in God coming together. 00:25:54.680 --> 00:25:59.759 His kindness and His holiness coming together. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:07.120 You and I can gaze on the kindness of God and the holiness of God coming together in 00:26:07.120 --> 00:26:10.440 the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. 00:26:10.440 --> 00:26:17.600 And that is what ought to generate so much unique joy in our hearts this evening as we 00:26:17.600 --> 00:26:19.880 worship Him. 00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:26.120 Very quickly the third difference, the third contrast is between what constitutes true 00:26:26.120 --> 00:26:42.040 worship where David actually in moments of unfettered, unrestricted joy, he dances before 00:26:42.040 --> 00:26:44.040 God. 00:26:44.039 --> 00:26:51.039 There seems to be a crescendo in this chapter towards the end where as he discovers more 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:58.759 and more about the nature and the character of God in its fullness and in His glory, he 00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:04.319 just wants to rejoice in God because he knows that He is safe. 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:12.319 The only safe place with God is that faith relationship in which true worship is the 00:27:12.319 --> 00:27:14.279 consequence. 00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:23.039 Here is a picture of a man whose heart understands who God is and who has been drawn by the Lord 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:25.039 into fellowship with Himself. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:27.919 And we tonight are in exactly the same position. 00:27:27.919 --> 00:27:36.679 What a privilege it is to rejoice in God because of who He is and because of what He has done 00:27:36.679 --> 00:27:41.159 for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:47.440 And our worship, like Derek said last week, ought to be characterized, and our lives ought 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:54.200 to be characterized by a unique sense of joy, a joy that goes beyond Sunday and goes into 00:27:54.200 --> 00:28:02.040 the week, a joy in the security that we know in the Lord Jesus Christ, a joy that knows 00:28:02.040 --> 00:28:07.480 that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:11.960 But it wasn't a joy that was shared by His wife. 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:18.759 The second tragedy that appears in this chapter was the very person who was closest to Him, 00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:24.319 Mikal or Michael, I don't know how you pronounce it, Mikal was Saul's daughter. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:28.519 And I'm guessing part of the reason why she hated what was going on was because she compared 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:32.759 it with what her father was, her father's negligence. 00:28:32.759 --> 00:28:37.799 Her father never gave the place to the Ark of the Covenant that David did, and she knew 00:28:37.799 --> 00:28:39.920 that David was doing the right thing. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:47.480 But instead of joining with him in his celebration of all God's goodness, she despised him because 00:28:47.480 --> 00:28:51.799 Chronicles tells us that she was looking from an upstairs window, and that's what happens 00:28:51.799 --> 00:28:54.319 when you're only a spectator. 00:28:54.319 --> 00:29:01.319 David was part of the crowd, leading by example with enthusiasm that was infectious, leading 00:29:01.319 --> 00:29:03.000 from the front. 00:29:03.000 --> 00:29:10.599 But Mikal, on the other hand, was up there in the upstairs window looking down. 00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:15.839 She was where she thought the king's wife should have been, away from, aloof, detached 00:29:15.839 --> 00:29:18.519 from all these ordinary common people. 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:26.960 And David, she thought, should have been with her, detached in his own kingly place. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:34.720 But David knew he was only an ordinary mortal like everyone else, saved by grace. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:41.160 And he was going to express his love for the Lord in a way that gave honor to him because 00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:48.799 what mattered to David was God's place at the very heart of the kingdom. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:54.160 And sometimes the people who are observers are the most critical. 00:29:54.160 --> 00:29:59.640 The people who know nothing of that inward faith that David had, and I hope you have 00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:01.880 tonight. 00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:07.440 Sometimes the mere observers can be the most traditional. 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:09.720 They can criticize what goes on in the church. 00:30:09.720 --> 00:30:10.720 This shouldn't be right. 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:11.720 This is not right. 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:16.040 The modern church today is not like the church I grew up in. 00:30:16.040 --> 00:30:22.519 And really what they're saying is, I actually don't know the Lord. 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:26.119 I don't know the truth and reality of the gospel. 00:30:26.119 --> 00:30:32.559 I hope you're not in that position tonight, because if you are, come down. 00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:41.000 Come down and discover this great gospel for yourself by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ 00:30:41.000 --> 00:30:43.759 and what He's done for you on the cross. 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:50.720 Only then will you discover the joy of a new life, a life that is transformed, a life 00:30:50.720 --> 00:31:00.400 that God has raised from the dead, and a life that lives for Him, and in His service, and 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:07.600 a life that extends forevermore. 00:31:07.600 --> 00:31:14.600 Mikal knew that David had something that she didn't have. 00:31:14.600 --> 00:31:19.279 And I think there are many people, and when they look at Christians, they see something 00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:20.960 that they don't have. 00:31:20.960 --> 00:31:23.519 Now there's two things you can do. 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:26.000 You can either say, well, what is it you have? 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:27.119 And I want that. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:35.519 I want to know this God from us, or you can despise the gospel, which is it to be? 00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:37.480 I hope it's the former. 00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:43.399 I hope so much tonight that if you're in that position, if you're tonight, you're an observer, 00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:50.000 that you come down and join with the rest of God's people in knowing Him and loving Him 00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:55.519 and serving Him and discovering that forgiveness that only He can give. 00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:56.519 Let's pray together. 00:31:56.519 --> 00:32:02.519 Our Father in heaven, we thank you for that the God who is holy is the God who blesses 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:07.759 and the God who forgives and the God who reconciles. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:15.400 We pray tonight that as we examine this Old Testament chapter in the light of the New 00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:22.559 Testament, we pray that we will see Jesus and that we will see Him more clearly and 00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:29.799 that we will, by the power of your Spirit, experience that newness of life that you can 00:32:29.799 --> 00:32:31.799 give in Jesus' name. 00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:38.799 Amen.