Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: When your church building is empty, it's just a building. But when it's full of believers, the place of worship, this place that we have been given here, is a very important place. Because when we come here, the church is gathered. When you're gone, it's walls and an empty big building.

But when we're here, it's a living organism. Jesus Christ is the head of his church. He's moving by his Spirit. He's speaking to our hearts. This is important for us. But there's many today forsaking the assembling of the believers. We need to provoke them with love, encourage them to get back to church, to get back in fellowship.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Sound Doctrine. In just a moment, we'll be joined by Pastor Jeff Johnson as he delivers another message from his series in 2 Samuel. Chapter 6, the Ark of the Covenant is arriving, and David is struck with fear as he sees a man named Uzzah die just by touching the ark. God had previously made it clear that no man was to do this.

As we consider this story, we should also consider the wisdom in fearing a powerful God. Yes, God is a loving and personal God, but he is also a God of wrath when wrath is appropriate. Here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: This morning, we're in 2 Samuel chapter 6. We're going to talk about zeal without knowledge. Let's get a little review of where we're at. David is now king over Israel. The Philistines, who were their enemies, have been beaten. Jerusalem now is their capital. Politically, it was a very wise move by David because it really tied the northern and southern tribes and kingdoms together.

It was also centrally located. So Jerusalem was also to become their religious center, as I shared last week. It's a very important place that David wanted the people to have a focal point to get close to their God. You see, as soon as we make Jesus king of our lives, our lives are to revolve around him because he sets up his kingdom in our hearts.

He becomes our all in all, and he becomes the center of my life. Everything revolves around him. This is what David wanted for the children of Israel. Jerusalem was to be the place of gathering for God's people to seek the Lord. Over in Hebrews, the writer to Hebrews says, let us consider one another to provoke one another unto love and good works.

Then he says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the day approaching. Fellowship and going to church are a very vital and important part of our relationship with our God. As we come together in this place, this is needful for us.

People ask, can't I do it on the golf course, out in nature, in God's creation, and just say that I'm worshipping God? Well, it's just not the same as far as coming together and assembling together with other believers and worshipping the Lord, and sitting at his feet and listening to his word. In fact, as we see the day approach, as we see that his coming is so soon, we should gather more and more and provoke one another to do the very same thing because we need fellowship.

We need to be in church. We need to be gathering together. This is needful. So David saw that it was needful for God's people to come together in one place so that they could fellowship and have a relationship with God. So David would use Jerusalem to unite the tribes in the Lord. In fact, years later, you can see the importance that was put on their hearts when Jeroboam, who separated himself with the northern tribes to go north, actually had them set up religious centers in Samaria and in Dan.

He knew that if they didn't set up religious centers for the people to come and to look towards their God, they would go down to Jerusalem again and get won over by King David. So they established worship centers in the north. All I'm saying is that the place of worship, this place that we have been given here, is a very important place because when we come here, the church is gathered.

When you're gone, it's walls and an empty big building. But when we're here, it's a living organism. Jesus Christ is the head of his church. He's moving by his Spirit. He's speaking to our hearts. This is important for us. But there's many today forsaking the assembling of the believers. We need to provoke them. We need to, with love, encourage them to get back to church, to get back in fellowship.

The first thing they did was to establish the religious center, and that showed the importance. David now decides to bring back the Ark of God. Why? Because the Ark of God is the symbol of God's presence. So they could all be looking to the Lord. Saul had discarded this ark a long time ago. So David wanted to bring it to Jerusalem.

The ark is also a beautiful type of Jesus Christ. The ark, being made of wood, reveals his humanity because the wood speaking of just that which is basic. It speaks of Christ's humanity. The gold overlaid on the ark, over the acacia wood, is speaking of Christ's deity, that he is God. So he was fully God and he was fully man.

He came and he dwelt among us. The mercy seat over the ark reveals God's love for us, that he would have mercy on us as we came and received his Son, Jesus Christ. So the ark is a beautiful type of Christ. As David wanted everybody to look to the ark. For 70 years, the ark was eight miles away in Kiriath-Jearim in the house of Abinadab.

This was the right thing for David to want to do, to bring this ark into Jerusalem and to center everyone on the ark. But David is about to make a mistake. David is going to do it in the wrong way. He's got a real zeal for the Lord, but he's lacking knowledge in this area. We're going to see that as we go on here in 2 Samuel chapter 6 in verse one.

Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. David rose and went with all the people that were with him from Baalah of Judah, and that is Kiriath-Jearim, that's another name for the city. There was two names for the city. You can look it up in Joshua 15. But Baalah of Judah to bring up from thence the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.

David and his 30,000 man army, that's a big army. That's six Roman legions. This is a huge army. They go now to get the ark. I guess you could call this group Raiders of the Lost Ark. As these are going to bring in God's presence into Jerusalem. Remember in Exodus chapter 25, in verse 22, God said this, and there I will meet with you. I will commune with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, the two angels, which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give to thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

The ark was the place where God would fellowship with them. They would gather together and hear from God, and God would be able to communicate to them. So the ark, of course, is very important, and they wanted to bring it in. David realized that nothing was more vital and nothing was more important than doing this. Because without him we can do nothing.

We can do absolutely nothing. Nothing is going to get done without the Lord being the center of our lives. Now, verse three. And they set the Ark of God upon a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart.

Now we see David doing this right thing of bringing the ark into Jerusalem, but he does it in a wrong way. You see, it shows us that God is not only concerned about our motives and why we do certain things, but he's also concerned about our methods and how we do them. And so here, David's doing a Jewish thing in the Philistine way.

The Philistines had the ark. They captured it from the children of Israel. But remember the ark gave them hemorrhoids. And they didn't like that very well. It did a lot more than just giving them hemorrhoids. It gave them heartache. Everywhere the ark was, they were in shambles. And finally they just had it up to here with the ark and they said, we've got to get rid of this thing.

It's a curse. And so they put it on this cart and they put oxen leading it, and they brought it back to the area of Israel. They said, you guys take this thing back. So David now brought the ark their way and not God's way. Because their way was the cart. God's way, according to Numbers chapter 4, God made it very clear way back in Numbers how the ark was to be transported.

Numbers 4 talks about the Levites were to take it, and in verse 5 it says you're to cover the ark and make sure the covering is all over it, and no one's to be able to look on it but the Levites. Then he goes on in verse 15 and it says the sons of Kohath shall come and bear the ark, but they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die.

So nobody's to touch the ark. Only the Kohathites are to carry the ark. Going on in Exodus 25, in verse 14, you're going to take these staves, these long wooden shafts, and you're going to put them in the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them by the priests. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark, they shall not be taken from it.

There was only one way that you were to transport the ark, and it was God's way. I thought about this, this is interesting. You know there is only one way to heaven? Jesus Christ. That's God's way. There's many people that say I am the way, and this is the right philosophy and this is the way you should be going. But Jesus is the only one that says I am the only way, the only truth, the only life, there is no other way to get to heaven but by me.

That's God's way. Why does God make it so one-wayish? Because he wanted to make it real simple for you so there's no excuses. There's only one way to get to heaven, and that's by you and having your sins forgiven, having you receive Jesus Christ into your heart. That's God's way. That's what the Bible says.

There was only one way to transport the ark, and that was go God's way. Now, David, of course, went and did it their way. He did it the world's way, you might say. And it's a new cart, see. And what are carts made out of but boards and big wheels? Man gets together his board meetings, and the big wheels meet, and they say, this is how we're going to do it.

Man's methods to do God's work, running the church as a corporation. The corporate way of thinking. Let's see how the world is doing it. Maybe we can just change the color of it and put names on it and make it presentable. Let's go the world's way. Let's use entertainment. Let's use the spectacular, that which is all glitter and glitz, the showbiz to do God's work of evangelism.

So you've got people trying all kinds of things. But unless it's his way, it's for nothing. And there's only one way that God wants to build his church through evangelism. God's made it very clear to us what way that is. How is the church going to grow? It's not the world's way. It's Acts 2:42. And they steadfastly, consistently, were in the apostles' doctrine. They were in prayers, they were in communion, they were in fellowship one with the other.

Then the Lord added daily such as should be saved. If you go on with this a little bit more, you see in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11 and 12, where it talks about and God gave to the church pastors, teachers, evangelists, and prophets. Why? For the perfecting of the saints, that you would be built up. Why? For the continuance of the ministry, for the work of the ministry.

That we would be fed the Word of God, that when we get the Word of God in us, we would grow strong. Jesus called us all sheep and he talks about feeding the flock. God says if you just feed the flock, get them strong, healthy sheep will beget sheep. That's God's way. That you would become strong in God's word, that you would allow God's word to have its perfect work in your heart, that you would go forth and shine for him and let it be just a lifestyle in your life that others would see and come in.

That's the way that God wants to build his church. It's not a bunch of hype and hoopla like the world likes to do. It's a slow and steady growth that is rooted and lasting, and that's the Lord's way. We're not to copy the world. I think when we begin to start wanting to copy the world and go the way of the world is when we as the church are weak.

That's when we really weaken when we bend to what the world says. And oh, did you see the statistics and if you do this and you do that then you can have this and you can have that, and churches go for it. He says I want you to just simply gather together, worship me, study my word, pray, take communion, and I'm going to build my church.

It's not our job to build the church. It's his job. He said, I'll do it. You just seek me. You just let my word have its way, and you just reach out and I'll add daily such as should be saved. But David thought and sought to use the way of the Philistines. But of course I'm sure that David said, but it's a new cart. I washed it.

This one's got the mag wheels and everything. This is shiny and wow, look at it. We overlaid it with silver and gold. It's a new cart. Change its name, put some Christian slogans on it and it'll fly. No, it still reeks of the world. It's not God's way. And what is the result of not going God's way? The Bible says to be carnally minded, to be fleshly minded is death.

To go the way of the flesh, the way of the world, is always death. Let's look at it, verse four. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the Ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. Now, Uzzah and Ahio were great-grandsons of Abinadab. Eleazar was his son. These were the guys that were in charge of the ark during the time it was sitting there in that house.

So of course, these are the ones to lead the procession. And I want you to note something here that I noted as I was reading this. No one says a thing about the cart. No one says, wait a minute, what's this cart doing here? The Bible says you're not supposed to carry it by the cart. What's going on here? You guys, I think you got this wrong.

Nobody says a thing. Now what does this tell you? That they're ignorant of God's word. They haven't been in the word for a while and they have forgotten the way of the Lord. And I'll tell you something, ignorance is not bliss here. For us not knowing the word is not bliss. It's confusion and frustration. That's why we're here this morning, to study God's word to find out what is God's ways.

I want to know it because I want to walk in them. I want to be blessed. How are you going to be blessed unless you know the word of the Lord? We need to study it. We need to get into it. We all need to be students of the word constantly because ignorance is not bliss. My people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge of the Word of God.

And so how we need to know God's word. And they didn't here. Verse five. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on the harps, the psalteries, and the timbrels, and the cornets, and on the cymbals. These guys, the Raiders of the Lost Ark, are excited and they've got a big procession here.

They were convinced that all was well, that everything was fine. Can you imagine? 30,000 people just singing and the trumpets and the timbrels and everything. What a sight if not what a sound was going on down there. Verse six. And when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it.

As they were going along this road, it got bumpy. And the ark looked like it was going to fall off. Uzzah sought to then steady the ark, put his hand out, grabbed hold of it. And here's a beautiful picture of trying to help God out in your own strength and in your own energy. And here's Uzzah trying to hold the ark.

So many times we try to do that ministry that God's given to us in our flesh. We try to do it ourselves instead of letting the Lord do it. We try to help God out. Oh God, let me give you a hand. We try to work out relationships in our own flesh, in our own energy, when God wants to work it out, when God wants to be our strength and our might, when we need to depend upon him.

But we say, no, I'll give God a hand. He doesn't want your hand. He wants your heart. He wants your heart, your commitment, your dedication, and then he will show himself strong towards you in all that you do. But remember they were not to touch the ark. Verse seven. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the Ark of God.

Uzzah died on the very spot when he reached out to touch the ark. What a tragedy, what a terrible thing to happen in the midst of their celebration. Here they are just, yay, here we go, and then a guy falls dead right in front of them. You talk about spoiling the mood. Everybody quiet down a little bit. We got a guy dead here.

I think it got everybody's attention. The guy just died right on the spot. You see, at this time David needed to learn some very important lessons. Number one, he didn't have a real respect for God's holy presence as of yet. But he was to learn the sacredness of worship and obedience to the Lord. He hasn't come there quite yet, and God had some very important things to teach him through this situation of doing a right thing in the wrong way.

Look at verse eight. David was displeased. He was angry, he was frustrated because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day. In other words, the Lord has made a breach of Uzzah. And David was afraid of the Lord that day. Afraid of the Lord, and said, how shall the Ark of the Lord come to me?

He was confused. He probably thought to himself, this is not fair. You see, this was David's first attempt to experience the presence of God, to have it in his midst, and he became very frustrated. But surely Lord, it's not wrong if the ark was to tip that we're to just reach out and help so it won't flip out of the cart.

Wait a minute, David, I think you got it wrong. That thing's not even supposed to be on the cart. Oh. Remember, this was fleshly energy. Hands, but no heart. And I think the sad thing is to see Uzzah laying there right beside the presence of God, and he dies. Jeff, you mean you can die right next to the presence of God? Yeah.

You can be deceived and be right next to the presence of God and still lose your life. What a warning. What a warning. And there's so many today that are in the flesh, using their hands and not giving their hearts, that are dying right next to the presence of God. It's sad. David was learning, like I said, some important lessons, and one of them was the beginning of wisdom is what? The fear of the Lord.

David is learning to respect the seriousness of walking with a holy God. We all need to beware of disrespect, don't we? Of treating the things of God in a mundane way. You know how sometimes we get together at communion and oh, communion, eat the bread, drink the cup, and it just becomes mechanical. But it's a holy thing we're doing.

And it's a holy God who we serve, and he's seeking to do something there right in communion with you personally, if you will just open your eyes and your ears and discern the Lord's body. Remember what Paul said? There's many sick among you, many have died. Why? Because you're doing it in a mundane way. You're not doing it right.

With worship too. We just don't have songs at the beginning of the Bible study and the service just to fill time. That's for you, that's for me, that's for us to come into the presence of God, a holy God who wants to commune with us and us with him. There's an interaction that goes on during worship that's powerful.

Guest (Male): What an amazing truth. God is almighty. God is holy, yet he wants to commune with you on a personal level. This is Sound Doctrine, and you just heard a message from Pastor Jeff Johnson in 2 Samuel chapter 6. Hopefully, as you listen to these messages in 2 Samuel, you'll have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying in these critical times.

God's Word is so practical, giving us direction, instruction, and wisdom to our lives. To hear this message again, simply go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app. You can also hear Sound Doctrine on oneplace.com and wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

We would very much appreciate your support. It helps us deliver Sound Doctrine on stations like this one all across the nation. And you can donate to this radio outreach at sounddoctrineradio.org. We hope you'll join us for our next study in 2 Samuel. It's going to be a good one, right here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff, a presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey.