WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:03.700 Today, I'm excited to share with you a wonderful passage of scripture. 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:11.400 We're going to be in 2 Samuel, chapter six, we're going through the book of 1 and 2 Samuel together and we're 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:12.980 in 2 Samuel, chapter six today. 00:00:13.340 --> 00:00:17.080 We're going to talk about a significant section of scripture here. 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:22.550 This is the section of scripture where David has done a few things in 2 Samuel. 00:00:22.900 --> 00:00:25.260 First Samuel ends with the death of Saul and Jonathan. 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:31.020 You remember Saul as the King over Israel, the first King of Israel, David is anointed as the second King over Israel. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:33.380 Saul is rejected by the Lord for being disobedient. 00:00:33.660 --> 00:00:37.620 God gave him a few direct commands he disobeyed from the Lord. 00:00:37.620 --> 00:00:41.240 And so God replaced Saul with King David. 00:00:41.460 --> 00:00:47.540 when David steps in to rule and reign over Israel, first few things he does, he unites all of Israel. 00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:55.380 During David's day, Israel saw themselves more as individual tribes and Saul continued that individuality 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:56.800 under his rulership. 00:00:57.180 --> 00:01:01.410 David is really the first unite the entire kingdom, all 12 tribes together. 00:01:01.540 --> 00:01:06.380 Then one of the first things that he does is he brings the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:09.920 This becomes the capital city under David's rule. 00:01:10.020 --> 00:01:17.080 And 2 Samuel chapter six is really an odd passage of scripture where David is moving the ark to 00:01:17.080 --> 00:01:17.880 Jerusalem. 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:25.320 If you've ever read this, there's three just odd stories that have happened within the context of 00:01:25.320 --> 00:01:26.800 this passage. 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:29.730 Now, one is a man dies for touching the ark. 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:36.900 Another is, a foreigner is blessed for possessing the ark and then David dances.And what his wife says 00:01:36.900 --> 00:01:40.740 is immodest, in First Samuel chapter six, verse 20. 00:01:40.740 --> 00:01:47.760 Sometimes you get to chapters of the Bible where you read things like that and you're like, "What do I do with this?" Well, my hope is by the end of this, you're going 00:01:47.760 --> 00:01:50.380 to see the beauty of the gospel made known in the Old Testament. 00:01:50.820 --> 00:01:58.180 And I hope to help you understand how to have some better dance moves, because this is the section of scripture where David dances before 00:01:58.180 --> 00:01:58.880 the Lord. 00:01:59.520 --> 00:02:05.270 I think, I really think by the end of this, you should be able to learn how to have some better dance moves. 00:02:05.620 --> 00:02:11.620 But if you look in this passage of scripture, in Second, Samuel chapter six, I want to pick up in verse two. 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:15.300 This is where the ark of the Lord moves in. 00:02:16.740 --> 00:02:23.820 In verse two it says, "And David rose and went with all the people who were with him to Baalah, Judah, to bring 00:02:23.820 --> 00:02:30.860 up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name, the very name of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned above 00:02:30.860 --> 00:02:31.600 the cherubim. 00:02:32.060 --> 00:02:38.670 They place the ark of God on a new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinidab, which is on the hill. 00:02:39.060 --> 00:02:46.540 And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinidab, were leading the new cart." So the first thing David 00:02:46.540 --> 00:02:52.480 does in leading as the new King and uniting of Israel is to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. 00:02:53.440 --> 00:03:00.520 Now, I know when we hear the word ark of the covenant, we often think sacred furniture of Israel, there's a lot to this, 00:03:00.580 --> 00:03:04.590 but when you just look at the word ark, the word ark is pretty simplistic. 00:03:04.940 --> 00:03:07.440 Noah built an ark and David's moving an ark. 00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:09.540 The word ark just means a box. 00:03:10.140 --> 00:03:17.600 So Noah built a box, not very impressive in terms of a boat, he built a box and the ark of the covenant, it just means a box, but it's 00:03:17.600 --> 00:03:21.420 the symbolism behind the ark that makes it so powerful. 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:25.400 That's what 2 Samuel chapter six shares with us. 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:32.800 It begins with us in this passage of scripture that the ark means a box, but it's considered the holy of holies. 00:03:34.100 --> 00:03:36.820 On this box are two cherubim on either side. 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:41.080 This was seen as the throne of God. 00:03:41.180 --> 00:03:43.240 This is where heaven collided with earth. 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:50.680 If you talk to the Israelites during this time, you said, "where would God's presence be?" They would respond, "In the temple at 00:03:50.720 --> 00:03:55.340 the ark." It was considered a sacred place where God ruled and reigned. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:03.060 In fact, the term that's used in this passage in verse two is the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned above 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:05.780 the cherubim, that's the last phrase of verse two. 00:04:06.380 --> 00:04:13.440 This phrase, the Lord of hosts gives this image, it conjures up this image in our mind of a king who is sitting 00:04:13.440 --> 00:04:20.500 on his throne, battling and raging and warring, and also dictating and leading and 00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:20.839 directing. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:22.630 He is in charge. 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:27.240 This is his position from which he takes his lead. 00:04:27.700 --> 00:04:30.720 So for Israel, the ark was the center of worship. 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:35.980 If you wanted to get near to God, you went to the location of the ark. 00:04:36.080 --> 00:04:37.680 It's the centerpiece of Israel. 00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:41.420 This was a big deal to move this ark to a specific location. 00:04:41.880 --> 00:04:45.720 Up until this point, the ark moved around as God led the people of Israel. 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:51.690 He would bring a cloud and He would stop the cloud in the place where He wanted the ark to be positioned. 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:59.100 But now Israel in their promised land is going to set it up in a central location where people can make pilgrimages to 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:02.320 the particular place for which the ark would be located. 00:05:03.640 --> 00:05:05.440 This ark represents God's presence. 00:05:05.740 --> 00:05:12.720 Now let me just say this before I dive further in this text is, in the New Testament you might ask the question, "Well, why don't we build temples today? 00:05:12.760 --> 00:05:20.100 Why don't we not have the ark today?" Well, the ark was the place that was also representative of where they would make sacrifices to 00:05:20.100 --> 00:05:22.080 maintain their relationship with the Lord. 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:25.880 Once a year, the high priest would go into the temple, into what was called the holy of holies. 00:05:26.660 --> 00:05:32.540 He would make a sacrifice according to God's law, and he would apply blood to it for the remission of sins of God's people. 00:05:33.880 --> 00:05:40.880 What this allow God's people to do is just continue in their relationship with the Lord as their sin was satisfied, but 00:05:40.880 --> 00:05:42.740 it was ultimately a symbol. 00:05:43.820 --> 00:05:47.960 It was a symbol of a greater representation for which Jesus would ultimately fulfill. 00:05:48.960 --> 00:05:52.120 So when Jesus comes, he presents himself as a lamb of God. 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:59.380 He is slaughtered for our sins and the forgiveness of our sins and his blood brings us that relationship to the Lord. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:04.740 No longer are the sacrifices needed because the ultimate sacrifice has been given. 00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:09.920 So the ark was a foreshadowing and the temple was a place for God's presence to dwell. 00:06:09.960 --> 00:06:17.120 So when you read in the New Testament, First Corinthians 3:16, or in First Corinthians 6:19, it tells us that we are now 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:18.040 the temple of God. 00:06:18.080 --> 00:06:22.960 It's no longer about a building, but God's presence within us, that God dwells among his people. 00:06:23.140 --> 00:06:26.680 But in the Old Testament, there was a particular place that they would go to recognize this. 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:34.320 Now in the New Testament, it's with his people, but seeing this in the Old Testament and seeing that David was uniting Israel and he was bringing the ark into Jerusalem, 00:06:35.020 --> 00:06:40.740 we get further into this story in verse 14, and I'll go back in just a few, I know I'm skipping ahead a little bit. 00:06:41.560 --> 00:06:47.880 But you see starting in verse 14, that is the ark arrives into Jerusalem, or it's on the way to Jerusalem. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:50.980 David starts to dance before the Lord in celebration. 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:51.940 Listen to this. 00:06:53.060 --> 00:06:58.580 "And David was dancing before the Lord with all his might and David was wearing a linen ephod. 00:06:59.280 --> 00:07:04.220 So David and all the house of Israel were bringing to the ark of the Lord with shouting and the song of the trumpet. 00:07:04.840 --> 00:07:11.900 Then it happened as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, that Michal, the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King 00:07:11.900 --> 00:07:17.560 David leaping and dancing before the Lord and she despised him in her heart." Very important passage. 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:21.920 I'll elaborate on a little bit in a minute, but Michal is Saul's daughter. 00:07:21.980 --> 00:07:23.320 Saul was the previous king. 00:07:23.400 --> 00:07:25.740 David married the previous king's daughter. 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:29.040 So, this is her interaction with David in these moments. 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:31.220 Verse 17. 00:07:31.220 --> 00:07:37.780 "So they brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in this place, inside the tent, which David had pitched for it, and David offered burnt offerings and placed offerings before the Lord. 00:07:38.160 --> 00:07:45.240 But when David returned to bless his household, Michal, the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said how the king of 00:07:45.240 --> 00:07:52.520 Israel distinguished himself today and uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servant and 00:07:52.520 --> 00:07:56.280 the maids as one of the foolish ones, shamelessly uncovers himself. 00:07:56.460 --> 00:08:03.900 So David said to Michal, 'It was before the Lord who chose me above your father and above all the house to appoint me ruler over 00:08:03.900 --> 00:08:05.690 the people of the Lord over Israel. 00:08:05.720 --> 00:08:08.140 Therefore, I will celebrate before the Lord. 00:08:08.280 --> 00:08:13.160 I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes. 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:20.620 But with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them, I will be distinguished.' Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:24.380 children to the day of her death." So what's happening here, right? 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:25.980 It's a interesting passage. 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:31.880 Why does he even have to throw in verse 23 that Michal has no children until the day of her death? 00:08:31.880 --> 00:08:38.960 Well, what's happening in this passage is Michal looks out the window when the ark's coming into Jerusalem and she sees 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:42.179 David celebrating in such a way that she thinks has beneath a king. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:46.780 She's worried about the image that a king is presenting before the people. 00:08:47.720 --> 00:08:52.240 So she's critical of David to the point that she despises him in her heart. 00:08:52.300 --> 00:08:59.460 She says to David, "Look, David, it's not right for a King to be this way and you've just diminished your image before the people 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:00.180 around you. 00:09:00.180 --> 00:09:07.280 You shouldn't have done this." So she despised David in her heart, but David's response to her was, "Look, to me that doesn't 00:09:07.280 --> 00:09:07.720 matter. 00:09:08.100 --> 00:09:15.140 This was before the Lord." David in these moments was simply focused on the joy of 00:09:15.140 --> 00:09:16.240 the Lord in his life. 00:09:17.040 --> 00:09:24.100 He says to Michal that he's even going to be more undignified than this when it comes before God's presence, because who is 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:26.000 David before the Lord. 00:09:27.740 --> 00:09:33.820 He even reminds Michal in a sort of a slidey way, I think he's just says to her, "Look, God picked me above your dad. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:40.940 You thought your dad was king but God put me above him and I'm below God." So David celebrates in this particular way before the 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:46.340 Lord and just honoring the glory of God above himself in position. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:54.360 What we find in verse 23 is this drove a wedge between Michal and David, to the point where this 00:09:54.360 --> 00:09:58.260 text seems to indicate that they had no intimacy in their relationship beyond this. 00:09:59.160 --> 00:10:03.520 That this wedge was driven very strongly between them. 00:10:04.800 --> 00:10:12.220 And when you've looked at a passage like this becomes a place where we can potentially relate to what's happening here, where you 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:19.280 discover the Lord in your own life, and you have this excitement and joy for everything that Jesus is doing and you want to share that with other people, but 00:10:19.280 --> 00:10:26.440 other people just don't have that same joy that you have, and it drives a wedge in your relationship and creates some distance. 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:33.780 This is exactly where David is because Michal did not understand the change that happened in 00:10:33.780 --> 00:10:37.180 David's life that led to his dancing. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:43.800 How David changed in the section of scripture is the important lesson I think God wants to drive to us. 00:10:43.900 --> 00:10:52.000 It's not just that the ark goes to Jerusalem, which is a significant thing to understand, but it's also how David got to this place where he would just celebrate 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:59.120 with such jubilation in his life that led him to dance proudly before the Lord, joyfully before the 00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:03.400 Lord and David was totally fixed on God and worship. 00:11:04.580 --> 00:11:08.960 He was completely free in how he sought after God. 00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:11.800 What brought David to do this? 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:20.440 The things that we worship in life, they can often Rob you of the joy 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:23.660 that God desires for you to experience in Him. 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:25.400 I mean, here you see, in this story, David is... 00:11:26.020 --> 00:11:29.920 he's just in a regular garb, he's not wearing the kingly attire. 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:33.860 He's dressed in a simplistic fashion. 00:11:34.300 --> 00:11:38.660 It's as if he relates to all the common people in Israel, he says, "Look, I am... 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:44.300 " He is king over Israel, but when it comes before the Lord, he's just a man. 00:11:45.680 --> 00:11:46.360 He's just a man. 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:53.540 As they celebrate the ark coming into Jerusalem, David chooses to not make it about him and how he dresses 00:11:53.540 --> 00:12:00.370 up in his attire, but to make it about the Lord and the way that he does this, is to dress simplistic simplistically. 00:12:01.560 --> 00:12:03.360 This is what makes Michal frustrated. 00:12:05.140 --> 00:12:12.160 She thinks this king should carry this certain superiority and dignity before the people always, and David's remark is, "Look, this is 00:12:12.160 --> 00:12:13.010 about the Lord. 00:12:14.340 --> 00:12:20.120 This isn't about me." And David and that jubilation just celebrates what brought David that freedom. 00:12:21.940 --> 00:12:23.880 How was David able to do that? 00:12:25.560 --> 00:12:28.680 That has to do with David's approach to his worship. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:34.920 See, a lot of us like to put on certain images to make people think that we're better than they were. 00:12:35.020 --> 00:12:36.100 We even do that before God. 00:12:37.180 --> 00:12:43.030 Sometimes we think that we have to pretend to be people of high intelligence, so people respect us for our intelligence. 00:12:43.100 --> 00:12:50.140 Not that I don't think it's important to be smart, but when it comes to your intellect, you want people then if you worship 00:12:50.140 --> 00:12:57.160 intellect and you think that's the way to seek superiority and that's what's important in life, being smart and 00:12:57.160 --> 00:13:02.720 being seen as smart is most important to you. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:10.660 When you start to not know about something, you're afraid, you're afraid people might find out you're going to appear 00:13:10.660 --> 00:13:15.480 to be a fraud and you start to feel stupid and you just want to cover that up. 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:22.880 Or, if you worship the beauty and appearance, to you want to keep up with the trends of fashion but what you find out is beauty 00:13:22.880 --> 00:13:24.280 fades over time. 00:13:24.640 --> 00:13:31.820 Or maybe you worship money and you discover that you're never going to have enough, or what if you have power and all of a sudden you get in those moments where 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:35.680 you feel weak and here you thought power was so important? 00:13:35.760 --> 00:13:36.860 What does David find in this passage? 00:13:38.940 --> 00:13:46.360 He finds this liberation, just to come before the Lord, not as King David, but just as David. 00:13:48.280 --> 00:13:55.440 This was about God's presence before his people and Michal didn't understand the change 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:57.480 that had happened in David's life. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:06.120 But when you read in the beginning of this story, what you find is two key lessons David learned to help him dance 00:14:06.360 --> 00:14:11.020 before the Lord in such simplicity, of just being regular David. 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:20.300 I mean, how easy it is when you come to church, or how joyful it should be for us when we come to church, when we gather as God's people, 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:26.600 we gather as his church I should say, to not have to worry about impressing others. 00:14:28.700 --> 00:14:30.480 To not have to worry about what other people think about you. 00:14:32.660 --> 00:14:36.630 To just come through the doors and let God speak to you. 00:14:37.900 --> 00:14:45.180 Let God work on you, to just let Him meet you in the raw form of who you are and just say, "Lord, have your way." 00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:47.820 That's where David is. 00:14:50.300 --> 00:14:52.240 David in the story when it comes before God... 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:58.160 Before the people, yes, he's King David but before the Lord, he's just David. 00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:01.860 His position doesn't impress God. 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:09.440 The things that he has or doesn't have doesn't impress God, what God desires is your heart. 00:15:11.280 --> 00:15:17.020 That's why David, in the beginning, he was referred to as a man after God's own heart, First Samuel, chapter seven, verse 14. 00:15:17.020 --> 00:15:18.700 God appointed a man after his own heart. 00:15:20.540 --> 00:15:22.860 What God desires in our lives is our own heart. 00:15:22.900 --> 00:15:29.960 It's not until we find that type of liberation that David discovers that we're able to freely dance in celebration before the Lord, 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:31.980 the way that God has designed us to. 00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:34.940 Michal didn't see that. 00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:42.340 So what lessons did David learn that helped him become such a joyful dancer before the Lord? 00:15:44.580 --> 00:15:48.470 Two key lessons David learned, this passage of scripture wants us to recognize. 00:15:49.560 --> 00:15:53.040 Verse six, "But when they came to the... 00:15:53.300 --> 00:16:00.400 " the ark's being moved here, "And when they carried the ark to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God 00:16:00.400 --> 00:16:07.460 and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah and God 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:09.430 struck him down there for his irreverence. 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:17.080 And he died there by the ark of God." David became angry because of the Lord's outbursts against Uzzah and that place is called Perez-Uzzah 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:17.740 to this day. 00:16:18.020 --> 00:16:25.760 So David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said, "How can the ark of the Lord come to me?" First 00:16:25.760 --> 00:16:32.860 lesson David learns, and he learns it in a very strong way, is that God is to 00:16:32.880 --> 00:16:33.400 be revered. 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:39.380 While the ark is being moved in this parade of celebrations, someone dies. 00:16:39.420 --> 00:16:43.660 I mean, have you ever thought about the quickest way to end a parade, is to let someone die in the middle of it. 00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:47.210 When you read a story like this seems a little bit excessive. 00:16:47.780 --> 00:16:49.880 I think sometimes this is why people stop reading the Bible. 00:16:49.880 --> 00:16:57.580 You look at in chapter six and you see Uzzah just dying for touching the ark of the covenant and the parade stops and 00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:01.740 we look at stories like this, and we say to ourselves, "Why did Uzzah die? 00:17:04.260 --> 00:17:11.339 Why did this have to happen?" But then when you start to look at the detail, the significance of what the ark represents 00:17:12.020 --> 00:17:19.359 and all that's entailed in this story, you start to understand Uzzah died because 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:25.760 really of Numbers, chapter four, verses five and six. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:34.160 In this section of scripture, in Numbers, chapter four, verses five and six, Israel had really gone so long 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:41.280 without being in connection to the ark, God's presence, that they forgot about the boundaries God had 00:17:41.280 --> 00:17:42.460 established with the ark. 00:17:43.860 --> 00:17:44.780 The ark was sacred. 00:17:47.580 --> 00:17:51.420 This is where the king of kings and Lord of Lords dwelt. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:54.960 No one of greater authority and power. 00:17:56.120 --> 00:18:03.500 So how they treated this ark was important to the Lord and it was an important testimony to the world because 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:05.260 it was a demonstration of the gospel. 00:18:06.700 --> 00:18:08.780 In Numbers, chapter four, verses five and six, listen to this. 00:18:08.780 --> 00:18:11.780 "When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons... 00:18:11.800 --> 00:18:13.680 " this is sharing with us how the ark is to be moved. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:20.920 "When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down the veil of the screen and the cover, the ark of the testimony 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:21.760 with it. 00:18:22.120 --> 00:18:29.380 And they shall lay a covering of porpoise skin on it and shall spread over the cloth of purple blue and shall insert its poles." 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:34.880 What is saying is when the ark has moved, there's a few rules that God wants them to obey. 00:18:35.620 --> 00:18:37.450 One is, you don't carry the ark in the open. 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:40.580 When you go in to get the ark, you cover it immediately. 00:18:41.740 --> 00:18:44.560 When you carry the ark, you don't put it on a cart and move it. 00:18:45.380 --> 00:18:52.720 You carry it with poles and the people that carry it, aren't just anybody, it's to be the Levites, the special priests that are designated to 00:18:52.800 --> 00:18:53.540 carry this ark. 00:18:54.220 --> 00:19:01.140 This ark must never be seen, never be touched, only moved by the Levites and this was where God's presence dwelt. 00:19:02.180 --> 00:19:09.740 So when you look at Numbers, chapter four, and the rules that God sets out for the way he wants his ark to move in sacred reverence for his identity on this earth, every 00:19:09.740 --> 00:19:13.600 rule is being broken in the way that Israel chooses to move this ark into Jerusalem. 00:19:15.760 --> 00:19:22.120 And God, God is being gracious to these people as they place the ark on the cart and they start to move it. 00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:22.950 But what happens? 00:19:25.040 --> 00:19:26.060 Uzzah dies and why? 00:19:27.860 --> 00:19:34.540 Uzzah died because the ark is a symbol of God's concrete gospel message to us. 00:19:36.340 --> 00:19:40.690 God is holy, God is holy, to be revered. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:51.480 What this message is saying is, "Look, we just can't approach God just in a casual manner, there 00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:58.480 is a way in which we pursue God in relationship." When you think about the sacredness 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:05.540 of what the ark represents and all the religions in the world, religions in the world will create idolatry, symbols, that 00:20:05.540 --> 00:20:12.800 if you go and you touch them, that it's supposed to bring particular blessing to you and you earn God's favor by how you 00:20:12.800 --> 00:20:16.120 touch it and the way that it blesses you in your life. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:23.360 So people want to create these idols and have them in their home and be near them, but not in Scripture, 00:20:23.620 --> 00:20:26.030 not in the Bible. 00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:29.380 Our God is holy. 00:20:31.720 --> 00:20:32.520 Our God judges sin. 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:35.460 Our God is separate. 00:20:37.960 --> 00:20:38.980 He is to be revered. 00:20:40.900 --> 00:20:45.140 Perhaps Uzzah had a poor understanding of his position before God. 00:20:47.360 --> 00:20:54.400 Maybe he thought that if the ark had fallen to the ground, that the defilement of the soil would be worse than the sin of his own life, 00:20:56.180 --> 00:20:57.940 or maybe he thought God needed his help. 00:20:59.260 --> 00:21:06.140 Maybe he didn't realize how sacred and powerful God was, but God doesn't need our help. 00:21:08.560 --> 00:21:09.330 God is holy. 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.380 What did David learn in this moment? 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:15.740 Well, a couple things in verse nine, it says to us, it said... 00:21:16.620 --> 00:21:21.880 We just read it said to us that David was afraid by this, when he saw Uzzah die. 00:21:22.680 --> 00:21:23.580 He was afraid by this. 00:21:25.300 --> 00:21:31.460 Then David asked the question, "How can the ark of the Lord come near to me?" That's the last thing he says in verse nine. 00:21:33.260 --> 00:21:40.800 "How can the ark of the Lord ever come near to me?" What David is saying is how 00:21:40.800 --> 00:21:43.150 am I ever going to get near the presence of the Lord? 00:21:46.580 --> 00:21:53.640 David sees Uzzah in the unsacredness of this moment do something that God directly told his people not to do because 00:21:53.640 --> 00:21:56.300 the ark is a representation of the holiness of God. 00:21:56.740 --> 00:22:02.340 If we bring sin to his holiness, it's death. 00:22:03.320 --> 00:22:10.880 Now David asks this question, "How can I ever get near the presence of 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:18.380 God?" The reality is in this message, God is more holy 00:22:18.760 --> 00:22:23.360 than we realize and He's more sacred than we give Him acknowledgement for. 00:22:25.620 --> 00:22:32.760 The thoughts you think, the actions you take, God is aware of it all and there is 00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:33.320 judgment. 00:22:35.560 --> 00:22:37.820 What option do you have to get close to God? 00:22:41.180 --> 00:22:43.020 How could you ever get near the Lord? 00:22:45.340 --> 00:22:51.020 What do you have within yourself that you could ever offer to a sacred, holy God? 00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:55.880 I mean, Uzzah wouldn't have been next to the ark unless he cared about the Lord. 00:22:57.040 --> 00:23:04.040 Uzzah may have been a great follower of God and who else would go along the side of the ark and make sure they're there for the transportation of it, 00:23:04.320 --> 00:23:05.560 lest they cared about the Lord. 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:06.930 What do they find in that? 00:23:07.080 --> 00:23:13.920 That even in their care for God, there is still a separation between them and the Lord and it's because of God's holiness and their unholiness. 00:23:17.100 --> 00:23:18.780 How could you ever get close to the Lord? 00:23:20.560 --> 00:23:24.980 Romans, chapter two in the new Testament, the apostle Paul carries in a similar way, listen to this. 00:23:24.980 --> 00:23:32.260 In Romans, chapter two, verse four, it's not going to be on the screen, but just listen to these words that Paul says, "Do you think lightly 00:23:32.260 --> 00:23:39.620 of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing the kindness 00:23:39.620 --> 00:23:46.740 of God leads you to repentance, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for 00:23:46.740 --> 00:23:47.840 yourself on the day of wrath. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:55.060 Who will render to each person, according to his deeds?" See what Paul says, even in the New Testament? 00:23:57.480 --> 00:23:59.820 That the presence of God is not to be taken lightly. 00:24:02.120 --> 00:24:05.140 God holds all of us accountable for all that we do. 00:24:06.800 --> 00:24:08.990 How could we ever approach Him? 00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:11.640 What option do we have? 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:20.000 You can imagine David in these moments, seeing Uzzah die and the parade stops and really the movement of the ark stops at that moment, we'll read in 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:27.260 just a minute, but David, then just asks the question in verse nine, how can anyone get near the 00:24:27.340 --> 00:24:28.040 presence of the Lord? 00:24:30.380 --> 00:24:36.760 He thought he' was bringing this ark into Jerusalem, but now he's going to stop and just think about the way he reveres God in his own life. 00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:38.580 How can go draw near to... 00:24:38.800 --> 00:24:45.560 If we're God's chosen people and we can't even be near His presence, how could we ever, ever connect to God? 00:24:47.940 --> 00:24:49.400 But then David learns a second lesson. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:56.160 In verse 10, David learns that God makes outsiders become insiders because of His grace. 00:24:57.100 --> 00:24:57.860 Look in verse 10. 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:03.720 "And David was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord into the city of David with him. 00:25:05.740 --> 00:25:13.160 But David took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom." So David's so worried he stops everything and he puts 00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:15.740 it aside at the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite. 00:25:17.300 --> 00:25:21.640 "Thus the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, three months. 00:25:23.040 --> 00:25:25.300 And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his household. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:31.820 Now it was told King David saying the Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him on account of the ark of God. 00:25:32.420 --> 00:25:39.500 David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness." So here's 00:25:39.500 --> 00:25:46.670 what the text wants you to recognize and it goes out of his way for you to see this, is Obed-Edom is a Gittite, 00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:51.730 and this is what it means, it's not a Jew, he's a foreigner. 00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:54.330 He's an outsider. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:56.740 He doesn't belong. 00:25:57.940 --> 00:26:03.700 He doesn't fit in, he's not with the customs of the people and what happens? 00:26:05.520 --> 00:26:07.920 God's gracious. 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:09.760 God makes the outsider and insider. 00:26:11.560 --> 00:26:15.180 They're thinking in Israel, "Oh man, our people died from the ark. 00:26:15.520 --> 00:26:16.780 We don't want to get near this thing. 00:26:16.960 --> 00:26:24.160 Let's drop it off at the other guy's house that's not connected to us and let's just leave it there." The ark stays there for three months and not only does Obed-Edom 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:28.550 not die, but he finds his life blessed because of the Lord's presence in his house. 00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:29.900 So what does David learn this? 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:38.000 While God is sacred and God is holy and we are not to take that lightly, God is also gracious and 00:26:38.060 --> 00:26:39.100 desires to be near us. 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:49.620 This text wants us see that even those that feel like they don't belong, the foreigner, the 00:26:49.620 --> 00:26:56.910 outsider, they have a place before the Lord, and he gets incredible blessing. 00:26:57.300 --> 00:27:00.360 For three months, the ark stays there before it continues on to Jerusalem. 00:27:01.760 --> 00:27:02.700 So what did David learn? 00:27:04.910 --> 00:27:10.180 God's grace desires to still be near His people and bless them. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:15.490 The outsider has a place before the Lord and certainly God's people. 00:27:16.780 --> 00:27:18.160 So what's the result of that? 00:27:19.780 --> 00:27:27.120 When David sees these two stories transpire, that God has sacred and holy to be revered, but 00:27:27.120 --> 00:27:34.300 also God is gracious, providing a way for us to connect to Him, David's response was to 00:27:34.300 --> 00:27:36.060 delight before the Lord. 00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:41.800 That they serve such a powerful God and as they follow that God, that God has for them. 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:49.440 So it leads David's heart as he comes into Jerusalem to celebrate before the Lord, to the point that David puts on an ephod and 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:56.660 he dances just carelessly, to the point that Michal criticizes David for the way that he danced. 00:27:57.780 --> 00:27:59.060 You think about what this represents. 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:00.980 The ark is the story of the gospel. 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:08.580 The ark for us becomes the place to pause and to think about the way God's presence is represented in our lives. 00:28:11.840 --> 00:28:18.960 That God is sacred and holy, and we can play games and pretend like we're appeasing God 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:25.940 but the question remains, how are you really going to get near such a holy God? 00:28:29.180 --> 00:28:32.540 How could you expect to draw near to the Lord? 00:28:35.020 --> 00:28:36.120 What is it you can offer? 00:28:38.280 --> 00:28:45.400 God is so powerful and so just, and so holy that He can take the life of an individual in a blink of 00:28:45.400 --> 00:28:55.000 an eye, but at the same token, that mercy seat of God, it 00:28:55.000 --> 00:29:02.160 was a place where God's grace was made known, where Israel would come in every year and offer a sacrifice on 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:05.120 it, to recognize their sins need atoned for. 00:29:07.500 --> 00:29:11.520 That God desires that relationship and the only way to find it is forgiveness. 00:29:13.560 --> 00:29:15.040 Forgiveness. 00:29:15.820 --> 00:29:23.140 David, in those moments, he strips himself of every facade that would separate him from God and 00:29:23.140 --> 00:29:29.700 just in the barren attire of the ephod, he dances before the Lord, because he recognizes before God, it's not about him. 00:29:30.900 --> 00:29:34.330 It's not about the way that he carries himself. 00:29:34.600 --> 00:29:36.920 It's not about the impressions that he makes to God. 00:29:36.940 --> 00:29:39.090 It's not about the title that he carries in life. 00:29:39.140 --> 00:29:41.530 It's about the grace of God made known his world. 00:29:43.840 --> 00:29:51.000 David strips it all down to just himself and the king of Israel dances before the king of kings and 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:51.800 the Lord of Lords. 00:29:52.560 --> 00:29:55.370 He danced because he didn't have to pretend to be something. 00:29:55.420 --> 00:30:02.720 He was a raw man in basic attire, he danced because it was the day to make much of the Lord and not 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:03.400 about him. 00:30:03.400 --> 00:30:05.980 It was to be holy and revered and point people to God. 00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:14.340 He danced not because of his intellect, but because of his beauty, not because of his power, not because people was going to think he was popular and something amazing 00:30:14.340 --> 00:30:17.460 because he was bringing the ark into Jerusalem, had nothing to do with his will. 00:30:19.980 --> 00:30:24.600 It danced because he found a place where God offered His grace to His people. 00:30:27.010 --> 00:30:28.540 So how do you become a better dancer? 00:30:31.860 --> 00:30:34.620 How do you have that dance before the Lord that's pleasing to Him? 00:30:36.140 --> 00:30:43.140 I think the answer is you need a joyful passion, something that moves your 00:30:43.140 --> 00:30:46.240 soul to be thankful for and delight in. 00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:54.980 You may not have great moves, I seriously doubt David had great moves, but what David had in the streets that the people couldn't deny, was a passion. 00:30:56.540 --> 00:30:57.600 Where did David get it? 00:30:59.560 --> 00:31:00.570 Where did he find it? 00:31:02.540 --> 00:31:09.640 In understanding the holiness of God and his depravity, and understanding how far that chasm really was 00:31:09.740 --> 00:31:10.640 between he and the Lord. 00:31:12.280 --> 00:31:15.060 I mean, he watched a man die just by touching the ark. 00:31:17.340 --> 00:31:24.640 Now, I don't think that we should stay in that place, but what's important is the Bible talks about salvation and 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:30.390 we're not going to seek salvation until we realize how desperate we really are apart from Christ. 00:31:32.060 --> 00:31:37.160 David saw a man die by touching an ark because of the sacredness of who his God was. 00:31:39.760 --> 00:31:40.180 That's sobering. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:44.680 That drives you to consider, what is the solution? 00:31:46.220 --> 00:31:53.220 Well, David in while seeing the holiness of God, he also saw this incredible God that wanted to display His grace to His 00:31:53.220 --> 00:32:00.480 people, to draw near, to have His presence among them, to let them connect to 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:01.920 Him. 00:32:02.600 --> 00:32:09.740 If they would consider the sacredness of who He is and seek after the sacrifice that atones for their sands. 00:32:11.980 --> 00:32:19.040 So David, in seeing this powerful God, he also recognized that in God's grace, that God would be for him, that he even 00:32:19.040 --> 00:32:21.300 blessed a foreigner and so God could bless Israel. 00:32:21.860 --> 00:32:28.940 So in that passion of what this represents for Israel, while God is holy, mighty, powerful, that God also is gracious, loving, 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:32.780 and caring and wants to see His people thriving in His presence. 00:32:33.200 --> 00:32:35.720 Through Uzzah, he saw the holiness of God. 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:43.460 He saw the power of a sacred, Holy God and through Obed-Edom, he saw the love and grace of God, that blesses even the outsiders 00:32:43.460 --> 00:32:44.360 who revere Him. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:53.800 When your heart rejoices in this God, it may look foolish to others like 00:32:53.800 --> 00:32:54.400 Michal. 00:32:56.560 --> 00:32:57.880 It did to David's wife. 00:32:59.800 --> 00:33:03.340 But what it led David to do is rejoice within his heart. 00:33:05.340 --> 00:33:13.280 When I think about what this meant for David during his time period, and 00:33:13.280 --> 00:33:20.300 what I'm reminded of today is, because this is even before the cross of Christ, this is before God 00:33:20.300 --> 00:33:23.640 became flesh and died on the cross for us. 00:33:26.320 --> 00:33:34.360 If David was willing to rejoice in dancing over a box going down a street, how 00:33:34.360 --> 00:33:41.070 much more should our souls rejoice over Christ becoming flesh and given his life for you? 00:33:42.440 --> 00:33:49.480 It screams to us a God that wants to know you to the point that He gives His very life that you can 00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:51.780 connect with Him. 00:33:51.880 --> 00:33:58.880 The cross shows us how sacred He is to be revealed, how awful sin is that separates 00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:06.000 us from God, to the point that it brings the death of Christ, but how much our 00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:09.250 hearts have to rejoice that God didn't abandon you in your sin. 00:34:10.780 --> 00:34:18.179 That He loves you, that He wants to know you, and you from the depth of your soul have opportunity 00:34:18.179 --> 00:34:25.300 to lift your voice in rejoicing to the king of kings and the Lord of Lords who hasn't abandoned you, but 00:34:25.300 --> 00:34:26.500 He's made himself known. 00:34:28.300 --> 00:34:35.540 That should create a passion within us to celebrate the presence of God in our lives, that 00:34:35.600 --> 00:34:39.860 we who put our faith in Jesus become the temple of God.