Beware "New Cart" Theology | July 27, 2025 PM

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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Second Samuel chapter #6 is where we will be in the Word of

God as we continue our series, A Man after God's Own Heart.

And you know, there's a lot of different philosophies that are

out there today about how to bring people into church.

How do we bring people into church?

And a lot of those philosophies deal with this, with the belief,

and I would say a mistaken belief, but the belief that

church has largely become irrelevant today in society.

And maybe you've heard something along these lines.

Well, the church just isn't what it used to be.

And so the church is going to have to adapt or the church will

have to change if it wants to remain relevant within today's

society. And usually when those kind of

conversations take place, there's a lot of changes that

take place within the church house then.

A lot of. Changes, for instance the

presentation of how the church is portrayed.

It could end up looking a lot more like something you would

see at TD Garden or something from Great Woods or City Center

or whatever you called it whenever you were a kid when you

went over to those places that it looked something more that

was out of one of those large arenas than something that

maybe, well, felt like church. Perhaps the music started to

change and the music sounded like something that was more at

those venues than what you would expect it to be from a House of

God. There's a pastor that has

decided to look sloppy and he looks sloppy on purpose because

he wants to be able to kind of be more relatable.

In fact, it was ironic that I was coming in tonight.

I was dressed with the clothes that I was grilling in because I

had to change into my suit here this evening.

I thought, wow, I'm here for a laid back on church service

night in my khakis, my shirts, untucked, everything.

Maybe I should just preach like this.

Like, no, that's I don't think that's what I want to do this

evening. But there are churches where

that is a purposeful decision for the pastor to go up into the

pulpit. If they have a pulpit with

ripped jeans or a untucked shirt and have that kind of look to

look maybe more relatable, perhaps a church building that

looks a lot more than like a nightclub than something that

you would be able to relate to as a typical looking church.

So are churches irrelevant and need to be made relevant by

making these changes? My answer, as you could probably

imagine, by the suit that I'm wearing.

Tacky, maybe, but at least it's a suit all right.

But by the way, the building is, and by the type of music that we

have at all these things, the answer is this.

Are we irrelevant because we choose to make a difference

between US and the world? My answer would be no.

Actually, you're making ourselves, I believe, as

relevant as ever. Because if we attempt to look

like the world, then we just kind of get combined with

everything else that happens out in the world.

And it's our desire to be different from the world, not

for the sake of being different in and of itself, but to be able

to follow that which the Lord says, whether it's in precept or

in principle, that when the Bible speaks clearly about

something that we follow it. And when the Bible gives us

principles, we try to make sure that we follow those principles

within the church as best that we can as we apply them with the

Holy Spirit's help. Well, tonight we're going to see

that David is going to make his first administrative decision.

We already seen him go to battle the last time that we were in

the book of Second Samuel. But he's going to make an

administrative decision that's this, that the Ark of the

Covenant needs to go to the new capital city, what we would call

the city of David, Jerusalem. Remember how he took the city of

Jerusalem from the Debbie sites? It should have been taken over

300 years ago. The people of Judah forsook that

command that was placed upon them.

But David says, I'm going to go in and I'm going to take

Jerusalem as it should have been all that time ago.

Jerusalem is now being established as the capital.

And as such, Dave has a great desire for the Ark of the

Covenant to come into the capital city where the

Tabernacle will also reside. However, there's going to be

some problems. It's not going to go the way

that he expected. In fact, I would say that the

end result was nothing short of a catastrophe.

But as we look at that this evening, I believe there's some

principles that will help us as we understand how we have the

church services that we have, how we execute the philosophies

that we have here within the church, and why, why we have

church the way we do, why we do the things that we do.

Are we old fashioned just because we like old fashioned

things? Do we just want to be old

fashioned because that's just the way to go?

Or is there a greater principle that we really need to hold on

to? I believe David gives us the key

here in Second Samuel chapter #6 So why don't you stand with me

for the reading of God's Word? Second Samuel chapter #6 and

we're going to read beginning in verse #1 and says again, David

gathered together all the chosen men of Israel. 30,000 And David

arose and went with all the people that were with him from

Baal of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose

name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwell

between the cherubims. 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 Aza and Ohio. The sons of Abinadab drave the

new cart, and they brought it out of the House of Abinadab,

which was at Gibeah accompanying the Ark of God in Ohio, went

before the Ark. And David and all the House of

Israel played before the Lord on the manner of instruments made

of fir wood, even on harps and on sultries and on timbrels and

on cornets and on cymbals. And Can you imagine that this

would have been a glorious scene?

The Ark of the Covenant is making its way back to

Jerusalem, and there's all of this incredible music that's

being played, and all of them are praising the Lord Almighty.

I mean, nothing could go wrong, right?

But when they came to Nakon's threshing floor, Aza put forth

his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it for the ox and

shook it. And they angered the Lord, was

kindled against Aza, and God smote him there for his error,

and there he died by the Ark of God.

You want to talk about a party ending?

That'll do it right there. And David was displeased because

the Lord had made a breach upon Aza, and he called the name of

the place Parizaza to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord

that day, and said, How shall the ark of God, or whether the

ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not remove the

ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David.

But David carried a side into the House of Obed Edom the get

tight. And the ark of the Lord

continued in the House of Obed Edom, the get tight three months

and the Lord. Bless Obed Edom and all his

household. There were a lot of people.

Who were out there on that parade route in their sincerity,

believing that nothing could possibly go wrong.

However, there was several things that were sincerely wrong

with the scene that we have. And although sincerity is a

wonderful thing when it comes to worshiping our Lord, there is

some greater principles that are even above sincerity that I want

us to look at here tonight. So why don't you be seated and

let's pray together our only Father.

Do you just pray to help me to be able to say clearly and

kindly what I believe is in your word tonight?

Lord, help us to be able to be the church that we need to be,

not because we just want to be old fashioned for the sake of

old fashioned. I don't think there's anything

to glory in of that. But Lord, because we want to be

biblical in everything that we do and that when you command us

to do something in your Word that we do it, or when there's a

principle in your Word that we want to follow that principle

within our. Church the very best that we

can. Lord help us to be able to have

the wisdom to know and to discern these things and to see

this from the life of David and we do ask it in Jesus name,

Amen. Well, you can see that a joyful

event turns to tragedy here in just a matter of moments.

Here within our text, David gathers together about 30

thousand of his choice men, 30,000 of the men who he knows

are going to be thrilled to be able to be on.

Could we call this a detail to be able to bring the Ark of the

Covenant there to the city of David?

And so this procession begins. The music is playing and they've

got all these instruments, and it really would have been a

wonderful scene. And so as it begins, the Ark of

the Covenant has been loaded up onto what the Bible calls a new

cart. And there's two men that are

responsible for directing and driving this cart.

One man is named Ohio and the other is named Aza.

And so the Ark of the Covenant has been placed within the cart.

And now these oxen are pushing this cart and they are going

straightway towards Jerusalem. And again, it seems like nothing

could go wrong. Everyone is rejoicing.

It's a wonderful day there. The Ark of the Covenant, which

had been really placed off to the side for quite a while.

Remember in First Samuel that it had been taken away by the

Philistines for a while, but then returned back to the people

of Israel. And really it had been more of a

sideline more than anything else.

But David says this Ark of the Covenant represents the very

presence of God, and it's important that we give it the

place of prominence because it just shows that we are putting

God in the place of prominence that we should within our own

nation. And so he decides that it's

supposed to come and everything is going well.

But the Bible says that the cart gets near the threshing floor of

one named Obed Edom. And as this cart gets to the

threshing floor rather that Nakon and his threshing floor,

Obed Edom comes just a little bit later.

But as the cart is coming towards Nakons threshing floor,

there's a little bit of a problem.

Now understand this that the roads that they would have had

there would have likely just been dirt roads, muddy roads.

We're not talking about pavement, asphalt, concrete,

anything like that. They're just dirt roads.

And if you are going into a threshing floor, you know

threshing floors where they would have threshed wheat and so

there'll be carts that would be going in and out there all the

time. As carts are going in and out of

that threshing floor, there's going to be ruts.

I mean, that's what happens when you have dirt roads.

Ruts begin to form as carts over and over go through that same

place. And so there's going to be ruts

that are carved into this dirt Rd.

But as this cart that Aza is driving is going down the road,

it's not turning into the threshing floor.

Rather it's continuing straight towards Jerusalem.

And so because of that, it is not going to go into those ruts

that have been developed. It's going to be going over

those ruts. It's going to be going right

over them. And So what does that mean?

Well, if you're driving a cart, it's going to be a little bit

bumpy for a minute because you're, you know, going through

these undulations in the ground, up and down.

And so as this is happening, Aza realizes as the cart is bouncing

up and down, the Ark of the Covenant could possibly fall out

of the cart. Now, could you imagine being in

charge of the Ark of the Covenant and you drop it on the

ground? Could you imagine how bad that

would be with all of Israel watching with God and man before

you, and you are the one in charge of the safekeeping of the

ark and it falls on the ground, possibly breaks.

Who knows what would happen, But I could imagine in that moment

he panicked. In that moment he didn't know

what to do. In fact, he did the only thing

that he knew. Which to do?

Which was to grab the ark and try to stabilize it.

I I got to grab it and I got to make sure it doesn't fall.

But in that moment that he grabbed it, what happened?

He died and immediately party's over.

Immediately the music stops. David, who is rejoicing, is now

confused. What happened?

How could this be? In fact, verse 8 says that David

was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Aza.

That breach is literally the power of God coming upon Aza and

resulting in his death. How could something like this

happen? How could they get to the place

where it was just so wonderful and it seemed like everybody was

sincere in how they were praising God and it seemed like

everything was God focused and God centered, and now God comes

in as displeased with this whole thing just because a man touches

the ark of the covenant. For a moment and.

And he did it for a good reason. It wasn't even like those in

First Samuel who tried to look inside.

Do you remember when they tried to look in the Ark of the

Covenant and they died? Because, you know, you're not

supposed to look inside the Ark of the Covenant.

That's not a Hollywood thing. That's a Bible thing that God

had said that they weren't supposed to do that.

And so, yes, now, as in his sincerity, he's a good guy.

All he's trying to do is touch the ark to make sure it doesn't

topple over. And now he's dead.

And David said, how could this be?

Well, the answer to that is this.

There were a series of bad choices that had been made that

brought them to the point while they were sincere, they were

sincerely wrong about a lot of different things.

Now, I want to kind of take a look at our Bibles here for just

a few minutes so I can explain it to you so you can see exactly

what happened. So we're going to work our way

back to Second Samuel, but first.

So leave your spot there, but go to Exodus chapter #25 Exodus

chapter #25 When you get there, look at verse #10 Exodus 25,

Exodus 25:10

verse 10. And there are instructions now

about the Tabernacle being constructed.

And you remember that when God gave Moses the instructions for

constructing a Tabernacle, there was no leeway.

There was no ability for them to make their own particular

flourishes or designs. God said this.

This is the way that it must be made.

You make it to the exact specifications.

You say, well, why would God do something like that?

Well, one, because he's God and he's allowed to.

And two, because the Tabernacle was a picture in every corner,

in every edifice, a picture of the coming Jesus Christ.

And so for them to put their own marks upon the Tabernacle was in

essence for them to say that Jesus would not be enough.

Now they wouldn't have realized that, but that's what it would

have been. And so God was very particular

about how this was to be constructed.

So look at verse 10. And they shall make an arc of

shit wood, 2 cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and

a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half

the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with

pure gold within, and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt

make upon it a crown of gold roundabout.

And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in

the four corners thereof. And two rings shall be in one

side of it, and two rings in the other side of it.

And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, and overlay them

with gold. And thou shalt put the staves

into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be

born with them. And the staves shall be in the

rings of the ark. They shall not be taken from it.

What do we find from this text? That God had a very particular

way for the ark of the Covenant to be transported.

And that was this. That there were rings on the

side of the ark of the Covenant. That there were staves that fit

inside of those rings. And that the ark of the covenant

was never supposed to be put into a cart.

It was always supposed to be born or carried.

The ark of the covenant was supposed to be carried.

And so because of that, what do we see?

We see that when we get to Second Samuel chapter #6 that

they were not following God's plan for the transportation of

the ark. No, no, what they said was for

whatever reason, we are going to do this our own way.

Then that's the only place. Go to Numbers chapter 4.

Numbers 4 · chapter mention

Numbers chapter #4 because it wasn't just supposed to be

carried. There was more than that as

well. Numbers chapter #4 Look at verse

#15 give you a second to get there and says this.

And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the

sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary as the camp is

set forward, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it,

but they shall not touch any holy thing.

What are those next 3 words, lest they.

Die and it was said two things quite important here from what

we just read 1. It wasn't just that the Ark of

the Covenant was supposed to be carried, but it was supposed to

be carried by the sons of Levi, and particularly the sons of

Kohath, which were a family within the tribe of Levi.

But on top of that, they were told these particular men are to

carry it, and these particular men are not to touch it.

They can touch the staves, it's going to be over their

shoulders, but they cannot touch the Ark of the Covenant.

They cannot touch the other vessels.

Why? If they touch it then.

Hey. Will die.

Seems pretty clear to me. This isn't one of those things

in the word of God where you go, well I don't know, I maybe could

see it a different way. The Bible was so clear that what

David and Aza and Ohio and all those who were involved with the

debacle that took place of the Ark of the Covenant on its way

to Jerusalem, all of them for whatever reason ignored,

neglected, or were ignorant of the fact that the Word of God

says this. This isn't the way you're

supposed to do it. You say, well, I mean, is it

really that big of a deal? Again, when it's the Lord who

says this is the way to do it? You have to follow what the Lord

says. It's the Lord's ark.

It's the Lord's rules. It's the Lord's house.

It's the Lord's way. That's the way it always has to

be. So it begs the question here

tonight, where on earth did they get the idea to put the ark in a

cart? I mean, if the Bible is so clear

about what they should have done, the book of Exodus, the

Book of Numbers, this is the way you need to do it.

You need to carry it. These are who needs to carry it.

Don't ever touch it. And a clear warning, if you

touch it, you die. Why on earth would they have

done anything else? And believe it or not, the

answer is hidden in a text that we studied about a year ago.

So I want you to keep moving closer to Second Samuel, but I

want you to stop in First Samuel.

First Samuel chapter #6, First Samuel chapter #6.

Now you'll remember that back when Samuel was a young lad that

Eli was the high priest, Hofni and Phineas were his wicked

sons, and that there was a time when the Philistines were coming

to battle, and Hofni and Phineas had this idea that we should

take the Ark of the Covenant and we should take it with us out to

battle. Remember Hofni and Phineas.

Nor did the men of Israel have any desire to worship the God of

the Ark. They were using it as a good

luck charm. By the way, the Ark of the

Covenant is not some good luck charm.

Well, whoever holds it holds the power.

Listen, God has the power, friend.

It's not about who holds it holds the power.

Again, that's a Hollywood construct that's being thought

of. That is not what the Word of God

talks about. The Philistines have in that

battle take possession of the ark.

But then you remember what happens.

They take possession of the ark and they put it in the House of

their gods. And at first the statue falls

down in front of the ark. They put the statue back up.

They say, let's kind of strange. The statue falls down again and

now the statue is broken before the ark.

And then all of a sudden things start getting weird.

You know, they start having some personal problems.

Do I need to go back into all that?

They were having some of those boils and some very sensitive

places in their bodies. And a lot of things are going

on. And they say, man, this is

really weird. You know, and it really all

started back when this ark came in.

We ought to just send it back to Israel.

But, you know, we want to know if it really is the ark or not.

And so they constructed this weird.

Way of trying to figure out whether it was the arc that was

causing all these problems or not.

And look at what happens in chapter 6 verse #1 it says and

the ark of the Lord is in the country, the Philistines seven

months. And the Philistines called for

the priests and the diviners saying, What shall we do to the

ark of the Lord? Tell us wherewith we shall send

it to his place. And they said, if you send away

the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty, but in any

wise return him a trespass offering, then he shall be

healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed

from you. Then said they, what shall be

the trespass offering which we shall return to him?

They answered 5 golden emeralds. There's that well sensitive boil

that is mentioned there, and five golden mice according to

the number of the For one plague was you on you all, and on your

Lords. Wherefore he shall make images,

your em rods, images of your vice that mar the land.

Give glory unto the God of Israel, Peradvention.

Peradventure He will lighten his hand from off you and off your

gods, and from your land. Wherefore then, do you harden

your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh harden their hearts when

he had wrought wonderfully among them?

Did they not let the people go and depart us?

Stop right there, just a moment, they said.

They said, we've got to be smarter than Pharaoh.

We've got to be smarter than the Egyptians.

They allowed their whole nation to almost be burned down to the

ground because they refused to see the clear hand of God.

And the Philistine says, we can't do that.

We've got to make sure, we've got to make sure with what we

have in front of us that we give glory to the God of Israel.

They're not talking about salvation.

They're just talking about the fact that they recognize that

there is a God who is doing something here.

And so they said so. So we need to humble ourselves

before him in this manner. But then look at verse #7 well,

how do they do this? Now?

Therefore, make a. What are those next?

2 words a new cart. And take two milk kind of which

there had come no yoke, and tie the kind of the cart and bring

their calves home from them. So where did the Israelites get

the idea of transporting the ark on a new cart?

It didn't come from the Word of God.

It didn't come from the commands and precepts that God had given

back in the wilderness. The whole idea of this new cart

theology came not from God, but came from the Philistines.

They had seen the Philistines. No, no, they had seen the world

having transported the ark in this way.

And somewhere in their memory they decided, I've seen this

before. I think we can do this too.

Listen, the word of God is so precise.

The word of God, every word, every letter, every jot, every

title is there for a reason. Do you think it's an accident

that a new cart is mentioned here in First Samuel chapter 6

1 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

and a new cart is mentioned? The exact same phrase, the exact

same way, the exact same adjective there in Second Samuel

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. No, it's there as a warning and

a signpost to us that we are not to look to the Philistines to be

able to craft our. Own worship and practice when it

comes to the things of God. See, here's the issue tonight.

You Baptist. You independent Baptist.

You're so old fashioned, you like everything old.

Well, I would argue that point a little bit tonight.

I'm arguing that because I look to my right and I see a

television screen. I'm Bart, look at the back and I

can see myself because there's a television there showing me.

We're live streaming to thousands and thousands of

people minus a few 1000. We have technology, there's a

board back there filled with technological things.

No, no, the issue is not whether something is old fashionable.

You just like old fashioned things because you're

independent about. No, that's not the issue at all.

The issue was not new versus old.

You know, when it comes to this issue that we're looking at

tonight of new cart theology, it really comes down to this not

what is new versus what is old. It's what is true versus what is

false, because that's what this comes down to.

Newcart theology isn't dangerous because it's new.

Newcart theology is dangerous because it's false and contrary

to God's. Word.

There's nothing that we do as a church that was should resemble

what the world does in their worldliness.

The world has its place outside of these doors, but in this.

Church. We should be a refuge and a

haven from the things of the world.

We deal with the things of the world all the other days of the

week. And by the way, God has called

us to do that, hasn't he? He's called us to be

missionaries to the world, to love the world.

But at the same time, when we come into the God's house, this

is to be a refuge from the things of the world.

No, no, it's not to be a refuge from the people of the world

because we should see people from the world coming in here

and coming to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

And we should love them with the gospel, but we should love them

with the gospel and not love them with the very world of

which they are looking at and living it out there.

And they need to be saved from. And new cart theology says this,

we need to be as much like the world as possible.

And we'll show them the world and then eventually we'll show

them Christ. And that makes us relevant.

But the Bible says this. We're called to be lights in a

Dark World. We're called to be salt.

We're called to be water in a dry and barren land.

You know, God's called us to be different.

Remember, Titus chapter #2 calls, tells us that we're

called to be a peculiar people. And I'll tell you, some of us do

that peculiar thing pretty well. We're to be different, zealous

of good works. There is a line of theology,

there's a line of thinking that is out there today and is

prevalent in churches that is very sincere.

Oh no, David was sincere in Second Samuel chapter 6.

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

Aza had a good heart. Look, I'm not as mean as you

think I am tonight, all right? Haza had a good heart.

He didn't want the ark to fall. But the problem was this.

Even though he was sincere in what he was doing, he was

sincerely wrong. And the issue is not sincerity

in and of itself. The issue is this.

Will we stand upon the truth of God's word, whether it's in

principle or in precept? And everything else ought to be

rejected, particularly when it comes to our worship of God. 2nd

State 2nd Corinthians 614 through 17.

I've read these verses before, but I have to read them here.

Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.

For what fellowship hath the righteousness?

With unrighteousness? What?

Communion hath life with darkness.

What conquered and brought Christ with Belial?

What part hath he that believeth with an infidel?

What agreement had the temple of God with idols for you, the

temple of living God? As God has said, I will dwell in

them and walk in them. Will be their God, they shall be

my people. Wherefore come out from among

them and be separate, saith the Lord.

And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.

James 44YE adulterers and adulterer, says, No, you not

that friendship. The world is enmity with God.

Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy

of God. Again, this is not me being

against things that are new. That's what not.

That's not what this is about. Believe it or not, not

everything that is new is evil. However, we must be careful when

incorporating new philosophies and new items within a church to

make sure that we are not simply doing it to be carbon copies of

the world. There's a lot of questions that

are out there today that we have to grapple with on a regular

basis of church. How do we use social media?

How do we use it in a way that's pleasing to God?

How do we? Use our live stream there.

Do we even use live? There are churches that have

different philosophies about live streaming and what it

means. I know some churches that won't

even let you use a live stream unless you remember they have to

come to those conclusions on their own.

These. I'm not saying that's the right

way to do it, but I'm saying these are questions that

actually need to be grappled with.

The use of AI within a church. How do we use AI?

Is there ever a place to use it? Do we use it rightly?

Do we use it wrongly? Replacing church services with

small groups and instead of having a church service, just

meeting at different people's houses and to be able to do

things. These are questions that

churches and pastors have to grapple with.

And we have to ask ourselves this question, why are we doing

what we're doing or why would we change that which we're already

doing? For what purpose?

You know, there's a time when a lot of things were new again.

New is not the enemy. There was a time when the piano

was new. Churches and incorporate piano

was unthinkable at a point about 150 years ago, but we don't

think anything now in fact, our piano is electric we don't have

a piano it's a keyboard that. Mimics a piano.

Church chairs. You know, there's an argument at

some point, though, about whether churches have chairs in

the auditorium or not. Say, well, what do you mean?

Well, like pews instead of chairs?

Can people argue about stuff like that?

You ever been around church? We can find all kinds of stuff.

To argue about. Use chairs, TV's, as screens in

a church, even the live stream itself, whether it should be a

thing or not, or whether you're in church and that's it.

And we don't live stream at all. These are all questions.

But again, the issue is not whether something is new if it's

the enemy. The question is this, does what

we see violate the word of God in precept or in principle?

And if something is changed within our worship of God,

within our service to God, simply to.

Be like the world. It's Newcart theology, and we

must keep it at arm's length. How do you identify this Newcart

theology? I'm going to give you 5 things

very quickly here from our text, five ways you can identify this

Newcart theology because I believe our text gives us, if we

go back to Second Samuel, some clues as to how we can identify.

It first of all #1 Newcart theology focuses on thrills

before theology. Newkart theology focuses on

thrills before theology. What we see here in Second

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

Samuel chapter 6 was an exciting day.

And by the way, if it had been done right, it would have been a

very exciting day. However, it could be argued that

David's excitement clouded his judgement as to what the

scripture said because David did not search the scriptures to see

how it should be done. You know what's ironic after

what we read in verse #11 if you were to go to First Chronicles

15, don't do that right now, but you can later and see a

companion passage because you know, we're at the place now

where the kings and the Chronicles are starting to align

a little bit. If you were to see this in First

1 Chronicles 15:1

Chronicles 15, verses 1/2 and 13, it says this.

And David made him a house in the city of David, prepared a

place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.

And then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the

Levites, For them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God,

and to minister unto him forever.

For because he did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a

breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due

order. So what happened after

everything came crashing down? David went to the Scriptures.

He said this isn't about the feeling, it's about making sure

that we are not violating the word of God and doing what God

wants us to do. And listen, emotions aren't the

enemy. We are emotional creatures.

God created you. OK, God created most of you with

emotions here tonight. All right.

I would say a good 90% of you tonight, God has created you

with emotions, all right? And it's a good and it's the

right thing. But when emotions drive us and

propel us, instead of being the reaction to what happens,

instead it becomes the action. It is a very dangerous place to

be. So I don't see that, Pastor.

Oh, yeah, That rage text you sent, that phone call that you

made in the heat of the moment. Oh, yeah.

Emotions can get the best of us can.

And should church be an emotional place?

Well, I mean, I would say yes, in a lot of ways.

We meet with God here. He teaches us, He convicts us,

He encourages us. I think many times I just get to

sit here and enjoy the special music that we have.

And then I look out in the crowd and realize that other people

are moved in the way that I'm moved.

Hey, that's a blessing. But I will say this, it's not

something to be manufactured. It's not something that we

purposely put together to make sure that the lighting package

is right and the fog machine is right and that the lights go

down low. You say, pastor, that's not a

thing that is very much a thing to manufacture a feeling.

It's a dangerous thing. New cart theology takes the

thrill and kicks the theology out.

That's what happened here. First of all, new cart theology

focuses on thrills before theology #2 novelty becomes the

old habit, novelty becomes the old habit.

The new part of the cart is. Interesting.

Again, this was given to us by the inspiration of God.

He could have just said it was a cart in both places, but he

purposely said that it was a new cart.

I will say this, a large part of the New Age church movement is

incorporating that which is new. Like it's a Christian arms race.

We've got to have the newest and the best and the biggest and the

brightest. And if we're going to have a

successful church, if we're going to reach people, we've got

to have more stuff than the other people have stuff.

Now, this is very graphically shown, not necessarily here in

New England, but I will tell you just.

Even last week or a couple weeks ago when we were in Springfield,

MO. And Springfield, MO had the

largest concentration of not just independent Baptist

churches, but if I have my understanding, churches in

general per capita in the United States.

About 50 to 60 years ago, a lot of what we would call old

fashioned type churches and not the fact that they were again

right because they're old fashioned, but because there was

a definite type and style of worship and honoring of the

Lord. But times change and churches

want to remain relevant. And it shocked me over the times

that we've been able to be out there to see churches with play

zones that would make a YMCA jealous.

I mean, I'm talking about those tubes, you know, that the kids

always want to go through and they're crawling through in the

ball pits and all that stuff. Video games, beach volleyball

for the adults, pickleball, all of these different things that

are available. Basically the church becoming

like a small social club or maybe a large social club.

And in the mix with that is also a little bit of church.

You know, the problem with novelty, The problem with

novelty is that novelty wears off and you need more novelties.

You get bigger novelties and better novelties and. 1st

Corinthians 1558 says this. Therefore, my beloved brethren,

be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain

with the Lord. This is an interesting verse

because it says to be steadfast and unmovable, and in our

Christian walk we are to be steadfast and unmovable, but

then it says always abounding. You know, it's interesting that

oftentimes if we're not careful, we think that abounding means we

have to constantly. Change with the times to keep up

with what other people are doing.

But the Bible actually makes it clear that if you want to

abound, be steadfast, unmovable, stand on the word of God for

what it is. Am I for activities?

I'm for activities. We had children's activity this

afternoon. It was a disaster, all right,

kind of like the children's activity we had before where I

couldn't somehow hook up the airplay to my to the TV and it

was awful. But you know what I found out

through all that? There was a young lady that got

saved, is baptized. I'm thankful for activities and

things like that. But when the tail starts to wag

the dog, what's the point of having activity, by the way?

Well, an activity ought to fulfill one of the purposes of

the Great Commission to bring people to Christ, to help people

to grow with one another. Oh yeah.

Pastor, how does a church picnic help people to grow together?

We got new believers with older believers.

You mix them together, they talk, they fellowship, they get

to know one another. That's part of discipleship.

That's the older teaching. The younger, well, it's just

about novelty. We've got to have new things,

new stuff, new stuff, new stuff, new stuff.

Be careful. That's new cart theology.

Novelties come and go, and they require more and more novelties

to keep people plugged in. By the way, what you win people

with is what you got to keep them with.

So to be so careful, new cart theology, novelty becomes the

old habit. Also #3 it's big on sincerity,

but it's lacking in Scripture. It's big on sincerity and

lacking in scripture. Listen, good intentions do not

compensate for going the wrong direction.

I'm going to say that again. Good intentions do not

compensate for going the wrong direction.

David was sincere, Aza was sincere, Ohio was sincere, but

they all were sincerely wrong. Now, I want you to listen very

carefully to what I have to say. There are a lot of New Age

Christian believers that are very sincere in what they

believe. I'm not here to mock them

tonight, to make fun of them tonight, or to try to make any

type of joke about who they are. I'm not trying to do that at

all. I believe they can be very

sincere. I believe sometimes they can be

even more sincere than some of us if we're not careful.

But I will say this, that that sincerity does not compensate

for a lack of being grounded in the Word of God.

It's so important to be grounded in the Scriptures, by the way.

That's why it's important we bring our Bibles with us to

church. A lot of churches today, they

have the. Bible verses on the screen and

people are encouraged not to bring your Bible.

In fact, oftentimes it's a choice that pastors make to show

lots of different Bible versions in they're sermons.

Why? Because you get to the place

where you say this. I don't even need to bring my

Bible to church with me because I'm I can't carry 5 Bible

versions with me. No, no, you know what I want you

to do? I want you to be able to bring

your King James Bible to church and I want you to write what God

has done for you in your life, to mark verses, to put quotes

and to learn and to grow to be a Bible.

Believer. See, once we're in the

Scriptures, that builds sincerity, true sincerity.

I want you to be Bible literate. I want you to have a walk with

God. This is my desire.

No, sincerity is great, but it does not compensate for a lack

of Scripture. New cart theology.

Listen, the world is the template and not the Word.

The world is the template and not the Word.

You know, Israel had this weird infatuation with the

Philistines. It was weird.

Like they kept trying to be like the Philistines.

Remember when the Philistines took over and then Samuel was

this judge for a while And then they said, you know, we want a

king to be just like all the other nations.

Why do you want to be like the Philistines?

Hey, we got to move. We got to move the ark back to

Jerusalem. Hey, you know who did that

really well a few years ago? The Philistines.

And it was the very people who were there were oppressors who

they were trying to copy. Again, may I remind you, the

world is not your friend. No, I want to be careful.

I'm not talking about the people of the world that we were

supposed to be friend and love them to Christ.

What I'm saying is this, the world system of which Satan is

intimately in charge of, remember the Prince and the

power of the air? This world system of which he

administrates today that we see manifest itself in so many

different ways that Satan himself is in charge of the

system. The world is not your friend.

So why would we turn around and bring the world's music into

God's house and just change a few words?

Why would we take the world's methodology and bring it into

the church and just sanitize it a little bit?

No, this place must be different.

This place must be a haven. No, again, not old fashioned for

the sake of being old fashioned, but just being right because we

want to be right with God. And how do we know that we're

right with God? We search the scriptures and we

use the Word as the template, not what we see out in the

world. We don't need the world's music,

the world's methods, the world's modes, the world models, nor do

we need the world mentorship. What do we do?

We do what we do. Because it says it in the word

of God. Hey, why do we preach?

Wouldn't it be better just get rid of the pulpit, move these

chairs up a little bit and have an Oprah style talk every

service? I probably need less.

Preparation, I can tell you that.

Could we get rid of preaching all together and maybe just have

a drama or some type of video? Could we just change the

elements of the Lord's Supper to make them more interesting?

Couldn't we just use music that sounds more like a rock concert?

That if you were outside the church that you couldn't tell

the difference between being a church or great woods?

Couldn't we just do that because won't that bring the people in?

I mean, isn't that what people are looking for?

Well, it is what people are looking for, but what they

really need to be looking for is Jesus.

And if we obscure Jesus with the world, you know, it's like, it's

like giving your dog a pill. Anybody ever do that before you

have a dog that needs a pill and they don't want the pill.

Our dog, Bonnie, bless her heart.

Well, anyway, I was going to mention she's no longer with us,

but Bonnie is. She didn't want a pill.

So you know what we did? I knew she.

Didn't want the pill, but it's good for her, right?

So what do you do? You wrap it in something, get

some peanut butter, you get some cheese, you get some cream.

I would get anything. And we get, you know what she

would do? She would lick the peanut butter

and she'd spit out the pill. And we're getting near the end

of her life and I'm and I'm like, get a pill, carry your,

carry your body. You got to stay alive and.

Eventually I said she has no more will to live.

I can't because if she's going to live, it's going to because

of that peanut butter. It's not going to be because of

the pill. Why would a church treat Jesus

Christ like the pill? That's not good.

And. Wrap it up.

In that good taste in peanut butter.

But we don't. Want him to know about Jesus

until it's. Too late now.

Why don't we show them Jesus when we come in the door?

Why don't we show them Jesus when they sit down here?

Why don't we, Why don't we show them Jesus in the parking lot

when they're coming in? And we don't act like crazy

worldly people honking at each other and, and do all crazy

stuff. And we just, we love each other

in the parking lot and in the Pew and, well, the chairs or

wherever we are that we just show them love.

The word is the template, not the world.

If if the world had good ideas, it could redeem itself.

Now what the world needs is Jesus Christ, and we can't

obscure Him. The last part of Newcart

theology is this that I see from our text.

The sacred becomes standard. It almost feels like nowadays

there's nothing left that's sacred.

It would become so casual in so many areas of our life as a

touch. The sacred ark.

He was not supposed to touch. Now listen, God is love.

God is mercy. God is grace.

Aren't you glad he's those things?

If you can't say Amen to anything else tonight, you can

at least say Amen to this. God is love and mercy and grace,

and all God's people said Amen, but you know this.

God is also this. He's holy, He's just, He's

truth, He's all those things. You know what I found?

New cart theology often does. It emphasizes the one side and

tries to eliminate the other. It makes God your cosmic buddy

and not the thrice holy God. Now listen, do we have a friend

that sticketh closer than a brother in Jesus Christ?

Yeah. Do we get to call him ABBA

Father, which connotates A closeness?

Oh, yes. But you cannot eliminate the

holiness, the truth and the justice of God.

The sacred cannot become standard.

Yeah, I want to be careful about this, I really do.

But when we come to church, it's a special place and we do a

special things when we come to church.

I, I, I purposely dressed the way to do.

Why don't I wear ripped jeans? Well, one, because, you know, I

don't have any ripped jeans. I guess if I ripped them, I'd be

working and well, anyway, so, you know, but why?

Because I want my dress to show that what's taking place is

serious. What takes place behind this

pulpit is Kingdom work. Well, you'd be a lot more

relatable if you wouldn't wear tacky suits like that.

Well, that may be the case. And maybe this is a little bit

loud. All right, I'm still praying

about that. But anyway, I do know this

because I want to show to those who are here what we're doing is

serious. And so I want my dress to show

how serious. Listen, if I can dress up to go

to a nice restaurant, then I can dress up to go to the House of

God. Now we have to be careful about

this. We.

Don't want to become Pharisees? Look down at people.

I've had people apologize on when I just came from work, I

said. You just came from work and you

came to church. Praise God, I'm so happy you

came to church. We don't be Pharisees about

this. The Pharisees, they were caught

up in the long roads, weren't they?

They were caught up in all those things, but they didn't have it

in the heart. I want to be very careful about

what I say here tonight, but I do want to say there is a heart

attitude. Of just I.

Want to give God my best? Why?

Because there's still some things that are sacred.

The House of God is sacred. The worship of God is sacred.

Our praise of God is sacred, and we don't want any of it to be

tainted with any part of the world.

We want to be pure and we want to be good and we want to be

right, and we want to be pleasing to our Lord because we

want everything we do to be pleasing to our Lord.

But new cart theology focus on thrills before theology.

Novelty becomes the old habit. It's big on sincerity but

lacking in Scripture. The world is the template and

not the Word, and the sacred becomes standard.

We got to beware of new cart. Theology as a church we must now

and for as long as this church is here, which I pray for a very

long time, that it rejects new cart theology and says we just

want to do what the Word of God says, how the word of God says

it. And if there are philosophies

that we find in the word of God that aren't expressly stating

what we should do, the Bible doesn't tell us whether we

should have a live stream or not.

That we apply Scripture the best that we can and we prayerfully

ask the Lord to help us with these things.

I'll say a couple things and I'll be done.

To make a difference, you have to be different.

You can't change something by adding more of the same.

I, I, I love everything about New England.

There's one thing that's bugged me for 12 years, and that is the

lack of sweet tea. Yes, someone for tea up here,

they'll give you a cup of hot tea.

Like, that's not what I'm asking for.

I'm asking for like, iced tea, you know?

And there's not a lot of sweet tea up here, is there?

I like sweet tea with a lemon, lots of sugar.

It's the way to do it. All right, You say, well, that's

unhealthy, right? Well, you know.

Yeah. Anyway, I'm not even disagreeing

with you. I'm in the pulpit.

I got to tell the truth. That's not good for you, but it

tastes great. But up here, a lot of people

will give you, you know. Unsweet tea, it's cold, they'll

give you sugar. And you know what you do you

like stir it for an hour and that sugar just comes, travels

around in there. It's like you have the sugar

vortex that settles to the ground and that's it.

You know, if I want to make sweet tea, I don't just add.

More unsweet tea. I have to put something.

In that will make a. Change.

Say, pastor. That's common sense, like you're

talking. To us like we're.

Infants. I mean, that is common sense,

but you know, when it comes to our Christian life, we don't

take that very common principle and apply it if we want to be

relevant. We don't need to look like the

world. We need to look different than

the world if we want to be relevant.

We don't need to copy. What the world does, this needs

to be a haven from the world if we're to be relevant.

We are not to hide Jesus Christ. We're to make sure that

everything we do uplifts Jesus Christ and that we don't hide

the message by the other things that we do.

That. Everything uplifts Jesus Christ.

I pray that at Liberty Baptist Church, this is who we are and

this is what we do and this is what we do in the future.

But I will give you one piece of warning that we can have

theology that's correct. We can be orthodox in.

Everything that we do, we can have the right music.

The right standards, the right approach and all these things,

but listen. We can be lifted.

Up in pride? Well.

All those other people are using new carts.

But we use staves. We we know who we are.

Those other people. Listen, just because you have it

right doesn't mean you're getting it right in your.

Heart. So we need to be very.

Careful, as a church, that we don't.

Look at our who we are as a church, as a source of pride.

You know who we are. We're old fashioned.

That's probably not the way we need to go around.

Who are we? We're disciples of Christ and we

just want to, in every fiber of our being, radiate Him inside

the church house and outside the church house.

New cart theology is dangerous. It's sincere, always.

It's sincere, it's exciting, it is so exciting.

It's got elements that just thrill.

You down to. The core, but.

That. Doesn't make it right.

If you're not sure you can ask Aza.

Well, you can't ask Aza because he's dead and there are many

people who will be actually LED astray by following new cart

theology instead of getting what they need right from the

scriptures. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit. Of Liberty Baptist Church If

this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.