Sinners in God's Presence (2 Samuel 6:1-23)

This might be the most to use quote in our SPMC sermons

history. It's from CS Lewis, Chronicles

of Narnia, and it's easy, safe, safe, said Mr. Beaver.

Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe, but he

is good. He's not safe, but he is good.

Of course Mr. Beaver is referring to Auslan who who who

who was portrayed as God slash Christ figure in the books.

He isn't safe, but he is good. That's who God is.

And God never presents himself as safe.

From the very beginning of scriptures, Adam and Eve, after

they sin, they are cast out. Lot's wife turns around he will

she wasn't supposed to and turns into a pillar of salt.

Isaiah meets God and says woe to me for I have, you know, unclean

lips. Peter meets Jesus on the boat,

on his boat and says depart from me for I am a Sinner.

God says to Moses, no one can see me and live.

God is not safe, but he is good. In today's passage, David

realizes both. He sees how unsafe God could be,

and he also sees the goodness of God.

And we're going to figure out how both of them could be true

at the same time. So we're going to answer the

question, how can sinful people experience the presence of God?

How can sinful people experience the presence of God #1 recognize

we often approach Him the wrong way.

We must recognize how we approach Him the wrong way.

If you have your Bibles, please turn to Second Samuel chapter 6.

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

Otherwise it will be posted behind me as well.

I'll be reading one through 7 for now, from the last sermon

till today's sermon, and it's only one week for us.

But in the story, about 10 to 15 years have passed.

David is no longer running from Saul, but he has become king.

In chapter 5 he becomes king and this is chapter 6.

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

So he just becomes king of all over Israel and and this is the

first thing he does. OK chapter 6 verse one, David

again assembled all the fit young men in Israel. 30,000 He

and all his troops set out to bring the ark of God from Baal

Judah. The ark bears the name, the name

of the Lord of armies who is enthroned between the cherubim.

They set the Ark of God on a new cart and transported from

Abinadab's house, which was on the hill.

Uzza and Ahil, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the cart and

brought it with the Ark of God from Abinadab's house on the

hill. Ahil walked in front of the ark.

David and the whole House of Israel were dancing before the

Lord with all kinds of four wood instruments, liars, harps,

tambourine systems and symbols. When they came out to Nakon's

threshing floor, Uzza reached out to the Ark of God and took

hold of it. Because the oxen has stumbled.

Then the Lord's anger burned against Uzza, and God struck him

dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there

next to the ark of God. I know right away your mind

might be wondering, OK, why did he have to die before we get

there? We got, let's start from the

beginning. If you go to this, go to the

verses before this, the ark represents God's presence.

This is the same ark if you watch the movie Indiana Jones,

that's the one that he's looking for.

The ark is basically a big box and it has 10 commandments in

there along with Aaron's rod. It has a part of manna from

Moses time. Ark was not actually just a

symbol of God's presence. God's presence was actually

there. His presence is manifested in a

concentrated form. So there's a greater Prince of

God on the ark than anywhere else.

God is everywhere, but sometimes he chooses a specific spot for

his more intense presence, and the ark was that place.

Chapter 5. David becomes king and the first

thing he does, the first act of being him being a king, is to

bring the Ark back to Jerusalem. For the past 40-50 years, the

Ark was kind of near the Philistine Israel border.

Saw this entire time he was king, he just left it there even

before Saw Eli's sons actually because of them, it kind of

ended up there. Kind of shows that Saul really

didn't care about God's presence or worship or anything like

that. And David here does the right

thing. He's absolutely right in this.

He says we need the presence of God and he brings the ark back

to Jerusalem. This was his first order of

action, and it should also be our first order of action in our

lives that we have the presence of God.

We don't need any more. We don't need just information

about God. We need God's presence.

Without it, we are constantly trying to build our own

identity, carry our own burdens and and really secure our own

lives without God's presence. We're we're anxious, we're

exhausted. We're never sure if we're

enough. And the Bible says, you know,

really, you don't need anything else.

What we actually need is God himself.

What I found is that what I just explained, we need the praise of

God. I really need to convince

people. I think most people will say,

especially if you're Christian and you're coming here like,

yeah, well, obviously that's why I'm here.

That's why I came to worship. The problem is really the desire

that's kind of innate in us as Christians.

But it's the approach. It's the approach in in how to

be in Prince of God. Let's examine Ouza.

OK, It's this is one of the passages where people get turned

off about our faith. They read stuff like this and

they're like, see, This is why I'm not a Christian.

This is why I don't read the Bible.

There's one thing wrong and boom, God zaps him and then he's

dead. And and these are parts of the

Bible that if you're not believing, friends came up to

you and like explain this and you're like, oh, do I have to it

it? It's a difficult thing to

explain, but let's try. Let's try to figure out why God

might do such a thing. They are bring carrying the ark

back to church women and it is a celebration and verse one it

says David is bringing 30,000 men, which means they're not

going to war. They're not afraid that they're

going to get attacked or anything like that.

They wanted like a like a professional, a parade.

Just imagine 30,000 men, soldiers and other people too

right People play instruments and and carrying the ark of God

back to Jerusalem. It's supposed to be a

celebration. Apparently it was at this guy

named Ooza's house or his binnadab, his dad's house for

somewhat years. And, and so so they've been

taking care of it and, and they are in charge of of kind of

bringing the art back to Israel. Along the way, the oxen stumble

and Ooza reaches out only to prevent it from falling to the

ground. Then maybe it's a bumpy Rd.

It's shaking and Ooza grabs the ark and boom God strikes him

dead. I know that sounds harsh and

even unnecessary but try to understand this.

This is the issue with Oozes approach.

He has a casual view of God. The problem is not that he

touched the ark and it was just arbitrary rule that God made.

When I was in elementary, when the bell rang, you have to

freeze. My son Micah and Maddie, they

went to the same elementary as me.

And my God, when he got a detention and I said what

happened, he said he moved for two seconds after the bell.

I did not get mad at him at all. You know why?

Because I got detention for the same thing 30 years ago.

It's not a stupid rule like that.

It's a random rule God says. You know what?

I don't want anyone touching this.

Someone touches it, bam, you're dead.

The problem with this is Luza, even though he had to arc for 20

years, he really has no idea how holy God is and how sinful he

is. He has a low view of sin and a

high view of self, Low view of God.

You know, the, the, the, the laws that God gave about

handling the ark. We're very clear.

OK, you actually, they weren't even supposed to put in another

cart. That wasn't allowed.

So they weren't, they weren't supposed to do that.

Only Levites, a tribe or it's a priestly tribe.

Only they could handle it because they're trained in it.

And certainly nobody could touch it.

Luzza doesn't follow any of that and he touches the ark.

See, from the beginning of time, God has been trying to teach his

people about this reality. He's saying any other God, all

the other gods that were worshipped at this time, they

were the same. You were to impress God, have a

perhaps a 30,000 soldier processional for God.

Do crazy sacrifices for God. Impress them enough where God

says, OK, I accept you, you've shown enough.

But the true God is saying that's not how I operate.

It's not about impressing me, it's not about performing front

of me. It's about my presence, the

presence of God and man. The only thing that comes

between US and God is sin. That's why from day one God was

always serious about sin because that is the only thing keeping

us away from God. So he gave clear instructions

how to deal with it. The one obstacle for us to get

through God. God gives us clear instructions.

Once a year the high priest goes in to the Holy of Holies,

sprinkles blood into the ark and and man sins are.

It wasn't technically forgiven, it was delayed.

The punishment was delayed all the way until Christ dies for

us. Jesus pays for our sins every

year. God teaches a way for people to

deal with their sins so they could have the presence of God.

Luza didn't just break a rule, he was rejecting the core of the

gospel. When he touched the arc, there

was assumption on his part. His assumption was my hand is

cleaner than the dirt. Imagine there is some dog poop

on your hands. I say this because it recently

happened. I was with actually, you know,

Mike Albert practice baseball. It was at like their friend's

backyard. They have a batting cage and and

there's poop every worse, they have a dog back there too.

And you know, with the bag, we clean up and then we and then we

practice and there was a little bit of poop in my hands.

So I have to wash it and all that.

But imagine the poop was in my hand and I was, I don't know, I

was hanging out, right? I don't normally do that.

But let's just say I have poop in my hands and Micah has his

water bottle and then he's about to drop it.

Would I go Micah let me save her water bottle.

Here you go. No, I let it drop because my

hand is dirtier than the grass. There's assumption that Ooza

makes that I am. My hands are not that dirty.

My sin is not that bad. There's assumption that Ooza

makes that God is not that holy. I could touch the ark, at least

the dirt, it's not sinful. At least Jesus didn't have to

die for the dirt. Dirt you could wipe off.

But God is very serious about our sin.

He's saying that sin problem we cannot figure out on our own.

Even if I explained this to many of us that will still not

understand. I don't know Pastor Tim, but

Uzza had good intentions. Why?

Why did God have to be so severe?

Unfortunately, good intentions don't override God's holiness.

God is so holy he cannot intermingle with sinful people.

He just can't. It's not his nature.

It seems harsh, but God has always been harsh when it comes

to sin. God is harsh to the point where

if you do not accept the gospel, you don't go to heaven.

That's harsh. When sin came to to the Garden

of Eden, they were kicked out. That's harsh.

God's been harsh with sin because that's that important.

Ultimately, he sent his Son to die for our sins.

That's why he didn't want us to take it lightly.

He didn't want us to have good intentions and go to God saying,

God, I did all these great things for you, now accept me.

You have great intentions, but God is saying that is not

enough. Lord, I've done so much for you,

You must accept me. That's good intentions, but it

is not enough. And David, he sees all of this

happening before him. He sees Ooza die.

And then in verse 9, do we have verse 92 slides down.

David feared the Lord that day. There was fear in David and he

says, how can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?

Now he's saying I'm sinful. How can God's presence come to

me? He's fearful.

But God doesn't leave David there.

He provides a way which leads us to point #2 Remember, it is not

just that God is unsafe, He is good .2 We can only experience

God's presence through His provision of grace.

Let's read verses 11:50. So he was not willing to bring

the ark of the Lord to the city of David.

Instead, he diverted to the House of Obed Adam or Edom of

Gath. The ark of the Lord remained in

his house for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed Edom and

his whole family. It was reported to King David.

The Lord has blessed Obed Edom's family and all that belongs to

him because of the ark of God. So David went and had the ark of

God brought up from Obed Edom's house to the city of David with

rejoicing. OK, I don't know if this is

messed up, but David's like, Oh no, the ark kill somebody, let's

drop it off of somebody else's house and that it remains in the

house for three months. Same presence of God, same ark.

It kills Ooza. The same ark blesses Obed Edom

and his family. How is that possible?

It's God dangerous or is He good?

You know Mr. Beaver already gave us the correct answer.

He is both. He's not safe and He is good.

He is dangerous in His Holiness, yet life giving in His grace.

Let me put it this way, God is not safe to sinners who approach

Him on their own terms, but God is safe to sinners who are

covered by His grace. Oba Edom's name is listed in

First Chronicles and it turns out he was a Levite, which means

he was trained in how to deal with the ark.

It means he he had a proper respect for it and he followed

all the rules. He knew how to handle the ark in

God's way. And what is the result of that?

It says with rejoicing. David sees this and he says

something clicks. Ah, it's not that God is just

unsafe, but he's also good. He also brings blessings and he

brings it back with rejoicing. And we see more of that next

verses. Let's go to the next one, 13 to

16. When those carrying the ark of

the Lord advanced just six steps, He sacrificed.

That's key. We'll come back to it.

He sacrificed an ox and fan calf.

David was dancing with all his might before the Lord, wearing a

linen effing. He and the whole House of Israel

were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts.

And the sound of the ram's horns.

There's a lot of celebration going on.

As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David,

Saul's daughter Mikhail looked down from the window and saw

David leaping and dancing before the Lord.

And she despised him in her heart.

So we see two groups of people a little contrasting here.

OK, so David says, OK, God is good, now let's bring it back.

And the ark is this time carried properly and within 6 steps

sacrifices are made. To me, that is proof that David

saw this correctly. Let me explain.

Why does God require sacrifice? It's not.

Again, the other gods require sacrifice.

Because it's like, pay me, I'm going to protect you.

It's like the mafia, I'll protect you, but you got to pay

up. But when it comes to our God, it

is not a payment sacrifice, it is it it points to Jesus.

Sacrifice is not saying let me pay you back.

Sacrifice signals the right approach to worship, right

approach to his presence. Sacrifice is saying I deserve

judgement, but another takes my place.

That's the only way into God's presence.

Not by effort, not by just sincere heart, not by emotion,

but by substitution. That's the whole point of the

story of David and Goliath, right?

That is not that be brave like David.

No, it means we couldn't defeat Goliath.

So somebody else had to step in to defeat Goliath.

We needed a substitute. David worshipped God and made a

sacrifice, saying we deserve this, I deserve the punishment.

But this punishment now goes to the sacrifice.

We need a substitute. We need a substitute in Jesus

Christ to defeat sin for us. And David figures this out and

the result is always great joy. When you realize what the grace

of the gospel is, what a gift of salvation is, the result is

always great joy. And look at this.

This is the king of Israel. It says here he was dancing with

all his might. He's dancing so hard that it

says in later, we didn't read it, but later verses that some

of his skin was showing, which is a great no no to somebody in

somebody in the royal family and his wife sees him and says she

says she despised him in her heart.

Now why do we see two different responses?

Before this moment, David is afraid of God, but after this

moment, when he realizes the grace of God, he is dancing

before the Lord. He is free, he is humble, he

doesn't care about reputation, dignity, image.

This is true worship coming out. But his wife, she doesn't have

joyful worship. She's embarrassed of her husband

and later tells tells her husband, you have embarrassed

yourself. You have embarrassed me.

This is David's response in 21 and 22 and David reply to Macau.

It was before the Lord who chose me over your father and his

whole family to appoint me a ruler over the Lord's people,

Israel. I will dance before the Lord,

and I will dishonor myself and humble myself even more.

Perhaps the NIV version is more memorable to to us.

It says I will be even more undignified than this.

I will dance before the Lord. I will even be even more

undignified than this. Of course, David Crowder and his

band made a lot of money singing about that true worship, true

experience of God, experiencing the presence of God.

It makes you think less about yourself.

You you care more about what God has done for us.

You see what Jesus did and what he has accomplished to the to

the cross. For people who have not

experienced grace, who have not experienced the gospel, you care

more about yourself, yourself image, your reputation.

So for me, Cal, it's like, well, I'm royal family, I'm the queen.

I got to be dignified. I have a reputation.

And here's my husband showing his belly button because he's

dancing like a commoner. But David, he says I will

dishonor myself and humble myself.

You know why? He says humble myself.

People who receive grace, they naturally become humble because

they knew they didn't deserve it.

There's a Korean player in the Dodgers, and I root for him.

And he was part of the championship team last year, but

he did nothing. Not one hit, not nothing.

He was a pinch runner a couple times.

And even that he almost made him.

He made a mistake, almost got out, but he still gets a ring.

I don't know him personally, but I bet you he's not going around

like, hey, I'm a champion. I think he's like, I'm glad to

be a champion. Even though I was just on the

roster and did almost nothing, Man, I'm glad I'm a champion.

He knows he had no part in winning that trophy or that

ring. If you know that it was because

of somebody else that you received something, it makes you

humble. And what humility does is it

allowed David to worship God with all his might to the poor

people like you, worshiping God like a commoner, like a servant.

Mikel doesn't know what joyful worship is.

She's worrying about her reputation, her status, her

performance. You embarrassed me, husband.

This is probably something you could do at home or in your

community groups sharing. But if you care a lot about what

people think about you, that means your attention is on

yourself. That means the grace of the

gospel has not impacted you in a deep way yet.

Or it has in the past, but you have forgotten it a little bit.

As grace changes you, the attention of the focus goes away

towards others, towards helping others, towards God, towards

missions, and you start getting excited and energized to see

what God is doing in your, in the world and in your heart.

Something to think about. We all need the presence of God,

but thankfully we don't need the ark anymore.

When Jesus died on the cross, the separation between man and

God was removed. Literally the curtain that

divided the Holy of Holies where the ark is and everyone else,

that curtain it really ripped. Now God's presence lives in us.

You are the ark, the Holy Spirit lives in you.

And if you are a Christian, if you have salvation, if you have

said Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, then God is safe.

He is your mighty fortress. He is safe to those who know

that they are sinners and that they need a Savior in Jesus

Christ. Main point, we can only

experience God's presence through His provision of grace

rather than our own performance. Let's pray.