Great Texts of The Bible: Moving the Ark | 2 Samuel 6 | Pastor William Hixson

wouldn't recommend going to any

restaurants today.

On Mother's Day, my dad's restaurant had

people lined up about 30 or 40 outside

to get in for all day

and we sat 200 people in our restaurant.

Mother's Day was always always a busy

busy time.

But it was fun feeding all those people.

We are continuing in our study of great

texts

in the Bible.

And I'm taking a text from 2 Samuel 6

and 1st Chronicles 13. It's two accounts

of the same story,

but and they're long. It's a long read,

so you're going to have to uh get a grip

on yourself and get your Bible open

because I'm going to read this expecting

you to

grasp the things that we're looking at

so we don't have to go back to them too

much as we have our message today.

But I'm not going to start in Samuel or

Chronicles. I'm going to go to have a

pre-ereading

to Exodus 25. So bear with me,

Exodus 25

and verse 10.

Now, my guess is the average American

doesn't know anything about the Ark of

the Covenant except that they watched a

a movie, Hollywood movie about it on

Indiana Jones and that was okay.

That doesn't really give you the

picture,

but we're going to be dealing with this.

And um first, we need to look in Exodus

where God instructed them to make such a

thing.

The Ark of the Covenant. Exodus

Exodus 25:10

25:10.

And they shall make an ark of aacia of

wood. Two 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.

It's interesting uh comparison

that the same Hebrew word for coffin

in Genesis 50

is the word for ark here.

So get your even if you don't know the

cubits

uh and stuff you get an idea somewhat.

It's a it's smaller than a coffin but

the same word is used.

and you'll overlay it with pure gold.

It's made of wood, but the outside is

all gold.

Within and without shall you overlay it.

So the wood's not seen. You just see the

gold lay gold layers over. And shall

make upon it a rim of gold round about

who shall cast four rings of gold for

it. four rings of gold,

and put them in four corners thereof,

and two rings shall be in one side, and

two rings

on the other side of it.

And you'll make staves of acacia wood,

and overlay them with gold.

These staves are the poles that fit

through the rings, so the ark can be

carried.

And thou shalt put the staves into the

rings by the side of the ark, that the

ark may be born with them. The stave

shall be in the rings of the ark. They

shall not be taken out from it, and thou

shalt put into the ark. This becomes

very important. What's inside?

The testimony which I'll give you. Thou

shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold.

That mercy seat is the same word

propitiation in the New Testament. It's

where the blood was applied once a year

by the priest in the Holy of Holies much

later.

Two cubits and a half shall be the

length thereof and a cubit and a half

the breadth thereof. And so you got this

mercy seat kind of like a saddle

gold on top of the ark and you'll make

two cherubim of gold. These are not real

angels but they're golden angels to

represent the angels

of beaten work shall you make them in

two ends of the mercy seat and make one

cherub on one end and the other cherub

on the other end even of the mercy seat.

And shall you make the cherubam on the

two ends thereof. And the cherubam shall

stretch forth their wings on high,

covering the mercy seat with their

wings, and their faces shall look one to

another toward the mercy seat. So the

two golden angels are facing the middle,

and they're facing each other, and the

blood is put in between on the mercy

seat.

And there thou shalt put the mercy seat

above upon the ark. And in the ark shall

you put the testimony that I shall give

thee. And there I'll meet with thee.

This is where God says, I'll meet with

thee and I'll commune with thee from

above the mercy seat. We are talking

about the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ in

a christophony.

God would appear

in a glory cloud

above the mercy seat

from between the two cherubim which are

upon the ark of the testimony of all

things which I give thee in commandment

to the children of Israel. Now that's

part of it. Please slip over to chapter

30 of Exodus

and verse one.

Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense

upon it. Of quesacia wood shall you make

it. A cubit shall be the length thereof.

A cubit the breadth thereof. Four

squares shall it be, and two cubits

shall be the height thereof. The horns

thereof shall be the same. You overlay

it with pure gold the top thereof, and

the sides thereof round about, and the

horns thereof shall you make on a rim of

gold roundout. Two golden rings shall

you make to it under the rim of it by

the two corners thereof. Upon the two

sides you shall make it and you shall

and they shall be for the staves with

which to bear it. You shall make the

staves of acacia wood. Overlay them with

gold and thou shalt put it before the

veil that's in the ar by the ark of

testimony before the mercy seat that's

over the testimony where I will meet

thee. And Aaron, that's the high priest,

the first high priest, and every high

priest after him, shall burn thereon

sweet incense every morning. When he

dresses the lamps, he'll burn the

incense.

And when Aaron lights the lamps at

evening, he'll burn incense on it,

perpetual incense before the Lord

throughout your generations. You'll

offer no strange incense thereof, nor

burnt sacrifice, nor meal offering.

Therefore shall you pour drink offering

thereon. And Aaron shall make an

atonement on the horns of it once in a

year with blood. Once a year the high

priest and nobody else would go into the

holy place and then go into the holy of

holies once a year, sprinkle blood over

the mercy seat of the ark of the

covenant

and go out.

And so between a holy God above the

mercy seat

and the ten commandments that are inside

the box and Aaron's rod that buds is

inside the box.

Uh and some of the mana that's inside

the box in a jar between a holy God and

those things

is blood.

And Aaron shall make atonement on the

horns of the of it once in a year with

the blood of the sin offering of

atonements. Once in a year shall you

make atonement upon it throughout all

your generations. It's most holy to the

Lord.

Now go with me to Numbers 4. This is the

pre-ereading. We're still in the

pre-ereading.

We're not in the text yet.

Numbers four. This is the longest uh

text reading you'll ever probably get

out of me on a message.

Numbers 4:1

Numbers 4:1

15.

This is an important one. But when Aaron

and his sons have finished covering the

sanctuary and all the vessels of the

sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward

after that, the sons, underline this,

the sons of Co

shall come to bear it. These were

priests. Now, all Levites are priests,

but not all priests are Levites. No,

that's that's not true. Uh, all priests

are Levites, but not all Levites are

priests.

The sons of Coath shall come to bear it,

and they shall not touch any holy thing,

lest they die.

Not everybody, not every Levite could

carry this.

Only the co Kathites,

only the priests.

These things are the burden of the sons

of Kohath in the tabernacle of the

congregation. Now God was clear about

the responsibilities and God was clear

about the activities concerning

the ark of the covenant

that they carried it for 40 years

on their shoulders

and they were camping. Some of you like

camping. They camped for 40 years

in the wilderness. 40 years of camping.

And so this was very important.

And the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ

would appear in a glory cloud over the

mercy seat

as a glory cloud manifestation.

This was before he was incarnate.

And between a holy God

and a sinful people that broken God's

law that was in the mercy seat box

with blood

and the New Testament says Christ is the

propitiation

for our sin

and not for ours only but also for the

sins of the whole world.

Now that brings us to 2 Samuel 6

and 1 Chronicles 13.

These are our texts this morning, but I

want to make sure everybody

is on the same page when we read our

texts.

2 Samuel 6.

The background for this is what

the most horrible thing that any Jew

could think about has happened.

The Philistines had beat the Jews in

battle and captured the ark of God.

When Eli heard it, he fell over

backwards and died.

when his daughter-in-law heard it,

having a baby and one of her husbands

were killed, she she gave birth. She

went into labor and she said she she

used the word Kabad.

She named the baby Kabad. The glories

departed.

It was a horrific thing. And then the

Philistines once they captured the ark

of God, and this was judgment because of

the sins of Eli's sons and everything

else, um

they thought that was a big prize, but

it kept getting judged every time they

had the ark anywhere in any Philistine

city. So they wanted to send it back and

they had enough of this. Nobody wants

it. So they sent it back

on a cart,

a new cart

with golden offerings on it. And that's

how the Jews got it back.

But a new cart

in their minds that was a way to honor

it.

that that was a Philistine expedient,

not a biblical

sanctioned way for the ark.

So,

finally,

David has gotten to the place he says,

"I'm living in a he's going to he's

going to say this in chapter seven. He

he's He's he's got a palace and God

doesn't have any and he's living in a

tent. Well, he wasn't even living in a

tent. The ark was up there in Shiloh and

it he David wanted to bring it to

Jerusalem.

And so this is what's going on.

2 Samuel 6:12, it was told King David

2 Samuel 6:12

saying, "The Lord has blessed the house

of Oat Edom and all that pertains to him

because of the ark of God." So the one

person's keeping it, the Philistines got

rid of it and his house was blessed. So

David went and brought up the ark of God

from the house of Obedom into the city

of David with gladness.

And it was that when they who bore the

ark of God had gone six paces, he

sacrificed oxing and fatlings.

This is a big deal. 30,000 people in

this parade.

This was a big deal. And David danced

before the Lord with all his might and

was girded with a linen ephod.

Now, it wasn't exactly dancing in his

underwear, but almost.

So, he's he's taken off the king robes

and he's he is enthused and he is it's

before the Lord and so forth.

So David and all the house of Israel

brought up the ark of the Lord was

shouting with the sound of a trumpet.

And as the ark came into the into the

city of David,

uh my child Saul's daughter looked out

of a window and saw King David leaping

and dancing before the Lord

and she despised him

in her heart.

And they brought in the ark of the Lord

and set it in its place inside the

tabernacle that David had pitched for

it. And David offered burnt offerings

and peace offerings before the Lord. And

as soon as David had finished offering

burnt offerings and peace offerings, he

blessed the people in the name of the

Lord. And he distributed among all the

people, even the whole multitude of

Israel, as well as the women as men. to

everyone a cake of bread and a portion

of cake uh raisins. 30,000 people ate at

that party.

So all the people departed, everyone to

his house.

David returned to bless his household.

My child, the daughter of a Saul,

came out to meet David.

said,

"How glorious

is the king of Israel today?"

Being sarcastic,

who uncovered himself today in the eyes

of the handmmaids of his servants as one

of the worthless fellows shamefully

uncovers himself.

In other words, you're underdressed.

You're a king. You should keep your

robes on. You shouldn't be doing this in

front of her.

And he was not unmod he was not immodest

that she was

being sarcastic.

And David said to my child, "It was

before the Lord

who chose me before your father and

before all his house to appoint me ruler

over the people of the Lord, over

Israel. Therefore, I'll play before the

Lord, and I'll yet be more contemptable

than this, and am willing to be base in

my own sight. And of the maid servants,

whom you have spoken of them shall I

beheld in honor. Therefore,

my child,

daughter of Saul,

had no child

until the day

of birth.

Something

is going on here that's very important.

And her mocking

her husband

is an offense

to God

and she come under severe

correction.

But before her correction,

there was another correction,

a correction of David,

a correction of everyone involved.

And I take you back to ch uh 2 Samuel uh

6 verse 1.

Again, David gathered together all the

chosen men of Israel, 30,000.

And David arose and went with all the

people who were with him from Baal Judah

to bring up from there the ark of God

whose name is called by the name of the

Lord of hosts who dwells between the

cherubim. And they set the ark of God on

a what?

A new guard.

What did God say?

What were those poles for?

It was to be carried,

not on a new cart,

but by the priests.

But they set the ark of God on the new

cart. That's what the Philistines did.

So that's what they did. So they're

following the Philistines, not God's

word. How many churches are doing that

and think it's okay?

Like a choir being directed by

um instead of directed by

um

godly song leader getting directed by

Mick Jagger.

This doesn't work.

They set the ark of God upon a new cart

and brought it out of the house of

Abenadab which was in Gabea and Oza and

Ohio. I always want to call him Ohio but

it's Ohio.

And Oza and Aayu, the sons of Abinadam

drove the new cart. They're driving it.

They're sitting on it driving it.

and they brought it out of the house of

Abidadab which was in Gaba accompanying

the ark of God and Ao went before the

ark.

So apparently he gets out in front of it

for whatever reason and other is driving

and David and all the house of Israel

played before the Lord and all manner of

instruments made of furwood even the

harps and the psalters and the timbols

and the cornets cornets and the symbols.

And when they came to Nikon's threshing

floor, Oza put forth his hand to the ark

of God and took hold of it for the oxen

shook.

So other oza did what he had the

reaction that and he his hand back and

tried to steady it.

Anger the Lord was kindled against us.

God smote him there for his error and

there he'd done

the ark of God.

David was displeased because the Lord

had broken forth an anger against Oza

and he called the name of the place

Perez Uza to this day.

David was afraid of the Lord that day

and said, "How shall I how shall the ark

of God of the Lord come to me?" So David

would not remove the ark, and the Lord

of the Lord unto him into the city of

David. But David carried it aside to the

house of Oed Edom the Gitite. And the

ark of the Lord continued in the house

of Obed, Edom the Gitite, three months.

And the Lord blessed Oed Edom and all

his household. And then it then we get

back to where we started reading and it

was told King David saying the Lord's

blessed the house of Oadom. And so he

thought well maybe we need to

reconsider.

I'm not going to read Chronicles was

getting a long read but in Chronicles

David said

we as he corrected himself he didn't

seek the Lord in the right way.

Messed up. We forgot what God revealed

about how to carry it. It's 1 Chronicles

13

and following.

Now, this is our text today.

And this morning, I'm seeking to to uh

prepare us for the table of the Lord.

And I'm what you might say, well, how's

this going to prepare us for the table

of the Lord? this Old Testament story

about judgment, it is about the Lord and

so forth. Uh and this new cart, the

Philistine invention uh after the

capturing the ark and uh all these five

different musical instruments and 30,000

people involved. It was a big deal until

disaster struck.

is supposed to be hand carried

and Oza did the thing you would think

would be normal.

He didn't want it to fall off the

fall off the wagon. Yet God struck him.

Now

it upset David. It upsets people today.

Why' God do that? That seems like a

little thing.

Why God did God overreact?

Well, think about this ark. Think about

what's in it.

The Ten Commandments are inside of

stone. The golden pot of mana is in

there. Aaron's rod that budded is in

there

inside the ark.

And for 40 years that ark was carried

through the wilderness and before that

it crossed the Jordan River. It was

carried around Jericho. It was in the

tent of meeting in Shiloh. And it was

captured by the Philistines. But it was

representing God's presence with his

people. And God would meet with the

people over the mercy seat and between a

holy God and a sinful people who broken

his law.

was the blood.

Now, all of this is stunningly prophetic

of Jesus Christ.

Stunningly prophetic of Jesus Christ.

He's the only one that ever kept ten

commandments. You haven't. I haven't.

He's the only one. He's the one that's

the bread. He's the mana that came down

from heaven. Read John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

He's the only one that's risen from the

dead.

And that's what Aaron's rod that budded

proves. It was that contest between the

different leaders of the tribes who the

priest going to be and and the ones

where the dead wood there's between dead

wood and living wood.

The church gave me a a walking stick.

It's like a shepherd's cane few years

ago. I've had that in my living room by

my fireplace ever since you gave it to

me.

It's never budded anything.

Not even once. It's dead wood.

It's dead wood.

That walking stick

that buted was dead wood.

But out of the dead wood came

inside.

Everything in the ark was picturing

ahead of time Jesus Christ.

Even the mercy seat is Jesus Christ.

He's our mercy seat. Read the New

Testament.

And so all these things are fascinating

and wonderful. And you really can't get

the New Testament if you don't know the

Old Testament. The Old Testament is so

prophetic and shadows of good things to

come.

And there were these two attempts to

bring the ark. The first one failed

because of the sin of the nation in

ignoring biblical revelation,

an inexcusable error. The second one

succeeded

when they finally yielded to God's way

of doing God's work.

God wants us to yield to his word in

everything.

Those that worship him must Jesus said

it to the woman at Samaria. God's spirit

and those that worship God must worship

him in spirit and in what? Truth. No

amount of enthusiasm, no amount of

sincerity can make up for ignoring truth

when you worship.

Now, truth isn't the only thing. You got

to worship him in spirit as well as in

truth. It's both. That's John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

But what was going on here? They were

ignoring the truth part.

And God is correcting not just but

everybody. It upset David to no end. But

finally he tried again because he

realized, "Yep, yeah, we didn't we

didn't seek him the right way. We blew

it."

And when God corrects you and when God

corrects me, we look in the Bible and

find out where we messed up. Confess,

right?

We don't pretend we're no better than we

know better than God.

So all of this is quite important

and God wanted it carried by hand.

I I wish now looking back over 50 years

I wish I'd have kept track of the

funerals I preached.

I really do. I don't I did in the

beginning but I gave up. First Bible

wore out and that somewhere the page

where everything was written is gone. I

kept track of the people I married. when

they're buried and lost all that stuff.

I'm not known for organization,

but it's very important. It's very

important for us uh at funerals to be

reverent.

The privilege of a pastor at a funeral

is to walk before the casket.

And

the casket is carried

by humans.

And normally that's pretty good un

unless you got a four or 500 pound

person.

And I've been I've not just been a

pastor, I've been a pawbearer. Some

pretty heavy people,

but we still hand carried them. And

sometimes as a pastor, I've had to reach

back and help the guys because they've

been old guys like me and the weight was

too heavy. you do what you got to do.

But hand carrying it is the proper

respect

that you seek to to uh to do.

You might slip in the snow. You might

slide. Uh you might get wet in the rain,

but you carry it.

The proper respect for God was

handcarried.

and carried art.

Why do we respect people more than we

respect God?

What's the matter with us in America?

So, what happened here?

Um

Alfred Ethershime said this was not

merely this was not merely a piece of

furniture but the very emblem of God's

presence among his people.

Another said here we have the locust of

the atonement the throne of the

invisible God. Another said the vis it's

the ark was a visible token of God's

presence the symbol of his presence on

earth.

So in the first attempt died

in the second attempt

my child David's wife

sinned

two sins died irreverence

unbiblical

his sincerity didn't make up for his

being unbiblical

and my my child David's wife

sinned

by her attitude towards what was going

on.

Both of these seemed to us to be

minor sins.

Now, you know, if any some of you from

Roman Catholic background, you know,

Catholics divide sins up into venial

sins and uh venial sins and u

what what's our second one?

Yeah,

>> mortal sins.

>> Mortal sins. I couldn't couldn't

couldn't read my writing. I wrote it

down. I couldn't read sins and mortal

sins. Listen, all sins are mortal sins,

little sins,

medium-sized sins,

three/4er sins.

They may be little to us,

but they're big to God. Ask Adam and

Eve.

Now, there's more complexity to that

variation of sins, mortal sins and penal

sins than I'm talking about, but you

know, the Catholics have reasons for

those. Uh, basically the the mortal

sins, you're in big trouble. You know,

venial sins, yeah, you messed up, but

it's not so bad. uh you won't die for

that one

but God won't take your life necessarily

but there's no more minor sins

concerning the major theocratic kingdom

event the central s symbol of God's

presence among his people and and uh

this where the central participant is

God God's covenant for the future

and I know we can talk about all you

exatholic We can talk about the subject

of venial sins and mortal sins later.

I'm being overly simplistic

or something is more involved, but

that's another subject.

I'd like you to notice something

very interesting.

Did you notice that chapter six, this

whole business about the ark coming into

Jerusalem

and chapter 7, the business about the

Davidic covenant and the coming of the

Messiah in David's line

are side by side.

What did I say wrong, Linda?

I'm too soft. Okay. If did you notice

the chapter six our section with the ark

coming into Jerusalem God coming into

the capital city in the parade with

30,000 people and David saying the

Lord's dwelling in a tent and I'm here

in a palace.

All of a sudden David said bringing the

ark into Jerusalem's not enough. God

needs a temple and then I'm going to

build it for him. Nope. You're not going

to do that either.

Good. Good. It's good that you wanted

to, David, but you're not the guy.

You can plan it. You can collect money

for it. You can collect materials for

it, but your son's going to do it.

But I'll build you.

And that's where

the Davidic covenant promising Jesus

Christ to the line of David come.

And that tells you how my child missed

out

when she was childless.

Remember, David had more than one wife

to the day of her death.

All this is very very interesting. All

this is very very fascinating.

and chapter 6 of 2 Samuel and chapter 7

of 2 Samuel should be studied together.

And in light of this, there are no minor

sins after all.

Now, I know God could kill us for every

sin we do, and he doesn't.

And that's kind of what the Catholics

mean of venial versus mortal. I mean, we

all could die for anything.

But God doesn't normally do that.

But this in this case, David the king

got an A+ in enthusiasm, an A+ in

sincerity, an A+ in good intentions, but

an F in biblical accuracy.

So he didn't mean to be irreverent.

But he was

I've told you this story many times.

Those of you who've been here, when I

was in sixth grade, they chose me

and a girl named Beverly Smart to put up

the flag of the school in the morning.

And so we did it together. And we

normally did it every day.

And one day, unbeknown to us and not on

purpose to us, but just out of kids

thinking about something else and not

being careful enough, we put the flag

up, the American flag up upside down,

and we didn't know it.

Obviously, we got called in

and we were totally ignorant of that. We

didn't do it on purpose. We didn't do it

as a prank.

And we were both mortified

when we found out and we went out and

changed it.

But it was embarrassing because the

American flag has deep meaning,

especially for people who've died for

our country. It shouldn't be something

done carelessly or absent-mindedly.

And

by the mercy of the school, they allowed

us continue to put the flag up after

that

because they realized it was an

accident. But still, I wouldn't have

blamed them if they said, "Thank you for

your service. We're going to get

somebody else."

So,

what a challenge this is concerning bibl

warning of biblical unbiblical

innovations in a church service, doing

church in a worldly way or copying the

ideas of the world rather than the word

of God.

God's work and God's way will have God's

support.

You don't want to end up with a bunch of

wood, hay, and stubble at the end of

your life at the beac of Christ.

And so this is quite important.

Is it biblical

is one of the first questions we should

ask.

But it wasn't asked on that day.

The oxen weren't the only stupid ones

that day. People talk about you being

dumb as an ox. Well, David was dumb as

an ox that day.

Important people are doing it.

Is it biblical?

Spiritual people are doing it. Is it

biblical? Our leaders are doing it. Is

it biblical?

30,000 people can't be wrong.

Is it biblical?

The Scoffield Bible entitles this doing

the right thing the wrong way.

Now, you can't do the wrong thing the

right way, but you can do the right

thing the wrong way. And that's exactly

what they did.

It was submitting a heathen example for

a divine rule in the worship of God.

Lacking in reverence, lacking in

obedience,

no failure of enthusiasm and spiritual

zeal.

But meaning well and being enthusiastic

is no

no excuse or it's you don't get a pass

for that if you're not being biblical.

God is a spirit and those that worship

him must worship him in spirit and in

truth.

And then when David gets home, his wife

greets him. Everybody had a great time.

The second time they brought it, they

brought it the right way. And she

profaneed that most holy scene with her

scorn.

She loved David, but she didn't love the

Lord.

And David and her had a deep history and

a hard history. And I feel bad for her

here, but this was not her best moment.

David was doing everything he could in

his enthusiasm.

Matthew Henry said, "All our might is

little enough to to uh engage in holy

duties."

How many How many people do you know

that think that you Bible believing

Christians too serious?

You take your religion too

too seriously.

You go to church too much. You read the

Bible too much.

those kind of comments.

They're embarrassed by our zeal.

I think it's an excessive

act of time and so forth. Now, they can

go to a football game and be there all

day and they can travel across the

country to go to a baseball game, but

you Christians, you're too you're too

enthusiastic.

How does this prepare us for the Lord's

supper?

Let's ask that question.

There's a shocking contrast between us a

sin of touching the ark and the New

Testament doctrine of people invited to

touch Jesus.

Here's my hands and my feet.

Thomas,

handle me and see.

Put your finger in my the holes in my

hands and in my side.

The very same holy Jesus that's

untouchable

in the Old Testament because of his

holiness

has become incarnate

and invites after his resurrection and

work of redemption for Thomas

and the others handle me and see a

spirit doesn't have flesh and bones did

you see me have handle me and see Luke

24 and John 20.

What a shocking contrast.

It shocks me.

Touching the ark, you're dead. Now you

learn that God's holy. That holy God's

going to become a man and die for your

sins and invite you to handle him.

And John puts it in first John, our

hands have handled the word.

And even before our Lord was risen, even

before our Lord was risen, he had

contact with humanity.

He's Emmanuel, God with us.

The virgin will conceive and bear a son,

and his name will be called Emmanuel,

God with us. He was in the womb of a

woman.

And then Simeon took the baby Jesus up

in his arms and blessed him. And John

the Bapti Baptist baptized him. I I

baptized a lot of people, but none I had

to touch every one of them.

and baptize people without touching them

if you do by immersion.

And our Lord laid his laid his holy

hands on lepers, on the blind, on the

sick.

He allowed that sinful woman to kiss his

feet in worship.

He allowed her tears to be wiped off of

his feet. He allowed sinful hands to

smack him in the face,

beat him with whips, nail him to a

cross.

It's shocking to see that in light of

our text.

Nobody dropped dead

when they put Jesus on the cross.

How

how can this difference be explained?

You can't even touch the ark

unless you're a priest. You can priest

only can carry it. Don't dare touch it

or you'll die. How does that contrast

with the New Testament? Handle me and

see.

How's that contrast with the woman if I

can touch his garment?

Let this mind be in you which was in

Christ Jesus.

Who though he was in the form of God,

though he was in the form of God, took

upon him the form of a servant and was

made in the likeness of men.

And being found in the likeness of men,

he humbled himself and became obedient

to death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God is highly exalted, super

exalted above every name that is named,

and every knee will bow and every tongue

confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

That's how

it was in the program of God.

It was in the program of God that he who

was with God for all eternity. In John

1, the word was made flesh and dwelt

among us. And we beheld his glory, the

glory of the only begotten of the

father, full of grace and truth.

Now, when we come to the Lord's table,

let's remember this. This is my body

which is broken for you. This do in

remembrance of me. Do we?

That's what he demands.

Nothing routine, nothing business as

usual. This is holy.

We're remembering the death of our Lord.

We don't believe in transubstantiation,

but we do believe that the bread and the

cup are representative of the body and

blood of the Lord.

I'm sorry I'm going over a little bit.

Old men reminisce. And some of you have

heard this before, but in 1970,

how many years ago was that? 56 years

ago.

Some friends of mine and I got in a 57

Chevy and we drove in a snowstorm

blizzard over to Urbana, Illinois

for a conference of inner varity

Christian fellowship.

There's a Christian meeting there, the

university,

and they had a big big

building there for athletics, kind of

like very much like our convo center.

Thousands of Christians, professing

Christians were in that building.

And we were there. I don't remember if

it was three days, four days, a week. I

had forgotten that part. But it as the

as it was coming to a close, John

stopped. And if you've ever read his

books, he was an Anglican priest and a

conservative believer

uh from Britain.

He said, "We're going to take communion

and we want everybody to be reverent."

This is the Lord's Supper. I'm

paraphrasing his words. I don't remember

them exactly. He said, "I don't want any

pictures being taken

during this service."

That was his clear and strict

instructions.

No pictures. This is the Lord's supper.

We're not here to take pictures at this

moment. They didn't care about it

before. They didn't care about it later.

In this moment, no pictures.

They passed the bread. Thousands of

people got

it. They passed the cup.

Thousands of people got the cup.

But while the bread was being passed and

while the cup was being passed, the

cameras started going off.

I was mortified.

clear disobedience,

blatant disregard

for the person who was uh leading that

service. People wanting to take pictures

so they could remember the moment.

We're not there to remember the moment.

We're there to remember the moment.

And I'd forgotten a lot of things about

that service.

But I remember as I had held the bread

in my one hand and the cup in the other,

I was thinking, I don't even know if I

should partake of that.

I don't want to be part of it.

And 56 years later, I can't remember if

I did or I didn't to be honest,

but I remember I was offended and deeply

shocked, irreverence

that went on. There was a lot of good

things that went on in that conference,

but that was not one of them.

The bread is the body of Christ.

The cup represents the blood of Christ.

And

if you read Corinthians, some people

died because they didn't they were

irreverent at the Lord's supper.

This is a time for worship. This is a

time for reverence. This is a time for

reflection. This is time of confession

of sin is certainly a time where our

minds are on what we're doing.

May we enter into it with great

enthusiasm

like David,

but we enter into it with great

submission and reverence.

Um,

may God help us to do it together.

Father, we pray your blessing on our

time as we take the bread and the cup.

We thank you

for the incarnate God, Jesus Christ.

We thank thee we've been purchased with

God's blood.

We're thankful that God was manifest in

the flesh,

born of a woman, born under the law,

that he might redeem those that were

under the law.

So we take the bread,

remember our Lord's death, and we take

the cup and remember our Lord's death.

Give us the quietness of heart. Put

other things out of our minds. Give us

the holiness

of joy to be thankful and reverent at

the same time

in Jesus name. Amen.

for your sins.

Thank you

for your

redeemed.

Our

Lord Jesus said, Take eat. This is my

body which is broken for you. This do in

remembrance of me.