Before the Lord in the City | 2 Samuel 6

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast.

With Pastor Chris Ochoa. Where our vision is Jesus, our

mission is people, and our cause is love.

Thanks for tuning in. Let's dive in.

OK, Bridgetown Church. My name is Pastor Chris Ochoa.

I'm the pastor of Preaching and Vision here at Bridgetown

Church. It's so great to see you this

Sunday. This morning we're going to

continue our series of hearts in the book of Second Samuel.

Today we'll find ourselves in chapter 6 of Second Samuel.

The title of our sermon this morning is Before the Lord in

the City, and the whole theme of today is the Presence of the

Lord. A main idea I want you guys to

think about as you turn to Second Samuel 6 is what happens.

How do you respond when the presence of the Lord really

shows up? When the presence of the Lord

really shows up? Before we read our scripture

text this morning, a few announcements.

Someone I want to just highlight and hit up one our youth

gathering on Wednesdays. Guys, for those of you who have

youth, know of youth, have youth at home that are bored on

Wednesday nights, make sure they hit up our youth ministry on

Wednesdays at 6:00 PM at the Hamilton House, OK?

Everybody's invited. Whether you attend the church,

whether you don't attend the church, we want Bridgetown to

have a youthful arm here, a youthful ministry.

So with that being said, Wednesdays at six at the

Hamilton House for your youth, those in your household and

those not in your household, make sure to invite them out.

7:00 at six, it's too early for Rudy. 7:00 All right, so we'll

bring up the sermon text on the screen for you today.

We'll be in chapter 6 starting in verse one, and we're going to

go all the way to the verse 23. So read along with me.

I'll be reading out of the ESV version.

Hear the word of the Lord. It says David again gathered all

the chosen men of Israel, 30,000 And David arose and went with

all the people who were with them from Baal Judah, to bring

up the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord

of hosts, who sits and Thrones on the cherubim.

And they carried, and they carried the ark of God on a new

cart, and brought it out of the House of Abenadab, which was on

the hill. And Ouza and Ahiyo the sons of

Abenadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God, and

Ahiyo went before the ark. Verse 5 And David and all the

House of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and

liars and harps and tambourines, and cast the Nets and cymbals.

And when they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Ouza

put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it.

For the oxen stumbled, and the anger of the Lord was kindled

against Ouza, and God struck him down there because of his error,

and he died there beside the ark of God.

And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against

Ouza, and that place is called Perez Uzza to this day.

And David was afraid of the Lord that day.

And he said, How can the ark of the Lord come to me?

So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the

city of David, But David took it aside to the House of Obed Edom

the Ghetite. And the ark of the Lord remained

in the House of Obed Edom the Ghetite 3 months.

And the Lord blessed Obed Edom and all his household.

And it was told King David verse 12, The Lord has blessed the

household of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him because of

the ark of God. So David went and brought up the

ark of God from the House of Obed Edom to the city of David

with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark

of the Lord had gone 6 steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened

animal. And David danced before the Lord

with all his might. And David was wearing a linen

ephod. So David and all the House of

Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the

sound of the horn. Verse 16 And as the ark of the

Lord came into the city of David, McCall the daughter of

Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and

dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

Verse 20. And David returned to bless his

household. But McCall, the daughter of

Saul, came out to meet David and said, how the king of Israel

honored himself today, uncovering himself today before

the eyes of his servants, female servants, as one of the vulgar

fellows famously uncovers himself.

And David said to McCall, It was before the Lord who chose me

above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as

Prince over Israel, the people of the Lord.

And I will celebrate before the Lord.

I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I

will be abased in your eyes, but by the female servants of whom

you have spoken. By them I shall be held in

honor. Verse 23 and they call the

daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God for his word.

Let's pray, Father, as we encounter your word today, we

pray that you would show us the glory of Jesus, that we would

learn and ponder about your holiness and what it means to be

in your presence. I pray that you would change us

and transform us by the preaching and teaching of your

word. Would your Holy Spirit go forth

and illuminate the text that we may learn and be the people that

you've called us to be? We love you and we praise you

and we pray this in your son's name.

Amen. Amen.

I want to take you back to college for me my sophomore

year, Cal State Fullerton. Do we have any Titans out there?

Shannon, I didn't know you went to Cal State Fullerton.

Amen. Sophomore year of of of college

for me, I remember writing a specific paper for my history

class, my ancient history class. Guess what the paper was on?

It was on the defense of the Bible as historically accurate,

right? A secular institution.

I get to write about the Bible. I was stoked because this was

probably the only essay my whole college experience that I

actually cared about and I'm going to give my all on this

essay. And so I worked so hard, so

tirelessly. I wrote probably it was like a

three page paper. If I remember correctly.

I wrote 4 pages. I went above and beyond because

this is my chance as a believer. One, I'm going to pass this

class through this paper to I'm going to use this paper just to

preach to the professor. He's going to be converted

because this paper is going to be so good.

That's that was my mentality going into it.

Well, I turned it in one day. A week later I get my grade

back. I got AD minus.

This was the worst paper I ever had in my college experience and

it had to be the one paper on Is the Bible historically reliable?

So me being a Christian what's going on here?

So I went to the professor's office hours and and I wanted to

ask professor why? Why AD minus?

Like this is like my only failing essay I've ever had.

What happened? Professor told me point blank,

listen, your essay was good. It's too good.

It's a little bit too good. You didn't cite any sources, you

didn't cite anything. So for you, your writing for it

to be that good, it's suspicious to me.

So there were a little bit of undertones, accusations of

plagiarism because it was too good.

Little did I know all I cited. What's the Bible?

If you look at my footnotes, I just put the Bible.

What did I know? In the syllabus, the guidelines,

the protocol for this essay was I needed at least five different

citations to show that I put in the time, the effort, the

research to write this paper. To my dismay, I got AD minus.

I failed. I did my best to convince him

otherwise. No, you don't understand,

professor. I'm a Christian.

I my sources, my citation is up here and in my heart, this is,

this is what I believe. It wouldn't go anywhere.

It didn't go anywhere because I broke protocol.

I broke the guidelines. I did not cite my sources like I

should have. So despite my best efforts that

one of the few essays that I truly cared about during my

college experience, I ended up receiving like one of my only

failing grades on the paper that I cared about the most.

I didn't follow established guidelines, established

protocols that were set by the professor and I reaped the

consequences. I had to retake that class the

summer following. Because of that, it cost me an

extra year of college. So I was a five year super

senior. Awesome.

I love college so much. I did an extra year.

You know, I bring that up because in our story today,

Second Samuel chapter 6, we have a story of somebody that did not

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

follow the protocol, that did not follow the guidelines set

forth by God in the Torah, in the Scripture for how we

humanity is to approach the presence of God.

We're going to see what happens when the protocols and

guidelines established by God in Scripture regarding worship are

not kept. When humanity fails to take its

Creator at His Word, the consequences can be drastic and

severe. This is a heavy text today and a

little bit of a disclosure as we progress into the book of Second

Samuel. From here on out, the passages,

they're going to get really raw. They're going to get really

heavy because we're dealing with reality here.

And one of the claims to Scripture's truthfulness is its

willingness to put humanity out there for all to see, its

willingness to rejoice in the truth that doesn't pull any

punches. Romans chapter 15, Paul says

Romans 15 · chapter mention

Scripture was written for our instruction, us, these

believers, so that we can see what we should do and see what

we shouldn't do as believers in Jesus.

With that being said, I want to put out disclosure some of the

things we're going to talk about from here on out in the book of

Second Samuel. They will be raw.

They will be emotional. There will be some adult themes

that I want to prepare you for. When those times come up, I want

to let you know that I will give you fair warning because I know

that we have maybe some little ones in here, some some people

that have some baggage, things they've struggled to win in with

their life. I want you parents first and

foremost, to be comfortable for you to, if these are issues, if

these are adult themes that you don't feel comfortable talking

about here in this sermon, that you would go home and talk about

it with them, OK? I don't want to drag your little

ones into adult themes if you feel like they're not ready to

hear that yet, OK? I want to give you Full

disclosure. What that means is though, we're

not going to shy away from the text.

We're going to teach and preach the text.

But I want to give you fair warning of what's coming up.

OK, that being said, here's the main idea again for our sermon

text today. What happens when the presence

of God shows up in your life? What does that look like?

Well, with my friends, we don't stay the same.

We don't stay the same. The presence of God is both

glorious and it is dangerous because He is holy.

He's waiting. So where have we been?

Chapter 5 give a quick recap. David has finally, after 20 long

years of waiting, has been anointed the king of Israel.

All 12 tribes are unified. They give David their vote of

affirmation. Yes, you are the anointed 1.

You are the one that you always chosen to lead us.

It was always you. It wasn't Saul.

You are the new king. The first thing he does is he

conquers the city of Jebus, the capital city of the Jebusites,

and he takes that city, makes the city of David Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is now going to be the capital of a unified Israel as

it's established as a city of the capital city of Israel.

David now is motivated. His next step is bringing the

ark of God into Jerusalem, into the city of David.

Where has it been this whole time?

Well, let's study that. Let's check it out.

So picking up in verse one again, it says David again

gathered all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000 of them.

And David arose and went with all the people who are with them

from Beil Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which

is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned

on the cherubim. We'll stop there for now.

David as the anointed king, his next desire is to smooth the Ark

of God from its resting place in Baal Judah or Kiriath.

Jerome. That's another name that Baal

Judah goes by to the capital city of Jerusalem.

Now we want to talk about what the Ark of God is. 3 questions

about the Ark, the what, the why, and the where.

What is the ark? Where has it been this whole

time? And then why does David even

want to move it in the first place?

Well, what is the Ark of God? It goes by a couple of other

names as well. The Ark of God is also called

the Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of the Testimony.

The reason it's called the Ark of the Covenant and the Ark of

the Testimony is because of what was inside.

What God instructed the Israelites to keep inside was

the Decalogue, the 10 commandments, the 2 tablets of

stone that God gave as the charter, the deed, the

guidelines, the protocols of Israel being God's people.

We remember at Mount Sinai, God chooses these people, calls them

out of Exodus, out of Egyptian slavery, brings them to the foot

of Mount Sinai. He does a ceremony with them and

he says, hey, I'm going to be your God, you're going to be my

people. Here's the standards, the

regulations, the guidelines of what that looks like.

And as you remember it, I want you to always keep them in the

Ark of the Covenant, in the Ark of the Testimony.

It's actually the Ark of God is one of seven holy objects in all

of Israel, one of seven and all seven of these objects are

housed in what's called this the Tabernacle.

The Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is this giant

tent. It's also goes by the name of

the tent of meeting. The reason it's called the tent

of meeting is this is where the glory of God, the visible

presence of God, would manifest itself in the tent of.

Meaning all 7 objects, of which the Ark is the 7th most holy

object, are all housed in the 10th.

You can study and read all about this in Exodus Chapter 25,

Exodus 25 · chapter mention

Exodus chapter 25. Write that down in your notes

Exodus 25 · chapter mention

for later on. What I want to bring you to your

attention is the build, the parts of the Ark of the

Covenant. What really all it is.

It's Acacia wood. It's just a little rectangle

box, Acacia wood overlaid with gold.

It's got four rings on each side.

It's got a lid, and it's got poles that are supposed to slide

through the rings in order to be carried.

So what is the arc, really? It's just a wooden box overlaid

with gold. Nothing necessarily special

about the box itself. But what is special and unique

about the box is not what's in the box, not what is the box,

but who sits on top of the box? Why is the box even important?

Now here's the textual note in verse 2.

It says that the ark of God is called by the name of the Lord

of hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubim.

You see, on top of the ark were these two heavenly angelic

creatures called cherubim. They're thrown guardians.

And what the most important thing about the ark is, it's not

necessarily the box itself, but who manifested His presence on

top of the ark. It was God Himself, Yahweh

himself. That's why these seven holy

objects needs to be in the tent of Meaning, and they can't be

brought outside of the tent, because God's holy presence must

be kept inside the tent of meaning.

Really what the Ark of God is, it's a divine throne.

It's a divine throne of God. The most important thing about

the ark is not the ark itself, but who sits on the ark.

It was housed in the holiest part of the tent of meeting,

behind the veil, behind the curtain.

You could only go behind that curtain once a year on the Day

of Atonement, and only one person can go beyond that

curtain. And it was the high priest that

year, whoever was the high priest serving Israel, only they

on one day of the year could answer into the Holy of Holies

to interact with the ark, interact with the presence of

God. So where has it been this whole

time? Well, it's been missing for over

20 years. It's been in First Samuel

1 Samuel 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5 and 6. You can read about this.

It was actually captured by the Philistines, the enemies of

Israel. The Philistines brought it into

their camp and it's one of the funniest stories in all of the

Old Testament. The Ark of God starts causing

mayhem in trouble in the Philistine camp.

It's the most awesome thing. They house the Ark of the

Covenant in their temple, and the Ark of the Covenant starts

exuding the holy presence of Yahweh.

All the other idols, the idols of their false gods, Dagon, they

keep getting toppled, they keep getting broken.

There's plagues, there's mice running everywhere in the camp,

the Philistine camp, because the Ark of the Covenant is present

in their camp and it shouldn't be.

So the Philistines freak out and they said, look, we don't want

anything to do with this holy relic.

Get rid of it. So what they do is they finally

acquiesce. They put the Ark of the Covenant

on a cart, they tie it to oxen, and they just let it go.

They didn't even guide the oxen. So they load up the Ark of the

covenant onto this cart and just get it away from us.

Isn't it funny that the oxen automatically pull it to Israel?

It's like the ark was just going home right where it's been this

whole time. Now that it got back into

Israel, it says in First Samuel chapter 5 and 6 that the ark

1 Samuel 5 · chapter mention

went to the House of Aminidab. Aminidab.

That's where it's been sitting for the past 20 years.

So now why does David want to move the ark of Jerusalem to to

Jerusalem? Well, his desire is to make

Jerusalem not just the political capital, not just the royal

city, but the theological capital, the center of worship

for all of Israel. Because you remember the whole,

the whole land of Israel, all 12 tribes are now united.

David's mind, we're going to unite all 12 tribes and make

Jerusalem this the capital city, the place where God will meet

His people. People will now have to travel

to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh. That's why you hear Psalm

Psalms 24 · chapter mention

chapter 24, David writes. Who will ascend the mountain of

the Lord? Who will ascend the mountain of

the Lord? The mountain of the Lord is

Jerusalem, Zion. Who will ascend the mountain of

the Lord to worship him? And then it goes on to say, only

he whose hands are clean and heart is pure, because when you

approach Yahweh, you must be holy.

So David's motivation is to make Jerusalem a holy city, the

center of Israelite worship, and it actually becomes the symbolic

center of the earth. If you look at ancient Near

Eastern Jewish maps of the world, Israel's at the center.

Israel's at the center, and it doesn't look like the globe we

know, but Israel's at the center.

Why? It's not that it's

geographically accurate. The whole point in the Jewish

mind is here. Jerusalem, Zion, the city of

David. This is the center of the world

because this is where Yahweh dwells.

This is where heaven and earth meet.

Understand the Ark's mobile nature and its symbolism as the

throne of God. They reveal that God's ultimate

desire is to dwell with humanity again.

This is the heart of God, that he would dwell with humanity

again. This is the main storyline of

scripture. If anybody was to ever ask you

what is the Bible about, it's not just about Jesus.

Jesus is the means to the end. Here's the main storyline.

Ready. God dwelling with His people

once again, from beginning to end, it begins, Scripture begins

in the garden with God dwelling with humanity as a whole in

mass. And then Genesis Chapter 11, it

Genesis 11 · chapter mention

narrows its focus to one specific family, the family of

Abraham, the Israelites. And then it ends, expanding

again with God dwelling with all of humanity, every tongue,

tribe, and nation. That includes you this morning.

For those of you who are feeling a little bit empty, those of you

who are feeling maybe a little bit lonely, understand that you

have a part to play in God's divine plan of redemption.

He wants you today. He longs to dwell with you

today. For some of you who are far off,

you feel like God doesn't care about you.

No, my friends, He does. His heart is that He would dwell

with you in unity, but you must be able to come to Him.

That's what we're going to talk about today.

How do we come to Him, a holy God when we know we ourselves

are not who we should be? We ourselves are not holy.

Understand the whole point of Scripture is that God would

dwell with humanity. Again, what the Ark of the

Covenant is, it's God dwelling with His people above His

throne. David wants that now at the

heart of Jerusalem. Let's pick up in verse 3, it

continues. And they carried the ark of God

on a new cart and brought it out of the House of Abinadab, which

was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahiyo, the sons of

Abinadab, were driving the new cart with the ark of God, and

Ahiyo went before the ark. So what's happening here?

The Ark of God's beginning its parade route from Abinadab's

house, and it's being pulled on a cart by oxen.

The cart is directed under the supervision of Abhinadab's sons,

Uzanahil. Maybe the motivation was it's

been in Abhinadab's house for the past 20 years.

So Uzanahil know how to handle it, if you will.

Regardless, it's been residing in Abhinadab's house for 20

years. It's now going to move to

Jerusalem and they're pulling it on the cart.

A little overview on this cart. Now you remember, You remember

who made the cart? The first cart?

The Philistines. The Philistines made this

wheeled car in order to get the ark out of our camp because we

don't want it here. It was the Philistines invention

to put on the car. Now I wonder if David saw the

way the Philistines had transported it and thought what

a brilliant idea, How clever wheels.

Surely that's going to make it easier.

We, we want to move it from the House of Amanda, but it's, it's

a couple miles out. We want to get it to Jerusalem

as fast as possible. You know what?

Let's just put it on a cart. That's a genius idea,

Philistines. This would make moving the thing

easier. The text actually says here that

David put it on a new car, which means it's not the same cart the

Philistines made. It was a new cart, which means

he copied the idea. He didn't just take the cart and

move it. They went out of the way to

build a brand new cart. Why is this problematic?

Well, in the Torah, God gave a command.

He gave protocol. He gave guidelines for how the

ark was to be transported and it wasn't a cart.

In Numbers chapter 4, you can read this, it says in verse 15

Numbers 4 · chapter mention

and when Aaron and his sons, Aaron's, the priest and his sons

are the priesthood, where they have finished covering the

sanctuary, that is the Tabernacle and all the

furnishings of the sanctuary as the camp sets out after that,

the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not

touch the holy things lest they die.

These are the things of the tentative meeting that the sons

of Kohath are to carry. God gave clear instruction in

Torah. David, you king, you leader, who

lead your people. God gave you clear instructions

in Scripture on how the ark was to be transported.

Yet David bypasses the commands given by God, and he allows

Israel to move the ark toward Jerusalem on a cart.

He bypasses what he knows he shouldn't be doing.

He bypasses God's guidelines. Where do you and I receive

instruction and counsel for our lives?

Should be the Bible. My friends, beware of looking to

the world for guidance concerning righteousness.

David borrowed from the world a tribe who was in the left.

They don't know any better. The reason?

They can put it on a cart and you can't.

They don't know any better. But you, David, you receive the

oracles of God. Part of you are sent to the

throne. It says in Deuteronomy is that

you will keep a copy of the book of the law.

You will write out, hand write a copy of the book of the law.

You're supposed to know the Torah front and back.

He had his own copy. David isn't doing this in the

dark. He knows what's happening.

He borrowed from the world and thought this is this is a better

idea. God, I got something for you,

got technological innovation for you, God.

We'll get it to Jerusalem in record time.

We just got to borrow from the idea of the Philistines.

Where do you receive your instruction and counsel for your

life? Here's some questions to ask

yourself. Do you believe church?

Do you believe that the Bible is literally the word of God?

Do you believe that the Bible's instruction is all you need, is

sufficient for all matters pertaining to salvation and

living righteously? Do you go to TikTok for your

life advice regarding scripture? Do you believe that the

scriptures say what they mean and mean what they say?

Or do you find yourself in the uncomfortable parts trying to

find loopholes, maybe doing theological gymnastics to

justify your decisions? So David's doing here.

David's the king. He's the leader.

He should have known better. Where do you and I get our

guidance for living life? This is not how the Ark should

be transported. David and Israel are in direct

violation of protocol given in Torah.

Let's see how that turns out. Verse 5.

And David and all the House of Israel were celebrating before

the Lord with songs and liars and harps and tambourines and

castanets and cymbals. Nothing's wrong.

They're dancing for joy. This is working smoothly.

This is exactly what I envisioned with this car.

But then verse 6 happens, and when they came to the threshing

floor of Nakon, Uzza put out his hand to the ark of God and took

hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.

Verse 7 and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza

and God struck him down there because of his error, and he

died right there beside the ark of God.

The consequences for breaking protocol guidance given by God

in scripture. As the ark is approaching

Jerusalem on its cart, the catastrophe happens.

The oxygen pulling the cart stumble, probably going over a

little ditch, a hill, and a well meaning Ooza puts his arm out to

keep the ark from tipping over just feet from the ground.

With the best of intentions he throws his arm out to stabilize

the Ark. Yet as he's standing, the text

records that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza

for touching the Ark. Suddenly in a moment, Uzza is

lying dead on the ground beside the Ark.

God had struck down Uzza for his error in handling the Ark.

This is a heavy, heavy, uneasy passage.

It should unnerve you a bit. Why would God do this?

Why would he strike down somebody so well-intentioned,

some somebody so well meaning? Ouza was trying to protect the

ark. God, don't you understand?

Why would you kill him like that?

Understand this what the ark was.

Here's what Israel and David failed to understand.

The Ark didn't need protecting. You need protection from the

Ark. The Ark can handle itself.

The Ark destroyed the camp of the Philistines to the point

where they wanted it gone. The Ark steered its way home.

The Ark doesn't need you and I to protect it.

We need protection from the Ark itself.

Here's some potential reasons why God strikes down Uzo.

We're not given the background of why God would so quick

destroy somebody who's so well-intentioned.

We don't know. Here's some possible reasons.

Perhaps it was a was morally ritually impure at that moment.

Perhaps when he touched the ark, he he wasn't clean.

Maybe he had some thoughts in his mind.

Maybe he was dealing with some hidden sins.

We don't know. Maybe God was judging David's

leadership like he's going to tell David later on through the

prophet Nathan. David, you are the man.

You're the one responsible for this.

I'm teaching you a lesson. You're the first world of

leadership is it's always your fault.

You lead these people, you set the tone, and you authorize this

cart to be built. We don't know.

We don't know why God strikes down Ooza so fast.

But what we do know, here's the major point of this passage.

Above all things, this story reveals that God is holy.

He's holy, and the presence of God is holy.

What does that mean? If somebody was to ask you,

church, what is your favorite attribute about God?

What would you say? Steve talked earlier during

announcements about God being Jira, being our helper, being

our sustainer. If somebody was to ask you

what's your favorite thing about God, what's your favorite

attribute, maybe some of us would say, well, his love, His

love, His faithfulness, His mercy, His justice, His grace.

These things are all attributes of God, and they're all true,

But understand they are merely extensions and outflow of His

true divine nature. Holiness.

He's holy. So what does it mean when we

talk about holy? What does it mean for something

to be holy? Well, we would fall back on two

options. Holiness.

In our common mind we think it's moral goodness, moral purity, me

doing the right thing, me not doing the bad things.

And yes, there is something about moral behavior, about

being holy. That's part of it.

There's also in Scripture we have something holy because it's

sanctified, set apart, consecrated for a holy purpose.

It's not an object meant for everyday use.

It's different. Like that Day of Atonement, that

one day of the year, that holy day, the high priest would wear

specific garments consecrated for that day, holy for that day,

because it's different from all the rest.

That also carries into the term of being holy.

You see, holiness is both moral purity and sanctification.

And even more than that, holiness is a loaded, heavy

term. So what does it mean to say that

God is holy? Well, let's, let's think about

God and his nature. Let's put our thinking caps

here. It's going to get a little

intellectual, and I know you can do it.

There are only two ways for something to exist in all of

reality. There's two ways of existence.

Either something depends upon something else, or its existence

is a basic necessity, property of its nature.

And here's what I mean by that. You and I, we exist because

we're dependent upon something else, cause and effect.

You and I are here because of our mom and dad.

We are here right now dependent upon air.

You're dependent upon the law of gravity working.

You are here dependent upon something else to exist.

The thing that sustains your life isn't interesting, is like

clear, odorless, tasteless water.

You need to drink water to live. You're dependent upon something

else for your existence. There's another mode of

existence where beings aren't dependent upon anything else for

their existence. They just are.

Their existence is a necessary part of their nature.

There's only two category, the two things in that categories,

category of a basic necessity, necessary property.

Only two things, numbers. You think about.

Numbers don't depend on anything else.

They're just, they're there. Who made numbers?

OK? And there's only one other

thing. God.

God. God is the uncaused 'cause he's

the uncaused being. He's the source of everyone and

everything. It is in His nature to exist.

He cannot cease to be. Everything else in all of

creation, in all of the universe, is dependent upon Him.

So when we're talking about God being holy, we're talking about

his elderness. He's completely different.

He's the source of everything good, the source of all things

good. He's abundant.

He's full to the NTH degree. He's completely other.

What happens when that completely other thing, that

grand being, this uncaused 'cause that created the heavens

and the earth? What happens when his presence

moves into the Israelite camp? It's dangerous.

It's holy. When we say God is holy, we're

saying he's completely other. He's completely the source of

everyone and everything. He's the source of all things

good. He's a pundant.

He's fullness. That's who God is.

That's what we mean when we say God is holy.

Now this holiness is tied to this other term.

You've heard it, glory. What does it mean to be

glorious? Well, the word glory in

Scripture, all it means is weighty, heavy.

So when we say the holiness of God is glorious, we're saying

His being His Holiness. It's weighty, it's heavy.

Being in his presence is heavy. This is why when everybody in

the Old Testament, all these prophets have a divine

encounter. Isaiah chapter 6, when he's in

Isaiah 6 · chapter mention

the throne room, he sees the Lord sitting on the throne in

the cherubim and seraphim saying that he's thrice holy, holy,

holy, holy is the Lord. This is why he falls prostate

before the Lord, because it's heavy.

I can't be in your presence God, it's heavy.

He's completely pure, separated from the impure.

This is why in the Moses with Moses in the burning Bush,

Exodus chapter 3 verse four and five, Yahweh speaks to Moses

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

from the Bush and he says do not come near.

Take your sandals off your feet for this place on which your

standing is holy ground. Holy ground.

If God is the source of holiness, then what makes

everything else holy is it's relation to Him, it's nearness

to Him. This is why those seven holy

objects in the Tabernacle, in the tent of Meeting, the reason

they're holy is because God's presence dwells there and

they're in his vicinity. It's called sacred space.

The space where God Yahweh dwells becomes sacred.

And in order to enter that sacred space, you yourselves

must be sacred. You yourselves must be holy,

because the closer and closer you get to God's holiness, the

more and more holy you are. So because the presence of God

is holy, and because it is holy is glorious, because it is

glorious, it is dangerous. With this in mind, I want you to

think about this. When you enter into Sunday

morning gathering and worship, what is the posture of your

heart when you gather together with the church for Sunday

morning worship? How are we coming in?

Do we recognize and remember that, Oh my goodness, the

presence of the Lord is here because His people are here?

Are we coming in with expectant hearts, ready to encounter

Jesus, ready to encounter the divine presence in the lives of

our brothers and sisters here together as we face the stage?

What we're doing is we're not worshipping Mike.

We're not worshipping his wonderful family.

They're leading us in worship to Jesus, the Holy One.

Do we come into service like it's a normal Sunday morning,

like it's every other day of the week, Monday through Saturday?

Or do we come and expect, ready to receive from the holiness of

the Lord, His presence? There's something to think about

as we gather for Sunday worship. God calls you near to His

Holiness, and that's the most amazing, scary, dangerous thing.

Let's continue in verse 8, Scripture says David was angry

because the Lord broke out against Uzza, and that place is

called Perez Uzza to this day. David was afraid of the Lord

that day, and he said, how can the ark of the Lord come to me?

So David was not willing to take the Ark of the Lord into the

city of David, but David took it aside to the House of Obed Edom

the Getite. And the Ark of the Lord remained

in the House of Obed Edom the Getite 3 months and the Lord

blessed Obed Edom and all his household.

The parade has come to an abrupt halt.

It's like that record scratch. David is confused and he's angry

at the Lord for what just happened.

God, why would you strike down Ooza the way that you did?

Don't you see his heart? He was just trying to do the

right thing. God, why would you do this?

He feels remorse. He's feeling remorse because

this happened under his leadership.

This was his direction. He is now terrified to bring the

ark any closer to Jerusalem. That I can't do it.

I'm at, I'm in jeopardy. The people of Israel are in

jeopardy. You need to stop this.

So the funniest thing happens, David, in his savviness, he

sends it to Obed Edom, Obed Edom's house.

Here's The funny thing, Obed Edom isn't an Israelite.

He's a get type. David is so afraid he sends it

to somebody who's not even part of God's elect people.

Hey, if it's going to kill anybody, I wanted to kill that

guy, not one of mine. Again, David exhibiting flawed

leadership. He sends it to obedient to get

tight, and it stays there for three months.

Now I want you to see some reactions to God's holiness, the

reactions to the presence of God.

David, he's confused and angry for the first time in his

kingship. Up to this point, it's been

smooth sailing. All 12 tribes have anointed me.

Can this get any better? For the first time in his

kingship, he fears the Lord. He's afraid.

He had presumed upon God's kindness and grace toward him.

He's afraid. My friends, The holy presence of

God is glorious. It's weighty, and it produces

fear. It is a fearful thing to be in

the presence of God. What does Proverbs 910 say?

Remember this. Put it on your heart.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the

knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

The fear of the Lord. You think about the book of

Leviticus, and none of us really study the book of Leviticus

because we think it's boring. But the book of Leviticus with

all of its guidelines and protocols about the Tabernacle,

how you wash things, how you enter the tent, it's actually an

act of God's kindness that they're there because he's

saying as me, the Holy 1 is coming into your camp, your camp

of an unholy, impure people. As I settle in as your king, I

am dangerous to you. My holiness is dangerous to you.

So really what the book of Leviticus is, these guidelines

and protocols are an act of God's kindness.

I want to dwell with you, I want relationship with you, but you

need to approach me on my terms, lest you die.

Here's how you approach me. The book of Leviticus, to give

you a backdrop, are acts of God's kindness to you, His

people who approach him. David is afraid he won't bring

the ark any closer. Let's turn the camera now to the

House of Obed Edom For the next three months.

This dude's winning the lottery over and over and over again as

the ark remains there for three months, he's experiencing

nothing but blessing from the ark.

The presence of God is blessing. Guess what?

The presence of God is blessing a non Israelite, a Gentile in

the Old Testament. Remember what I said?

What was God's ultimate intention, the main storyline of

the Bible, that every tongue, tribe and nation would dwell

with him forever. So even here we have little

hints, little bread crumbs of what's to come, God blessing a

Gentile because that's just what the presence of God does.

Obed Edo makes an experiencing blessing and you can read all

about it in First Chronicles, the sister passage of our

passage this morning. He's having babies left and

right. His house is growing my friends,

not only is the holy presence of God glorious and dangerous, but

it's glorious and it produces blessing.

It produces blessing the closer and closer you get to him.

He blesses you because he loves you.

Proverbs 910 goes on in verse 11.

We don't think about this verse. We always we, you know, we, we,

we memorize the Proverbs 910 part.

The fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom.

Well, let's continue. What does verse 11 say for by

me? Your days will be multiplied,

and years will be added to your life.

The same presence of God that strikes fear is the same

presence that blesses and provides years to your life, and

it's fruitful. The same holy God whose presence

is dangerous calls to humanity to draw near and experienced

life. I'm reminded of the classic CS

Lewis quote from the Chronicles in the Narnia series when he

talks about Aslan being a dangerous lion.

All right, as the land who's representative of Christ, it

says he's a lion, but he's not a tame lion.

He's dangerous. He's dangerous, but he's also

good. This is the presence of God,

Dangerous but good. So question, how can the

presence of God, this holy presence of God, move from being

dangerous to us to being a blessing to us?

We must be made fit to occupy that sacred space where he

dwells. We must be made holy.

So how can you and I be made holy to come near to the

presence of God? Well, what was the ark?

The ark? It wasn't just this box.

It wasn't about the box. It wasn't about the gold.

It wasn't about where it's at. It was about who sat on it.

It's the presence of God. Is there?

The Ark in the Old Testament is a type, a foreshadow of the true

ark to come, a vessel of honor whose presence is also the

presence of God. Where the presence of God not

just dwells on, but in that foreshadowing, that true vessel

to come is none other than Jesus Christ, the Ark of God.

The Ark of the Covenant is a foreshadow, a type of the true

vessel of God to come, Jesus Christ.

He is the ultimate place where the presence of God dwells,

where heaven and earth meets 100% God, 100% man.

In him the Spirit, the fullness of God dwells.

Hebrews chapter one verse 3 says in him is the radiance of the

glory of God, the exact imprint of his divine nature.

I said earlier, his divine nature is holy.

Jesus nature is holy, Colossians chapter 2 verse 9 and him the

Colossians 2:9

fullness of deity dwells bodily. Jesus is the ultimate

fulfillment of what the ark is. Now how does Jesus purify us and

make a way for us to draw near to the presence of God without

dying? How does he do it?

Through giving his life, dying on our behalf through the cross.

You see, what happens on the cross is atonement.

Atonement. This is a loaded theological

term, but I want to break it down simply for you.

What does atonement mean when we say Jesus went to the cross to

make atonement for our sin? Here's what we're saying.

Atonement at the heart of it is at 1 meant oneness, unity,

dwelling with God. Again, Jesus provides atonement

for us, this broken image of humanity, by dying for our sins,

offering a perfect life on the cross.

Atonement does two things. Jesus on the cross redeems us

from our sin, paying the penalty that you and I owe, the things

that would keep us out of this holy presence of God, the things

that would destroy us just like Ooza was destroyed.

Those things Jesus redeems on the cross.

He takes the punishment, He becomes ouza, becomes destroyed

on your half and my behalf as he goes to the cross, even though

he lived a perfect life. The second aspect of atonement

is not just redemption, but purification.

He purifies you and I because when he goes to the cross, he

doesn't just die for our sin on our behalf.

He offers a holy perfect life to God.

There was this great exchange that happens at the cross.

Jesus takes our sin, redeems us from it, cleans us up, makes us

fit to occupy sacred space, and then he purifies us and makes us

holy. Does it feel strange to you to

say right now for you who've trusted in Jesus, that he looks

at you holy? Do you feel weird saying that

you are holy, that you are Saints, that you are holy ones?

That term in the New Testament, Did you know what that that

mean? That's that's what that means

when Paul writes you who are called to be Saints, the word

for Saints is holy ones. Jesus makes you holy.

Take it from Peter. He says as obedient children, do

not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, that

he as he who was called you is holy.

You also be holy in all your conduct since it is written.

You shall be holy, for I am holy.

I've made you holy, Jesus. I am your holiness.

I am the new ark. You can approach the ark through

my holiness. You are now made holy.

Thought experiment. If the ark still existed today,

if the Nazis didn't take the ark, that's an Indiana Jones

joke for you, by the way. If the ark was still in

existence today for you where it was, you could theoretically,

through the holiness of Jesus, you could touch it.

You could enter into the presence of God.

Why? Not because of your holiness,

but because of the holiness of Jesus who covers you.

So practically, though, what does that holiness look like in

us? Now that we are holy, What does

holiness look like in US? Well, it's belief plus behavior,

but you cannot have one without the other.

Practically speaking, holiness in US looks like belief in

behavior. Regarding belief, you may be a

very good person, do many philanthropic things, go on

missions trips, do all these things, but what do you believe

about Jesus? Who do you say he is?

Do you believe that he's the Messiah?

Do you believe that he is your holiness?

You must believe that because there's something to be believed

as a Christian. It's not that just about being a

good person, but belief is not enough either.

You must have behavior, and I'm not saying earn your salvation.

Here's what I am saying. You could have all the correct

theology in the world, but if your correct theology doesn't

move you to love your neighbor, to pray for your enemies, to

give away all that you have for the sake of another, you are not

acting holy. Holiness, quite simply, is

practiced true belief. What I believe about Jesus has

changed my life because I've encountered His presence and I

don't stay the same. Let's wrap up here, verse 12.

And it was told, King David, the Lord has blessed the household

of Obed Edom and all that belongs to him because of the

ark of God. So David went and brought up the

ark from the House of God, from the House of Obed Edom to the

city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark

of the Lord had gone 6 steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened

animal. And David danced before the Lord

with all of his might. And David was wearing a linen

ephod. So David and all the House of

the Lord, how all the House of Israel brought up the ark of the

Lord was shouting at the sound of a horn.

This is a do over. David sees what's happening at

the House of Obed Edom. He says it's time, let's bring

the art to Jerusalem. Let's do this the right way

though. Two things I want you to notice.

They're carrying the ark again like they should have been.

Second thing to notice what's David wearing as opposed to the

first time he's wearing a linen ephod.

These are priestly garments. Round of his Royal.

Robes. He's clothed in humility.

Because of what happened. The fear of the Lord has

produced wisdom. And knowledge in.

Him this isn't. Like the first time he's

demonstrating. Humility.

He's repented. He is now rejoicing before the

Lord in the land and ephod, because this is a holy moment.

You see, church, when we truly encounter the presence of the

Lord, we will not stay the same. The closer and closer that you

get to the presence of the Lord, the more we are forced to.

Confront our sin. And our impurity and His

Holiness produces our humility and it changes us.

The last part of our message here, it's a very.

Sad part. And I kind of want to

demythalize, demythologize David for you, if I can for a moment.

Let's read. Real quick, verse 16.

Michael this McCall, the daughter of Saul, looked out the

window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the

Lord. And she despises him in her

heart as David returns. To bless his household.

McCall, the daughter of Saul. Came out to meet him and said.

How the King of Israel honored himself today, uncovering

himself today before the eyes of his servants, female servants,

as one of the vulgar fellows famously uncovers himself, David

says to McCall. It was.

Before the Lord who I. Danced, Who chose me before your

father, and above all this house, to appoint me as Prince

over Israel and the people of the Lord.

I will celebrate before the Lord.

I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I

will be a base in your eyes. But by the female servants of

whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held an honor.

And McCall, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of

her death. Here, we're a family on the

wall. For an argument between a

husband and a wife married. Couples, have you ever been

there? You have, of course you have, of

course you have this. Is a mess.

Do you know who McCall is? This is David's first wife.

This was the love of his life and what we're.

Witnessing is a in real time. Breakdown of their marriage and

though we pull out theological. Instruction from it.

The situation itself is messy and it's sad.

McCall, Acosta, David for uncovering himself in her eyes.

Why are you wearing that linen and ephod?

Where's your royal regalia? Where's your robes?

I thought you were a king. She wanted to play the part of

Princess. She wanted to be an influence

influencer. She wanted all the world, but

she wanted it so bad. She didn't realize that the.

Presence of the Lord is moving into Jerusalem.

I want to notice something too. Why was McCall not at the

parade? Says in the text.

She was watching from the window, presumably the palace

window. She's not dancing.

She's not leaping for joy. At the presence of the Lord.

She's too busy to see the presence of the Lord coming into

Jerusalem, and so she accosts David because she believes David

has made a fool of himself. You're not acting like a king.

David has a pointed rebuttal and it.

Hurts, he retorts. That I was.

Dancing before the Lord. But you wouldn't.

You wouldn't. Get that David now.

Knows that the Holy Presence the Lord has entered.

Jerusalem and his. Reply as true as it is.

It's intended to sting the call. God chose me above your father.

Me. At least those other wives and

concubines. Remember I talked about last

week the harem that's also violating Torah, David.

But here we are, at least those otherwise.

And concubines, they honor me in the honor of the Lord.

Here's a textual note. It refers to McCall as this, the

daughter of Saul, but not the wife of David.

She's no longer. The wife of David, she's the

daughter of Saul. What we have here is the Saul

line family line, their view of who King David is and they hate

him and they're jealous. This is a very, very sad thing.

We're watching a marriage of broken a relationship breakdown

in real time. We have this text here that she

will never have a child again. She'll be barren the rest of her

life. Presumably either they are never

sexually intimate again or God like.

Who's that? Just strikes her womb.

You will never bear a child. What we have here is with

Nicole, the line of salt dies fulfilling the prophet Samuel's

words. God has rejected you and your

whole entire line. It's sad.

The only remaining. Male known is Mephibosheth.

Jonathan's son, who will pop up as a reoccurring.

Character in a couple weeks. But what I want to preach?

To you as we. End here and enter into a time

of worship. I want to demythologize, if I if

that's even a word, the myth of David.

We look at him, we romanticize. Him.

Oh, he's the shepherd. Boy, he's the giant Slayer.

He's the worshipping psalmist. If only I had a heart like

David. Let's knock him down a peg.

His life is a mess. His life is a mess.

Make no mistake. David will be the best king that

Israel has ever had, but he isn't good enough.

Hear me loud and. Clear he isn't good enough.

To enter into the presence of God.

He wasn't holy enough. But understand this.

Here's why David is a man. After God's own heart, He never

once devotes his worship to a different God other than Yahweh.

He will mess up time. And time and time again.

But he's the king of repenting. He's the king of seeking.

He's the king, the man after God's own heart.

He constantly pursues Yahweh. Unlike Saul before him who

leaves Yahweh, David never quits.

Next thing I want you to remember the presence of God is

both glorious. And dangerous his.

Purity is dangerous to anything that.

Is impure. And you and I, my friends, we

must be made pure, we must be made holy to have any

relationship, to be made fit to occupy sacred space and to

experience the blessing of His presence, not the danger.

The only way to do that is through Jesus Christ.

He is our holiness, and through Him we ourselves are made holy.

So you and I can now approach the throne of God as the author

of Hebrews writes with boldness, with confidence.

Why? Because you and I have been made

holy just as He is holy. So we've now been commissioned

as the church Paul writes in First Corinthians.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Chapter 3. Verse 16.

I'll end with this verse. Do you not know that you are

God's temple and that God's Spirit now?

Dwells in you. If anyone.

Destroys God's temple. God will destroy him.

For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Do you see what's happening here?

Which is the most amazing thing? You imperfect people, me, this

loser, this Sinner, because of Jesus I've been made holy.

You and I are now the new ark. The Ark is now more mobile than

it's ever been. The temple of the Lord.

The presence of God, that. Dwells in US, goes to the ends

of the earth to proclaim the blessing.

Of the presence of God. To call people to repentance.

To call people from impurity to purity.

To call people to put their faith in God through the life,

death and resurrection. Of Jesus.

You and I are now the mobile temple, so how we live matters.

We must be holy as the presence that lives inside of us is now

holy. What does it mean to be holy?

It means to. Be morally pure, to be set

apart, to be completely other. You, Paul says, are being

transformed from 1° of glory to another.

And one day when the Lord returns, when you meet him,

whether it be for us corporately, whether it be for

you individually, that day you meet Him, that work will be

finished and you will you will be transformed into His glorious

nature. You will experience Him just as

He is, and He will partake in the divine nature.

Second, Peter 1/3 says you will partake in that one day.

We hope you enjoyed. This message and we'd love for

you to join us. In person every Sunday at 10:30

AM. For more information and

updates, visit wearebridgetown.com.

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.