The Holiness of God (2 Samuel 6:1-11) - Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Let us turn in our Bibles now as we hear from

God. Let's go to 2 Samuel chapter 6. What we're

2 Samuel 6 · chapter mention

doing, as we have been for a while, is a series

on the life of David. I hope this has been a

good series for you and we're going to continue

that with what I'm going to say is it's a difficult

passage. And yet there's something that's very

very good for us And so let us give special attention

to the reading of God's holy word second Samuel

6 I think the bulletin says 1 through 15. I'm

going to stop at verse 11 David again gathered

all the chosen men of Israel 30 ,000 and David

arose and went with all the people who were with

him from Baal -el -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. 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. And David and all the house of

Israel were celebrating before the Lord with

songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and

castanets and cymbals. And when they came to

the threshing floor of Nakkan, Uzzah 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 Uzzah, 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 Uzzah.

And that place is called Perez Uzzah 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 Gittite.

And the ark of the Lord remained in the house

of Obed -Edom the Gittite three months. And the

Lord blessed Obed -Edom and all his household.

This is God's holy word. Let's pray. Father in

heaven, we thank you for your word that is a

lamp to our feet and a light to our path. We

thank you for your word that is living and active

and sharper than any two -edged sword. We thank

you that you've given us what we need. And so

Lord, we trust that you will grant us understanding

and application of this text now. We pray in

Jesus' name. Amen. In 2005, there was a news

item that caught my attention. Maybe it caught

yours. The Northwestern University women's lacrosse

team was invited to the White House to celebrate

their championship. That's not really all that

noteworthy. That happens a lot, that sports teams

are invited to the White House. But what caught

the media's attention was the fact that the athletes

were all wearing flip -flops to the White House.

It caused quite a stir. It became known as Flip

-Flop Gate. Now, the real issue behind that incident

wasn't really the flip -flops. It was more, how

are we to be in front of, before people who are

deserving of honor and respect. So if you're

wearing flip -flops today, no condemnation. But

it did generate a lot of interest. And I got

to thinking this week, especially in light of

this passage, which is about reverence. Have

you ever been in a situation in which you needed

to show reverence? You might be racking your

brains, but you don't have to, because you are

in one right now. You are in a reverential situation

right now, today, that as we gather for worship,

we do so to give glory to God, because he is

holy. So when we come into worship, we are to

offer our best in worship. But you might say,

how? How do I regard God as holy? How do I really

revere God? I want to offer you... three ways

from our text today, that since God is holy,

we must revere him with a right relationship

for him. We must revere him in obedience, and

we must revere him in preparation. Now, before

we even get to those, you might be asking, well,

what is the holiness of God? This is an incredibly

big question and big topic. What is the holiness

of God? Have you ever thought about that? Probably

the quickest answer we would say it's moral perfection

and that is true, but it's more than that. God's

holiness is his supreme absolute greatness over

everything that he has created. God is completely

transcendent above all of his creation. And we

believe that because we've prayed that today.

How does the Lord's Prayer begin? Hallowed be

thy name. We as Christians are to regard God

as holy. And so how do we do it? Looking into

our text, well, we're reminded that God had covenanted

with the Israelites. He had covenanted with the

Israelites. He had not covenanted with the Philistines

or any other people group. God had covenanted

himself with the Israelites. And one of the ways

in which we can see that he did that is he gives

them an ark of the covenant. If you wanted to

know more about the Ark, you could go to Exodus

25 and chapter 37 to read about it. It was ornate.

It was a beautiful box made of this beautiful

wood. It had gold on it. It had the cherubim

on it. And it was the furniture in the Holy of

Holies. And it was where Moses met with God to

represent the people in prayer. No other people

group had the Ark of the Covenant. But some of

these other people groups did know. about the

Ark of the Covenant. You don't have to turn there

unless you just want to. It's not far away. But

1 Samuel chapter 4, 5 through 9. Listen to this.

1 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

1 Samuel 4, 5. As soon as the Ark of the Covenant

of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave

a mighty shout so that the earth resounded. And

when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting,

they said, What does this great shouting in the

camp of the Hebrews mean? And when they learned

that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp,

the Philistines were afraid, for they said, a

god has come into the camp. And they said, woe

to us, for nothing like this has happened before.

Woe to us. Who can deliver us from the power

of these mighty gods? These are the gods who

struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague

in the wilderness. Take courage and be men, O

Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews

as they have been to you. Be men and fight. God

had not covenanted with the Philistines. The

Philistines didn't have the ark. They didn't

have the meeting place. They didn't have the

tabernacle. They didn't have the Ten Commandments.

They didn't have the Holy of Holies. They did

not have God. And so as the Philistines and as

the Israelites are gearing up for this battle,

knowing the Israelites have God and have his

ark, this must mean that the Israelites won the

battle, right? Wrong. The Israelites were obliterated.

The Israelites were destroyed in this battle.

So what gives? What was going on there? At times

throughout history, ancient history with the

Israelites, they had a much better relationship

with the Ark of the Covenant than they had with

God. The Israelites had a better relationship

with the Ark of the Covenant than they had with

God. The Ark is a great thing. It symbolized

God's presence for sure. But the Ark, and please

hear this carefully, the Ark was not God. Any

more... then your church membership is God or

your baptism is God or the Lord's Supper is God.

To be sure, great things, pictures of God's mercy

and grace and holiness and presence. And when

we gather for worship, even with those sacramental

things, something glorious is going on for us.

We are giving glory to the Father through the

Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. But in order

for any of those signs and seals, to mean anything,

we have to have a right relationship with God

through Christ. And so friends, it's not enough

to just be a member of the church. That's a good

thing. And I'd be glad to talk to you about membership

any other time. And to be sure, it's a good thing

to have right theology. And I would love to talk

to you about theology. Do it any time. And to

be sure, it's a good thing to listen to praise

music on the way to work in the morning or a

good podcast. I love those things, too. But we

have to have a right relationship with God through

Christ in order for that to mean anything for

us. Jesus laid his life down so the veil was

torn, so that you could, through the Son and

by the power of the Holy Spirit, be declared

righteous before God. You Christian, born again,

indwelt by the Holy Spirit. You are justified

and you are secure in Christ, but saved people.

People who have a relationship with God revere

God. God's people are his saints. The word saint

comes from the word holy. And saints regard God

as holy because he is. And so you have to have

a right relationship with him. But secondly,

we also must be obedient. Christians are to be

obedient people to God. The Israelites show us

that through their lack of reverence for God,

they plunged into disobedience within the story.

The Israelites, you'll remember, they bring the

ark into battle and then they lose, they're crushed.

What's really happening there is the Israelites

were treating the ark of the covenant like a

good luck charm, as if it would save them. And

so they lose the ark It goes to the Philistines.

And you might remember that the Ark ends up in

different Philistine cities. And what happens

in each one of those cities, the people are afflicted

with harmful tumors on their bodies, right? Until

finally, they say, we can't take this anymore.

Get it out of here. Let me read to you 1 Samuel

6, 7 through 9. 1 Samuel 6. This is the Philistines

returning the Ark. Now then, and as I read this,

pay attention to the language of this and see

if it sounds anything like our passage for today.

Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two

milk cows on which there has never come a yoke,

and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their

calves home away from them. Take the ark of the

Lord and place it on the cart and put it in a

box at its side the figures of gold Which you

are returning to him as a guilt offering then

send it off and let it go its way and watch Did

you hear any similarity in the language of first

Samuel 6 with second Samuel 6 There's a phrase

in there that's present in both chapters and

it's this phrase the new cart and basically what

this tells us is is the Israelites are treating

the Ark of the Covenant in the same way as the

pagan Philistines. Both of them put the Ark on

a new cart. We might even argue the Israelites

get the idea from the Philistines. You might

say, what's so wrong about that? What's so wrong

about transporting the Ark on a new cart? After

all, we know the Israelites as they were being

led by David. They had several miles to go. So

what's so wrong about this transportation of

the ark by cart. Well, quite honestly, it's disobedient.

It's disobedient. Listen to this from Exodus

25. Exodus 25, 13 through 15. These are instructions

regarding that ark. You shall make poles of acacia

wood and overlay them with gold. And you shall

put the poles into the rings on the sides of

the ark to carry the ark by them. The poles shall

remain in the rings of the ark. They shall not

be taken from it." The ark had handles. Why does

anything have handles? For the purpose of carrying,

listen to this from Numbers 415. Numbers 415.

And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering

the sanctuary 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. The job of the Kohathites was to care for

the holy things of God. And Uzzah, the one who

reached out and touched the ark, was most likely

And so his job description was clear. Here's

how you're supposed to transport this. So we

see from it that the disobedience of the Israelites

and the disobedience of Uzzah actually happened

a long time before he ever reached out his hand.

Now you might say, well, wasn't this a good thing

that he did? Wasn't Uzzah preventing catastrophe?

We almost expect God to say, Uzzah, thank you.

We don't know of his intentions, but it sounds

reactionary, just like he reached out as you

might catch something that was falling. It sounds

like good intentions, right? It's hard to rely

on our good intentions, though. As Christians,

we have to rely on the very word of God and obey

it. That was the problem here. The problem was

a lack of preparation. Oftentimes, our visual

disobedience is generated by a secret lack of

preparation over time. The problem is that we

sometimes neglect the things of God, the things

that were created and given to us for our good,

for our growth and grace. Sometimes we've been

doing this Christian thing for a good long while

and we start to fade away from these things and

we start to think that they are mundane. That

the holiness of God becomes the half -heartedness

for God, becomes the hostility toward God. I

heard a term not too long ago that has stuck

with me that I think really defines the American

church and defines the church really in the West.

It's apotheism. Apotheism. That if we're not

careful to tend to the means of grace, we become

indifferent to the things of God. We become indifferent

to the maker of the heavens and the earth. We

become indifferent apathetic to the author of

our salvation. But friends, God is holy. R .C.

Sproul used to put it like this. He would read

portions of scripture and he would say, God is

holy, holy, holy. And then he would point out

that while God is just, scriptures don't say

that he was just, just, just. The scriptures

don't say that God is kind, kind, kind, or that

he is love, love, love. He is those things. But

the scriptures say that God is holy, holy, holy.

And if you could use one word to sum up God,

it would be holiness. And so Christians, we need

to see worship as anything but mundane. We need

to see it as the most important thing that we

do, that we give glory to God. That's why we

were made. And do you know this today? That God

is in your midst. That he is in our midst as

we worship him. And that he is greatly to be

praised. Knowing that, shouldn't that cause us

to really consider who we are as Christians?

Shouldn't that cause us to really consider what

we're doing when we worship? Shouldn't that cause

us to consider how we approach God in prayer?

God condescends to be with us in worship. This

change is who we are in this space, and this

change is who we are outside of this space. And

so for this reason, whether you've been at this

church for nine weeks or 90 years, you've probably

seen that the elements of our worship don't change

a whole lot. We can evaluate how we worship,

but the elements don't change a whole lot. And

the reason for that It's because the elements

of worship are derived from scripture. We believe

in a holy God and this holy God tells us how

to worship him from scripture. And so you're

always going to have a reading of scripture.

And you're always going to have prayer. You're

always going to have preaching. You're going

to have the tithes and the offerings. You're

going to have sacraments on occasion. We don't

have to get innovative with our worship because

God tells us how. And yet if I can compare worship

to the Israelites and what was going on in second

Samuel Six, we can say that the Israelites, they

were getting innovative with this, weren't they?

They took notice of what the Philistines did

and they transport the ark in this way. They

put the cart before the ark, so to speak. They

tried to follow a better way. They're godless

neighbors. They put the Ark of the Covenant on

the new cart and the oxen stumbled and Uzzah

reached out his hand to study that. R .C. Sproul

once said, it wasn't the ground that would defile

the Ark of the Covenant. It wasn't the ground.

Because the ground does what the ground's supposed

to do. What defiled the ark was the touch, a

sinful man. Now this is a sermon series on the

life of David. And so you might be saying, where's

David in all of this? Where's he at? Well, you

can see from the text, he's leading the people.

He's doing a good thing. He's leading worship.

But after this happens, he's grappling with what

has happened. He's trying to figure it out. He's

angry, and then he's afraid, and then he's back

to dancing David, but he's showing us emotions

that you may have right now. As you read this

text, you may be angry. As you read this text,

you may be afraid. If you're feeling any of those

emotions, you're probably like me. You're probably

like me in that we are all still grappling with

the idea of God's holiness, and we are still

grappling with the heinous nature of our sin.

If you're feeling those things, I understand

you. And yet the more that we give ourselves

to the worship of God and the study of his word,

we have a greater understanding of his holiness.

But all of this, David shows us that leadership

is critically important in matters of holiness.

Why does God assemble everybody there? What are

they doing? They're assembling for worship. And

so we need godly worship to remind us of the

holiness of God. The church must hold fast to

the gospel of the holy risen Jesus Christ, and

we must trust the Lord of this church to provide

that whatever our days ahead, whatever our weeks,

whatever our months in our year, we must grasp

two things, and I begin to close. We must grasp

two things. One, God is holy. Period. Nothing

else to add. But secondly, through Christ, by

His life and His death and His resurrection,

God has provided a way for unrighteous people

to be declared righteous. God, through His risen

Son, has provided a way for unlovable people

to be loved. God, through His Son, has provided

a way for unholy people to be holy. And it's

only by the grace of the holy, holy, holy God

Christ by His Holy Spirit. Let's pray.