Sermon notes from Sunday 5 May 2019 pm
2 Samuel 6 verses 1 - 11
A decision that David made. There was a hunger and thirst in his soul for something that was not material. It was for the presence of the Lord. May that be the same for us. That nothing else will suffice. Heaven and earth will pass away but the presence of the Lord will never pass away. There is a decision to be made tonight. The God of heaven knows where we stand in his light. David set his heart on restoring the ark of the covenant into its rightful place. Have we that same desire?
David`s good intentions. Good intentions will never save you, never take you to heaven. Maybe you left the house tonight with the best of intentions. "This is the night I want to get saved, to make everything right between God and I." Somehow as you sit tonight the devil can come and take away those good intentions. Good intentions will never save you. David had really good intentions. He knew the presence of the Lord was not where it should be. He knew he needed the ark of the Lord to be in its rightful place. In Acts 16 the Philippian jailer knew he hadn`t the presence of the Lord in his life. He met the apostle Paul and Silas earlier that day. He knew they possessed something he did not have. There is a difference between a man and a woman who are saved and a man and a woman who are not. The jailer realised this was a serious situation for him. He realised they were saved by God`s grace. Have you ever come into that relationship with God? Here was David the King of Israel wanting the ark of the covenant to be restored. Moses in the wilderness was given strict instructions about erecting the Tabernacle. There were special measurements for building the ark of the covenant. It was a box and on top was the mercy seat of God. There were 2 angelic figures cherubims on top. They were all overlaid with gold, a very precious metal. There at the top of the mercy seat something special would happen. God promised that he would meet with Moses and speak with him. It symbolised the very presence of God. David chose out 30,000 men in verse 1. It was his priority on this particular day. There is no greater priority in our minds and hearts than to be right with God. Is this maybe the final night that you will hear the gospel, closing in with God`s offer of mercy, never be saved? David said "one thing I want to do is restore the ark of the covenant back to its rightful place." We should not rest until we are right with God. What if God was to take you out into eternity as he did in Luke 12 for the farmer who worked so hard. He thought to himself "I will pull down my barns and build bigger, I have many years before me." The Lord said "you are a fool." Not because he had done everything possible to get the best out of the land. He was a fool because he had left God out of his thinking. He was looking at the final hours of his life on earth. David had the priority of getting the covenant back into the presence of God. It was the symbol of the presence of God in the nation of Israel. God hasn`t given us an ark to meet him as Saviour. He sent his only begotten son into the world to die for our sins. He resurrected him from the dead and is now interceeding on our behalf at the Father`s right hand side in heaven. If you are not right with God tonight we need that same urgency, a priority to get right with God. The rich young ruler who came to Jesus one day wanted to have eternal life. He asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life but once he Lord put his finger on what was holding him back that young man was not prepared to set that to one side. He lost the urgency and priority when the finger was pointed at him. Jesus said "take up your cross daily and follow me." The ark of the covenant had been missing for some 70 years. David knew that God`s presence was missing. What about our good intentions tonight? Are we hungering for God`s presence in our lives? Perhaps we have let it slip away. We have faltered and failed God. There is a priority to do that which will bring us back into the presence of God. We are not looking to a box but to a cross where our Saviour bled and died, he finished the work of God`s salvation for you and I. Where God meets with you and I to reconcile us to himself. David would secure that presence once more. He would take 30,000 with him to search for it.
David`s great interference. As he approaches this ark he makes a new cart for the ark of God. This was the very best of material David could find. Everything was new. Nothing but the best to transport this precious commodity. We have to realise one thing however. David`s interference. He found the ark of the covenant. He lifted and set it on a new cart but it never should have been on a new cart. God never intended it to be done that way. It was to be borne on the shoulders of the priests of God. In Numbers 7 we read something very wonderful there. The tribes were given wagons to transport their things in. When it came to the ark of the covenant that was to be borne on the shoulders of the priests. Joshua told the priests to bear the ark of the covenant on their shoulders and when they stepped down into the water the water would disappear and they would walk on dry land. David overlooked a very important feature. If he had only gone back into the book of Moses there he would have seen how this precious commodity was to be attended to. God`s presence is only attained in God`s way and no other. Genesis 3 begins my story. My first parents in the garden, the enemy comes and tricks them. Sin entered into the world. Through that entry it has come into my heart and yours. Job asked "how can I be made right with God?" Many are trying to obtain God`s salvation their own way. We must repent of our sin, turn away, leave it, walk away from it, move away from it. We must come to the cross of Calvary, believe that Jesus died for my sins, that he rose from the dead for our justification. Now we can have peace with God in the finished work of Calvary. David did something he shouldn`t have done. In Acts 8 Simon thought the gift of God was something to be obtained by money. You and I cannot purchase or buy salvation. It is not earned. If we want to be saved we have got to come the way God says. David should have brought the priests and borne the ark on their shoulders. That was God`s way.
David`s grave implication. Here was a move that bore great consequences. It ended in the death of a young man driving the cart. He should never have been put in that position. He was driving the cart when it shook. He reached forth to touch it. That young man was cut down immediately. To treat the things of God lightly has grave consequences. You have to come God`s own way. There is a way that seemeth right unto man but the end thereof is the way of death. It does not involve coming to church, standing and singing the hymns, reading the bible, saying the prayers. David thought it was right to set the ark on a new cart and bring it back into the land of Israel. Sadly he made a mistake and that mistake resulted in the death of a young man. Do not make that mistake. Do not decide to come to God some other way. The whole thing finished in disaster for David. All was going well for a time. They were making their way down. There was joy in his heart. There was music and celebration. All of a sudden the cart stopped, the ark was about to fall off and the young man reached out to stop it when he lost his life. Is it possible to make a bad decision tonight? There are grave consequences from it as a result. Maybe you have come in unsaved or are backslidden. You could miss God`s salvation tonight through neglect and go out to a Christless hell for all eternity. Would you leave your own endeavours, trying the best you can and come and simply trust Christ as Saviour. Looking to him on the middle cross who died for you. Will you trust him tonight? Say "Lord I want to secure your presence in my heart and life, not in my way, not to follow any man`s teaching, I want to trust you as you would have me to trust you." If so you can be saved, restored right where you are by crying out unto God in these final moments. Don`t leave without getting right with God, come to Christ tonight.
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