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Again, very thankful to be with y'all this morning. Y'all please pray for me this morning. I uh have something that is distinctly on my mind. I pray the Lord would help me to rightly divide his word. The title of my message today is A Warning Against Casual Christianity. A warning against casual Christianity. If y'all will turn with me to Exodus chapter 25. Exodus chapter 25. This is just found five chapters after the commandments of God were given. The ten commandments. And in Exodus chapter 25, we see where the Ark of the Covenant is being commanded to God's children. And this is going to house or hold those Ten Commandments. What does the Ark of the Covenant have to do with casual Christianity? I hope to show you this morning a lesson out of the Old Testament that is indicating to us, showing us the holiness of God, and that God's people are not to take the holiness of God lightly. And I fear that you and I live in a world, and I say world, I do mean the world, but I also mean America, where that Christianity and the Word of God and the holiness of God is not taken seriously. And I want to lump myself into that to say, as an American Christian, even in the studying of this, and I've known for a long time, that I don't believe that we take the Word of God and the holiness of God, even personally. Even I'm talking about myself. And I lump myself in with American Christians and even modern Christians of the world as a main part. That we don't take the holiness of God seriously. So I want to bring you this lesson this morning, speaking about a warning against casual Christianity. So we're going to read in Exodus chapter 25 about the ark. So again, this is a sacred chest, if you want to think about it that way, that was built, commanded to be built, to house the ten commandments that the Lord gave his people in the Old Testament. And in Exodus chapter 25, we see that. So we're going to begin reading in Exodus chapter 25, and let's begin reading in verse 10. Exodus chapter 25, we'll begin reading in verse 10. And they shall make an ark of shittim wood, which also means acacia wood by modern vernacular. They shall make an ark, a box, a chest out of this 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. So roughly this box was the math, my math may not be exact, but the box is roughly about 27 inches wide, 27 inches tall, and about 45 inches long. It's not a huge box, it's under four feet long, and uh a little bit bigger than two foot by two foot high and wide. So he gave them the size of the box, and it says verse 11, and thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without, shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about, and thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof, and two rings shall be in the side of it, and two rings on the other side of it, and thou shalt make staves of this shitamwood or acacia wood, and over overlay them with gold, and thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the side of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark, and they shall not be taken from it. So they made a box out of wood, and covered it inside and out with gold, and then he told them specifically to cast rings in the side of the ark on the four corners, so that they could pass these long wooden rods through the rings, and they covered the rods with gold also, and this was the way in which the ark was supposed to be carried or transported, was uh with these rings and these rods. But you also notice it says in verse 15 uh about these, and this is going to be important later, that these staves or these long rods, it says, they shall not be taken from it. In other words, these long rods that were slidden in the ark to transport it, those rods weren't taken out. They were supposed to be left in or with the ark as kind of a permanent part of the ark. Uh so you have these long rods sticking out both sides of the ark. Verse 16, he tells them, and thou shalt put in the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. Well, that testimony is the Ten Commandments. And so the first thing that was put in the ark was the handwritten law by the finger of God, because that was significant in the life of Israel, the moral law, the Ten Commandments, that was placed in the ark, and that's how it was to be transported, and that was to represent, and it was the law of God. And later on, they ended up putting a jar of manna that the Lord had provided them, that uh food that the Lord had provided them in the wilderness that uh was to feed them, that was God's uh provision for his people. And they also put in Aaron's rod that budded out when the people were in rebellion, and uh and then uh there was a challenge given, and uh Aaron's rod was the one that budded, and so they put that uh in there uh as a reminder to the rebellion of the people. And so those were the contents eventually of the ark completely was the Ten Commandments, was the jar of manna, and was the uh rod that budded that was Aaron's. But the Lord told him to build the ark, build it this way, and put its testimony in it, verse 17. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And so what he's saying here is you need to make a lid for the ark to put on top of it, that's to be made out of pure gold, and on top of that ark it needs to be adorned. Verse 18, thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shall thou make them, and the two ends of the mercy seat, and make one cherubim on the one end, and the other cherubim on the other end, even of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the ends thereof, and the cherubim 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 shall the faces of the cherubims be, and thou shalt put the mercy seat up above upon the ark, and in the ark shalt thou put the testimony, that's the Ten Commandments, that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. Amen. So they made this chest of wood and covered it with gold, and made rings and put uh rods in it to carry it. They made a lid on top of it out of pure gold, that on top of it it had two angels that were facing one another, looking inward, and then their wings were outstretched, covering the mercy seat, the lid of the ark. And the Lord says, That is the place that I will meet with you here in this earth. That uh during the time of the Jews and the time of the tabernacle and the time of the temple, this is the place that I'm going to meet with you. And when the what they would do is the high priest would come into the tabernacle or the temple, and he would once a year he would offer the blood of bulls and goats uh and sprinkle that on the mercy seat. And well, Brother Josh, why was it called a seat? You know, that's some place where we sit. Well, it's the idea of the throne of God on the earth. In other words, this is the place where God has told his people in the Old Testament that in that place I will meet with you above the ark, above my law. This is the place of mercy. This is my quote-unquote uh place, my throne room. This is where I will meet with you. And so that was the mercy seat, the seat of God, the throne of God, as it were, uh as his representative place of uh on this earth. And so he said, I will meet with you there. So that's the ark. And this is the commandment in the Old Testament that was given to them to make the ark. This is to, and so the people of Israel would, as they traveled, the ark was to go before them. That it was to be carried by the Levites, by the Levitical priesthood. It was to be carried specifically by them. Um it would go before the people. So the word of God, the law of God, the ark of the Lord, the mercy seat, the place where God would meet with his people was to go before them as a as the front of the caravan, as it were. And so the Lord was always before their eyes. He was always in front of them, so that he was always to be on their mind. And they were to see him going before them, literally by way of their physical presence of the ark. Now, so the ark had an interesting story. That, so the Lord told them to do this. Well, later on through the history of Israel, they began to not revere the ark and revere its presence, and that's where the Lord met with them. And so they began to do careless things with the ark that uh, you know, God would cast out those before them. Well, so they had gotten to the point where the ark just basically represented a thing. It was just like a token or a talisman of God's power, but they didn't really revere it as they should. And so, therefore, one time they decided to carry it into battle when they were fighting the Philistines, so that the Lord of our this is where God is, and this is our talisman of power, and our token of the Lord's just going to defeat the Philistines. Well, Israel was in a time of rebellion and sin, and the Lord allowed the Philistines to overthrow them. And he also allowed the Ark of the Covenant to be taken by the Philistines in that time because his people did not properly revere the Ark, and that's where the Lord met with them. Well, so the Philistines carried that away, and then the Philistines themselves began to be cursed, and they put it in one of their temples, and literally they their god Dagon was cast down and broken open, and the people began to be cursed with plagues, and so they decided that they didn't need this ark, and they needed to give this ark back to the Hebrews. And so what they did is they uh built a new cart and they put this um uh they put the ark on a cart and gave uh put it with two oxen and they sent it back into Hebrew territory and it came back to the Jews. Well, so they sent the ark back to the Jews. Well, so the place that it was returned to Israel, or to Judah rather, returned to Bethshemesh. Uh, and then so that's where the Philistines took the ark back and it was given back to the Jews. And then they carried the ark to a place called Kirath Jerem. And again, y'all please forgive me if my pronunciation of some of these is not the best. But they took the ark from Bethshemesh after the Philistines brought it back to them, and then they took it to Kirath Jerem and placed it into the house of Abinadab and his sons. Well, Abinadab had a son named Eliezer, uh, and he was consecrated to guard the ark, and that's where the ark resided for about 20 years. Well, so during the time of King Saul's reign, there wasn't a whole lot done with the ark. It just stayed there. And nobody really regarded it, nobody really revered it. It was just kind of an aside, it was kind of out of the way. Well, when King David took the throne, he wanted the ark back at Jerusalem because this is the seat of God. This is the mercy seat, this is where God meets with his people on earth. And so David felt it important that the Ark of the Covenant be returned to Jerusalem. So he set about to do that. And so I want to begin, if y'all will, turn with me to uh 1 Chronicles chapter 13. 1 Chronicles chapter 13. So this is when David has now decided to transport the Ark back to Jerusalem. So we begin in 1 Chronicles chapter 13, verse 1. And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good unto you, in that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and the Levites, which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us. And let us bring again the ark of our God to us. For we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. It's just been kind of by the wayside, it's just been residing in a man's house. And all the congregations said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. So David gathered all Israel together, from Sihor of Egypt, until the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath Jerim, and David went up and all Israel to Balal, that is Kirjath Jerim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God, the ark of God the Lord, that dwelleth between the cherubims, whose name is called on it. And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahoah drave the cart. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. So here is David, and he believes that this most important thing of Israel has been neglected. And he believes that, look, this thing should be in Jerusalem, the Lord's capital, the seat of God's people. And so he informs all of Israel about this. He lets them know what's going on, and they make a great celebration that they are going to get the ark. That so they go to great lengths to, uh you notice there in verse 8, and David and all Israel played before God with all their might and with singing and with harps and with psalteries and timbrels and cymbals and trumpets. In other words, and so they made a great fanfare. This is a celebration. We are bringing the ark of God back to Jerusalem. It says in verse 9, and when they came unto the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark. For the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he smote him because he put his hand on the ark, and there he died before God. So as they were transporting the ark on the cart, they got to a certain place, and the cart was unstable, it stumbled, and as Uzzah, one of the sons of Abinadab, whose brother was Eliezer, whose brother was given the original charge of basically protecting or guarding the ark. But it this ark had been in his father's house, and so they're now transporting the ark to Jerusalem, and the cart stumbled, and so Uzzah was worried about the ark falling off the cart, so he put his hand forth and touched the ark to prevent it from falling off, and the Lord struck him dead. And the Lord struck him dead. In verse 11. And David was displeased, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah. Wherefore that place is called Peres Uzzah unto this day, that the Lord has done a breach against Uzzah. The Lord killed him. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? Question mark. So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside unto the house of Obed Edom the Gittite, and the Ark of God remained with the family of Obed Edom in his house three months, and the Lord blessed the house of Obed Edom and all that he had. Interesting story. Because Uzzah touched the ark. Well, Uzzah was trying to do a good thing, right? I mean the scriptures tell us that. And not only do the scriptures tell us that, we believe that is the actual case that Uzzah's intentions were pure, because even King David, a man after God's own heart, was mad or upset with God that God struck this man dead. That when the recounting of this was told King David that, you know, God, we're trying to do a good thing, and this man was trying to do a good thing, and he reached forth his hand and he touched the ark, and God struck him dead right there. And David saw this as unjust. David saw this as not right, that God had literally, he named the place that God has made a breach against Uzzah, that God has done wrong to Uzzah in David's judgment, in David's discernment. And then after he did that, after he did that, David was afraid. David said, How can This most dangerous of things be brought into my own house. And so they stopped and they brought it into the house of Obed Edom, the Giddite, and what happened as a result of it bringing into his house, his house was very blessed. His house was very blessed. Now, Brother Josh, why don't you tell us that story? Well, let's go a little bit further. Look at 1 Chronicles chapter 15. So just a few more chapters beyond chapter 13. 1 Chronicles chapter 15. Let's begin reading in verse 12. 1 Chronicles chapter 15, we'll begin reading in verse 12. So again, David and said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. Now wait a minute. David just said that he didn't want to bring the ark to his house after the Lord made a breach against Uzzah. Uzzah, I'm sorry. Well, when the ark was taken into the house of Obed-Edom, Obed-Edom's house was greatly blessed as a result of that. And King David was, well, he wanted the ark, you know, to be brought to his house, but again he was afraid after the Lord struck Uzzah dead until it had resided in the house of Obed-Edom for a time. And then King David saw that the Lord was blessing the house of Obed-Edom, and he said, Well, it's probably okay that we bring this up to Jerusalem. So he did. Well, but in 1 Chronicles chapter 15, they decided to do this in a different way. The second time they decided to bring the ark to Jerusalem. So now we pick up in verse, so he talked to the Levites, and then he said, beginning in 1 Chronicles 15, 13, for because ye did it not at the first, in other words, because you did not transport the ark in the way God told you, Levites, to do that, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we saw him not after the due order. In other words, after King David was mad about the fact that the Lord struck Uzzah dead, King David later, this is months and months later, came to realize that we did wrong, that we made a mistake, that we did things the wrong way. And so King David said, Look, the first time we tried to bring the ark to Jerusalem, we did it just like the Philistines did. Because the Philistines, after they had been cursed of God with plagues, because they were a heathen people and they had the holy ark of God in their presence in their own temple, they didn't know what to do with the thing. So they just threw it on an ox cart and sent the oxes going back toward the Jews. And so when the Jews decided to transport the ark back to Jerusalem, they also put it on an ark just like the Philistines did. And then when they did that, they got into a situation where the ark was compromised, whether it was looks like the ark was going to fall off the cart, and then a man reached forth his hand and put out the ark and touched it to steady it, and he was struck dead. And so then David feared God that look, this is serious. Well, so now months have transpired, and the house that the ark was taken into, those people were blessed. And so David said, Well, you know, we really do need to bring this thing to Jerusalem. Our intent originally was good, but we did it the wrong way. And so now he is talking to the Levites and telling them that the first time we transported this thing, we did it wrong. And he says in verse 13, For because you did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we saw him not after the due order. In other words, we did not do things the first time the way the Lord told us to do them, and therefore we were the ones that were wrong and not God. Y'all see that? So David before was mad about this, and then he later came to understand that God was right about this, and I was wrong. We were the ones who did things the wrong way. Verse 14. So the priest and the Levites sanctified themselves, they set themselves apart to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. So wait a minute, before it was just these couple of men, the sons of uh Abinadab, that uh was transporting the ark, and now David's saying, Look, y'all do this thing the right way, as the Lord prescribed in the Old Testament. So he charged the fathers of the Levites, you know, you set yourselves apart, you sanctify yourself. We're gonna do this in a holy way, we're gonna do this in a God-honoring way, we're not just gonna throw a big party and then throw the ark on a cart and just bring it into Jerusalem. So the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord. Verse 15, and the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of God. So now the second time, they do it right. The second time, the Levites who are actually charged with carrying the ark, the uh the second time they're walking. They're carrying the ark on staves, on the poles. And so now they're literally walking the ark into the city, and the men who were charged with carrying the ark, they're the ones carrying it. And David told them, You set yourselves apart, you sanctify yourself. This is a serious work. Verse 16, and David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be singers with instruments of music, psalteries, and harps and cymbals sounding, and lifting up the voice with joy. So the Levites appointed Haman, the son of Joel, and of his brethren Asaph, the son of Barashiah, the sons of Mariah, their brethren. And again they list all of these to bring the ark. And so the second time they brought it in. Look, skip down to verse 25. So David and the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obed Edom with joy. And it came to pass when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. And again, so verse twenty-eight, thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with shouting, with the sound of the cornet, and the trumpets, and with cymbals, and making of noise, and psalteries and harps. Verse 29, and it came to pass as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the city of David, that Michael and uh Michael, or Michael, the daughter of Saul, looking out at the window, saw King David dancing and playing, and she despised him in her heart. Well, what is that about? Well, let me give you that aside, and we'll circle back around. So King David had taken the daughter of King Saul to be one of his wives, and she saw David when he was dancing and singing before the Lord as they brought the ark into the city a great time of joyousness, and the daughter of Saul, because he was a very serious and sober man, uh somewhat hard-hearted and cynical, she was the same way, and when she saw her husband, the king, dancing and singing, she thought that behavior was totally inappropriate of a king, and she was very critical of the king for that, and she told him so. Well, and that, by the way, as a result of that, uh the Lord made her barren, and she was not able to bear him any children, because King David was trying to do this to honor the Lord. Now, well, brother Gosh, let's bring all this together. What does all this mean? It was a good and godly thing that they wanted to bring the ark back to Jerusalem, and that for so long a time the ark had been neglected of God's people because on the top of the ark is the mercy seat, it's the seat of God, the representative place where he meets with his people. But when God's children decided to bring the ark home, they did it the way that they thought best. And they did it the way that the Philistines had done it. And they did it wrong. What do you mean, Brother Josh? God specifically prescribed to them how they were supposed to transport the ark. That it was supposed to be so I want to I want to paint y'all a picture. That this ark, this box that's not overly big, basically a little over two feet by two feet by four feet, roughly, and it has these long poles sticking out of it. And the Philistines put it on a cart, sent it to the Israelites again over 20 years later. Now Israel's bringing it forth to Jerusalem, and they set it on a new cart. Well, they think, well, you know, this is a holy thing of God. We need to build a new cart, and we need to get these boys that are the sons of uh uh Abinadab to transport it. Well, think about this picture: this box sitting on a cart, and on this box, there are long poles that are sticking out both sides of this box. Did anybody think that what are the poles for? In other words, obviously, those poles are for carrying the ark. That's the way it was designed to be transported. But when the ark left the house of Abinadab, instead of appointing the Levites, who were the ones that were supposed to carry the ark, and they were supposed to carry it on foot, because the poles were permanently affixed onto the ark, they just decided to get the two sons of the men, the man's whose house it had been in, to just go with the ark, and we'll just transport it back to Jerusalem, and we're going to make a big song and dance and make a big celebration of this. And nobody thought that, well, we need to do this the way the Lord told us to do this. Well, while they were transporting it back, one of the sons of Abinadab reached forth his hand because, oh, wait a minute, the ark is about to fall off the cart, and he caught it from falling. And the first, I can guarantee you, brothers and sisters, I had kind of the same reaction that King David did the first time I read that scripture. That bothered me. Why would the Lord kill this man? The Lord struck him dead. And King David was obviously bothered by this. I want you all to notice a couple things. The ark had resided in the house of Abinadab for 20 years. But there's no particular blessing that was pronounced on the house of Abinadab. The ark resided in the house of Obed-Edom for just three months. And there was great blessings that were heaped on the house of Obed-Edom in a very short amount of time. Why is that? Well, one of the sons of Abinadab, uh Uzzah, had gotten most likely so familiar with the ark because this had been residing in his father's house for 20 years. Oh, that's just that thing. That's just that golden box that's been in my dad's house for 20 years. He had gotten comfortable with the things. That, oh yeah, it's just a thing. And look, brothers and sisters, this is the mercy seat of God on earth. This is the place where the creator of the universe has told his people that he meets with them. He even told them in the Old Testament that you were not allowed to touch the ark. It is, and it is supposed to be, and when it came to reside in the temple, it was in the most holy of place. And the priest had to put blood upon himself to be able to enter into that place. Because he himself was a sinner. In other words, you don't just get to, like even in the old times, you as a commoner or even as a priest, you don't just get to stroll in the king's throne room. Oh, hey, king, how are you today? They would literally kill you if you just walked into the king's throne room without having been summoned by him. Well, this man who was one of the sons of Obed-Edom had most likely gotten so familiar with the ark that he was just another thing in his dad's house. Oh, yeah, well, that's God's ark. Uzzah should have known that you don't get to touch the ark. That's the presence of God here on earth. And so he literally, when he saw it stumbling, well, Brother Josh, what should he have done? He should have grabbed the cart. Or, number one, King David and the Levites should not have even allowed the ark to have been transported in that way. Or did it occur to all the people that were transporting it with these long rods that are sticking out of the ark that we should not be doing things this way? This is wrong. This is not what God designed for us to do. And so Uzzah was just a casualty of the wrongdoing of King David and the Levites and Israel. And again, he should not have touched the ark. So what is that a reminder of? I told you this message was a warning against casual Christianity. You and I live in an American culture where that Jesus is all love. That, you know, Christians are the 11th commandment is Christians are supposed to be nice. And if you're not nice, then you're a terrible human being. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to be nice. We are to be compassionate and we are to be kind and we are to be loving, but we are not to be nice. In other words, do y'all think that Jesus Christ was nice when he destroyed the earth or will destroy the earth in the book of Revelation? You know, when we preach through the entire book of Revelation, that the book of Revelation is revealing Christ to us in a different light than you and I normally see him as. He comes as the one who is reigning God. He is a judge. He is on the He comes with an iron scepter in his hand, and he will destroy the wicked of the earth. Brothers and sisters, God is holy, and you and I are unholy. You know, Uzzah could have been the best man in the world. He could have been a man like Daniel or a man like Job. But even if Job or Daniel himself were to touch the ark, they would have been struck dead. Why? Because God is pure and holy and righteous, and he is king of kings and lord of lords, and you don't have a right to touch him. Well, Prophet Josh, how is it that I can pray to him? How is it that I can come worship him? By the grace of the Lord God, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I am what we am. Because otherwise, you and I are wretched sinners who deserve a devil's hell, and in a moment we would be destroyed in the presence of a holy God. Casual Christianity. Our world treats Christ so flippantly, so unholy, so irreverently. You and I, brothers and sisters, will watch a movie that has curse words in it. Well, you and I will so and again, I'm I'm please do not misunderstand me. I'm lumping myself. Brother Josh King has watched movies with the F-word in them, and movies that dishonor God. Again, I'm just talking about my whole life, if you understand. I don't go about it purposely to do that. I'm just saying that in my own life, and I know in yours and in the American culture, oftentimes we treat Christianity and the Word of God and Jesus Christ and the Lord so casually that we just get so comfortable with things. That we're just like Oozah. Well, this is just a box that's been in my dad's house for 20 years, and it's just a thing. You know, Christianity is just a thing. You know, I go there on Sunday morning, you know, occasionally I read my Bible or I read my little five-minute devotional, and that's what Christianity is all about. And no, it's not. Brothers and sisters, God is the almighty God of the universe. The ark was the place where he met with his people, it was the most holy of things. He literally threw down the pagan idols in their own temples. He literally plagued the heathen nations. And when King David, who was trying to do a good thing, he literally put it on a new cart and transported it back to Jerusalem, and God said, It's not done that way. King David, I don't care what kind of good intentions you had, you didn't do things the way I told you to do them. And see, the thing is, is you and I get offended about that. Well, God, I just I just really want to do things my way. It's not about you and me. It's about him. When you go to the king's house, you and I don't just get to march up in the king's throne room and say whatever we want to say and do whatever we want to do. It doesn't work that way. We treat the God of the universe just like he's wearing street clothes here in a church and he's just some other random guy. He's not that guy. Brothers sisters, I appreciate the fact that you and I understand that God is so gracious and he is so merciful and he is so loving and he is so kind because he is all of those things. The lid of the ark is called the mercy seat. It was where the priest would come and he would cast blood on it, and that was where the sins of God's children were to be forgiven year after year. And Jesus Christ Himself is the emblem of the mercy seat that he atoned for mine and your sins. But at the same time, when that is so wonderful and pure, the same time you and I need to realize that you and I are not holy, and he is holy, and we have to treat him with the utmost level of seriousness all the time. And that's what happened here. People thought they could do just whatever they wanted to do, and God said, No, you're not. I want to close with this this morning. It's found in a book of Hebrews. It's a New Testament example that's somewhat similar to this. And we're going to do this very quickly. It's found in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. This is an admonition in Hebrews chapter 10 that is uh exhorting us to continue in the faith, to honor the Lord. And uh Verse 16. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 16. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. In their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Amen. Now the remission of these is there is no more offering for sin, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy, the holiest by the blood of Jesus. See, you and I have been given access to the holy of holies. You and I have been given access to the mercy seat of God, to the presence of the holiness of God. And you and I are so very blessed to have this access. The veil of the temple has been written too, and you and I have direct access to the throne of God. And that's what Christ did for us. He made unholy folks like you and I. Uh Paul, you know, I'm the greatest of sinners. I think myself that, you think yourself that. And you and I have been given access to this holy God. Verse 20, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, that's the sacrifice of Christ, and having a high priest over the house of God, that's Christ, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. That's an allusion to the Old Testament priesthood, that you and I are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and that is the only way that you and I have access to God. Now look at what he tells us in verse 23. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. As the manner of some is, but exhorting one another so much the more as we see the day approaching. Stop. I'm almost done. You know what he's telling us? That because of what Christ has done for us, that you and I need to be exhorting one another and encouraging one another. And so much the more as we see the day approaching, that's talking about attending church. Well, Bros Yash, there you are as a preacher. You're telling people to go to church. Yes, I am. You know why? It's actually one of the Ten Commandments. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. So when so let's bring all this together. So when we live in a modern society where that when the preacher actually is exhorting people and encouraging people that you literally need to go to church every single Sunday of your entire life forever, if you're not hindered. Well, why is that, Brother Josh? Well, preachers are supposed to say that. Okay, yes, I'm supposed to say that. But you know what? I'm saying it because God said it. Because you and I owe God our lives. You and I owe God our reasonable service to not only attend church every Sunday, not only to pray every day and read the Word of God every day, but also to take the Lord Himself and His Word seriously every second of every minute of our entire lives until the day we die and go home to be with Him. He deserves that you and I take Him and revere Him because He's a holy God. Amen. And you and I are supposed to encourage one another in that manner. And so here was a time in Israel's history when they got a little lax, they got a little easy, they got a little unconcerned about the holiness of God, and therefore the Lord literally struck a man dead because he laid his hand on the Ark of the Covenant, and therefore that made King David fear God, and it made Israel fear God, and then they returned to the way that the Lord told them to do things. Because God said, this is not for you. You don't get to pick and choose what, you know, we live in a world today that wants to, oh, I like this part of Scripture, and I don't like this part of Scripture. Again, I'm not going to get on a high horse this morning, but our world thinks that they get to redefine marriage. Our world thinks that they get to redefine who God is and how we worship him, and we don't. He is the author. It is his way. We don't get to pick and choose. He is a holy God and our very creator. And you know, and here when it told us that you and I need to be encouraging one another to walk with him, to see him. And then it says, For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despises Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and have counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace. For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Why do you tell us that, Brother Josh? The only reason that I mention all of this is that you and I do not need to get so comfortable and casual in our Christianity that you and I just think anything goes and everything is acceptable, and the way the world tells us that we should worship and we do worship, that's the right way to do it. No, you and I should go to the Bible and as best we can strictly adhere to the word of God. Why? Because he is God, because he is our Savior. You know, Jesus Christ shed his precious blood for me and you. And literally, the writer of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul, is saying that when you and I do not take that seriously, it's almost like you and I are taking the blood of Christ and throwing it on the ground and taking our foot and just stomping on it and saying, you know, Jesus, uh, it's really not the most important thing that you died for me. And the so I'm really not taking uh this salvation thing very seriously, and your word very seriously, and your church very seriously. And you know what? I'm just uh you know, I'm just gonna treat it like I do everything else in my life, that it's just kind of a mediocre and uh, you know, with a with a level of lackadaisicalness in my life. And and God says, of how much sore punishment are you and I worthy than death when you and I treat the blood of Christ so unreverently. Well, Brother Josh, it's just kind of a sombre message. I want to tell you that uh, brothers and sisters, I'm not preaching at you. Instead, I'm talking to us, meaning myself. I can tell you, as a preacher of the gospel, for now almost 30 years, that I don't even personally take the Lord as seriously as I should in my walk with him. King David, who was a man after God's own heart, didn't take the Lord as seriously as he should have, amen? So if men like King David didn't take him as seriously as he should have, if a man who had the mercy seat of God residing in his own house didn't take the ark and the presence of God seriously as he should have, if all the nation of Israel just said, Oh, we can do it our own way, we're gonna do it this way, and the Lord had to remind him, no, you don't do it that way. And Paul reminds us in the New Testament of how much sore punishment are you and I if we trodden underfoot the blood of Christ. I am so thankful, brothers and sisters, that there are many messages preached about grace and mercy because they are true. And amen and praise the Lord. You and I need mercy and grace, but at times you and I need to be reminded of who the king is. And you and I just come as beggars who are just begging for scraps that fall from the master's table of his mercy and his grace, of which you and I deserve none. And we are so thankful for every single one. And may me personally and you personally take our Christianity with a greater level of seriousness when we leave this church house today, not next Sunday, not next week, but when you and I leave this church house today, may you and I take our Christianity more seriously than we did five minutes ago. Amen. Because shame be on me if I don't, if I, as a preacher who am preaching this message, I'm held more accountable than you if I don't leave this church house and take my walk of Christ more seriously than I did when I walked through the doors. That is the lesson in the Old Testament. It's a warning against casual Christianity. I hope this has been an encouragement to you and I. We praise our Savior, the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. So many people remember his name. Jesus has sacrificed, Jesus' lamb, but they forget that name. Jesus is Lord. Man, you and I remember him as Jesus is Lord. I'm gonna ask for God if we'd come up and have a clothes of the word of song. The church doors are always open. It is our night for membership of our church.