WEBVTT 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.759 The scripture reading this morning is taken from the book of First Chronicles, chapter 13. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:26.000 And if you uh don't have a Bible here uh with you this morning, there should be a pew Bible located uh there in the uh the in front of you on the uh pew rack. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:28.960 And you can find it on page 345. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:30.879 I'd encourage you to turn there. 00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:34.880 I will be reading verses five through fourteen. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.640 First Chronicles chapter 13, beginning in verse 5. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:53.840 So David assembled all Israel from the Nile of Egypt to Lebohannoth to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jeriam. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:01:07.680 And David and all of Israel went up to Bala, that is, to Kirath Jeriam, that belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord who sits enthroned above the cherubim. 00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:18.079 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:27.680 And David and all Israel were rejoicing before God with all their might, with song and lyres and harps and tambourines and cymbals and trumpets. 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:36.480 And when they came to the threshing floor of Chedah, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen the oxen stumbled. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:45.040 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:54.480 And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah, and that place is called Periz Uzzah to this day. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:00.400 And David was afraid of God that day, and he said, How can I bring the ark of God home to me? 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:08.319 So David did not take the ark home into the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed Edom the Gittite. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:20.080 And the ark of God remained with the house of Obid Edom in the house, in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed the household of Obid Edom and all that he had. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:28.960 Now, you're probably sitting here this morning thinking this is the oddest passage in preparation for Christmas. 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:35.599 Um, and I have to admit I have never heard a Christmas-themed sermon preached from this passage. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:38.800 So uh we're both in the same boat here. 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:41.919 Why did I pick this passage? 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:47.840 Remember, our theme that we're looking at is from Matthew chapter 1. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.520 And it is talking about God with us. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:58.719 And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. 00:03:00.319 --> 00:03:18.479 And I want us to continue to explore and to delve into what we began to talk about last time, uh, last week, and I encourage you, if you weren't here, uh, to listen to the the message from last week uh to get an idea of the theme of what we're talking about last time. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:26.960 We talked about the radical nature of the fall, of the influence and the impact of sin, and as uh the theologian R. 00:03:27.039 --> 00:03:27.120 C. 00:03:27.280 --> 00:03:30.400 Sproul said, that sin is cosmic treason. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:33.360 It is rebellion against a holy God. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:57.919 It is shaking our fist at God, thumbing our nose at God, of declaring our independence to God, to say, God, I am not gonna do it your way, I am not going to listen to you, I am not gonna submit to your authority, I am going to do it my way, the way I want to do it, independent of your will and your desire and your wishes and your plans, I am living apart from you. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:04.719 And whether we recognize it or not, all sin is rebellion against God. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:07.680 It is cosmic treason, as R.C. 00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:09.199 Sproul says. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:12.400 And we saw the pervasive influence of the fall. 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:24.480 When our first parents sinned, and Adam being our representative, sin uh was the consequences were impacted not just to him, but to all who would follow in his train. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:32.000 And we, as a consequence, are impacted and influenced by the sin of Adam. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:48.000 And we are born under sin, we have a sin nature, and that sin nature, that disposition and bent towards sin is manifested in all of the choices that we make, and it impacts every aspect of who we are. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.680 And so we we looked at that and explored that last time. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:05:04.560 And if you rem if you remember, or uh if you want to look at the passage in Genesis chapter 3, after Adam and Eve sinned, uh, they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:18.720 Uh when they when they sinned, uh part of the judgment was that they were no longer able to be in the presence of God like they were prior to the fall. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:27.839 And so there was a cataclysmic event that happened in the fall, that man now was separated from God. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:40.480 That there was a spiritual separation that occurred and that has lasting impact on each one of us, that we are born spiritually dead, separated from God, insensitive to the things of God. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:06:09.600 We saw that death entered into the created order towards mankind, and that and that death now is a consequence of sin, physical death, and the Bible tells us that there is a second death that occurs when somebody doesn't come to faith in Christ, and ultimately those who don't place their faith in Christ are separated from God for all of eternity, in a Christeless eternity in conscious torment in payment for the punishment of their sins. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:22.000 And so, what we saw, though, was that when God expelled Adam, it was an act of mercy, that he could have struck him dead if he had so chosen, and he would have been just in doing so. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:26.959 And yet he provided for them a covering and he expelled them from his presence. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:32.240 And this was a manifestation of God's grace. 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:43.759 And it also reveals the reality that sinful people cannot be in the presence of a holy God. 00:06:45.360 --> 00:07:06.079 And when we look at Emmanuel, God with us, and we look at Christ's death on the cross for sin and his resurrection, his physical resurrection, it really, the weight of that really comes into sharper focus when we recognize the holiness of God. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:19.360 And the astounding reality that God visited this planet is in light of who God is and what we see of him in the Old Testament. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:27.680 God's unveiled presence, uh sinful man cannot dwell in. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:33.279 And this is what we learn as we read through the pages of the Old Testament. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:54.560 Uh, even when God manifested his presence, when he made his presence known in unusual ways, when when uh Moses uh saw the burning bush and God was there, and and Moses is told to take off his sandals, for the place that he is standing is holy, and yet we recognize that God is not revealing himself in his full glory. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:58.720 And even in these manifestations, God is still veiled. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:12.240 We think of God in the tabernacle and later in the temple, where God was in the holy of holies there in the temple, and the priest could go on the Day of Atonement and offer sacrifice for his sins and the sins of his people. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:23.759 And yet there was a veil that separated God in his manifest presence in the holy of holies in the tabernacle in the temple from the people. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:31.920 In Exodus chapter 33, there's an incident, and Moses is asking to see God's glory. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:37.440 He he asked God, and this is what the passage says, Exodus chapter 33. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:41.440 It says, Later, Moses asked God to see God's glory. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:45.200 And God said to him, Moses said, Please show me your glory. 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:52.000 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:58.320 And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:07.840 And then God says this, But he said, You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:19.759 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand in the rock, and when my glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:25.679 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. 00:09:26.480 --> 00:09:36.720 God allows for a glimpse, kind of a fleeting backward glimpse of his glory, but God's glory Moses could not see unveiled. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:55.519 The holiness of God, the reality of God's purity in his presence that sinful man cannot dwell in, is a reality that sometimes, because of our familiarity with the cross, the weight of that, the weight of his glory is lost on us. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:15.679 And so I want to share two brief stories from the Old Testament, the one that we read and another example to remind us of the holiness of God and the dire consequences of sinful man uh dwelling in God's presence and disregarding his holiness. 00:10:15.840 --> 00:10:19.440 The first one is found in Leviticus chapter 10. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:33.200 And both of these passages, the one I read and this one, strike us uh as shocking because of our unfamiliarity with uh the depths of God's holiness. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:36.720 In Leviticus chapter 10, Nadab and Abihu. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:54.960 It says in verse 1 of Leviticus chapter 10, now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:02.240 And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.039 These were two sons of Aaron. 00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:13.279 And they offered, it says, unauthorized fire. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:14.960 What was their grand sin? 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:21.679 Their grand sin was they had decided to innovate and change what God had prescribed in worship. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:30.000 God had told them to worship him in a certain way, and here were these uh these two young guys, and they had decided that they were going to innovate. 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:35.360 Uh, they were gonna make some changes and offer God uh this incense. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:41.039 That was that was the extent of their sin, and God struck them dead. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:51.200 Now, when we read this at first blush, it's gotta be shocking to us to think that they they went before the Lord and they just changed the formula. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:59.200 They just changed a little bit of what was prescribed by God, and uh as a consequence of that, they were struck dead. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.840 Look at what uh Aaron's reaction, Moses and Aaron. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:13.039 This is then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord has said, among those who are near me, I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:15.440 And Aaron held his peace. 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.799 Aaron was displeased by this. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:24.000 His sons had died as a consequence of uh their foolishness. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:27.279 Well, why didn't God cut them some slack? 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:31.679 Why the harshness, the seeming harshness of what God did to Nadab and Abihu? 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.240 The answer to it is in verse 3. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:39.840 He says, Among those who are near me, I will be sanctified. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:43.600 I will be regarded as holy. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:47.840 And what Nadab and Abihu did was they disregarded God's word. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:13:00.000 They had violated his will, they had acted independently of God, they had misrepresented God to his people, and they represented God or the people to God. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:03.519 It was a blatant disregard of God's holiness. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:08.240 They thumbed their nose at God and asserted their own self-will. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:23.120 In fact, in Exodus chapter 30, verse 9, God had specifically told them this you shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, you shall not pour a drink offering on it. 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:34.720 They had disregarded the holiness of God, and as a consequence of that, God had struck them down. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:40.320 Then we have this odd story of Uzzah in 1 Chronicles 13. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:48.879 And a little background here, give some uh some uh a frame of reference to it. 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:52.799 If you remember, the Philistines had captured the Ark of God. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:58.960 Uh the Ark of God represented the throne of God, had been captured by the Philistines. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:14.399 And they had carried it, carried it away, and uh because of all of the problems that they had, they decided to send it back, and uh they had sent it back, and uh it was kept in safekeeping in storage, uh, in essence. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:33.200 And during David's reign, David decided that he was going to bring it back from where it was in storage, back to Jerusalem, to its rightful place where uh when Jerusalem was built and the temple was uh the that uh that they wanted it back in, uh that he wanted it in Jerusalem. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.159 So they were gonna move it to Jerusalem. 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:48.799 So they placed the ark of God on a new cart that had two men, Uzzah and Ahio, uh, to drive the cart from Kiriath Jirim to Jerusalem. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.840 And then we saw what happened. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:58.559 As the ark is going along on this ox cart, the ox are pulling along, uh, they hit a bump. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:13.840 They hit a bump, and as the ark is shifting and possibly about to fall off, Uzzah reaches out his hand to stabilize it so it doesn't hit the ground. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:15.519 That's all he did. 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:21.200 He reached out and put up his hand so that this ark wouldn't hit the ground. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:25.440 And God judges him. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:28.240 And David's angry. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:39.919 If you notice what David's reaction was, it says uh that David, uh, verse 11, David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:47.919 And in some senses, that reaction is understandable. 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.240 David, it says, was angry and afraid. 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:59.279 Did David have a right to be angry at God over this? 00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:00.799 Did God overreact? 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:10.240 And that's one of the questions when we read this that we we come to think all he did was stuck his hand out to help this this box from falling on the ground. 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:11.919 Did did he overreact? 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:16.320 Was that something that was was well beyond what was deserved? 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:21.279 Well, we understand a little bit more about Uzzah. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:22.960 It's helpful. 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:24.879 We all know about Uzzah, right? 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:27.039 You know, Fuzzy Uzzah was a bear. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:27.600 No. 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:28.559 No, not that. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:29.759 That was Fuzzy. 00:16:30.799 --> 00:16:36.240 No, Uzzah is Uzzah was a Kohathite, and that doesn't mean anything to us. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:37.279 He was a Kohathite. 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:39.759 That was the family that he was born into. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:46.000 He was born into the Kohathites, and the Bible tells us a bit about the Kohatites. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:52.480 Uh, the Kohites were a branch of the Levites, the Levites, the priestly tribe of Israel. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:57.200 And they had one job, according to Numbers chapter 4, verse 4. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:05.039 They had one job, and that was to take care of the sacred articles in the tabernacle. 00:17:05.759 --> 00:17:13.200 They had one job to take care of the sacred objects, the sacred articles in the tabernacle. 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:17.839 And they they that was the one thing. 00:17:17.920 --> 00:17:19.519 You grew up, you had one job. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:21.920 It's kind of like I don't know if this has ever happened to you. 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:22.720 This has happened to me. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:26.799 I go to Starbucks and I order a I order a regular cup of black coffee. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:29.519 That's almost that's the only thing I drink, or mostly what I drink. 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:32.160 And they say, I'm sorry, we're out of coffee. 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:35.839 And I sit there, I think, you guys have one job. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:38.880 You sell coffee, you're a coffee store. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:40.319 How can you be out of coffee? 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:41.839 You only do one thing. 00:17:42.000 --> 00:17:49.039 That's what the whole existence of your corporation is, is to make coffee, and you need, oh, it's gonna take a few minutes. 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:50.319 We need to brew some. 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:53.200 Well, the Kohites had one job. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:59.920 One job to take care of the articles in the tabernacle later in the temple. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:05.519 And and the main part of that job was to know how do you handle the ark. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:10.480 In fact, in uh in Numbers chapter uh four, it says this. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:21.359 Uh it says, 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 Koath shall come to carry these. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:26.720 You see, they had one job to take care of the articles, and they had a responsibility. 00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:28.640 How do you carry the ark? 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:29.759 One job. 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:31.519 And this is what it says. 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:34.960 This is how the Koheth, the sons of Koath are to carry the ark. 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:39.920 They must not touch the holy things lest they die. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:47.119 These are the things of the tent of the meeting that the sons of Koath are to carry. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:51.440 There were poles that were to go into each side of the ark. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:19:07.359 There were rings and the poles were to slide in, and they were to put, they were to put the poles on their shoulder and lift up the ark and walk with the ark, making sure never to touch the ark. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.960 Because the ark represented the presence of God. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:26.559 And he would have known this from the time he was a child, he was growing up to do one job with his life, to take care of the things of God and to carry the ark of God. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:31.920 He should have known what God had expected of him. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:45.920 And he disregarded the word of God and the holiness of God and the presence of God. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.200 And as a consequence of that, God judged him. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:20:04.720 It's a reminder to us, and we don't often think about this, that the Bible tells us that sinful humanity cannot be in the presence of God. 00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:19.920 The prophet Habakkuk says, You, uh God, you who are of pure eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, God can never overlook or see and accept the wrong in people. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:24.400 In Ezekiel 18, it says, The soul who sins shall die. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:32.240 In Matthew chapter 5, verse 48, Jesus is talking and he says, Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:37.519 That to be in the presence of God, we need to be perfect. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:48.720 That is the standard for which God has set, and he has not lowered his standard, that sinful humanity cannot dwell in the presence of the holy. 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:56.079 And so throughout the Old Testament, even when God manifested his presence, his presence was always veiled. 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:13.519 And this is the amazing reality. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:18.319 We're going to look at this next week, that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:20.000 He is God in human flesh. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:31.440 But what's amazing is even in John chapter 1, when it says, and in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God, and then in verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:36.799 The word for dwelt there is a Greek word that means to tent or to tabernacle. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:42.240 And somebody reading that would immediately go back to the Old Testament and think about the tabernacle of God. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:46.799 It was God's manifest presence with his people. 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:59.519 And so when we read Emmanuel, God with us, in light of the fact in the Old Testament, nobody could be in the presence of God, it is astounding. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:14.480 That God visits this planet and that Jesus Christ manifests the presence of God walking among us for thirty-three years. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:23.119 And the fact that we needed Jesus. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:28.240 Jesus could, only God could provide forgiveness. 00:22:28.880 --> 00:22:33.759 Only God could provide the forgiveness that we need. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.319 What's amazing is that God came near. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:23:02.319 Jesus Christ is fully God, and fully man is what the Bible tells us that he is God Himself that came, that He is Emmanuel, God with us, and He took upon Himself human flesh so that Jesus is fully God, and at the incarnation he became fully man without losing at all in any way his deity. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:10.319 And then he walked among us for 33 years, and he came to do what we couldn't do. 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:18.079 He came to provide what we needed, which we couldn't secure on our own. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:29.200 The message of the gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ is in light of the reality that we could never go to heaven on our own. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:38.960 Because of sin, because of our sinful choices, because of the impurity and the unrighteousness that is in our life, we can never be in the presence of God. 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:57.359 And what Jesus did in coming to earth was first of all that he took all of the penalty and the punishment that we deserve, all of the unrighteousness that we deserve, the justice and the wrath of God. 00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:13.359 In fact, and uh we often don't think about this, but when Christ came, he saved us for God, he rescued us so that we can have a relationship with God, but he also rescued us from God. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:16.640 Think about that. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:26.000 When Christ rescued us from the righteous judgment of God that we deserve. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:13.759 Absolute full obedience to the Father without ever sinning. 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:31.839 And when Christ died, he died to pay the penalty for our sins, but not only that, the righteous life that Jesus lived, all of his righteousness in active obedience to the Father is credited to our account. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:50.799 So that we stand before God forgiven and righteous, so that we can be in the presence of God for all of eternity. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:26:09.599 And that is the miracle of Emmanuel, God with us, and it really comes into sharper focus when we understand our sinfulness and the holiness of God. 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:13.680 And it causes us to worship. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:20.880 For the next several minutes, we're going to spend time in worship, reflecting on Emmanuel. 00:26:20.960 --> 00:26:26.240 And next week we're going to look at who Jesus is in greater detail. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:42.720 But I want us to come uh come now as Pat comes to lead us in a time of worship, of reflecting on our sinfulness, God's holiness, and the grace that comes through Jesus Christ.