I Chronicles 11:1-22:1

[00:00:00] This evening, the second division in these two volumes, Chronicles, we have called it, the realization of God's purpose. [00:00:16] And it is subdivided into two quite clear portions. The first is from chapter 11 to chapter 29. That is the rest of the first book of Chronicles, and that deals supremely with the preparation for the temple. The whole of this portion that we trust by the Lord's enabling tonight to cover deals exclusively with the preparation of the materials and the arrangement for the service of the house of God. [00:00:56] The second part of this division is the other chapters, the first nine chapters of the second book of Chronicles that deal with the actual building of the temple. [00:01:14] The first part, dealing with the preparation for the temple, centers in David. [00:01:21] The second centers in sorrow. [00:01:26] The first, it's very interesting to note, is in an atmosphere of conflict and warfare and battle. The second is in an atmosphere of peace and rest. [00:01:41] And that, I think, is very, very interesting, because there is a sense that in which we can look upon the temple as the eternal thing. There is a sense in which we can look upon it as the eternal house of God, and that is being built beyond reach of the enemy and beyond reach of conflict and warfare. There is a sense in which we can look, although we're not going to look at them because I don't think that's the primary message to us. There is a sense in which we can look at these two parts of this division. The first to do with preparation in many ways as being our experience here on earth, being prepared, being got ready, being worked upon, wrought upon by God in an atmosphere of warfare, conflict, and difficulty, only to know that actually in the heavenlies, beyond the reach of the power of Satan, the eternal dwelling place of God is stone by stone being put into place. [00:02:49] Now, as we have said, these books of Chronicles are strategic. [00:02:55] They are not history. They are an interpretation, like the Gospel of John and like the book of Deuteronomy, they come at the end of the historical section of the Old Testament. And therein lies their very real, vital value. [00:03:11] Another thing we want to note, too, is that we have already seen that in the first 10 chapters of this first book, the whole of human history has been summarized. And we have found that the key to human history, and indeed divine history of, or as we call it, sacred history, has been one theme, one object, and that is the eternal dwelling place of God and the Christ of God. [00:03:47] One day when we're all in the glory, for which I expect all of us wearily long for, one day when we're in the glory and we look Back we shall see that the whole of human history, everything to do with it from the beginning to the end, is summed up in two the eternal dwelling place of God and the Christ of God. Or to use another figure, the bridegroom and the bride, the Lamb of God and the wife of the Lamb. [00:04:26] Now, this evening we come to this particular section and I want you to note straight away, I don't know if you've read it. I trust you have, because this evening we will not be able, if we're going to cover ground and if we're going to get out what is really important. [00:04:42] We're not going to be able to stay with a lot of detail as we did more last week. [00:04:49] But I want you to note that the very first thing, there are three major things in the preparation for the temple. [00:05:00] And these three things are brought out quite distinctly and clearly in the life of David. [00:05:09] They are of absolutely vital importance to us in the day in which we're living. [00:05:18] If we can only understand these three things, we shall understand, I believe, the principles that govern all the realization of God's purpose. [00:05:35] Now we have been saved, called and saved according to purpose, according to that purpose, not according to a purpose, but according to that purpose of God. That is the vocation with which we have been called our high calling. [00:05:58] So we look together at these chapters, and the first two chapters, chapter 11 and chapter 12, deal straight away with the first of these major things in the preparation for the temple. [00:06:17] Indeed, I think it is a little bit surprising that we are so suddenly launched upon something which causes many of you real exercise and I think at times many questions. [00:06:32] The first thing of real importance that we discover is the capture of Jebus and the creation of Zion. [00:06:49] That is, we find immediately that we are introduced to one of the greatest and most important themes in Scripture. [00:07:02] Now this is all the more surprising if you, if you have only read these chapters, those of you who have, and therefore understand what I'm talking about. [00:07:10] It is all the more surprising because this chapter opens with a just quiet and almost aside about David being crowned. The whole of David's history is passed over. It is bypassed. [00:07:31] It is not hardly, it's hardly underlined, it's hardly emphasized. [00:07:37] We're suddenly, as it were, just told that all Israel came to David at Hebron to crown him king. [00:07:47] If we hadn't got the books of Samuel, we wouldn't know the long history that was behind that very simple statement. [00:07:56] But even there it doesn't spend any time, not like the second book of Samuel. Which spends some time upon the tribes coming to David at Hebron to make him king, to crown him king of all Israel. [00:08:10] We're hardly where heart is, hardly dwelt upon. The Holy Spirit almost glosses over the coronation of David. [00:08:19] And we suddenly find this, as if this is the key to his coronation. [00:08:24] And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem. The same is Jebus and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land were there, and so on. They took it, they smote them, they took it. And then it tells you in a few simple terms, statements that they rebuilt it, they strengthened its walls, they enlarged it, and they said, they called it the city of David, Zion. [00:08:53] So we have come immediately to the most fundamental thing in the actual building of the house of God. [00:09:08] And that I think is very, very important that we should understand in this volume of Chronicles the Holy Spirit selected as the point at which he wishes to begin in this whole matter of the preparation for the temple, the capture of Jerusalem or Jebus, and the creation of Jerusalem by David. [00:09:38] Now I want you to look at one or two scriptures to give us some idea of what really lies behind this. [00:09:46] Jerusalem, we are told everywhere in Scripture, is the choice of God. [00:09:52] It is the city of God. It is the center of God. It is God's delight. [00:09:58] Out of it God shines always. Jerusalem and Zion are, as it were called, the habitation of God. God delights in her. God seeks her well being all the way. [00:10:11] Now let us turn back to Deuteronomy 12. [00:10:18] Read a few verses, verse 5 and verse 6. [00:10:25] Then again in verse 10. [00:10:28] But when ye go over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God causeth you to inherit, and he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety, then it shall come to pass that to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell. There thither shall ye bring all that I command you. [00:10:52] And then verse 13. [00:10:55] Take heed. Now watch this and underline it. [00:10:58] Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every peace place that thou seest, but in the place which the Lord shall choose. In one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee. [00:11:22] Jerusalem was that choice of God, where he called his name to dwell. [00:11:33] And as soon as that became apparent, then it became illegal to offer any offering, any tithe, any gift, any service anywhere else. [00:11:50] But on that ground. [00:11:54] That ground was the divinely defined ground of God. [00:12:04] The only portion in the whole of Israel where a man's offering, a man's tithe, a man's gift, a man's service was accepted by God. [00:12:19] He could go anywhere else in the whole land, promised land, the land of God, and offer his gifts or his service or his tithes or his burnt offerings. And as far as God was concerned, there was a veto on them. They might be perfect, the motive behind them might be good. They may be children of God, they may be living holy lives, but God would not accept the offering or the tithe of the service. [00:12:45] He clearly defined ground. [00:12:49] And that clearly defined ground was the only place where you could be accepted of God. [00:12:59] Now you will notice, by comparison, a very, very interesting thing if you turn back to Exodus chapter 20 and verse 24. For here you will immediately find a contradiction to what I've said. [00:13:17] An altar of a thou shalt make unto me, and shall sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen. In every place where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. [00:13:34] Now here there is a very interesting distinction. [00:13:40] When the children of God were living in the wilderness, there were different places where they could meet with Him. [00:13:57] In other words, the tabernacle was on the moon. [00:14:01] And wherever the tabernacle came to west, the pillar of cloud came to west. There the tabernacle was put up, there the camp encamped around. And there God said, I will accept your gifts. But immediately you go out of the wilderness and over the Jordan and into the promised land. God says, one place only, not accepted anywhere else, but one place only. [00:14:28] Now we all know spiritually what it is to live in a wilderness experience spiritually. [00:14:35] And there is a sense in which in the wilderness experience, God meets with us in different places and in different paths. But as soon as we come into the fullness of Christ, as soon as by the cross, we come into a deeper experience of the Lord Jesus, God shuts us up to ground. [00:14:54] He says, you can't go anywhere. You can't go everywhere. You can only go to the place where I've caused my name to dwell. [00:15:02] So I want you to notice the first thing about the preparation for the temple is the ground has been secured. [00:15:16] I say that's tremendous importance because the Holy Spirit has focused attention upon the first absolute necessity for the actual building of the house. [00:15:32] Now we're going to see in one moment that there was a tremendous amount of other experience needed for the building of the house. [00:15:41] But the first step in actual Building was the securing of the ground. [00:15:49] In other words, let me make it even more plain. You could have all the suffering in the world, you could have all the experience in the world, you can have all the knowledge in the world, and you can have all the history in the world. But if you do not recognize ground, church ground, you cannot come into an experience of the church. [00:16:09] Church ground comes first, and the church follows. [00:16:16] When you come onto church ground, God begins to build the church. [00:16:21] It is not the other way round. He does not build the church and and then bring you to church ground. [00:16:28] We must adapt ourselves, we must adjust ourselves to this very, very important matter that is so clearly brought out in the life of David. [00:16:40] Why does the Holy Spirit, as it were, draw a whole curtain over years and years of painful, agonizing spiritual experience, where psalm after psalm burst out of an agonized soul? [00:17:00] The Holy Spirit draws a curtain over the door, as if the Lord is saying, it's of no value to me. [00:17:08] Now we know from Samuel that it was a great value. [00:17:12] But here the Holy Spirit says, I've got to reinterpret history. [00:17:17] I've got to get you down onto the most primary and fundamental things of all. You can have all of that. You can write a psalter. [00:17:27] I did not get you anywhere in the finish. [00:17:31] For the realization of the purpose of God. [00:17:34] The first thing that has got to be discovered is the ground of God. [00:17:41] When that ground is discovered, processed, you have started on the first part of the road to the building of the temple. [00:17:55] Now, we've said that very emphatically, because it needs to be emphatically said. [00:18:03] There could be no house of God without ground. I remember a little while ago, I'll tell you a little experience when a dear beloved brother who has a great knowledge and experience of the Lord could not quite see this question of ground. [00:18:18] And asked another dear beloved brother who also has a great experience and knowledge of the Lord, what exactly he meant by ground. Why do you talk about ground? He said. [00:18:30] He said, I believe that ground is the Lord Jesus. [00:18:34] And I think that you are getting back into Old Testament days to talk about ground in the way that you talk about it. [00:18:42] But this brother said something I've never forgotten. [00:18:46] He said, the foundation is the Lord Jesus, but the ground is geographical. [00:18:58] That is, when you build a house, you first buy the ground, and then you lay the foundation, and then you build the house. [00:19:08] Now this is exactly Chronicles. [00:19:12] First you buy the ground, then you lay the foundation, and then you build the house. That is Chronicles. [00:19:21] That is the Order, you must buy the ground first, then you have the possibility of laying a foundation. [00:19:32] You must get first the ground, then you can have the foundation. [00:19:39] Now let's look at this a little bit more. Turn back to 1 Chronicles, chapter 11. And what do we find? [00:19:49] We find from verse 10 of chapter 11 right through to the end of chapter 12, a tremendous enumeration of David's mighty men. I do hope that you've read it because it is a very, very interesting, in some ways amusing and also exceedingly human account of these mighty men of Derek, all the things that they did. [00:20:15] You've got it all here. You've got a big listing of all the mighty men of David. Tremendous number of them. All of them are listed here. [00:20:30] And I want you to note that that just simply means that there is a history of experience and of fellowship and of suffering behind coming to this point. [00:20:46] You see, this is what it says. And David and all Israel came to Jerusalem or went to Jerusalem. Now, why does the Holy Spirit put this question of ground between a very brief mention of David's coronation when all Israel came to him at Hebron and then a long listing of all the mighty men? [00:21:12] Why doesn't he put the mighty men first since they in actual fact historically preceded. [00:21:20] Because the Holy Spirit is seeking to underline the fact that all the experience and suffering and fellowship of these men was futile unless they came to the question of ground. [00:21:37] Church ground was the thing to which they had to come. Or speaking in Old Testament terms, the securing of Jerusalem was the absolute necessity if all their suffering and fellowship was to really be of eternal account, instrumental in the realizing of God's purpose. Now many of us have suffered. [00:22:05] Many of us know something of what it is to get through in fellowship together. And it has cost us a lot to keep in fellowship with one another. [00:22:15] There is a history of experience. [00:22:17] It is tenable to think that all that suffering and all that getting through it, fellowship and staying together can in the end be not worth the cost because we have missed the point. [00:22:33] Not worth it because in actual fact we have collapsed. [00:22:41] The Holy Spirit is hearsay that unless you get to this point, the rest is rendered very much a costly and in some ways somewhat extravagant way of living. [00:23:01] After all, you think that now to these men, you look through this record of these men, what do we find? We find three places. [00:23:09] Exile. [00:23:10] Adaran, Hebrew. [00:23:14] What do these three places speak of? [00:23:17] Exile for years, hounded from pothole to pothole, from cave to cave, these men compressed together, forced out into exile, having to leave their Homes. Having to leave their loved ones, having to leave their jobs, having just to go right out, just to stay with this fugitive, David. [00:23:44] Years of weary testing and trial. [00:23:48] They didn't find it easy to stay together. I'm perfectly sure of that. You take a man like Joab. I don't think Joab was an easy man to live with. [00:23:56] Exceedingly difficult man he must have been to live with. I doubt not that David must at the time have been a somewhat difficult man to live with. [00:24:07] These men were in exile. Then what do we find? We find them in a cave. That cave, I understand, with great difficulty, could keep 400 in it. [00:24:16] They're not absolutely sure where it is. [00:24:19] But the two caves that answer to the description and. And they seem to have sent and focused all their research down to both, would mean very cramped living conditions for 400 men. [00:24:31] 400 men in debt, discontented men, brigands. [00:24:41] I must have meant a lot to them to be able to get through together. And then where do we find it all? It all heads up a place called Hebron. Now, Hebron means a ford. You know that. Then from being a ford, it came to mean a company because it meant that all the different people coming down the river were forced to go over at one spot. And so it's come to mean fellowship. [00:25:05] These men had a history just like that. They didn't particularly. They weren't probably particularly drawn to each other. Some of them were. Others were not drawn to each other. That's just like fellowship. Some people are drawn to each other and other people are just not actually drawn to each other. Yet the Lord says it's no good whether you're drawn to each other or whether you're not drawn to each other. There's only one ford over this river, and you've all got to go over it together. So you're all forced down to this one thing. This was the history of these men. [00:25:33] Now, if you look through, you will find that it just simply means all that history is really an extravagant cost and sacrifice. If it had not come to this point of taking Jerusalem. [00:25:49] The Holy Spirit says all these men were banded together into one great striking force of God to take Jerusalem in the first step to the building of the House of God. [00:26:05] Now, when you read two, you will find some very wonderful things. What do we find now? Listen to this carefully. We find spiritual courage and pride. [00:26:16] Some of these men took on giants. [00:26:19] Some of them slew hundreds of men. Some of them slew lions in a pit in time of snow. [00:26:26] All kinds of things are Listed about these men, they were men of spiritual courage and pride. [00:26:34] You know, it's perfectly true that if you haven't got any natural courage, if you're going to go on with the Lord, anything to do with the house of God, you've got to have spiritual courage. Otherwise you'll soon be collapsed by the worry. [00:26:46] God needs such mighty men, men reproduced in the image of David, of Christ, who have imbibed his spirit, imbibed his courage, imbibed that strength of his. [00:27:01] This is a whole record of strong men, brave men, men are proud. [00:27:07] And then if you read on, you will find too that this is a record of men of discipline. It tells us all little things that you probably glossed over. Things like they could fight with the sword with the left hand as well as the right hand that needed training. [00:27:21] Fight with the right hand was all right, and some of them might have been able to do it, but for all those thousands of men to be able to take on the sword in their right hand, in their left hand, as easily as they could in their right hand meant real, really diligent discipline and training. [00:27:39] And then it goes through step after step of all little things about these men, the discipline that was behind it. Oh, the discipline in these men, how they'd been disciplined to do things they didn't want to do. Many of us are indulgent by nature. And because we're indulgent by nature, we're in danger of losing the way because God would discipline us to do the thing that we don't really feel we can do. [00:28:05] We don't only have to do what we can do with the right hand. God makes us do something with the left hand as well. [00:28:12] Then you can do it either way. All these people that you all kind of need, you say, oh, I can't do it. I just can't do it. I just can't possibly do it. I. I can't do it that way. Well, there'll come a day you won't be forced by any of us to do it, but you will find that there'll come a day when the Lord will just put you into a situation where either you do it or you die. [00:28:33] And that's discipline. You've got to do it with your left hand as well as your right hand. And all through this record, you will find many other instances of discipline amongst these men. Now, there's not only discipline, there's training, and must not only train it as loyalty. [00:28:49] This is loyalty to David, loyalty to Christ, every one of allegiance to Christ. [00:28:56] Now, we ought to understand that if we are absolutely loyal to Christ, we're loyal to one another. Oh, only these people who in their own homes and in their own private rooms would not talk about other brothers and sisters in the way that they do talk because it is in actual fact disloyalty to crime. [00:29:19] That's all simple disloyalty. No man can be in this force who has proved disloyal. [00:29:28] We have a loyalty over one another. Sometimes we see a fault in each other, and we are, we are proved as to our loyalty. [00:29:37] Not loyalty to that person in a wrong way, but loyalty to what is of Christ in that person. Now, don't get me wrong. If you see a fault in a brother and sister and that fault is part you're involved with it, it's your business to have it out. [00:29:56] You have it out. [00:29:58] You have it out with each other. You don't go talking to other people about it. You have it out with each other. [00:30:03] All these people, I've hardly ever found anyone who goes to the person concerned. They all go to someone else and poured out their trouble to someone El. [00:30:11] That won't do. [00:30:13] Loyalty to Christ means that either you keep your mouth shut or you go to the person concerned and have it out. [00:30:23] That's loyalty. [00:30:25] Loyalty means you don't discuss it, not even for prayer, which is just a little farce. [00:30:33] You have it either in your heart to have it out with the person concerned or you keep quiet. That's loyalist. [00:30:44] So these men learned loyalty. They had to learn loyalty. You don't believe that those men, these thousands of men, could stay together with any disloyalty amongst them? They'd lived together in exile, in caves elsewhere. They've got to know the worst about each other. How easily they could have spat one another in the back. [00:31:04] I bet at times they just felt like doing that. [00:31:07] When their tempers were aroused and they got to breaking point with each other, they probably felt more like wiping one another out than going out as a united force to meet the ebit. No, see, loyalty to Christ meant that they had to be loyal to what was of Christ in one another. [00:31:25] So here you've got a history. Oh, such a history you have here. Tested fellowship. Inwrought and tested fellowship. These men weren't just a happy little band of people that sat around a campfire and had happy little chats and sing songs and so on. These men were battered together. [00:31:46] They were forced together, fused together. They were melted together in that cave, in exile, at the cave of people. Well, that Something of the history. [00:31:58] Now you see, that all found its justification in the taking of Jerusalem. [00:32:07] It was not really justified. Oh, you know, if the law doesn't get us to that ground, we might as well go back and have a nice easy time. [00:32:20] It's not justified the way that God leads us. So let us just see that that is the first great thing about David's life. [00:32:31] And what a tremendous thing it is. What a tremendous thing it is. It is a question of ground. [00:32:39] Getting to this point of securing ground upon which I know God build the house, God is not ethereal. He could not build the house up there or elsewhere. He said there. And the first step in it was to get the ground. Then when you get the ground, you build the walls, you clear the ground, and you live on the ground. That was the first thing. It was the most remarkable thing that when David took Jerusalem, he decided to live there. [00:33:10] And evidently, from what we can gather, most of the mighty men decided to live there too. They got onto the ground, having taken the ground and stayed on the ground. That's the first great thing about Chronicles. [00:33:21] Then the second thing about Chronicles is from chapter 13 to chapter 16, it is the next great and major matter dealt with in this part of Chronicles. I have summed it up like this. God committing him to the right ground or the ark being brought up to Jerusalem. [00:33:46] Now we know straight away, we get this clear. [00:33:52] Once the ground is clear, the next thing we see in this record is the Ark. Now, is that not interesting? [00:34:01] You turn over to chapter 13. [00:34:05] And as soon as the ground is cleared, Jerusalem is captured. The very first thing that mentioned is the Ark of God. Now, a very strange thing that happened to the Ark of God. A thing that I'm afraid is happening today in many senses. The Tabernacle was at Gibeon and the Ark was at Kiriath Jarvim. [00:34:26] In other words, the ark and the tabernacle at somehow or other got split up. [00:34:33] That is, on one, you had the House of God, so called, going on in the old traditional way. [00:34:40] But the Ark, which was the symbol of the presence of God, was elsewhere. [00:34:50] You had everything legally right, according to the pattern, but it missed the thing that gave it reason, which was the ark. [00:35:02] For we all agree that the ark is the central point of the table of the Tabernacle. Around it, the whole tabernacle was built, but it wasn't there. It was elsewhere. [00:35:15] And so the first thing we find in the second great thing we find is that the Ark is being brought up. We are being taught here that there is an order in the building of the house of God. [00:35:31] The first thing is ground. The second thing is the presence of God. [00:35:38] We must not invert the order due to a mistaken spirituality. Often we invert the order and think that first you have the presence of God and then you've got the ground. [00:35:55] If we do that, we wait in vain for the Lord to commit himself to us. [00:36:03] He will never commit Himself. And we shall wait and wait and wait and wait. And year after year after year after year of our life will just fleet away while we wait. [00:36:19] God reveals ground. [00:36:22] And when God has got the ground cleared, he commits himself to it. [00:36:28] That is the meaning of these chapters, chapter 13, 14, 15 and 16. [00:36:35] Once you got the ground, the next thing is the ark. And the ark now is going to be brought up from Kirion Jarim up to Jerusalem. [00:36:47] That simply means in New Testament language that the Lord is committing himself. [00:36:52] That's all. The Lord is committing himself. Now let us be absolutely clear that when a few people get saved, that's not the Lord committing himself. [00:37:00] Let us be absolutely clear that when the Lord blesses us, it's not the Lord committing himself. We can be blessed. We can see many people saved. We can be used of God. [00:37:11] We can see, oh, we can have deep experiences of God. We can have great understanding of the things of God and yet not have the Lord committed. [00:37:22] When the Lord commits himself, he takes personal direct responsibility for the whole thing and will betide anyone that touches him overtired. And that's why people make their deepest mistake. And that's why I've stressed this point of loyalty. [00:37:39] Because people think, because they can get away with things elsewhere, they can do the same thing in the house of God. And they suddenly find that they do these things, they touch these situations, they put their hand up and they die. [00:37:53] They die. [00:37:57] Paul expressly told us that summer week, some are sick and some have died. [00:38:05] Why? [00:38:07] I know many, many, many people that have done things in many places and they're alive today. [00:38:14] Embittered, difficult, critical people. [00:38:17] Alive. [00:38:18] They haven't suffered. [00:38:20] God hasn't judged. [00:38:23] But just you come onto this ground and just you see the ark of God come into its resting place and then you dare say something about a brother and a sister and just see whether the Lord does not hear and whether the Lord does not make you eat your words. [00:38:45] You don't get away with anything in the house of God. [00:38:51] God is here. [00:38:54] He hears everything. [00:38:58] That's why Ron spoke some Sundays ago about the need to be careful when the presence of the Lord was in the midst of the people. [00:39:07] It is a fearful thing, said the apostle, speaking to Christian people, to fall into the hands of the living God. [00:39:17] God is all love, but there is another side when his love is aroused on behalf of his children. [00:39:25] So we have to take care. [00:39:28] Here we come to something which means God is committing himself. [00:39:31] Let us look at it. What do we find? We find, first of all, there is an intent, a first attempt made. This first attempt we find in chapter 13. [00:39:41] Oh, and I want you to know quite a few things about this first attempt. [00:39:45] First of all, were very good motives, very good motives indeed. Secondly, there was a good deal of praise behind it, and I had no doubts and prayer here they went down to this place, Kiriat Jarim, to bring up the ark. And they never thought, they just thought. Now let's think, let's think. I expect David said to his mighty men, listen, how can we get the ark up? And someone said, well, do you remember that wonderful instance when the ark was put on a new cart, A new kind were put into it. They'd never known what it was to be yoked before. And they brought it gaily along the nose lowing, it said as they came. And everyone was afraid. Well, said David, that's very good. We'll do that in this instance. And so a new cart was made. And as far as we can make out by inference, probably there were new kind, never known the yoke put to it, and down they started to come. [00:40:45] And David said, oh, now, just. I believe it is true that the Levites have special relationship to the ark of God. Well, we'll see that Azar and one or two others are there to take care of the ark as it comes. So they came before and afterwards they sang. I expect they sang David's psalms. It was a very, very joyful, triumphant occasion until they came to a certain spot. [00:41:10] And when they came to a certain spot, it went over a rut. [00:41:16] It's just a little aside in the truthfulness of scripture. It happened to be a threshing floor. It's probable that the ledge had made a rut. [00:41:24] And as the thing went over, it jumped it. The ark went. [00:41:28] This dear Levite put his hand forward to stop the ark and he died. [00:41:38] And David was terribly distressed and caused the ark to go into the house of obedon. [00:41:46] Little men. [00:41:48] David no doubt felt, oh, well, that felt, the lord doesn't want the ark. [00:41:54] Quite often, Lord, not committing us, something terrible has happened here. [00:42:01] And David no doubt felt responsible, But a very strange Thing started to happen. [00:42:08] The Ark had come to rest in Obed Eden's house. And everything over Eden touched seemed as it were to turn to gold. Not very much like a fairy story, but it's perfectly true. Prosperity increase honor on every side. [00:42:24] And we're told in the books of Samuel that David noted this and as he noted, began to dawn upon him that the Lord was in the moon. And he began to investigate. [00:42:37] And then we find that the Holy Spirit deliberately in chapter 14 gives us a few early events in the reign of David to give a break. [00:42:48] Actually they didn't necessarily historically come here. That's the strange thing. But it gives a clear meaning. [00:42:53] And then in chapter 15 we're back again. David's got the secret. [00:42:58] What is the secret? He's looked at numbers four, verse 15. And he's found there. The Kohathites shall bear the ark. [00:43:07] And be careful that no one else bear the ark. [00:43:11] David suddenly thought that that cart was a philistine contraption. [00:43:17] It was a philistine method. [00:43:19] What are we doing? [00:43:22] If we had carried that ark, if the Levites had carried that ark, it would never other would never have died. [00:43:32] That shows you how tremendously important it is to recognize that if the Lord commits himself to a people, it is oh so dangerous to try and steady the Ark. [00:43:48] God takes direct personal responsibility. [00:43:53] You can have the most forceful dictatorship in the world, but when God is committed, he'll lay that dictatorship low if necessary. You can have all kinds of factions raising their ugly things everywhere, but the Lord will knock them down one by one. [00:44:13] No need to enter in slanging matches, no need to have round table conferences. The Lord just does it himself. He's personally in charge over time. [00:44:23] Leadership or people in any way getting in the way of the Lord. When the Lord's command himself. Let Azar try to steady this. [00:44:32] That's presumption. Our Lord doesn't have to have the frail hands of his children to put out to steady him. [00:44:40] He'll take care of himself. [00:44:42] And this teaches us in a terrible way the need to be careful in the things of God. [00:44:49] So the second great attempt to bring the Ark commenced. This time I want you to note, there was such careful diligence and I think a lot of research went into it. This time David very carefully chose this one. They're all mentioned by name. That one, the other one, the other one, and the other one. And they were all given their exact jobs to do. And so slowly but surely they brought up the Ark from Obed Edom's house. And I think it's a wonderful thing that they had the singers. [00:45:19] The whole ark was surrounded by a wonderful choir, as is one of the characteristics of the old Jewish people, with the choirs whole, they were surrounded by choir and they sang. [00:45:35] And as they brought back the ark up into Jerusalem, David appointed a statute to all generations that never again would the ark be in silence. [00:45:47] But perpetually there will be those who stand before it. [00:45:54] So you see, day and night, there were the Levites singing, praising, worshipping God. [00:46:05] There's a lesson for us to learn about the presence of God. I was thinking today, I do not think that I can recall any real instance of the presence of. Of God in any great way without it being associated with things. [00:46:22] It's as if worship and the presence of God are forever woven together. [00:46:31] Where God is, is the place of worship. [00:46:35] And when we said that, we've got to the heart of the house of God. [00:46:42] So I want you to learn simply that and to see that in chapter 16 we have a whole psalm. It's a rather interesting psalm. I don't think we can take time to even speak about it. It's a composition actually of three psalms, which is very interesting, but there it is. [00:46:59] What do we learn then from this second great major fact about David's life, the ark being brought up into Jerusalem? We learn simply this. [00:47:13] God only commits himself when the ground is seen and possessed. His ground is seen and possessed. [00:47:26] His presence within his presence or his presence is the very key to the functions and the order and the harmony and the arrangement and pattern of the church. [00:47:41] That's what the arch speaks to us about. Now, today, it's all very, very different. [00:47:46] Very different. [00:47:47] Evidently, from what I gather, you build something on a New Testament pattern and then you ask the Lord to fill it. [00:47:58] This is entirely unscriptural. [00:48:02] And there are many little struggling groups in different parts of Europe who have New Testament patterns and can understand why on earth the Lord is not taking personal responsibility, why he doesn't commit himself, why whenever he stands outside of it and looks at it and watching it, yes, there's personal experience. There's certain uncorporate experience. But he's outside. He's not inside. He's outside, and they know that he's outside, and nothing they can do will bring him inside. [00:48:33] Huh? [00:48:34] Why is that? [00:48:35] You can have spiritual giants and the Lord's house g have spiritual babes in the Lord's. [00:48:42] Now, why is that? [00:48:44] It's a question of order. [00:48:46] You get the ground first. [00:48:49] You get onto the ground. [00:48:51] God commits himself he says, you are my ground. I can accept anything on this ground. [00:48:56] You can be, and take me carefully, you can be almost unholy. [00:49:01] But it's better to be unholy on the ground of God than holy off of it. [00:49:07] Because if you're unholy on the ground of God, God will smash you and devastate you. [00:49:13] And in the end he'll do something in you and real holiness will be the product. [00:49:19] Stand outside and all your holiness is a mixture, a frigid, rigid, human mixture, part spiritual, part yourself. [00:49:37] You poke it a bit and it'll come unstoppable. [00:49:46] You can stay out there and you can be very happy. Go to your conferences, go to your meetings, have your little bit of fellowship now and again, but still have your own happy way. You haven't got any of that sense of spiritual claustrophobia. [00:50:01] None of that sense of a stone underneath, a stone on either side and a stone on top of you. Just feel free, free, so free. [00:50:17] There's a sense in which you're free of the purpose of God. [00:50:21] Just free of the purpose of God. [00:50:23] You're inside and what happens? Well, you can be the Loch Ness hideout, but gold darks there. [00:50:34] There's an altar there in the end that will devastate you. And there's a laver there that speaks of regeneration, which means God will take what is of Christ in you and then you'll be incorporated into the house of God. Well, that's what happens if you got on the right ground. God is so quick, I find, to move. When you get on the right ground, he doesn't leave you five minutes. Take the right ground and you're in it. [00:50:58] Within a matter of a few moments, you're being knocked about and it goes on and on and on. [00:51:06] And on the other side, you're getting more and more and more and more built in. Stay off the ground, have your little difficulties. [00:51:14] Just have an argument with another brother or sister. [00:51:18] Hold everything up and everything stops. Everything becomes static. [00:51:26] As a most important thing to see that this whole question of God committing itself. For you see, in that ark, the ark is the earnest of the temple. [00:51:42] The presence of God is the earnest of the complete church. [00:51:48] Have the presence of God and you have everything for within the presence of God, taking direct responsibility, ahead of everything, you have the key to everything. For in his life is the pattern and the function and the order and the harmony and the ability. [00:52:09] It's all there. [00:52:11] So you see the necessity is dead onto the ground and then know the presence of God committed and so, and I don't think we shall get very far, but the last great and major point of David's life is found in from chapter 17. [00:52:33] And we find there that here we have the provision and the preparation of the materials and the arrangement of the service for the house of God. [00:52:47] Three great things, the material, provision and preparation of material, the pattern given, and lastly, the arrangement for the service of God. [00:53:04] Three things. [00:53:08] When the ground is clear and God has committed himself, we find the materials, the pattern, and the arrangement. [00:53:20] I do wish people wouldn't try to find the materials, the pattern and the arrangement before they found the ground on the presence of God. [00:53:27] God will always have us keep to that order. [00:53:31] Let us be on the right ground and not know anything about the fact that the Lord's here. [00:53:36] All we know, then the Lord will lead us into the material. [00:53:40] Then the Lord will lead us into the pattern, and then the Lord will lead us into the arrangement for the service. [00:53:50] Everything will. We shall find. [00:53:54] We shall find everything clearly there. [00:54:00] Now, I want you to look first at chapter 17. [00:54:05] Look at chapter 17. [00:54:09] I don't think we shall get very far in this section, but at least we shall get a little way in it. [00:54:15] In chapter 17, we find one very. [00:54:18] One very wonderful thing, which, in a sense, is a key to all the rest of this particular part of David's life. [00:54:27] David says to Nathan, nathan, I want to build the Lord a house. I don't feel it's right to live in this palace when the ark is in a tent. [00:54:39] So Nathan said to David, and this is very encouraging for those of us who have any responsibility at all. It was quite wrong. He said straight away, well, David, the Lord is with you. Build that. [00:54:52] And then he went away to bed, and so did David. And Nathan had a very bad time. [00:55:00] He just discovered in the night that he'd spoken out of step with the Lord. [00:55:08] And so the next day he hastened to go to David and said, david, the Lord has spoken to me in the night. I was quite long. [00:55:15] I shouldn't have said to you about that. [00:55:17] The Lord says, you are not to build him a house. [00:55:20] And then we have this wonderful challenge of the Lord when he says to David, david, do you think that I want you to build me a house? Have I ever asked for a house to be built to me? He says, that's rather interesting. Have I ever asked? [00:55:36] No. Now, David, I don't want you to do anything of the kind. [00:55:39] I'm going to build you a house. [00:55:42] Now, this is just like God. Strangely enough, you say to him, I'm committed to the building of your house. And the Lord says to you, I'll build you a house. [00:55:53] You say to the Lord, lord, I'll give up everything. The Lord says, will you? [00:56:00] Well, I'll give you everything. [00:56:04] You just go the whole way with the Lord, and you'll receive everything back from the Lord. The Lord is no man's debtor. [00:56:10] The more you give, the more you get back from the Lord. [00:56:15] You just go right on with the Lord. And in the end, you'll find that you'll be overwhelmed with the Lord. [00:56:22] And this is the key to it for David. Oh, how easily many of us would have done it. David could have got difficult. David could have said, lord, my master passion of my heart has been to build you a house. I've got all the plans. I've got lovely things I would like to do for you. This, that and the other. And perhaps a lot of personal ambition might have risen within his heart, and perhaps he would have ignored it. I'm good at building one. [00:56:47] But it is very interesting that David had such a broken, contrite, flexible, pliable, meek spirit that he went and sat in the presence of the Lord. It says, after. After Nathan spirit. And he went into the tent before the ark, and he sat there inside. And we get one of the loveliest prayers that have ever recorded in Scripture. [00:57:09] David's response to the Lord. [00:57:14] Wonderful response. [00:57:16] And I think David shows David's spiritual character, why God could trust him, because he really says, all right, Lord, there's one thing I've lived for. This one thing's been the object of my life. The one thing I've desired more than anything else. If that is withheld from me, I'll do the next best thing. [00:57:33] I'll prepare for it. [00:57:35] I'll get everything ready. And the Lord is with me now. That's the key. Do you realize that if David had tried to build the house of God, it would have been a fiasco. [00:57:45] A terrible tragedy would have been enacted. [00:57:49] But because he was prepared to be so pliable and handful, because his own hands were so often, the Lord could use him in the next great major part of his life, which was the preparation for everything in the temple. [00:58:05] Now, I think we'll only go forward to another chapter or two, and then I think we'll call it an evening. [00:58:19] The next few chapters we will cover very quickly. [00:58:24] Chapter 18, 19, 20 are all victories. Now, here's a wonderful lesson that you can all learn. [00:58:35] These victories yielded the materials for the building of the house. [00:58:43] Every One of them is recorded now in the other books, Samuel, the two books of Samuel. We're just told about wonderful victories, hundreds slain, great extensions of territory, and that's all great glory. But here we're given the key of all these pictures, which was brass from here, gold from there, silver from there, stone from there, timber from there. [00:59:09] All these victories yet yielded material. Now listen carefully. When we're on the right ground and when God has committed himself in present, every victory contributes something. [00:59:22] Now, some of you are very tied down by personal problems. If you only could see that if you got through on those personal problems, there's material immediately contributed to the house of God. Something spills in straight away when we're defeated. [00:59:37] There's something poor and empty when we're getting through. [00:59:43] And to get through means there's something to get through. [00:59:47] When we get through, there's something added in. Now don't let it to push you, let it rather encourage you. Because it just simply means this, that it does a lot that's in the way of you and a lot that's getting you down and tying you down. It just simply means the Lord has tremendous potential in that situation. [01:00:05] The more tied down you are, the greater the contribution when you get through. [01:00:10] Well, that may not exactly encourage all of you, but still it's true. [01:00:16] The greater the potential, the stiffer the resistance against you getting through, the greater the potential. [01:00:24] The devil knows it. He doesn't bother you. He's got thousands of people to put up with with all over the earth, and some very valuable ones too. And he doesn't station anyone on anyone. That's not a much value. But as soon as he knows anyone that potential, potential, if they get through potential, they're on the right ground, stop them at all costs. Can let others have victory. Else wherever God, they're on the ground, we've got to stop them, right? The house will get built. [01:00:52] So you find this resistance, resistance, resistance. [01:00:56] It's not you, it's not even human. [01:01:00] It's satanic if you're finding you can't get through it. Satanic. [01:01:05] Something's clamping down, something's stopping you, see, not going to let you get through on that. [01:01:11] But when you get through, there'll be all these different things. Materials, provision for the building of the house. [01:01:19] And so I would like to end on a very wonderful Note in chapter 21, just simply this. [01:01:26] Here we have the story of the numbering of the children of Israel, but this time it's told from a different standpoint than it is In Samuel, this speaks to us of the Lord sovereignly turning a mistake, and I might say a sin into spiritual discovery and eternal value. [01:01:53] What was the mistake? David said to Joab, Joab, it will be good to know how many men of war we've got. [01:02:02] And Joab said, oh, David, don't do that, it's wrong. [01:02:06] The Lord increases thousands upon thousands ten thousandfold. But don't you worry about it, David. [01:02:15] But David wanted to know. He wanted to be able to know, are we a strong nation? [01:02:20] Are we a big people? [01:02:22] Are we a strong people? [01:02:25] He wanted to know. [01:02:27] So Joab started the number. And you know what happened? The Lord said to Gad the prophet to David and he said to him, David, there are three things the Lord says you can do. You can have. [01:02:39] One is three years ravaging or three months invasion, three years famine, three month invasion or three days pestilence. [01:02:53] And I think David's character again comes out, you know that really the result was that thousands upon thousands upon thousands died, died all over the country. [01:03:09] And David the king and the elders in Jerusalem put on sackcloth and were fasting. [01:03:17] And suddenly they saw between heaven and earth great angel with a sword in his hand. [01:03:27] And he was just at that sword up to strike Jehusela, which meant that the plague had reached Jerusalem and was about to fall upon it. [01:03:38] And then suddenly it says, the Lord saw. [01:03:42] And the Lord said, stay. [01:03:45] The angel stopped. [01:03:48] And then we're told very simply that David saw that he had stopped at the prescient world of all the Jeb. [01:04:00] And he was told, make an altar by this blessed God, make an altar. David was broken hearted man gone right to his heart. [01:04:14] And as he wept his way through this experience, God said to him, buy that passion for where he's one altar and I will stay the blame. [01:04:24] And immediately you know what David did? He bought it. The man wanted to give it. But no, David said, no, I won't do anything that doesn't cost me. I won't do anything to the law that doesn't cost me something. [01:04:34] He bought it. [01:04:36] And as you know the end, he offered up a sacrifice. [01:04:43] And then a very unfortunate chapter division, it should end with verse one of chapter 22. It says, then David said, this is the house of the Lord and this is the altar of burnt offerings. Now isn't that wonderful? [01:05:03] Do you know what that means? [01:05:04] It means a very wonderful thing if we get onto church ground. [01:05:09] Even our mistakes are very sin when repented of can be taken by them all and made the means of spiritual Discovery and eternal value. [01:05:26] David had done a terrible thing. [01:05:28] Thousands and thousands died. But do you know what it ended in? He discovered the site for the house of God. [01:05:36] The end was that he'd not only got the ground and the ark, but he actually discovered the site. God revealed to me through this experience that this was the site. And do you know what that means? [01:05:50] It means David had come into the deepest level experience of the cross. [01:05:58] First we get the ground. And I might say that coming to the ground doesn't necessarily mean we have to have a deep experience of the cross, that is the danger of it. That's why I believe the New Testament doesn't talk much about it. Why it's implied rather than explicitly made matter. [01:06:18] Even mentally. I'm surprised that many people mentally can't see it. But mentally it doesn't take much to see what church ground is. [01:06:27] And then to have the presence of God I might also say is a terrible. [01:06:31] But it doesn't need any experience of the cross. That's why some of us can fall ill and weak and die. [01:06:38] The only safeguard is the cross. [01:06:43] But if there's going to be any material for the house, if there's going to be any pattern really, and not just shown, but worked out, if there's going to be any arrangements, the first thing is the order. [01:07:02] Is this not interesting? [01:07:04] The ground, the ark, the altar, these three great things. [01:07:15] And then out of it, material and the pattern show and the provision there. [01:07:23] And the arrangement comes for all the service of the Lord. Well, we'll look into that Lord willing later. [01:07:31] But let's just get that clear. God's order. [01:07:35] First, see the ground, commit yourself to it, get onto it. [01:07:40] Then you will find the presence of the Lord committed there. That's where you will find him, nowhere else. [01:07:46] And then see to it that the cross is the key to an experience of the life of God. In which is all the material for the house and in which is the whole pattern to be outworked and in which is the whole harmony and order. You'll never be happy in fellowship in yourself. [01:08:14] Try. [01:08:15] It will be a very grueling experience. [01:08:18] You'll be in fellowship as you live within the Spirit of life, as you live in Him. You are in fellowship.