04.02. We Try to Steady the Ark of God

We are trying to put some improvement on the ark of God. We try to do that with the translations we make of the Word of God. We try to make some of those words just a little bit easier. We better go back to Bible language and call sin what it really is!... But the anger of the Lord was kindled against this man and not only smote him but killed him!

Come on, in God’s name, what are we doing with the gospel today?
Isn’t it getting more emasculated?
Isn’t it getting more Hollywood-style?

DON’T YOU MISS THE PRESENCE OF THE GLORY OF GOD? THAT’S ALL WE NEED!

There’s an old hymn that says, "God’s presence and His very self, an essence all divine". I’ll ask you again, I’ve asked you before, When did you last go out of the sanctuary on tiptoe because God had revealed His holiness and His majesty? We go out very much as the way we came in. We go out, we say, "Hey, I like your dress!" Or some other trivial thing that’s got nothing to do with eternity and nothing to do with God.

Notice in verse five now. David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord in all instruments made of fir wood, harps, and psalteries, and timbrels, and cornets, and on cymbals. Now there’s his ecstasy! Now come down to verse nine. This same David was afraid of the Lord that day. He said, "How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?" That’s a big switch! He’s excited they’re having the band music and having a whale of a time, and then suddenly God intervenes. And suddenly his whole emotional life does a somersault. He realizes what an awful God he serves. What a God of majesty! What a God of glory! Do you know the ark was the only thing taken out of the original tabernacle that went into the temple of the most high God? God’s presence. That’s what it matters. What it’s telling us is that God makes there a place for his habitation. This is awesome. This is breathtaking. You can say,
God’s presence is there.
He’s there in his holiness.
He’s there in his majesty.
He’s there in his glory.
Be careful how you handle this thing.

Well, we don’t need an ark. Why? Because it says: "You are the habitation of God." There’s only as much of God’s holiness in this meeting as you and I are filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, of God, the pure Spirit of God. He doesn’t dwell in temples - oh, you can make Him a thousand crystal palaces like they’ve done on the west coast there, so what? You can’t sanctify a building in the Old Testament sense. Even Solomon realized it. I guess he built the most expensive building, the most extravagant building ever made. He used gold more easily than we used cement. He built the altar, and he had the priests. Yet, when he had made his intercession to God, he said, "Look, I’ve put up this building, I’ve done everything according to Your commandment. We’ve got an altar. We’ve even got a sacrifice on the altar. Now, what’s missing? Nothing, except the fire of God. What good is a house that I’ve built, if God’s presence isn’t there? What’s the good of making a showpiece and saying we’ve got the best choir, we’ve got the most brilliant preacher. We’ve got this and that. So what? In God’s name, does it matter?

Don’t you think we are putting our hands on so many things? You’ve got to start this way and finish that way and do something else. We are getting so mechanical. Since when did the gospel need trimming up? I had to go to a meeting. There’s a five-piece band there. Oh, how they swerved and jazzed and whatnot.