Now then, we're going to turn quickly to God's Word, 1 Chronicles chapter 15. 1 Chronicles chapter 15, we're going to read together the first four verses, and then we're going to jump over all the names down to verse 12. I'm not going to preach on the names. Remember when I was a student for the ministry about 200 years ago, Dr. Paisley used to come into homiletics class And just to show us how dumb we were, making hard work out of nothing, he said, he used to do what he had heard Spurgeon did. He'd say, open your Bible wherever you like, just give me a text, and I'll give you an outline on it right away. And he did. So this day, I decided I would call his bluff, and I opened my Bible to the first book of Chronicles. in the opening chapters, and I just opened where I could. For example, I said, okay, 1 Chronicles 3.15, the sons of Josiah were the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, and the fourth Shalom. Preaching that. And he looked at me. I don't think he has liked me ever since. But he said, well, if I had my concordance here, I'd get the meanings of all those names, and I could preach you a sermon on the names all right, but we're not going to preach on the names tonight. So we're going to go from verse 4 to verse... skip over to verse 12. Now start at verse 1. Verse 1 of chapter 15, 1 Chronicles. And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. And David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites. For them hath God chosen to carry the ark of God and to minister unto Him forever. And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord unto his place, which he had prepared for it. And David assembled the children of Aaron and the Levites 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. For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought Him not after the Jew order. So the priests and Levites sanctified themselves, to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. Amen. The Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his own inspired word for his name's sake. This was David's second attempt to bring up the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, which had recently been created as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel under the kingship of David. So this was a second attempt to bring up the Ark. I'm not going into all its recent history, but you'll remember how it had been taken out to battle. The Philistines had taken it over, brought it away. They had to send it back. It had languished. It was not in its proper place. Now, David wants to have it restored. Now, obviously, David's aim was good, absolutely praiseworthy. Really, what David was saying was that he wanted, with all his heart, the presence of the Lord in its proper place among God's people. He wanted his own ministry as the king to take place in a proper relationship to God and His presence and His sovereignty among the people. So, he had this great desire for the Lord's presence, to see His glory, to know His guidance, and to experience His power. I think you could honestly say that David grieved over the sins that had driven the ark of God away. He grieved over the situation that Saul had allowed to develop, whereby the ark of God was not in its place. Even after the Philistines had sent it back, nothing was right. David grieved over that. And with all his soul, he was longing that Israel would be restored. That God would come back. and that they as a people would know God's very best. Now, when you put it like that, you really couldn't find fault with that desire. In fact, the only thing you and I should do with a desire like that is to say, Lord, give me the same desire. We live in a day of great apostasy. We live in a day of dead orthodoxy. We live in a day of much mouthing, but little reality. We live in a day of multiplied theories. But where is the demonstration? You have to look at Christianity in America today and say God is not in his expected place. The presence of God is not the experience as it ought to be and as it has been in the history of this nation in days gone by. We are not, and we have got to face this, we have got to emphasize it, we are not, and I'm not talking now about other people, Talking about us as well. We are not where our forefathers were. I know that times change. And it's not a 1857 revival we need in America today. It's a 2001 revival we need today. You're not going to take America back into its ancient past and recreate this country as it was then. It's a different challenge that faces a whole lot of different circumstances. And that's why so many of these so-called papers that are read on revivals from the past are just a waste of effort, because they are simply living in the past. What we need is an experience of God today. But having said all that, we have to lament, as David surely lamented, we are not where our fathers were. And the presence of God among us is not in its demonstrated fullness as once it was. Like David, it would be a good thing for us, earnestly and honestly, to desire that the Lord will come amongst us, that we may, if I could put it this way, as we seek Him, as we get before Him, bring back the ark of God. Now that's true of us as a congregation. It's true of us as a denomination. It's also true of us as individuals. The easiest thing in the world in the Christian life is to live in the fumes of a past experience. Forever to be thinking, I used to be able to pray. I used to know God in this way. I used to have this feeling. I used to be able to perform this witness. There was a time when this, that, and the other thing was my experience. But here I am today, a dead, dry stick. I'm not saying that's true of all of God's people here tonight. I'm not making that accusation. That would be a foolish thing. But I'm saying it's all too possible for an individual Christian to be in the place where the ark of God is not where it ought to be in his life. Whereas life is not being lived in a proper relationship to the Lord and to the Lord's presence. He's not experiencing the Lord's glory. He's not living in the knowledge of the Lord's guidance. He's not having the demonstration of the Lord's power. So whether you look at yourself, and if that's where you are tonight, then pay attention. This is not to slam you. This is to help you. It's not to knock you down. It's to help you up. This is not, as we look at ourselves as a church, to lead us to have a pity party and sit down and say, oh, poor us, here we are and we're never going to be any better. I believe we're never going to be any better. I wouldn't waste my breath in your time. No, this is to stir our hearts to have that desire. But you know, the desire is not enough. As I've said, this is David's second attempt, because the first one ended in failure. It not only ended in failure, it ended in the judgment of God. I want you to get the full significance of that. Here was David in all sincerity, surrounded by a vast company of people, again, obviously sincere. And they were seeking God. They wanted a return of the ark. And God visited them with death. And visited them with judgment. And David was so angry at that time. It took some time for him to get over his bitterness against God. And realize the sin was his. I'm glad he did that. Because the sin was his. He puts his finger on it here in verse 13. We sought him not after the due order. We didn't seek Him according to the rule that He Himself set down. Now I want you to think of that. The Lord has established the way in which He is to be sought. Now by seeking God, we're talking about prayer. But we're talking not only about prayer, we're talking about the whole thing of worship and of service. Of experiencing God, of knowing Him. God has set down and established the way in which he ought to be sought. I don't want to take a lot of time relating what I'm going to say to the Old Testament typology. It can be done, but it's just going to take too long for the time available tonight. Let's put it down this way. In New Testament terms, very simply, God is a spirit. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Or if you want it, they must worship Him with a true or sincere spirit. That's how they worship. That's God's enactment. He's a spirit. And it's spiritual worship that He wants. So there's much more than ritual. There's much more than genuflection, crossing yourself, or going over your rosary beads. I hope you don't have any rosary beads by the way. I'm simply saying that there's a whole lot more than any external action. He's a spirit and he's looking for spiritual worship. And he's looking for sincere worship. That worship must come through the soul mediation and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. But that sincere spiritual worship through the Lord Jesus Christ is by necessity going to be a worship that is rooted in the Word of God and in obedience to the Word of God. You will notice the emphasis on the people here and their purity. There's only one kind of person could carry the Ark. There's only one kind of person could minister at the Ark. And let's be honest, we talk as if, you know, prayer is the easiest thing in the world. Oh, just pray about it. I remember reading Martin Lloyd-Jones and he was steaming at people who would just say, oh, just pray about it, as if prayer is the easiest thing in the world. And we all know that's a lie. Prayer is the most difficult battleground in the Christian life. And for good reason. The man who succeeds in this ground, succeeds in all grounds. The man who conquers here, conquers everywhere. The man who loses here, loses everywhere. This is the most important and vital battleground in the Christian life. So prayer is not this easy thing, oh just go pray about it. Far from it. This is where we do battle with the powers of hell. This is where if you get interested and serious, you will know there's a devil like you never knew it before. This is where you will have the guts dragged out of you, as it were, where you'll feel that your strength is gone and you're just completely at the end of yourself. And a radio listener right in to ask me that very question. Why? Why does God always insist on bringing us to the end of our shells before He intervenes? It always seems that we're right to the point of exhaustion where we can do absolutely nothing before God intervenes. Why? Well, it's not always the case in every type of circumstance, but there's a very good reason for it. I can't say in individual cases why God does what He does. Neither can anybody else. But generally, the Lord is out to weaken pride flesh. And we're all full of it. And we would so easily take to ourselves the glory belongs to Him. And if we could persuade ourselves we could do it in the flesh, we would dispense with prayer altogether. We'd be leaning in the arm of flesh. So the Lord does bring us to the end of ourselves. Prayer's not easy. There's only one kind of people can really pray. God's people, yes. Saved people, yes. But who shall ascend then to the hill of the Lord? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. He whose external testimony is clean. whose actions, whose deeds, whose behavior is clean, and whose internal experience is pure. For those people, there is one way to seek God. That's God's way. I don't want to develop that because that gets you into a huge theological area of debate on what's called the regulative principle, which we hold to in Presbyterianism, though I do not believe that every Presbyterian's way of explaining and expressing it is necessarily given by God. Soul or Psalm singing only, for example, is supposed to be the regulative principle. I'm not going to attack people who sing Psalms and only Psalms. That's not my point. I think they're going beyond the regulative principle to demand that of others. That's the only thing. That's their conscience. God bless them. I enjoyed my time in Scotland among the Psalm singers, and I enjoyed listening to them sing. But that's just an example. I'm simply saying that this is too big for me to go further than just mention it. There is a way to seek God, and he sets it. From that, I deduce that God will accept no other way of approach. Now, when you stop and apply that to where we are today in modern Christianity, you'll realize that most of what is taking place supposed to be the worship of God and seeking God is something that God rejects because it's nothing but the invention of man. You could say that generally of Romanism. The whole system of Romanism is a system of human invention. It looks good if you love a religious circus Nobody in the world can put on an act like the Pope. They are the world experts. If you want mystery and beauty, there you have it. But it's not God's way. Not a shred of it to be found in Scripture. Not a shred of it to be found there. But come into Protestantism. The biggest churches in America today are almost all. Few are not. but almost all charismatic. I don't know if you read the report in the local press regarding Obama's visit to Haywood Road here, to that big place up the road, Redemption Outreach or whatever you call it, giving his religious experience and what faith means in his life. I don't know if he said anything more specific than what was in the press, but what was in the press was certainly very non-specific as to his faith. That's between him and the Lord, obviously. But I would say this, the faith of a Christian does not go along with the views that he expresses on such things as killing babies and espousing the cause of sodomites. But I'm not going to go down that road any further. I was interested, rather, in the reporter's description of the service. High decibel rock music. It was like a rock concert. Neon lights flashing, all the rest of it. And I mean, this is worship? This is seeking God? Now I know that immediately comes back, who are you to judge anybody? I'm nobody to judge anybody. But that book judges everybody. That's it. I'm not the one who says that God has established a due order. God's the one who says it. It's the Bible that insists on it. And God will not accept as he didn't even in the case of David. What is not in the due order? Well, what about our sincerity? Well, I want you to picture the first time David went to get the ark. There was sincerity. Now, it wasn't a rock band, but they had their band. They had the music. They had dancing. People were excited. There was tremendous joy. This excitement was at sky-high levels. The people were together. Their king was leading the way. Everything was wonderful. Singing, dancing, praising God, praying, looking for blessing. And then God stepped in and cursed the lot of it. Cursed it. You see, sincerity is no substitute for obedience. none whatsoever. So if we ignore the Lord's way of seeking Him, He'll send a blight and not a blessing. And I want to bring it down to us tonight, for I'm not here to talk about the charismatic movement, I'm here to talk about us. No good us saying God's not doing what they say He's doing, We can stand up on our hind legs and cry that all night, as long as we're not seeing God do what we ought to see Him doing. Our voice is just a little squeak into a hurricane, and it'll be blown away, be heard, and worth nothing. It'll not be heard, shall I say, and it'll be worth nothing. If we ignore God's way, we'll get a blight, we'll not get a blessing. Take that to yourself tonight. Take that personally. David had to come to a place where he said, Lord, I've sinned. I've sinned. I am not, I didn't do what God told me to do. And I was mad at God. I was bitter at God. I even called this place Perezosa. It was the place where God made a breach. I made it clear, I thought that God was severe and unfair. But, here I am. The fault is mine. I confess my sin. If we are going to get anywhere with God tonight, and if I'm going to get anywhere with God tonight, we deal with sin. We deal with sin. There's no excuse for my sin. There's no excuse for yours. We say that, but you know, there's a liar in every man and every woman's heart. You were born speaking lies. So was I. 58th Psalm tells us that. They go straight from the womb speaking lies. So it's quite natural that as soon as we say things like this, in our hearts we feel something different. So let's get right down to it. I've got to deal with my sin. There's no excuse for it. I make excuses. But there's no excuse for it. I have to confess. And it's a shameful thing to have to do. There's times when I blamed it and my wife said, that's your fault. It was my sin. Unless we deal with our sins, you can pray with the oratory of an Apollos. You can pray with the theology of a Paul, but God will blight you and he will not bless you. David started dealing with a sin. He went specifically, not generally, He went specifically to the areas where He had gone wrong. He put His finger on it. How did He do that? He got back to the Word of God. David had not gone when he went originally. He had not gone to God's Word. He had not bothered to find out what does God's Word say. He had not done that. So he went right back to God's Word, and from God's Word, he found out exactly what was wrong, and he put his finger on it, and he dealt with that. Men and women, that's where we start, individually, as a church. Because if we ignore God's way, no blessing. But obviously the meaning and the message here is, if we attempt to His way, He receives us and He blesses us. Now there was actually nothing very, very complicated about God's way. In many ways, God's way was simpler. Look at in Old Testament terms here. David got a cart and all the things that went along, all the preparation, he didn't need to do a lot. All he needed to do was get two poles and Levites who had sanctified themselves and they carried it. whole lot simpler. Bring it in now to a modern context. Unless you have rock stars, sports stars, some other big names, unless you have big money, unless you have big entertainment, unless you can turn on the show, unless you can do this, that and the other thing, you have no hope of reaching America today. I mean, that's the message that's getting out. Unless you can do this and this and this and this, you're having a hope of success. You need a businessman, not a pastor or a preacher. You need an entrepreneur, not a man of God. That's the message that's out today. But God's way is altogether simpler. What you need is a people who'll deal with their sin and who can get through to God. Now, do we believe that or do we not? Do we honestly believe it, or is it just so much religious hogwash? Do we honestly believe it, that God answers prayer? Men and women, if we can get through to God, that's all that matters. I've often told you of a great statement that Dr. Paisley made. At a crucial time in Northern Ireland, when every man's hand was against us, when the powers that be from the prime, actually it was the Prime Minister who made the statement, from the powers that be right from the Prime Minister down through government, churches, press, radio, television, they were determined, they were going to crush what they called Paisleyism, which was free Presbyterianism. We're going to crush that. In fact, the Prime Minister made the amazing statement in 1966 of all years, It's dead! Paisley-ism is dead. That was the year Mrs. Paisley gave birth to twins, by the way. Paisley-ism is dead. I remember a prayer meeting we had in Ballymena. Not in their new church, it was in the old, what was called the Gospel Tabernacle. We met with God that day. And we touched God that day. And God touched us that day. I remember, I'll never forget what Dr. Paisley said. He said, Brethren, we have something that all our enemies do not have. We can get through How true. In 1966, we got through to God. In the darkest hour, in the darkest hour, when no free Presbyterian minister could walk out in public, have a meeting without the police having a secret contingent there to try to trap him in his words. We couldn't have an open air meeting, but that plainclothes detectives were in, and I can see some of them in my mind's eye to this day, seeking to provoke a public fracas in order to land us in jail. Those were dark days, but God moved. we could get through to God. Brethren and sisters, that's all we need. Oh, that God would stir us to that. Oh, tonight, let's, if you do nothing else, ask God, Lord, let me get through to you tonight. Let me get through to God tonight, personally, for myself, for my family. for my church, for my nation. Let me get through to God tonight. Deal with everything that stands in the way. If you say that, of course you're saying, Lord, there's nothing else in this whole world, no matter how dear it is to me, there's nothing else in this whole world means as much to me as being able to get through to God. Is that where we are? Is that where this church is? Then hallelujah. I'm not questioning it in the sense of doubt. I'm asking you to face it. If that's where we are, come confidently. God will bless us. And that right early. And if it's not where you are, if it hasn't been where you are, ask the Lord to bring you there tonight. It is time to seek the Lord after the dew.