Not the World’s Way, God’s Way
Key Passage: 1 Chronicles 13
Date: June 7, 2024
First Chronicles chapter number 13. We’re going to read this story. Some of you will probably know it, but we’re going to try to pull some things out of it just to encourage us. Just stay where we’re standing. Praise the Lord. God’s giving us a good church.
We’re not planning on changing things, but it’s sometimes good to see why you’re standing where you are, and kind of just reassure we’re not changing. We’re in the summer slump a little bit, and I’ll bring us out of that. We’re still looking to build that building; believe God wants that in this time. When all that happens, we’re not changing.
We’re not going to change things, just to kind of reassure. It feels like the Lord wants us to preach over the night. It’s a big thing, but it’d be good for our church to know where we’re standing and why we’re standing there a little bit. So, First Chronicles, chapter number 13. We’ll read the first 10 verses. Stick with me as I read. Let’s stand if you would, please, if you’re able to. Brother Anthony says last time for him to have you to stand, but not me. Amen.
Chapter 13, in verse number one of First Chronicles: “And David consulted”—that’s very interesting. I’ve got that word “consulted” underlined in my Bible—“and David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and with every leader.” And David said unto all the congregation of Israel:
“If it seemed good unto you.” I’ve got that underlined. And here he adds this, but notice the order. First is, if it seemed good unto you, and that it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites, which are in their cities and suburbs,
that they may gather themselves unto us, and let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we inquired not after it in the days of Saul." And all the congregations said that they would do so, for the thing—I’ve got this underlined also—for the thing was right in the eyes of the people.
So David gathered all Israel together from Shihor of Egypt, even unto the entering of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. And David went up with all Israel to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God, the Lord that dwelleth between the cherubim,
whose name is called on it. And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab. And Uzza drove the cart. David and all Israel played before God with all their might and with singing, and with harps, with psalteries, with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.
And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put forth his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he smote him because he put his hand to the ark, and there he died before God.
The ark was special. It mentions there that it represented the Lord. God’s presence was there in a special way.
In fact, he had them build the tabernacle, and really the ark was the center of it in the Most Holy Place. He had them build the tabernacle so he could dwell among them, and that was God and His presence being there. Out of that would come the cloud by day and the fire by night. It was special: the Ark of God, the Ark of the Covenant sometimes.
Now God—excuse me, God had given them very specific instructions how to move it. They did not follow it. They got a cart. It was a new cart. I mean, it looked good. It was probably, I would think, the best cart they had. It was new, and they put it on the cart.
And they had some oxen pull it. Now let me just say this: You say, “But where did this idea to put the ark on a cart come from?” They had already been instructed—we’ll talk about it in a minute—how to carry it, and they’d been doing it for years and years. Where did this thing come from? This idea of putting it on a cart with oxen pulling it? We see the cart…
Excuse me, the ark had been taken captive over 20 years ago. Israel had had a battle, and they lost the battle. The Philistines had won, over 20 years ago, and it was a sad day, this battle when Israel lost. In fact, it was that day that Eli died,
and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, had died. They brought the news back to Eli. Eli was a heavy man; he needed to go on a diet, you know. Anyway, he heard—man, he heard the ark was taken. Remember, he fell off, and he died from that fall. He was an older man. Then, who was it? Phinehas’ wife. She heard the news about her husband
died, and her father-in-law was dead, and she was expecting, and she began to give birth. They named that child Ichabod: “The glory of the Lord has departed.” It was a sad day, and the ark was taken for over 20 years. But when the ark was among the enemies of God, it wasn’t good for them. In fact, they moved the ark
two different places, just trying to get the judgment of God off of them, and it hadn’t really worked. Eventually, it kind of ended up on the outskirts of Israel in an Abinadab’s house. But how did this thing come back? Look over in 1 Samuel, chapter number 6. The Philistines are saying, "What in the world can we do? We’ve got the judgment
of God upon us, and we want to get rid of this judgment, and we’ve got to do something with the Ark of God." So they asked their leaders, the Philistines, “What do we do with this ark?” First Samuel, chapter number six. Look down in verse number two, verse number two. And the Philistines called for the priests
and the diviners—by the way, that’s not Jehovah’s priests, diviners; that’s the world of sinful people—and the diviners saying, “What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? Tell us wherewith we shall send it to its place.” Now jump down in verse number seven. This is our answer: "Now, therefore, make a new cart and take two milch-kine, milking cows, if you will,
on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them. Take the ark of the Lord and lay it upon the cart, and put the jewels of gold, which ye returned him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof, and send it away that it may go." Now here’s what I’m after.
The place that Israel got the idea of a new way—and I’m wording this: a new way to worship God, the ark of God, His presence of wealth—the place they got this new idea of how to bring the ark back and how to treat the ark where God’s presence is—the place they got this idea from was from the world, the Philistines.
It’s where they got the idea from. Now, we just read, they weren’t following God’s command. God had already told them: I want the Levites, actually one family of the Levites, the Kohathites. And sure, that’d be good. My throat’s still a little bit, kind of—it’s good. Every once in a while I get the cough there a little bit.
My wife has quit smoking for a while, so it’s not the secondhand smoke. I’m not sure what it is. Thank you, John. But I’m good. Just that little tickle you get; you can’t stop from coughing sometimes. That’s what it is. But anyway, there’s one certain thing: the Kohathites. You remember the ark had those rings in the corner, and there were poles put through.
And the poles were covered over with gold, and the Kohathites were to put that on their shoulder. The Kohathites were a family, and that was their job to carry the furniture when they moved. God had already given very specific instructions how to carry this ark, this part of their worship, how to worship. And yet they followed the world, and they decided to do it the world’s way.
And it worked for a while until they came upon a bump in the road or a place, a threshold, if you will. When they came across this threshold, it shook, and the oxen shook the cart. And it wasn’t—now, how well?
He had good motives, and Uzzah said, “Man, let me steady the ark.” They knew you’re not supposed to—in fact, they weren’t even supposed to look on it. The Philistines had been cursed for looking on it.
And he put his hand out to steady the ark. When he did that, God said, “That’s enough.” And the Lord—the Lord actually took his life. Uzzah died over the same fact. We didn’t read far enough, but David, he feared the Lord. He said, “Oh, my goodness, what are we going to do?” Well, David knew what to do. He knew what he was doing wrong.
Let me just kind of apply that a little bit today. America’s been doing this experiment, if you will, of how to worship God for a while now. It’s not really that we’re following God’s plan; we’re starting to follow the world’s plan. We’re getting the world’s music in. We’re getting the world’s dress in.
We’re getting the world’s lingo in. The old-fashioned way of worshipping God is kind of tossed out the window. We’re not really following God’s way, the Bible’s way; it’s about the world’s way. Let’s just try to pull out a couple of things about this story in God’s Word about it here. Notice this: the excuse,
or the motive, if you will. Look in verse number three. We just read it, verse number three here. Verse number three of First Chronicles 13: “And let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we inquired not after it in the days of Saul.” Now let me ask you, was that a good motive? Yeah, it’s a great motive.
This is what I’m saying so often in America. Be honest with me. Let’s just be real honest tonight, kind of take all the masks off. Let’s just be dead honest about it. This is what’s happening in America. We’re pushing the pulpit aside and we’re bringing a rock and roll band out, and we’re playing music so often for about 45 minutes, and we have a little sermonette for about
15 minutes. And often—can I say this, often—you’ve got to—and I’m not being judgmental, just honestly—often you’ll find a woman in very tight jeans up there. Sometimes you’ll find skinny jeans on the guy. By the way, if those men with skinny jeans really preach, say, “Well, I’m going to split those jeans,” you know. But the world’s dress, the world’s style.
And we’re using that. By the way, not very clear on the gospel. Sometimes some good teaching, some, but it’s amazing how vague the gospel is. No soul winning.
And we’re building churches like that, and we’re worshipping God that way. Here’s the motive, here’s the excuse that many will bite into: “Well, we’re trying to reach people.” That’s an excuse. The excuse here, the motive here was good also, but still a man died in the Bible.
We’re trying to reach somebody. Well, it’d be good to bring the ark of God back to Israel too. Still a good motive, but the outcome wasn’t good. Uzzah. Now, let’s talk about this. Who was Uzzah? Who was this guy? If you look over in 2 Samuel chapter number 6, we’ll find out who he was. You remember, I said the ark of God was in the house of Abinadab
for years and years. Who is this guy, Uzzah, that ended up dying over his own kind of worship? Let’s look and see what it says here. Second Samuel chapter number six, look in verse number three. Second Samuel chapter number six and verse number three: “And they set the ark of God upon a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab.” It had been there for a long time.
That was in Gibeah, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. Now, here’s what I’m getting at. Mark it down: the people that pay the most in this worldly worship is the next generation. It was the next generation people that died.
More often than not, this generation that is allowing the change in a church, wherever it may be, they have enough truth in them, they have enough old-time religion in them; they’re not going to go too far off. But it’s that next generation that will pay the cost. By the way, check out those worldly churches.
Though they say—some, I’ve read the book—some will say 96% of people that grow up in those worldly churches, when they get out of high school, they leave the church. More often than not, you’ll find those people that are in those churches so often got reached somewhere in the past
from an old-fashioned person that knew some truths of the Word of God and was trying to serve God and stand for the Lord and tell something about Jesus Christ. They didn’t get reached by that church so often. By the way, all across America you’ll find this going on: that church used to stand for something, and that old crowd built that church, and some young, fancy preacher came in and changed everything. He didn’t build it.
God built it, and God used some old-time guy to build it. You’ll find that all across America. Check out, check out even in Smyrna, Tennessee, and some of these buildings. Who built those buildings? All across America. And that next generation, and on down the line, so often those are the ones who have lost their lives.
You’ll find it all across America. I want you to notice something about it. Look in verse number eight. And David—I’m going to take a drink while you’re looking there; you’re reading ahead anyway, man—and David and all Israel played before God with all their might
and with singing, and with harps and with psalteries, with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. They were working hard at it. The Bible says, “with all their might,” and they were playing these instruments, and they were into it. They were putting their strength into it, but it still wasn’t right. The fellow still died from it.
God wasn’t pleased with it. Can I be honest? With some of the worldly churches, I think they work pretty hard—a lot of them, not all of them, but some of them work hard. And I mean that. They’re putting their mind into it, and some of them have greater organizations, some great leaders, a lot better leaders than I am. Still didn’t make it right, though. David and these people, man, they’re playing with their might. Didn’t make it right.
And still, still, tragedy ended up happening. By the way, isn’t it amazing how music was associated with this thing? More often than not, when a church goes worldly, the first thing that goes that way is the music. By the way, praise the Lord for our music people
and those that sing specials. Someone recently had a song they wanted to sing, oh, a couple months ago, and they ran it by my pastor. I’m not saying that particular song is wrong, but it’s from that crowd in that arena. If we sing that in our church, we’re sending out a mixed message, you know, and our young people are going to know where it came from, even though that particular song might be right. They’re going to say, “Well, pastor preaches against it, but we’re having songs from that arena.” It’s going to be confusing. So, if you don’t mind, we’re not going to play that. And they were so good about it.
In fact, they said, “I knew you’d probably do that, pastor.” So I had another song lined up. Praise the Lord for people like that. And we’re just going to keep those standards. But they’re playing with all their might. Yeah, I understand, but God still wasn’t happy with it. Boy, they’re putting their heart into it. The heart is deceitful, desperately wicked, above all things; who can know it?
Can I say this? Praise the Lord, you’re in an old-fashioned church. I’m not shooting at you; you’re here, but I must always be where we are. Can I say this? Not you, but I’m so disappointed so often in the older generation of America that’s allowed it. This is what I hear so often: “Well, we’re reaching the young people.”
I remember years ago. Our church was young, and we were just kind of establishing where and what we would be. You can stand for something and hear something tall, but when it comes down to it, where you’re going to stand, you know, when you heed the battle. We were kind of there a little bit on some things. I never forget, I knocked on a man’s door; we were just small. I knocked on his door.
And I told him a bit about our church. He said, “That reminds me of what our church used to be like.” I like that. He said, “But our church has changed.” I can’t remember all the words he used, but he said this: “I would rather be back there, but boy, we have a lot of young people that come.” I went on down the street, and the old devil was on me. On down the street, I knocked on a door. A young man came to the door, long hair.
I don’t want to be too judgmental. I don’t know everything about it, but if I remember, I’d write tattoos, maybe even the language was inappropriate and whatnot, and all these—just sign after sign after sign. I began to ask, “Do you go to church?” “Yeah, go to church.” “Wow, you do? Yeah. Where do you go to church at?” “The same church that guy just mentioned.” He was one of the young people. Really? Wow. “Do you go rough?” “Oh, yeah.”
He began to tell me a little bit about his life—messed up. The Spirit of God seemed to say, “Hey, yeah, they can get a lot of people in there, but is it making a difference? What’s the end outcome of this thing here?”
I remember years ago, being over here—it’s Circle K now, and it used to be Golden Gallon, you remember that? I think it was the Golden Gallon there. I was at the gas pump, and of course, I talked to the guy over there about the Lord and whatnot. “Oh, I’m saved and all this. I went to such and such Christian college.” He said, “Yeah, I played.”
“I played music with all my buddies in college.” He was talking about the rock and roll Christian music. By the way, kind of like saying “Christian beer,” you know. Who was it? David Bowie, Bowie, whatever—is it the rock and roll singer? He said rock and roll music has always been the devil’s music, always will be. That’s what they said.
And he said, “Yeah, we sat around. We used to play it all the time.” I wasn’t—of course, I wasn’t going to preach to him there at the gas pumps. I love him, telling him about Jesus and whatnot. He was still in church himself, I remember right. But he said this in the conversation: “You know, all those buddies I used to play music with, not one of them is in church today. Not one of them is serving God today.”
He said, “I don’t know what it is. None of them go to church today.” That’s what happened to the younger generation, see? And it was this guy, the son of Abinadab. By the way, Abinadab had the ark of God in his house, and he was somewhat right, but they began to follow a new worship from the world, and his son paid the cost. Let me see a couple things. Y’all will be with me tonight?
By the way, I thought about this. Praise the Lord for Aaron and Cassidy who got saved. God did the work; it wasn’t anything we did, just the Lord. They rode the bus and got saved, and God changed their lives. I’m so thankful that at the wedding, they took a stand. They let family and people know, “Hey, we’re not going to have any drinking. We’re not going to have any of the world’s music here, and we’re going to do right.”
When they went to cut the cake out here, somebody brought out one of these bottles. Now, it was just juice, sparkling juice, but it looked like a wine bottle. They said, “Oh, what’s that?” The family knew there was no alcohol in it. I appreciate their standing, and I praise the Lord for good young people that stand and let them know, “Hey, we’re not having worldly music at our wedding.” Praise the Lord for that.
And young people that are standing for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s look at something else here. Look in verse number one, back over here in First Chronicles 13. Look at verse number one. Verse number one. Watch this. Watch it. “And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds and every leader.”
It seemed like it had been better to just consult with God’s Word that already told them how to do it. Y’all with me? Verse number two: “And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seemed good unto you…” Notice the order of it: first of all, what they thought about it, and then, “if it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere,” and so on and so on. But did you notice? What do you think?
And then, if God’s in it. It just seems like if God’s in it, that’s what matters, folks. Look down a little bit in this chapter. Look in verse number four: “And all the congregations said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.” It wasn’t right in God’s eyes. They were worshipping God the way they thought instead of the way God had said.
We’ll always get in trouble when we want to do our thing, our way. Listen, God’s way is what matters. The book of Judges, the theme of the book—many of you know it—“Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
Boy, the book of Judges, wow. You talk about backsliding in Israel. Some of those stories towards the end of that book, you’re like, “Wow, I’m surprised this is even in God’s Holy Word.” It’s amazing what all happened. Why? Because when you’re doing what’s right in your own eyes and not in God’s eyes, Satan will always get you messed up.
They were doing what they thought: “Man, this new cart thing seems like a good idea to me. We can have a new cart; it’s nice.” Everybody around might like it, and everybody agrees. “That sounds good to me.” But not to God. There’s a way, man’s philosophy of how to build a church.
I’ve already mentioned it: get some worldly music, some worldly dress, don’t preach too much about sin. Sometimes don’t have an invitation. Don’t have soul-winning programs. Don’t have standards and convictions for the teens and young people. Don’t do all that. Just kind of let a lot of things slide, and getting a good band in there is a big thing.
I was shocked when someone—I was at a meeting, and I’ve got to look it up, so I won’t mention the name—said a certain denomination or association recently did a survey, and 85% of the people in that association say they go to the church they go to because of their music.
If you just get the right music, by the way, a lot of those churches are pretty full. “Well, we got a lot of people coming.” Can I say this? The Muslims got a lot of people coming too. Catholics do too. That doesn’t mean it’s right or wrong, folks. That’s not the ruler we use; God’s Word is what we use. What does God want? That’s what we use.
Bill Hebel years ago up in the Chicagoland area came out with a new idea. He didn’t come out with it, but he kind of made it known. It’s his advice: take a survey. If you want to start a church or grow a church, take a survey in the area and find out what the people want. “Would you like an invitation or not?” “No invitation, okay.” All right.
“Would you like maybe a little bit less preaching, more music?” All right. “Don’t mention money.” All right, we won’t mention money. Somebody—I don’t know if it’s true; I’ve not read it all, but as far as writing down what it is—some will say 20% of the Bible is about money. I don’t know exactly. Many will say that. I’ve read it all, but not writing down all this much about using money and all that stuff. But look, I’m simply saying, God’s Word talks about money. But all right, let’s do a survey and just find out what people want.
Man’s way of building. David consulted with the people. Or you can say, Jesus said, “Upon this rock”—what’s the rock? Jesus saves—“upon this rock, I will build my church.”
Someone asked me—a man at the wedding yesterday—if he’s thinking about starting a pastorate. He said, “Can you give me advice about how to start a church and whatnot?” I said, “Really, honestly, I didn’t start the church; God did. We just came down and tried to tell people about Jesus, and we just started knocking on doors, trying to tell people how to get saved, get people saved.” He built the church. That’s God’s philosophy. That’s God’s methodology.
The church, according to 1 Timothy 3:15, is to be the pillar and ground of truth. I mean, the foundation and the pillar—I know you thought that’s what you put your head on at night time, the pillar, you know—but the church, the house of God, is to be the pillar and ground of truth, where we hold the truth up, where the world, even though they might not live it, knows what it is because the church is holding it up high.
And you just say, “Well, that’s what God wanted in the church, and we’ll just follow the Lord.” Some years we’ve grown; some years we’ve not. I like for the church to grow, but honestly, that’s in God’s category. My category is just to follow His blueprints He put right here.
That’s God’s plan. They got this new cart idea from the world, and then they found out what they thought was good instead of what God [said]. See, that was still in there, but what each other thought was first. There’s always the world’s way. There’s the world’s way of providing for yourself: put money first.
Get jobs, job, job, and do all this and whatnot. Or you can just say, “I’m going to put God first and let Him take care of things.” There’s always the world’s way of raising kids; there’s the world’s way of having a marriage. Then there are God’s ways.
Let’s look at something else real quickly here. Look in verse number seven, First Chronicles 13, verse number seven. Are you all still with me tonight? Verse number seven: “And they carried the Ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab; and Uzzah and Ahio drove the cart.” Now, let’s just be honest for a second. Help me out.
For the people, would it be easier for them to carry it? I don’t know how much it weighs. I don’t. I’ve seen models of it and whatnot. They had to bear the whole weight of it. Or would it be easier to take that ark and put it on a cart? Maybe it had a little bit of shocks or something. I don’t know.
If it was a Ford or Chevy, I’m not sure which one it was, you know. But put it on that cart and let oxen pull it. Not humanly speaking, honestly. I mean, the cart bears the weight; it’s a little bit easier.
Labor-wise, muscle-wise, energy-wise—I mean, you just put it on that cart, and the cart makes it a little bit easier than putting it on your shoulder. Y’all with me? You agree with that or not? Sure. Now look, this is what’s happening all across America: “Well, let’s just kind of dumb down Christianity; let’s make it a little easier.”
You only have to come once a week, Sunday morning. Maybe we’ll get a Wednesday night in there. You want to go to a little Bible study? Nobody will ever know it or not. Let’s just make it a little easier. You only have to go one time a week for the most part.
By the way, it’s amazing—my wife, when she was growing in the Lord and looking for truth, and she wasn’t raised in church and didn’t have the idea—one of the preachers, I won’t say his name, but he’s on TV, and so many people think so highly of him. I’m not against him; he preached a pretty good gospel, it’s honest truth. But she went to his church in Georgia. Sunday morning, great crowds. Sunday night,
hardly anybody there. Wednesday night, they wouldn’t even have a service. So be careful sometimes who you’re following. You don’t know until you’re there so often. But let’s just make it a little easier. Let’s just have service maybe once, maybe, if you like to, twice a week. Let’s just get an easier—notice that, easier—easier version, easier for you to understand. That’s what they’re saying. Notice that easier.
And let’s not talk about witnessing. I mean, let’s just make it a little easier, have a lifestyle of evangelism. You just stand in the corner and let them come to you; it’s easier that way. And let’s not preach against drinking. Recently, one of the worldly preachers drank from his pulpit, trying to show the people it’s all right to drink a little bit.
And let’s not preach against sin. Let’s applaud. We wouldn’t talk about women dressing modestly. Let’s not preach against rock and roll music. In fact, we’ll have bands in—you know, the world’s bands in, Charlie Daniels or whoever. We’ll just have some of that stuff in here once in a while. Let’s just make it a little easier. Same thing.
Honestly, I think it’d be a little bit easier to have it on a cart. I know it’d be easier for the preacher if I only had to preach once a week. That’d be easier, but it wasn’t God’s plan. By the way, in the Book of Acts, they met daily.
I’m just saying how we’re just kind of dumbing it all down a little bit and making it easier. Well, you know, it’s hard. If you’re going to buy a pair of shoes, you want to try it on first, you know. So, well, just make it where they can live together for a while. It’s just our world; let’s just make everything a little easier. See? Parents, it’s a little easier not to have a standard.
It’s a little easier up front. By the way, junk food is always a little bit easier. It’s cheaper, by the way, than healthy food. Man, I’m getting on my own toes on that right there, my goodness. But the outcome wasn’t good. You got a young man dying.
Can I just say this? We’re about done. Don’t be looking for all the new ways. Look over in Jeremiah. Many of you know this verse: Jeremiah 6:16, a great verse. Jeremiah 6:16. Jeremiah, that great weeping prophet, Jeremiah gives wonderful advice by the Spirit of God. Jeremiah 6:16.
He says, “Thus saith the Lord.” It’s God’s advice. Young people, this is a big, good piece of advice for you; it really is. It’s from the Lord: “Thus saith the Lord, ‘Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way? And walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.’”
But they said, “We will not walk therein.” Hey, children of Israel, just carry the ark. Forget about all the new ways and the world’s ways of carrying the ark. Just put it on your shoulder, get the Kohathites out there, call them out of the Levites, just get over there, put the poles in there and keep it covered, and just carry the ark. This crowd, by the way, they’re not my enemies.
It’s not my mission in life to hurt them, no, not at all. But I’m not going that way. We’re not changing. We’re not looking around and following them to find out how they do it and how many they have in the crowd. We’ve got to compete with them and all that? No, we’re not to compete with them; we’ve got to follow God’s Word.
Just carry the ark like God said. You can apply this in so many different areas. You know, there’s always those get-rich schemes—I’m coming up with a new word—schemes out there. There always is.
And, hey, some guy, he just says, “You know what? I’m going to work hard, I’m going to pay my bills, I’m going to put a little back when I can, I’m going to tithe the first, first fruits to Him.” I’m just going to be honest about it all. That’s the guy God blesses in the end. Just follow the old path. Can I say this? Hard work God blesses.
Young people, I’m not saying you’re not hard workers. I’m not saying that, but some—not you all necessarily—but some young people, they don’t work. It’s good to learn to work when you’re young. The Bible says it’s good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth; it’s just a good thing. I was talking to a lady at the wedding; she trains people at Starbucks over here.
She said, “I get paid for training people.” So she said it’s good for her, but she’ll train 10 people, and they already know they’ll only keep one of them because they don’t want to work. Hey, I’m just saying, just the old path. I’m just going to roll up my sleeves and work for my money. Hang all the get-rich-quick schemes that I call it, whatever I called it a while ago. I don’t know; we’re inventing words up here. Amen. Brother Fontaine got it. Hey, the old path.
There’s always a new self-help book out there with some new way. Can I get saved? Walk with God. Follow His plan. Yield to the Holy Spirit. Be in your prayer closet. Now, I know that’s old-fashioned, but it works. There’s always, always. Ask God.
Wouldn’t it have been good if David would have said, “Well, I kind of think I got a little feel of how the leaders and how all the people think about it, but I’m just going to seek God”? The kings of Israel, they had to read the Bible they had at the time; that’s one of the requirements. In fact, they had to write it out. He knew. If he had just said, “Hey, I understand where everybody else wants to go, I understand all that, but I’m not really paying that much attention. I’m trying to keep my eyes on the Lord.”
Some of us have still been around. In fact, the ark of God ended up staying for three months right there. The work of God was paused because a tragedy had happened. A little while later on, David got right with God, and they did it God’s way, and God was pleased with it. Wouldn’t it have been better if David had just done it like that in the beginning?
I’m not on a mission to keep up with everybody, every church, and all that. I’m not there. I want to stay on the wall, keep building the wall. Amen. But I’m not going that way either. An old preacher I knew was wise. He said some of those—that crowd that’s going more worldly—he said, in fact, he said, “I know a lot of them when we were young preachers; we were together.” He said, “I like them as people, as individuals.” He wasn’t a mean old preacher. He said, “As individuals, I like them, but I don’t want to hang around them because I might become like them.”
It’s not my mission in life to go point out all the problems in the contemporary church world. That’s not my mission in life, but I know this: I want to follow that plan right there instead of their plan. I don’t have to keep my eyes on everything they’re doing; I’ve got to keep my eyes on that right there. Same with your marriage, finances, your child-rearing.
He said, “Stand in the old paths and see; ask for the old paths. You’ll find rest for your soul.” What a tragedy.
This new style of worship was working for a little while. It was working for a little while. It looked pretty good. “Man, look at that new cart! Boy, we’ve got some big old oxen to pull that! They can pull a house! You know, those things are so strong, a whole lot better than that old way. We don’t have anybody have to stop so often and rest, and they would trade out, and God had told them how far to go. We don’t have to worry about all that. Look at it; it’s working pretty good.”
And it did. They had a tough spot—a little glitch in their system. That’s part of life, friends. The glitch came. One of the younger generation put his hand out. They knew better. God said, “I’ve seen enough of you following the Philistines’ way of worshipping Me, the world’s way.” God said, “All right, it’s a sad thing, but I’m going to let you know what I think about it.”
I’m burdened about our country in the next 50 years if we don’t change. By the way, praise the Lord, there’s an old-fashioned Baptist church around. They need to be all across America. I wish to God there was a bunch of old-fashioned Baptist churches—not being spirited and not proud and thinking of all that—but just saying, “Well, I just know where we’re supposed to stand; that’s where we’re going to stand.”
I remember—and I’ve got to quit; I’m going from preaching to rambling a little bit—one of my children came to me one time years ago, and they said, “Dad, you know, we always seem like we’re the ones that are just kind of, oh, a little more conservative, if you will, than everybody else.” I can’t remember the wording of it, but I believe God gave me an illustration. I told them, I said, “I view it a little bit like, of course, Jesus is the rock, the Word is the rock, and an old independent Baptist…”
“…we’re kind of the anchor. We’re stuck on the rock. There are some people that are not my enemies, but they’re a little bit like the chain, and the ship is the world. Here’s the thing: those people on the chain, they might make fun of us. They might shoot at us. By the way, isn’t it amazing how you get shot at for just standing?”
Not this wedding, not this wedding, but I remember some weddings in the past, and some family came in, and, boy, they—man, that pastor, he’s—they called me Pastor Square. We’ll get shot at. But, well, that’s the chain. If we let go of that rock, this old world is in trouble. There’s got to be somebody that just holds the truth up. They’re not changing.
We’re just going to keep a hold of the rock. There are going to be people that pull. The chain pulls on that anchor a lot, and you’ll feel it pull, but you’re just going to have to hang on the rock. I believe God’s going to be happy with the anchor one day, holding on to the Lord, His truth. Let’s bow our heads, if you would, please. Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed.
You’re here tonight. You say, “You know, there’s an area in my life that I think I’ve allowed the world to maybe influence me. I need to get back just to the old paths. Maybe I’ve changed a little bit; this other stuff is a little bit easier.” God spoke to my heart. Maybe it’s something I did not mention, but God spoke to my heart, and I’d like to get back to
what I believe God wants for me." God spoke to my heart tonight in that way. If that’s you tonight, slip your hand up. That’s me. That’s me, too. I allow the world to influence me from time to time, too. Thank you. Thank you for just saying, “You know, I will keep anchored on the rock.” Maybe you’re here tonight and you say, “I would like to be an example to the younger generation of someone that followed the truth.”
Some of them just said, “Well, God told us how to carry the ark; this way we’re going to carry it.” By the way, I imagine them carrying the ark on a cart with oxen was a little faster. Let you say, “You know, it looks like they’re going real fast, but I’m just going to stick to doing it God’s way.” I would like to be a testimony for my children or my grandchildren so they’ll at least know what the old paths are all about. God spoke to my heart. I’d like to stay right to be a testimony for the younger generation. If that’s you tonight, slip up your hand. That’s me right there. God spoke to my heart about that. That’s good. That’s so good. That’s so good.
Oh, thank you so very, very much. It’s so tragic—those that are raised, they don’t even know nowadays. Somebody’s got to say, “We’re going to do our best to stay right for the younger generation.” Maybe you’re here tonight. One more question, and we’re done. You say, “I need to get my eyes off of the world and all their philosophy. It affects me so much because I have my eyes on it so much.”
And I need to say, “Well, the Philistines want to do it that way; that’s their business. I’m going to do it in God’s way.” I need to get my eyes off of the world and the worldly way of doing things. God spoke to my heart about that. If that’s you tonight, slip up your hand. That’s me right there. Anybody like that? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. Yeah, we’ll just get our eyes off of that, keep our eyes on the Lord. Thank you so much for that. The Lord worked in your heart; that’s wonderful. Praise the Lord for just old-fashioned Baptist churches all across America. All across, all across. How we need them!
We’re not the only one; I’m not trying to say we are, but I’m saying, let’s stay right. Let’s stay right. Would you stand, please? We’re going to have a word of prayer. If God spoke to your heart, maybe you just want to come pray for someone, whatever the need. Just be obedient to the Lord. And maybe pray for our country; that would be a great thing. Let’s pray, and you’ll just be obedient to the Lord. We’ll have an invitation tonight. Let’s pray. Lord, thank you.
I know there’s been times I’ve debated about some specifics on where to stand in something. It’s amazing, Lord, how You lead, Your Word. So often I’m finding, Lord, that I don’t know the answer to something because I’ve not been in Your Word enough. I’ve sought You over the issue. Father, help us to always seek You and stand where You want us to be. Thank You for making it clear how we’re supposed to worship and follow You. Help us to stay in our path, that path, Your path. Bless the people in the invitation; work in our hearts. Well, thank You, Lord, for what You do. In Jesus, let me pray. Amen.
Original File: Not the Worlds Way, GODS WAY - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday PM 61619