Biblical Worldview Foundations

Losing the Fear of God

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Biblical Worldview

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2026-01-05

Synopsis: John Weaver examines 2 Samuel 6 to show that believers can lose the fear of God through disobedience, though not their salvation. David's attempt to move the ark on a cart, imitating the Philistines, led to Uzzah's death and awakened David's fear. The message warns against using worldly methods in worship and emphasizes that fearing God is synonymous with obedience.

[John Weaver] All right, let's open our Bible say if you would please to 2nd Samuel chapter 6 2nd Samuel chapter 6 The title of the message is losing the fear of God losing the fear of God I'll explain that momentarily Notice if you would second Samuel chapter 6 beginning there with verse 1 again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baal of Judah to bring up from this the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart. and brought it out into the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah, and Uzzah, and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was in Gibeah, according to the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of firwood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.

[John Weaver] And when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah. And he called the name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, shall the ark of the Lord come unto me. So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David. David carried it aside in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. So the title of the message again is losing the fear of God. I've brought forth I know a number of messages on the fear of God. The fear of God is indeed a saving work of God in our lives. Godly fear is a saving grace and there is simply no way that anyone can work up a godly saving fear on their own.

[John Weaver] God must give it and God must implant it in our lives. I want you to think about the title of this message, Losing the Fear of God. You might think the title is a little deceptive, but let me explain. There is an implication that could be drawn, which is fallacious. That is, you should never equate losing your salvation with losing the fear of God. They're two totally different things in one sense of the word, which I shall explain. Of course, it's impossible for a real child of God to lose his salvation Our Lord made this exceedingly clear in John chapter 10 verses 27 through 30 when he said my sheep Hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand My father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand Then he said I and my father are one So clearly our Lord has given us eternal life and he said

[John Weaver] we shall never ever perish at the same time There is a sense in which we can lose the fear of God in a way that is often seen as believers in fact the truth of the matter is you may be surprised at how simple how easy it is to lose the fear of God in fact it is a sin I'm afraid that is committed many times by the children of God now in order to understand this message you must understand the background So I'm going to spend a little time covering the background and demonstrate to you just a simple truth from this passage. So notice, if you would, here's the initial background, which we shall look at momentarily.

[John Weaver] And that is that there was a battle between Israel and the Philistines. You'll find this in first Samuel's chapter four and chapter five. It was during this battle that the Israelites were defeated. And ultimately the Philistines prevailed and they then took the ark of God. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests and they were unsaved men. They should never have been priests to begin with, but they were. In fact, they're called sons of Belial in the Bible. That means sons of the devil. And the truth of the matter is, they were so wicked, the Bible says they made the people of God despise the offerings of God.

[John Weaver] Moreover, they were adulterers, they were whoremongers. And so these were very, very wicked men.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look in your Bible, holding 2 Samuel 6, but turn back if you would, please, to 1 Samuel chapter 4. And let me set this thing up and show you what is happening here. Look at this because this is where many people are today who profess to be children of God So in 1st Samuel chapter 4, we're going to begin looking at verse 3 momentarily but one of the greatest sins of Israel is that Is that they trusted so many times in anything and everything other than God and Likewise, we do the same today. We commit the same exact sin I'll show you this look in verse Samuel chapter 4 beginning there in verse 3 The bible says and when the people were coming to the camp the elders of israel said wherefore hath the lord smitten us this day before the philistines now if you look back up the bible will tell you in verse 2 that they slew about 4 000 israelites and so now they're back in the camp this one particular battle is over so the elders of israel said wherefore hath the lord smitten us this day before the philistines look what they said Let us fetch the ark

[John Weaver] of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh that they might bring forth thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant.

[John Weaver] Now, notice if you would, please, at this point, Israel is so degraded so Backslidden the truth of the matter is they viewed salvation and they view deliverance in the art of God and Not in the God of the ark likewise, there are many people today who actually think they are saved because of either artifacts or ceremonies or rituals, whatever they are trusting in. Some people believe they're saved because they're baptized.

[John Weaver] Others because they've partaken of the Lord's Supper. Others maybe because they're members of a particular church or others just simply because of their good works. In other words, they're like the Israelites here. They're trusting in the ark of God instead of the God of the ark. And they are basically very superstitious individual. Now, you have to remember that The Philistines ultimately defeated all of the Israelites and of course Hophni and Phinehas were killed and Eli Died he when he found out the ark of God had been taken by the Philistines. He fell over backwards and broke his neck and died and But I want you to notice what God did to the to the false God of the Philistines So look in first Samuel chapter 5 Because the Philistines have taken the ark and put it in the temple of their God Dagon I've always thought this was very humorous in one sense the word and the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod and When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.

[John Weaver] When they of Ashdod arose early in the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him up in his place again. He couldn't set himself up, obviously. And when they arose early on the morrow morning, the old Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priest of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

[John Weaver] Now the truth of the matter is this false god was destroyed and he fell before the one true in the living God's ark. Now The interesting thing is God smoked the Philistines because they have taken the ark of God he smoked them with a grievous destruction so if you look in verse 6 of 1st Samuel chapter 5 and Notice the Bible says but the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod and he destroyed them and Smoked them with emeralds and even Ashdod and the coast thereof So the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them. He destroyed them. He smoked with them with emeralds look in verse 9 and And it was so that after they had carried it about, so one city was smitten.

[John Weaver] They said, let's send it somewhere else. And then God smoked the other cities wherever it was carried. And it was so that after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And he smoked the men of the city, both small and great. And they had emeralds in their secret parts.

[John Weaver] Now look down, if you would, at verses 11 and 12. So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, Send away the ark of God, the God of Israel, that it may go again to its own place, that it slay us not and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was heavy there. And the men that died not were smitten with emirates. And the cry of the city went up to heaven. So evidently, the destruction is exceedingly great now, and all the Philistines are willing and ready to get rid of the Ark of God. They want to send it back.

[John Weaver] So now you're going to ask, what in the world were hemorrhoids? The Hebrew word for hemorrhoids happens to be tachor, and it refers literally to tumors, to hemorrhoids, and to piles. So God has smitten these people with a very humiliating disease and slew many of them. Moreover, when you read the rest of this, he also sent a plague of mice into the cities and they were devouring the food supplies. Moreover, probably many diseases were spread because of the abundance of the mice as well.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note this. They get together and they said, we've got to send this ark back in order this plague to be stayed. Well, they took counsel together and the elders of the Philistine said, well, you've trespassed against this God, so you must send back a trespass offering. So they made golden emeralds. And they made golden mice. And they put these things in a coffer beside the ark. And of course they wanted to send it back. So how did they send it back?

[John Weaver] So look in 1 Samuel chapter 6. Let's begin there with verse 7. Here's how they sent the ark back.

[John Weaver] Now, therefore, make a new cart and take two milk kind or cows on which there has come no yoke and tie the kind to the cart and bring their calves home from them and take the ark of the Lord and laid upon the cart and put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering in a copper by the side thereof and send it away that it may go and see if it go up by the way of his own coast to best you manage. then he hath done this great evil.

[John Weaver] But if not, then we shall know that it was not his hand that smote us, it was chance that happened to us. And the men did so, and took two milk kine and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. And they led the ark of the Lord upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emirates. And the kine took the straight way to the way to Bethshemesh, and went along the highway lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them and to the border of Bethshemesh.

[John Weaver] Now let's stop there just for a moment. So what they've done now, they've taken a new cart, they've got two cows that just had calves, and they have separated the calves from the cows. And they've tied these cows to this cart. So the cows were never trained to pull a cart. They were just cows. They were not broken to yoke. So now they've separated them from their calves and they say now if these cows Take this ark straight to Beth Shemesh We know that the hand of God was upon us If they just wander left and right and kind of go wherever they want to go We'll know that it was just chance that happened to us Well, you've heard me say this before There is no such thing as There is no such thing as chance or luck or fate in a world that's ruled by God. And so it's not by chance. And so these cows went straight to Beth Shemesh.

[John Weaver] And of course, they observed that. And notice if you would, I don't know if you've ever understood this or not, but it's almost impossible to separate cows from their calves. And these cows went straight to Beth Shemesh, lowing as they went. Lord, they were calling for their calves, but they still kept going. Now, notice if you would what's happened. Notice if you would what happened when they got to Beth Shemesh.

[John Weaver] Look if you would in verses 13 and 14. And they of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it. And the ark came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there where there was a great stone. And they claimed the wood of the cart and offered the kind for a burnt offering unto the Lord. So they take then the cart and they make an altar out of it. And they take the cows and kill them and offer them as a sacrifice upon that altar. Now, the interesting thing is evidently the Levites have done that because in verse 15 it says and the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the coffer that was in it where the jewels of gold were and put them on the great stone and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord. So the Levites now have taken this ark down.

[John Weaver] They were probably the ones that made the sacrifice as well. But let me just tell you this. The truth of the matter is, when it comes to the ark of God, the Levites themselves could not look upon this ark. It was sacred.

[John Weaver] Now, here was a sin that was committed. The sin that was committed is very, very plain. So if you look in verse 13, the Bible says they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted up their eyes. They saw the ark. They rejoiced to see it. Verse 14, the cart came into the field. They made the sacrifice. Notice, if you would, they've done this now look if you would skip down to verse oh let's see verse 18 and the golden mice according number of all the cities of the philistines belonging to the five lords both offense cities and of the country villages even to the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the Lord, which stone remained in this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite. And he, that is God, smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people 50,000 and three score and 10 men. And the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.

[John Weaver] And the men of Beth-shemesh said, who is able to stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom shall he go up from us? Now, note what else they did. Verse 21, they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Gerim, saying, the Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord. Come you down and fetch it up. So now here's what has happened. God has sovereignly smitten the people of Beth Shemesh and he's killed 50,000 and 70 of them because they Evidently looked into the ark or looked at the ark now. Let me point something out The ark was infinitely holy And no one outside of the high priest was to see that ark.

[John Weaver] Now if you will hold 1st Samuel but turn over in your Bibles or I should say really back in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 4 Numbers chapter 4 even the Levites who were ordained by God to help the priests. They were of the Levitical priesthood, but all the Levites were given to the priest. They were to handle everything in the tabernacle, but they could not do whatever they wanted to do. The duties and the obligations and responsibilities of the Levites were assigned to them by God and they were under the authority and direction of the priest. So if you look in Numbers chapter 4 and verse 18, God says, cut you not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites.

[John Weaver] But thus do unto them that they may live and not die Here's what they have to do when they approach unto the most holy things They were charged with the most holy things that is in the holiest of all Aaron and his son shall go in and appoint them everyone to his service and to his burden they couldn't just do what they wanted to do Aaron appointed watch But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die. So Aaron and his sons had to cover the ark. They had to cover anything that was specifically holy. No one could see this ark except the high priest.

[John Weaver] And then, of course, he went in only once a year. Now, so what has happened now in first Samuel, chapter six and verse 19, These people have looked into the ark of God the Bible says and he smote the men of Bethshemesh because they looked into the ark of the Lord even he smote of the people fifty thousand and three score and ten men now Here's the interesting thing There are some scholars who say that they did not actually look into the ark of But what they did was they stared at the ark. They gazed at the ark.

[John Weaver] It was a sinful curiosity. And let me give you this Hebrew word the word is ra and it actually means to see to look at the gaze to observe and to watch so they were Watching that are now one particular Commentator says they did not actually look into the ark. They just simply Gazed with a simple gaze at the ark. So here's Colin Dalish and here's the quote and The stroke which fell upon the people of Beth Shemesh is sufficiently accounted for in these words, because they had looked. There is no necessity to understand these words, however, as many rabbins do, as signifying that they looked into the ark, that is, opened it and looked in.

[John Weaver] For if this had been the meaning, the opening would certainly not have been passed over without notice. Ra'ah with B means to look upon or look at a thing with lust or malicious pleasure. And here it is no doubt signifies a foolish staring which was incompatible with the holiness of the ark and was punished with death.

[John Weaver] Now, whether or not they actually looked into the ark, or whether or not they just simply gazed and stared at the ark, because no one was to be observing this ark, basically, except the high priest. Even these Levites, it had to be covered for them to carry it. So, clearly then, God has judged these people for either maliciously staring or whether or not they opened it or not.

[John Weaver] Now, notice if you would, The truth of the matter is now the men of Kyrgyz Jerom are saying They're telling these men come down and get it. We can't handle it anymore We don't want it now. So notice if you would in verse 21 of first Samuel 6 and then in chapter 7 at verses 1 & 2 verse 21 and they sent messengers to the inhabitants of purgatory saying the Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord come you down and fetch it up to you And the men of Gerim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and sanctified Eliezer his son to keep the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass while the ark abode in Gerim, the time was long for it was 20 years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now, wait a minute. 20 years its encourager Jerome now it is true It is true that the Philistines had taken that ark But I want you to note something If you look back in your Bibles whole 1st Samuel chapter 6 and 7 but look in 2nd Samuel chapter 6 and verse 2 and Now we know that

[John Weaver] the ark was in kerja cherim For 20 years. We just read that Note if you would 2nd samuel chapter 6 verse 2 and david arose and went with all the people that were with him from baal of judah to bring up from this the ark of god whose name is called the name of the lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims So now David goes to Baal of Judah. Well, I thought the ark was in Kerjeth-Jerom. Well, let me just explain this. There is no contradiction. There is no contradiction. Baal of Judah was called Kerjeth-Jerom in 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 1. You'll also find it in 1 Chronicles 12 and verse 5. He was formally called Kerjeth-Baal in Joshua 15 and verse 60. It was also called Bala in Joshua 15 in verse 9, and it's also called Baal of Judah because it was of the tribe of Judah and you'll find that also in Joshua chapter 15 in verse 1. So when they went to Baal of Judah, they were to Kerjeth-Jerom because it's one and the same place.

[John Weaver] Now, it's been in Kerjeth-Jerom for 20 years. May I ask you May I ask you who was the king before David you remember was King Saul Now the Bible says the men long for the ark How long was King Saul? King And the answer is He was king for 40 years Now I want you to see something Look in your Bibles to 1st Chronicles Chapter 13 1st and 2nd Samuel 1st and 2nd Kings 1st and 2nd Chronicles So notice if you would 1st Chronicles chapter 13, and I want you to look at verse 3 Here it is 1st Chronicles chapter 13 and Look there at verse 3. Look what the Bible says here it is and Let us bring again the ark of our God to us for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul So the 40 years that Saul was king The ark was neglected. No one inquired of it Okay, wherever the ark was it may have been at Shiloh at that particular time, but it was neglected then of course it was captured and then of course now it is it carried a germ or bail of Judah and David wants to bring it back to Jerusalem so

[John Weaver] the Bible tells you in Acts chapter 13 in verse 21 that Saul was king for 40 years So what David does is this? He makes an attempt to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem the city of David is Known as the earthly Zion now, I want you to look in 2nd Samuel chapter 6 and let's go back and read verses 3 through 8 I want you to watch this. This is important because it ties right in with what I'm going to share with you 2nd Samuel chapter 6 verse 3 and they set the ark of God upon a new cart and and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, draved the new cart, and they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, according to the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark.

[John Weaver] And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on the manner of instruments, made of firwood, even on harps, and on psalteries, on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God. Wow.

[John Weaver] Now, the Bible says in verse 8, and David was displeased. Because the Lord had made a breach upon uzzah and he called the name of that place Perez as a unto this day now Here's an amazing truth I want you to look at verse 9 and David was afraid of the Lord that day and said How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? And David was afraid of the Lord that day and Well, let me ask you a question. Was David not fearful of the Lord before that day? What does it mean when it says, and David was afraid of the Lord that day?

[John Weaver] Was it that God gave him more fear or was it a better fear? By the way, the word fear here is the Hebrew word. And it means to fear. It means to be afraid, to make afraid, to terrify. As well as to revere and to stand in all awe.

[John Weaver] Now, we know that David was a believer. In fact, the Bible tells us very plainly that David was a man after God's own heart. And yet, here in verse 9, the Bible said that David was afraid of the Lord that day. Is this then a new awakening of the fear of God in his life? Is this a new realization of the fear of God? In other words, what happened to Uzzah on that day is something that made David stop and think. It was something that caught David's attention and made him consider his actions. In other words, he realized that God was displeased with Uzzah.

[John Weaver] That's why he smote him. And God may have been displeased with other things as well. David was saying God may be displeased with me as well. So look in verse 9 Not only does it say that David was afraid of the Lord that day, but he also asked this question How shall the ark of the Lord come to me and the words? If God has been so displeased With us and what is going on? I don't think I'm gonna ever get this ark to me because I'm not interested in displeasing God now I Probably David thought about the displeasure of God on the Philistines. I mean, come on, let's think about that. I have no idea how many of those Philistines were killed by God.

[John Weaver] And the Bible does not tell us. But the Bible said his hand was heavy upon them. It was a great destruction. And they were eager to get rid of the ark of God. Then we read about the 50,000 and 70 that were killed at Beth Shemesh.

[John Weaver] Now all of a sudden us and his Uzzah is smitten and he falls down dead and so David is asking now How in the world am I gonna get this ark back to me? David was afraid of the Lord that day. So let me ask a question think think about this Had David lost his fear of the Lord? Now the Bible said he was afraid of the Lord that day Why are we told? particularly in verse 9 that David was afraid of the Lord that day. Well, he's certainly considering the displeasure of God because God has evidenced his displeasure at the Philistines, at the Bethshemites, and at Uzzah as well. So how can this ark get to David in the city of Jerusalem without God's displeasure? So here's what happened. David was so concerned that he relinquished the idea of bringing that ark to him in the city of Jerusalem. What happened? Well, look, if you would please, to verse 10. So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him in the city of David.

[John Weaver] But David carried it aside in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom in all of his household. And it was told King David saying, the Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that pertain unto him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David with gladness. Now, wait a minute.

[John Weaver] We see what has happened. When it's turned aside to the house of Obed-Edom, Obed-Edom, of course, was a Levite of the family of the Koabites. You'll find that in Exodus chapter 6 and verse 21, Exodus 18 verse 16, and 1st Chronicles chapter 26 and verse 4. But he is called the Gittite or the Gathite because of his birthplace in the Levitical city of Gathrimon, which was in the tribe of Dan. So God is blessed now the house of Obed-Edom for three months Okay God has blessed the house of Obed-Edom for three months and David now is encouraged to go back and get the ark now Here's my question David had tried to bring up the ark on a new cart with oxen or cattle And when the oxen stumbled or the cart hit a rock or root, the ark started losing its balance and Uzzah reached up and touched it and God killed him. So what is David thinking now? Is he going to get a newer cart? Is he going to get different cows?

[John Weaver] How is he going to get this ark? Now we know that he got it. But I want to show you look in your Bibles if you would to first Chronicles chapter 15 first Chronicles chapter 15 First Chronicles chapter 15 I Want us to begin reading there with verse 1 Look at this first Chronicles 15 and verse 1 First Chronicles 15 and verse 1 I Okay Look at verse 1 and David made him houses in the city of David and prepared a place for the ark of God and pitch for the tent then David said None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God and administer unto him forever and David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord unto its place which he had prepared for it Wow None ought to carry the ark but the Levites That's what God had ordained skip down if you would now to verse 11 David called for Zadok

[John Weaver] and Abirathar the priest and for the Levites for Uriel for Isaiah and Joel and Shemiah and Eliel and Abinadab and said unto them You are the chief of the fathers of the Levites Sanctify yourselves both you and your brethren that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it for because you did not it at the first our Lord our God made a breach upon us look at this for that we saw him not after due order now here's my question did David lose his fear of God Let me say this another way or ask another way had he forgotten The fear of God Now the interesting thing is this You must recall just a few weeks ago.

[John Weaver] I preached a message on learning the fear of God It is true The fear of God is given to us initially and originally by God himself His fear is implanted into his people It's impossible to work up a saving fear of God man cannot do that But When God works it in us He expects us to work it out. I You remember that passage in Philippians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12, where the Apostle Paul told those Philippians, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. They're not earning their salvation. He said work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Then he tells you in verse 12 for it is God who worketh in you both the will to do is good pleasure So if God works it in us, it's our responsibility To work it out. Now you remember I hope you do That when I taught the message on learning the fear of God I gave you five texts where God tells us that we must learn the fear of God.

[John Weaver] I'm not going to show you all of those five texts, but I am going to remind you of one of them. So if you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, look in chapter four at verses nine and 10. Deuteronomy chapter four, verses nine and 10. Look at this, plain and simple. Deuteronomy chapter four, verses nine and 10. Look what God says to his people.

[John Weaver] Only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life. But teach them my sons and my son's son, especially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, that they may teach their children. Now, note if you would back in verse nine, he says, keep thy soul diligently. Why? Lest you forget. Lest they depart from your heart, but you teach them and then he said I will make them hear my words in verse 10 that they may learn To fear me now if you can learn to fear the Lord You can also forget the fear of the Lord and that since the word you can lose the fear of the Lord by a failure to hear and to heed his words Now look if you would in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 11 Look at this warning Deuteronomy 8 and verse 11 God says beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God In not keeping his commandments and

[John Weaver] his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day He says don't forget to obey me. Don't forget to keep my word Skip down if you would to verse 14 Then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage He said you can forget me. You can forget my covenant. You can forget my law Skip down if you would to verse 19 And it shall be if thou do it all forget the Lord by God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them. I testify against you this day that you shall perish. So when you begin to forget God's word, God's covenant, God's law, you end up in idolatry. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look in the New Testament, holding 2 Samuel chapter 6, but I want you to look in the New Testament to the book of Mark chapter 4 at verses 24 and 25. Look at this. Mark 4, verse 24 and 25. Here's a very, very important passage. Look at this. Mark 4, verse 24.

[John Weaver] And he said unto them, take heed what you hear. With what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you. And to you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given. And he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

[John Weaver] Now there are two principles here. Here's the first one. God measures truth to us in proportion to our hearing Our reading our studies our meditation and our consideration So if you study the word of god 15 minutes You're not going to get six hours worth of truth You're going to get 15 minutes worth of truth And that's it With what measure you meet it shall be measured back to you. That's all there is to it so if you only spend 20 minutes a week reading your Bible, you're not going to get the 20 minutes worth of truth. That's all there is to it.

[John Weaver] So you've got to remember this principle. God measures truth in proportion to the degree that we give in learning that truth. Here's the second principle. He said from him from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath. So let me just kind of put this in a paraphrase for you. Here it is. If you do not use the truth, you lose the truth. If you don't use the truth, you lose the truth. Now, think about this.

[John Weaver] Some of you may have had algebra in high school, maybe calculus in college. That was a long time ago. Can you still do algebra? Can you still do calculus? And the answer for most of us would be no. Because we've forgotten everything. Because we never used it. So Dinah, you could explain to me a lot of things about nursing, and I could sit here and listen intently. Or I could sit here and pretend like I'm listening and let my mind wander. And when you got through teaching me, maybe you taught me, say for 10 hours straight, you asked me, now what have you learned? And I'm, beats me, I don't know. But now if I really listened and I was really interested and I really wanted to learn, I ought to be able, after you taught me, to not only tell you what you've taught me, But to explain to you how I'm going to use it and how it's going to be applied So let me put it to you very bluntly If you cannot explain truth Or if you do not know how to apply truth You don't possess truth So Steve is McKinnon I'm not.

[John Weaver] He can explain some things to me, and like the old saying goes, it's Greek to me. Because I can't see it, I can't imagine it. He can explain it in words, but I don't know exactly what he's talking about. But I could repeat back to him what he said if I listened carefully. But if I couldn't do it, if I couldn't make application of it, All the teaching is useless. OK, so this is exactly what God is telling us right now.

[John Weaver] These two principles, if you do not use the truth, you lose the truth. Now, here's my question. Did David lose his fear of God? I'm going to answer that for you. Yes. I can ask this another way. Did David forget the fear of God? And the answer is Yes. How do I know that David lost the fear of God? Well, let's see. The Bible said he was afraid of the Lord that day. There was something that reminded him of the fear of the Lord. Hang on. Hang on. What had David just done? Let's see.

[John Weaver] He went to the house of Abinadab. He got the ark of God and put it on the cart being pulled by cows or oxen. And of course, when one of them stumbled or the cart hit a rock or something, the ark lost its balance and Uzzah touched it and God killed him. Wow. Wow. Seems to me like you and I read just a little earlier When the Philistines sent the Ark back What did they do? They put it on a cart with two cows What did David do? He put it on a cart with two cows What David was doing was using a method of the unsaved uncircumcised ungodly Philistines yeah oh yeah yeah David said God put a breach upon us why because we saw him not after due order in other words none but the Levites ought to carry this thing David had forgotten that David had lost that knowledge Because he attempted to put that ark on a cart. If the Philistines did it, David said, it was work for them, it'll work for me.

[John Weaver] No, no, no. God says, no, the Levites are to carry that ark. And so what is happening today is the same thing. Most of us as Christians are not worshiping God after due order. Even in our churches, our churches are turning into social clubs, entertainment centers, and filled with worldly activities and worldly worship. You remember, I hope you do, in the message I preached on learning the fear of God, I told you that fearing God and obedience were synonymous. You cannot fear God without obeying God. If you disobey God, then you do not fear God. You disobey God that you've forgotten the fear of the Lord if you disobey God that you've lost the fear of the Lord at least Temporarily for that time that you've sinned against him So it's impossible then for you to fear God and disobey him if you fear God you're going to obey him So here's here's the thing.

[John Weaver] This is what I want to put together in your mind Every one of us have problems each one of us face issues and We have opportunities for ministries Anytime we're faced with a problem or an issue Or we're looking at a possible ministry Here's what we should ask ourselves How should we resolve this Or how should we do this in a biblical manner? It's pleasing to the Lord So if Dinah and I get into an argument, and we get irritated and angry and mad at each other, how am I to resolve that in a biblical manner? How is she to resolve that in a biblical manner? We need money. How do we resolve that in a biblical manner? I want you to listen to me. When you take the attitude, I have this problem, I have this issue, but I will work it out my own way. I want to do what I think best.

[John Weaver] I've got an idea exactly what I'm going to do. You're headed for failure if you're a Christian. The truth of the matter is, because every area of our life We ought to be willing to do that which is biblical and bring everything in conformity to the Word of God. If we don't, then we're going to be losing the fear of God. David, listen to me, David was awakened by the death of Uzzah.

[John Weaver] No doubt he was considering what happened to the Philistines. He was also considering what happened to the people of Beth Shemesh. But the Uzzah died right in front of him. The others did not die in front of him. So it took the death of Uzzah to awaken David to say, wait a minute, we might be doing something wrong. We're displeasing God. God has made a breach upon us. What are we doing wrong?

[John Weaver] Oh, I, I found out a little bit later. I highly remembered it. None but the Levites are in care of the ark.

[John Weaver] Now, let's go back and do it right. Hmm. Wow. So my question would be this, if it took the death of us to awaken the fear of God and David, what will it take to awaken the fear of God in us so that we want to do everything biblical and pleasing unto him? Now, I want to show you something. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Isaiah chapter 26 and I want you to look with me at verses 8 through 10 Isaiah 26 verses 8 through 10 Isaiah 26 verses 8 through 10 look at what Isaiah says Isaiah 26 verse 8 yea in the way of thy judgments O Lord have we waited for thee The desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee. That's what we want. But notice, is it the way of thy judgments we waited for thee? Look at verse nine. With my soul have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.

[John Weaver] For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Now look at verse 10. Let favor be shown to the wicked. Yet will he not learn righteousness in the land of uprightness? Will he deal unjustly and will not behold the majesty of the Lord? Hmm. Go back, if you would.

[John Weaver] Now, in verse nine, with my soul, if I desire to be in the night game with my spirit within me, I will seek the early. And when my judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Now, he says in verse 10, it's not the wicked that's going to learn righteousness. Hmm. Well, who will is the righteous is those who are saved. They will learn his righteousness. In other words, God will use his judgments to awaken us to obedience.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make some applications of this. I hope you can see this. Number one, good intentions do not and cannot negate God's chastisement and judgment. When we do something wrong. Also. Undoubtedly had good intentions. He probably thought, oh, no, there's the arc. Let me say the arc. He touched the arc. He was not allowed to touch the arc. Many times we do things wrong, but we do it with good intentions. But we're still doing wrong. So, our good intentions do not cancel out our unbiblical deeds, our unbiblical thoughts, our unbiblical actions.

[John Weaver] This is why we have to know what God demands and commands. Here's the second one. And this one is very, very difficult. Here it is. Another valuable lesson that we must learn is that God does not need our help. We need Him, but He really does not need us. God could have saved that ark from falling without us touching it. You know what he said in Isaiah 42 in verse 8, he said this, I'm the Lord. That is my name. My glory will not give to another nor my praise to graven images. God. Is quite capable of protecting his own glory. He's quite capable of protecting his own people. He's quite capable of defeating his own enemies. He's quite capable of subduing everything to His sovereign authority. God does not need us. Yes, we are His servants and we minister to Him by ministering to others, but God does not need us to work out that which He has ordained from eternity.

[John Weaver] The Bible says that God said, I have spoken it and I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will do it. I'll do it. It's mine. I will do it. And I can assure you that God is quite capable of taking care of the wicked. We get all bent out of shape and we get all concerned over what is going on. And yes, We should make it a matter of prayer. And yes, we should search the scripture. And yes, we should quote the scriptures.

[John Weaver] And we should plead to our heavenly father. That is true. But we have to understand that he is quite capable of taking care of everything himself. OK, here's the third. And I think this should be the strongest emphasis placed. The truth is we lose the obedience. We lose the fear of God through our disobedience. We lose the fear of God through our disobedience. Stop and think about this.

[John Weaver] The more you sin, the easier it is to sin. The more you disobey, the easier it is to disobey. Well, God didn't strike me down that time. Maybe he's not God, or just maybe he's not paying attention, or maybe he's not going to do it. Wow. Let me tell you something. Psalm 36 in verse 1 says this, the transgression of the wicked saith within his heart, there is no fear of God before his eyes. That's the transgression of the wicked. There's no fear of God before his eyes. Notice, I don't fear God. I'm going to do what I want to do.

[John Weaver] I'll do it my way. So here we go. It's impossible to fear God and disobey Him. If you fear God, you're going to obey Him. If you disobey Him, you don't fear God. Did David lose his fear of God? Yeah, he did. How do I know he did? Because he used the way of the Philistines. He used the way of the world to try to get God closer to him. You can't get God closer to you by using the world and worldly methods. It's impossible. God has ordained everything and God has said this is the way I'm to be worshipped. This is the way that I come to you and this is the way you come to me. In any time we get in the habit of certain sins We're losing the fear of God, because if we really genuinely feared God, we would not do what he commanded us not to do. We would be obedient. We must learn we cannot use the way of the world to worship God. We can't use those things which God condemns to bring us closer to Him.

[John Weaver] It's impossible. But it is possible to lose the fear of God, or lose your salvation. But it's possible to lose the fear of God through disobedience. And the more you disobey, the easier it becomes to disobey. The more you sin, the easier it becomes to sin. and in doing so you're losing the fear of God until all of a sudden God will send something in your life will open your eyes and awaken you and you'll be in the place of David and David was afraid of the Lord that day because he realized what he was doing was wrong and God was disgraced with him do not lose the fear of the Lord Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee.

[John Weaver] We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We ask, Father, for your grace and mercy. Teach us, Lord, to be obedient and to honor thee. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

[John Weaver] ♪

Losing the Fear of God

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	swQX5mi7lrg
Subject	Biblical Worldview
Course	Biblical Worldview Foundations
Genre	Sermon
Date	2026-01-05
Dictation Name
Book	Book 066: Biblical Worldview Foundations — Chapter 9
Source Timed Segments	75

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver introduces the message 'Losing the Fear of God' and reads 2 Samuel 6:1-10, recounting David's attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem and Uzzah's death.

All right, let's open our Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Samuel chapter 6. 2 Samuel chapter 6. The title of the message is "Losing the Fear of God." Losing the fear of God. I'll explain that momentarily. Notice, if you would, 2 Samuel chapter 6, beginning there with verse 1:

Scripture Reading — 2 Samuel 6:1-10

"Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals."

"And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite." So the title of the message again is "Losing the Fear of God." I've brought forth, I know, a number of messages on the fear of God. The fear of God is indeed a saving work of God in our lives. Godly fear is a saving grace, and there is simply no way that anyone can work up a godly, saving fear on their own.

The Fear of God as a Saving Grace

Weaver explains that godly fear is a saving work implanted by God, not something man can produce, and clarifies that losing the fear of God does not mean losing salvation.

God must give it, and God must implant it in our lives. I want you to think about the title of this message, "Losing the Fear of God." You might think the title is a little deceptive, but let me explain. There is an implication that could be drawn, which is fallacious. That is, you should never equate losing your salvation with losing the fear of God. They're two totally different things in one sense of the word, which I shall explain. Of course, it's impossible for a real child of God to lose his salvation. Our Lord made this exceedingly clear in John chapter 10, verses 27 through 30, when He said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." Then He said, "I and My Father are one." So clearly our Lord has given us eternal life, and He said

we shall never, ever perish. At the same time, there is a sense in which we can lose the fear of God in a way that is often seen in believers. In fact, the truth of the matter is, you may be surprised at how simple, how easy it is to lose the fear of God. In fact, it is a sin, I'm afraid, that is committed many times by the children of God. Now, in order to understand this message, you must understand the background. So I'm going to spend a little time covering the background and demonstrate to you just a simple truth from this passage. So notice, if you would, here's the initial background, which we shall look at momentarily.

Background: The Ark Captured and Returned

Weaver reviews 1 Samuel 4-6, detailing Israel's superstitious trust in the ark, its capture by the Philistines, God's judgment on Dagon and the Philistines, and the ark's return on a cart.

And that is that there was a battle between Israel and the Philistines. You'll find this in 1 Samuel chapter 4 and chapter 5. It was during this battle that the Israelites were defeated, and ultimately the Philistines prevailed, and they then took the ark of God. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests, and they were unsaved men. They should never have been priests to begin with, but they were. In fact, they're called sons of Belial in the Bible. That means sons of the devil. And the truth of the matter is, they were so wicked, the Bible says they made the people of God despise the offerings of God.

Moreover, they were adulterers, they were whoremongers. And so these were very, very wicked men. Now, I want you to look in your Bible, holding 2 Samuel 6, but turn back if you would, please, to 1 Samuel chapter 4. And let me set this thing up and show you what is happening here. Look at this, because this is where many people are today who profess to be children of God. So in 1 Samuel chapter 4, we're going to begin looking at verse 3 momentarily, but one of the greatest sins of Israel is that they trusted so many times in anything and everything other than God. And likewise, we do the same today. We commit the same exact sin. I'll show you this. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 4, beginning there in verse 3. The Bible says, "And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?" Now, if you look back up, the Bible will tell you in verse 2 that they slew about four thousand Israelites. And so now they're back in the camp; this one particular battle is over. So the elders of Israel said, "Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?" Look what they said: "Let us fetch the ark

of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant." Now, notice if you would, please, at this point, Israel is so degraded, so backslidden. The truth of the matter is, they viewed salvation and they viewed deliverance in the ark of God, and not in the God of the ark. Likewise, there are many people today who actually think they are saved because of either artifacts or ceremonies or rituals, whatever they are trusting in. Some people believe they're saved because they're baptized.

Others because they've partaken of the Lord's Supper. Others maybe because they're members of a particular church, or others just simply because of their good works. In other words, they're like the Israelites here. They're trusting in the ark of God instead of the God of the ark. And they are basically very superstitious individuals. Now, you have to remember that the Philistines ultimately defeated all of the Israelites, and of course Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and Eli died when he found out the ark of God had been taken by the Philistines. He fell over backwards and broke his neck and died. But I want you to notice what God did to the false god of the Philistines. So look in 1 Samuel chapter 5, because the Philistines have taken the ark and put it in the temple of their god Dagon. I've always thought this was very humorous in one sense of the word. "And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon."

"And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again." He couldn't set himself up, obviously. "And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day."

Now the truth of the matter is, this false god was destroyed, and he fell before the one true and living God's ark. Now, the interesting thing is, God smote the Philistines because they had taken the ark of God. He smote them with a grievous destruction. So if you look in verse 6 of 1 Samuel chapter 5, notice the Bible says, "But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof." So the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them. He destroyed them. He smote them with emerods. Look in verse 9: "And it was so, that after they had carried it about," so one city was smitten.

They said, "Let's send it somewhere else." And then God smote the other cities wherever it was carried. "And it was so, that after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts." Now look down, if you would, at verses 11 and 12. "So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven." So evidently, the destruction is exceedingly great now, and all the Philistines are willing and ready to get rid of the ark of God. They want to send it back.

So now you're going to ask, what in the world were emerods? The Hebrew word for emerods happens to be techor, and it refers literally to tumors, to hemorrhoids, and to piles. So God has smitten these people with a very humiliating disease and slew many of them. Moreover, when you read the rest of this, he also sent a plague of mice into the cities, and they were devouring the food supplies. Moreover, probably many diseases were spread because of the abundance of the mice as well.

Now, I want you to note this. They get together and they said, "We've got to send this ark back in order for this plague to be stayed." Well, they took counsel together, and the elders of the Philistines said, "Well, you've trespassed against this God, so you must send back a trespass offering." So they made golden emerods, and they made golden mice, and they put these things in a coffer beside the ark. And of course they wanted to send it back. So how did they send it back?

So look in 1 Samuel chapter 6. Let's begin there with verse 7. Here's how they sent the ark back.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 6:7-12

"Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: and take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil." "But if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us. And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: and they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh."

Now let's stop there just for a moment. So what they've done now, they've taken a new cart, they've got two cows that just had calves, and they have separated the calves from the cows. And they've tied these cows to this cart. So the cows were never trained to pull a cart. They were just cows. They were not broken to yoke. So now they've separated them from their calves, and they say, "Now if these cows take this ark straight to Beth-shemesh, we know that the hand of God was upon us. If they just wander left and right and kind of go wherever they want to go, we'll know that it was just chance that happened to us." Well, you've heard me say this before: there is no such thing as chance or luck or fate in a world that's ruled by God. And so it's not by chance. And so these cows went straight to Beth-shemesh.

The Sin at Beth-shemesh

Weaver describes how the men of Beth-shemesh looked at or into the ark, resulting in God killing 50,070 men, emphasizing the ark's holiness.

And of course, they observed that. And notice if you would, I don't know if you've ever understood this or not, but it's almost impossible to separate cows from their calves. And these cows went straight to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. Lord, they were calling for their calves, but they still kept going. Now, notice if you would what's happened. Notice if you would what happened when they got to Beth-shemesh. Look if you would in verses 13 and 14. "And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD." So they take then the cart and they make an altar out of it. And they take the cows and kill them and offer them as a sacrifice upon that altar. Now, the interesting thing is, evidently the Levites have done that, because in verse 15 it says, "And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD." So the Levites now have taken this ark down.

They were probably the ones that made the sacrifice as well. But let me just tell you this. The truth of the matter is, when it comes to the ark of God, the Levites themselves could not look upon this ark. It was sacred.

Now, here was a sin that was committed. The sin that was committed is very, very plain. So if you look in verse 13, the Bible says they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted up their eyes. They saw the ark. They rejoiced to see it. Verse 14, the cart came into the field. They made the sacrifice. Notice, if you would, they've done this. Now look if you would skip down to verse, oh let's see, verse 18: "And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite. And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter."

"And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?" Now, note what else they did. Verse 21: "And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you." So now here's what has happened. God has sovereignly smitten the people of Beth-shemesh, and He's killed fifty thousand and seventy of them because they evidently looked into the ark or looked at the ark. Now, let me point something out. The ark was infinitely holy, and no one outside of the high priest was to see that ark.

Now if you will hold 1 Samuel, but turn over in your Bibles, or I should say really back in your Bibles, to the book of Numbers chapter 4. Numbers chapter 4. Even the Levites, who were ordained by God to help the priests—they were of the Levitical priesthood, but all the Levites were given to the priests. They were to handle everything in the tabernacle, but they could not do whatever they wanted to do. The duties and the obligations and responsibilities of the Levites were assigned to them by God, and they were under the authority and direction of the priests. So if you look in Numbers chapter 4 and verse 18, God says,

Scripture Reading — Numbers 4:18-20

"Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites." "But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden."

They couldn't just do what they wanted to do; Aaron appointed.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 4:18-20

"But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die."

So Aaron and his sons had to cover the ark. They had to cover anything that was specifically holy. No one could see this ark except the high priest.

And then, of course, he went in only once a year. Now, so what has happened now in 1 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 19? These people have looked into the ark of God. The Bible says, "And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men." Now, here's the interesting thing. There are some scholars who say that they did not actually look into the ark, but what they did was they stared at the ark. They gazed at the ark. It was a sinful curiosity. And let me give you this Hebrew word. The word is ra'ah, and it actually means to see, to look at, to gaze, to observe, and to watch. So they were watching that ark. Now, one particular commentator says they did not actually look into the ark. They just simply gazed with a simple gaze at the ark. So here's Colin Dalish, and here's the quote: "The stroke which fell upon the people of Beth-shemesh is sufficiently accounted for in these words, 'because they had looked.' There is no necessity to understand these words, however, as many rabbins do, as signifying that they looked into the ark, that is, opened it and looked in."

"For if this had been the meaning, the opening would certainly not have been passed over without notice. Ra'ah with beth means to look upon or look at a thing with lust or malicious pleasure. And here it is no doubt signifies a foolish staring which was incompatible with the holiness of the ark and was punished with death." Now, whether or not they actually looked into the ark, or whether or not they just simply gazed and stared at the ark, because no one was to be observing this ark, basically, except the high priest. Even these Levites, it had to be covered for them to carry it. So, clearly then, God has judged these people for either maliciously staring or whether or not they opened it or not.

The Ark in Kirjath-jearim and David's Attempt

Weaver notes the ark stayed in Kirjath-jearim for 20 years, neglected under Saul, and David's first attempt to move it on a new cart led to Uzzah's death.

Now, notice if you would, the truth of the matter is now the men of Kirjath-jearim are saying, they're telling these men, "Come down and get it. We can't handle it anymore. We don't want it now." So notice if you would in verse 21 of 1 Samuel 6, and then in chapter 7 at verses 1 and 2. Verse 21:

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 7:1-2

"And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you. And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD."

Now, wait a minute. Twenty years it's in Kirjath-jearim. Now it is true that the Philistines had taken that ark. But I want you to note something. If you look back in your Bibles, hold 1 Samuel chapter 6 and 7, but look in 2 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 2. And now we know that

the ark was in Kirjath-jearim for twenty years. We just read that. Note if you would 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 2: "And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims." So now David goes to Baale of Judah. Well, I thought the ark was in Kirjath-jearim. Well, let me just explain this. There is no contradiction. Baale of Judah was called Kirjath-jearim in 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 1. You'll also find it in 1 Chronicles 12 and verse 5. It was formerly called Kirjath-baal in Joshua 15 and verse 60. It was also called Baalah in Joshua 15 in verse 9, and it's also called Baale of Judah because it was of the tribe of Judah, and you'll find that also in Joshua chapter 15 in verse 1. So when they went to Baale of Judah, they went to Kirjath-jearim, because it's one and the same place.

Now, it's been in Kirjath-jearim for twenty years. May I ask you, who was the king before David? You remember was King Saul. Now the Bible says the men longed for the ark. How long was King Saul king? And the answer is, he was king for forty years. Now I want you to see something. Look in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 13. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. So notice if you would 1 Chronicles chapter 13, and I want you to look at verse 3. Here it is. 1 Chronicles chapter 13, and look there at verse 3. Look what the Bible says. Here it is: "And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul." So the forty years that Saul was king, the ark was neglected. No one inquired of it. Okay, wherever the ark was, it may have been at Shiloh at that particular time, but it was neglected. Then of course it was captured, and then of course now it is at Kirjath-jearim or Baale of Judah, and David wants to bring it back to Jerusalem. So

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 13:3

the Bible tells you in Acts chapter 13 in verse 21 that Saul was king for forty years. So what David does is this: he makes an attempt to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. The city of David is known as the earthly Zion. Now, I want you to look in 2 Samuel chapter 6, and let's go back and read verses 3 through 8. I want you to watch this. This is important because it ties right in with what I'm going to share with you. 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 3: "And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark."

"And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God." Wow.

David's Fear and the Lesson Learned

Weaver highlights David's fear after Uzzah's death and his realization that they had not sought God 'after the due order,' leading to the proper transport by Levites.

Now, the Bible says in verse 8, "And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day." Now, here's an amazing truth. I want you to look at verse 9: "And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" And David was afraid of the LORD that day. Well, let me ask you a question. Was David not fearful of the LORD before that day? What does it mean when it says, "And David was afraid of the LORD that day"? Was it that God gave him more fear, or was it a better fear? By the way, the word "fear" here is the Hebrew word yare', and it means to fear, to be afraid, to make afraid, to terrify, as well as to revere and to stand in all awe.

Now, we know that David was a believer. In fact, the Bible tells us very plainly that David was a man after God's own heart. And yet, here in verse 9, the Bible said that David was afraid of the LORD that day. Is this then a new awakening of the fear of God in his life? Is this a new realization of the fear of God? In other words, what happened to Uzzah on that day is something that made David stop and think. It was something that caught David's attention and made him consider his actions. In other words, he realized that God was displeased with Uzzah.

That's why He smote him. And God may have been displeased with other things as well. David was saying, "God may be displeased with me as well." So look in verse 9. Not only does it say that David was afraid of the LORD that day, but he also asked this question: "How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" In other words, if God has been so displeased with us and what is going on, I don't think I'm going to ever get this ark to me, because I'm not interested in displeasing God. Now, probably David thought about the displeasure of God on the Philistines. I mean, come on, let's think about that. I have no idea how many of those Philistines were killed by God.

And the Bible does not tell us. But the Bible said His hand was heavy upon them. It was a great destruction. And they were eager to get rid of the ark of God. Then we read about the fifty thousand and seventy that were killed at Beth-shemesh.

Now all of a sudden Uzzah is smitten and he falls down dead. And so David is asking now, "How in the world am I going to get this ark back to me?" David was afraid of the LORD that day. So let me ask a question. Think about this. Had David lost his fear of the LORD? Now the Bible said he was afraid of the LORD that day. Why are we told particularly in verse 9 that David was afraid of the LORD that day? Well, he's certainly considering the displeasure of God, because God has evidenced His displeasure at the Philistines, at the Beth-shemites, and at Uzzah as well. So how can this ark get to David in the city of Jerusalem without God's displeasure? So here's what happened. David was so concerned that he relinquished the idea of bringing that ark to him in the city of Jerusalem. What happened? Well, look, if you would please, to verse 10. "So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David:

but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obed-edom, and all his household. And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness." Now, wait a minute. We see what has happened. When it's turned aside to the house of Obed-edom—Obed-edom, of course, was a Levite of the family of the Kohathites. You'll find that in Exodus chapter 6 and verse 21, Exodus 18 verse 16, and 1 Chronicles chapter 26 and verse 4. But he is called the Gittite or the Gathite because of his birthplace in the Levitical city of Gath-rimmon, which was in the tribe of Dan. So God has blessed now the house of Obed-edom for three months. Okay, God has blessed the house of Obed-edom for three months, and David now is encouraged to go back and get the ark. Now here's my question. David had tried to bring up the ark on a new cart with oxen or cattle. And when the oxen stumbled or the cart hit a rock or root, the ark started losing its balance, and Uzzah reached up and touched it, and God killed him. So what is David thinking now? Is he going to get a newer cart? Is he going to get different cows?

How is he going to get this ark? Now we know that he got it. But I want to show you. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Chronicles chapter 15. 1 Chronicles chapter 15. I want us to begin reading there with verse 1. Look at this. 1 Chronicles 15 and verse 1. Look at verse 1:

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 15:1-3, 11-13

"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. Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever. 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."

Wow. None ought to carry the ark but the Levites. That's what God had ordained. Skip down if you would now to verse 11. "David called for Zadok

and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, 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 due order." Now here's my question: Did David lose his fear of God? Let me say this another way, or ask another way: Had he forgotten the fear of God? Now the interesting thing is this. You must recall just a few weeks ago I preached a message on learning the fear of God. It is true: the fear of God is given to us initially and originally by God Himself. His fear is implanted into His people. It's impossible to work up a saving fear of God; man cannot do that. But when God works it in us, He expects us to work it out. You remember that passage in Philippians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12, where the Apostle Paul told those Philippians,

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:11-12

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." They're not earning their salvation. He said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Then he tells you in verse 12, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." So if God works it in us, it's our responsibility to work it out. Now you remember, I hope you do, that when I taught the message on learning the fear of God, I gave you five texts where God tells us that we must learn the fear of God.

Learning and Forgetting the Fear of God

Weaver uses Deuteronomy 4:9-10 and Mark 4:24-25 to show that the fear of God must be learned and can be forgotten through disobedience and neglect of God's Word.

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:11-12

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." They're not earning their salvation. He said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

I'm not going to show you all of those five texts, but I am going to remind you of one of them. So if you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, look in chapter 4 at verses 9 and 10. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. Look at this, plain and simple. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. Look what God says to His people.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children."

Now, note if you would back in verse 9, He says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"Keep thy soul diligently."

Why? Lest you forget. Lest they depart from your heart, but you teach them. And then He said,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"I will make them hear My words in verse 10, that they may learn to fear Me."

Now if you can learn to fear the Lord, you can also forget the fear of the Lord. And in that sense of the word, you can lose the fear of the Lord by a failure to hear and to heed His words. Now look if you would in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 11. Look at this warning. Deuteronomy 8 and verse 11. God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and

his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day." He says, "Don't forget to obey Me. Don't forget to keep My word." Skip down if you would to verse 14: "Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." He said, "You can forget Me. You can forget My covenant. You can forget My law." Skip down if you would to verse 19: "And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish." So when you begin to forget God's word, God's covenant, God's law, you end up in idolatry. It's just that simple.

Now, I want you to look in the New Testament, holding 2 Samuel chapter 6, but I want you to look in the New Testament to the book of Mark chapter 4 at verses 24 and 25. Look at this. Mark 4, verse 24 and 25. Here's a very, very important passage. Look at this. Mark 4, verse 24.

"And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." Now there are two principles here. Here's the first one. God measures truth to us in proportion to our hearing, our reading, our studies, our meditation, and our consideration. So if you study the Word of God 15 minutes, you're not going to get six hours' worth of truth. You're going to get 15 minutes' worth of truth. And that's it. With what measure you mete, it shall be measured back to you. That's all there is to it. So if you only spend 20 minutes a week reading your Bible, you're not going to get 20 minutes' worth of truth. That's all there is to it.

So you've got to remember this principle. God measures truth in proportion to the degree that we give in learning that truth. Here's the second principle. He said, "From him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath." So let me just kind of put this in a paraphrase for you. Here it is: If you do not use the truth, you lose the truth. If you don't use the truth, you lose the truth. Now, think about this.

David's Loss of Fear and Application

Weaver argues David lost the fear of God by using the Philistines' method, and applies this to believers who use worldly methods instead of biblical obedience.

Some of you may have had algebra in high school, maybe calculus in college. That was a long time ago. Can you still do algebra? Can you still do calculus? And the answer for most of us would be no. Because we've forgotten everything. Because we never used it. So Dinah, you could explain to me a lot of things about nursing, and I could sit here and listen intently. Or I could sit here and pretend like I'm listening and let my mind wander. And when you got through teaching me, maybe you taught me, say for 10 hours straight, you asked me, "Now what have you learned?" And I'm, "Beats me, I don't know." But now if I really listened and I was really interested and I really wanted to learn, I ought to be able, after you taught me, to not only tell you what you've taught me, but to explain to you how I'm going to use it and how it's going to be applied. So let me put it to you very bluntly: If you cannot explain truth, or if you do not know how to apply truth, you don't possess truth. So Steve McKinnon, I'm not

He can explain some things to me, and like the old saying goes, it's Greek to me. Because I can't see it, I can't imagine it. He can explain it in words, but I don't know exactly what he's talking about. But I could repeat back to him what he said if I listened carefully. But if I couldn't do it, if I couldn't make application of it, all the teaching is useless. OK, so this is exactly what God is telling us right now. These two principles: if you do not use the truth, you lose the truth. Now, here's my question. Did David lose his fear of God? I'm going to answer that for you. Yes. I can ask this another way. Did David forget the fear of God? And the answer is yes. How do I know that David lost the fear of God? Well, let's see. The Bible said he was afraid of the LORD that day. There was something that reminded him of the fear of the LORD. Hang on. Hang on. What had David just done? Let's see.

He went to the house of Abinadab. He got the ark of God and put it on the cart being pulled by cows or oxen. And of course, when one of them stumbled or the cart hit a rock or something, the ark lost its balance and Uzzah touched it and God killed him. Wow. Wow. Seems to me like you and I read just a little earlier when the Philistines sent the ark back. What did they do? They put it on a cart with two cows. What did David do? He put it on a cart with two cows. What David was doing was using a method of the unsaved, uncircumcised, ungodly Philistines. Yeah, oh yeah. David said, "God put a breach upon us. Why? Because we sought him not after the due order." In other words, none but the Levites ought to carry this thing. David had forgotten that. David had lost that knowledge. Because he attempted to put that ark on a cart. If the Philistines did it, David said, "It worked for them, it'll work for me."

No, no, no. God says, "No, the Levites are to carry that ark." And so what is happening today is the same thing. Most of us as Christians are not worshiping God after due order. Even in our churches, our churches are turning into social clubs, entertainment centers, and filled with worldly activities and worldly worship. You remember, I hope you do, in the message I preached on learning the fear of God, I told you that fearing God and obedience were synonymous. You cannot fear God without obeying God. If you disobey God, then you do not fear God. If you disobey God, you've forgotten the fear of the Lord. If you disobey God, you've lost the fear of the Lord, at least temporarily for that time that you've sinned against Him. So it's impossible then for you to fear God and disobey Him. If you fear God, you're going to obey Him. So here's the thing.

This is what I want to put together in your mind. Every one of us have problems. Each one of us face issues, and we have opportunities for ministries. Anytime we're faced with a problem or an issue, or we're looking at a possible ministry, here's what we should ask ourselves: How should we resolve this, or how should we do this in a biblical manner that's pleasing to the Lord? So if Dinah and I get into an argument, and we get irritated and angry and mad at each other, how am I to resolve that in a biblical manner? How is she to resolve that in a biblical manner? We need money. How do we resolve that in a biblical manner? I want you to listen to me. When you take the attitude, "I have this problem, I have this issue, but I will work it out my own way. I want to do what I think best."

"I've got an idea exactly what I'm going to do." You're headed for failure if you're a Christian. The truth of the matter is, because in every area of our life, we ought to be willing to do that which is biblical and bring everything in conformity to the Word of God. If we don't, then we're going to be losing the fear of God. David, listen to me, David was awakened by the death of Uzzah.

Awakening to Fear through Judgment

Weaver cites Isaiah 26:8-10 to show that God's judgments awaken the righteous to learn obedience, and warns that sinning makes disobedience easier.

No doubt he was considering what happened to the Philistines. He was also considering what happened to the people of Beth-shemesh. But Uzzah died right in front of him. The others did not die in front of him. So it took the death of Uzzah to awaken David to say, "Wait a minute, we might be doing something wrong. We're displeasing God. God has made a breach upon us. What are we doing wrong?"

"Oh, I found out a little bit later. I finally remembered it. None but the Levites are to carry the ark." "Now, let's go back and do it right." Hmm. Wow. So my question would be this: If it took the death of Uzzah to awaken the fear of God in David, what will it take to awaken the fear of God in us so that we want to do everything biblical and pleasing unto Him? Now, I want to show you something. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Isaiah chapter 26, and I want you to look with me at verses 8 through 10. Isaiah 26 verses 8 through 10. Look at what Isaiah says. Isaiah 26 verse 8: "Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee." That's what we want. But notice, "in the way of thy judgments we waited for thee." Look at verse 9: "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early."

"For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." Now look at verse 10: "Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD." Hmm. Go back, if you would. Now, in verse 9, "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." Now, he says in verse 10, it's not the wicked that's going to learn righteousness. Hmm. Well, who will? It is the righteous, it is those who are saved. They will learn His righteousness. In other words, God will use His judgments to awaken us to obedience.

Now, let me make some applications of this. I hope you can see this. Number one, good intentions do not and cannot negate God's chastisement and judgment when we do something wrong. Uzzah undoubtedly had good intentions. He probably thought, "Oh no, there's the ark. Let me save the ark." He touched the ark. He was not allowed to touch the ark. Many times we do things wrong, but we do it with good intentions. But we're still doing wrong. So, our good intentions do not cancel out our unbiblical deeds, our unbiblical thoughts, our unbiblical actions.

Final Applications and Conclusion

Weaver gives three applications: good intentions don't negate disobedience, God doesn't need our help, and disobedience causes loss of fear. He closes with a prayer.

This is why we have to know what God demands and commands. Here's the second one. And this one is very, very difficult. Here it is. Another valuable lesson that we must learn is that God does not need our help. We need Him, but He really does not need us. God could have saved that ark from falling without Uzzah touching it. You know what He said in Isaiah 42 in verse 8? He said this: "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." God is quite capable of protecting His own glory. He's quite capable of protecting His own people. He's quite capable of defeating His own enemies. He's quite capable of subduing everything to His sovereign authority. God does not need us. Yes, we are His servants and we minister to Him by ministering to others, but God does not need us to work out that which He has ordained from eternity.

The Bible says that God said, "I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it." I'll do it. It's Mine. I will do it. And I can assure you that God is quite capable of taking care of the wicked. We get all bent out of shape and we get all concerned over what is going on. And yes, we should make it a matter of prayer. And yes, we should search the Scripture. And yes, we should quote the Scriptures.

And we should plead to our heavenly Father. That is true. But we have to understand that He is quite capable of taking care of everything Himself. OK, here's the third. And I think this should be the strongest emphasis placed. The truth is we lose the obedience, we lose the fear of God through our disobedience. We lose the fear of God through our disobedience. Stop and think about this.

The more you sin, the easier it is to sin. The more you disobey, the easier it is to disobey. "Well, God didn't strike me down that time. Maybe He's not God, or just maybe He's not paying attention, or maybe He's not going to do it." Wow. Let me tell you something. Psalm 36 in verse 1 says this: "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes." That's the transgression of the wicked. There's no fear of God before his eyes. Notice, "I don't fear God. I'm going to do what I want to do."

"I'll do it my way." So here we go. It's impossible to fear God and disobey Him. If you fear God, you're going to obey Him. If you disobey Him, you don't fear God. Did David lose his fear of God? Yeah, he did. How do I know he did? Because he used the way of the Philistines. He used the way of the world to try to get God closer to him. You can't get God closer to you by using the world and worldly methods. It's impossible. God has ordained everything, and God has said, "This is the way I'm to be worshipped. This is the way that I come to you, and this is the way you come to Me." And anytime we get in the habit of certain sins, we're losing the fear of God, because if we really genuinely feared God, we would not do what He commanded us not to do. We would be obedient. We must learn we cannot use the way of the world to worship God. We can't use those things which God condemns to bring us closer to Him.

It's impossible. But it is possible to lose the fear of God, not lose your salvation. But it's possible to lose the fear of God through disobedience. And the more you disobey, the easier it becomes to disobey. The more you sin, the easier it becomes to sin. And in doing so, you're losing the fear of God, until all of a sudden God will send something in your life that will open your eyes and awaken you, and you'll be in the place of David. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, because he realized what he was doing was wrong, and God was displeased with him. Do not lose the fear of the Lord. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee.

We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We ask, Father, for Your grace and mercy. Teach us, Lord, to be obedient and to honor Thee. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Fear of God as Obedience

Summary: Fearing God is synonymous with obeying Him; disobedience indicates a loss of the fear of God.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'If you fear God, you're going to obey Him. If you disobey Him, you don't fear God.'

Losing the Fear of God through Disobedience

Summary: Believers can lose the fear of God by forgetting His commands and using worldly methods, as David did.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'David lost his fear of God... because he used the way of the Philistines.'

The Holiness of God and Proper Worship

Summary: God demands worship according to His ordained order; using worldly methods is unacceptable.

Evidence: Weaver explains, 'None but the Levites are to carry the ark... we sought him not after the due order.'

God's Judgments as Awakening

Summary: God uses judgments to awaken believers to righteousness and restore the fear of God.

Evidence: Weaver cites Isaiah 26:9: 'When thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.'

The Danger of Worldly Methods

Summary: Imitating the world's ways in worship or problem-solving leads to displeasing God.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'You can't get God closer to you by using the world and worldly methods.'

Key Arguments

David lost the fear of God by imitating the Philistines

Summary: David's use of a cart to transport the ark, following the Philistine method, shows he forgot God's command that only Levites carry it.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'What David was doing was using a method of the unsaved, uncircumcised, ungodly Philistines.'

The fear of God is learned and can be forgotten

Summary: Scripture commands believers to learn the fear of God and warns against forgetting it through disobedience.

Evidence: Weaver references Deuteronomy 4:9-10: 'that they may learn to fear me' and 'lest thou forget.'

Disobedience leads to a progressive loss of fear

Summary: The more one sins, the easier it becomes, indicating a diminishing fear of God.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'The more you sin, the easier it is to sin. The more you disobey, the easier it is to disobey.'

Good intentions do not excuse unbiblical actions

Summary: Uzzah's likely good intention to steady the ark did not prevent God's judgment for touching it.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Uzzah undoubtedly had good intentions... but we're still doing wrong.'

God does not need human help to protect His glory

Summary: God is sovereign and capable of protecting His ark without Uzzah's intervention.

Evidence: Weaver asserts, 'God could have saved that ark from falling without Uzzah touching it.'

Scripture References

2 Samuel 6:1-10

Context: David's attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem on a cart, Uzzah's death, and David's fear.

John 10:27-30

Context: Jesus' promise that His sheep have eternal life and will never perish, used to distinguish losing fear from losing salvation.

1 Samuel 4:3

Context: Israel's superstitious trust in the ark to save them from the Philistines.

1 Samuel 5:1-5

Context: The Philistines place the ark in Dagon's temple, and Dagon falls before it.

1 Samuel 5:6, 9, 11-12

Context: God smites the Philistines with emerods and great destruction for taking the ark.

1 Samuel 6:7-12

Context: The Philistines return the ark on a new cart pulled by two cows.

1 Samuel 6:13-15, 18-21

Context: The ark arrives at Beth-shemesh, the people look at it, and God kills 50,070 men.

Numbers 4:18-20

Context: God's command that the Kohathites not see the holy things uncovered, lest they die.

1 Samuel 7:1-2

Context: The ark is brought to the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-jearim and remains there 20 years.

1 Chronicles 13:3

Context: David notes that Israel did not inquire at the ark in the days of Saul.

1 Chronicles 15:1-3, 11-13

Context: David prepares a place for the ark and acknowledges that only Levites should carry it, as they had not sought God after the due order.

Philippians 2:11-12

Context: Paul's instruction to work out salvation with fear and trembling, for God works in believers.

Deuteronomy 4:9-10

Context: Moses commands Israel to keep their souls diligently and learn to fear God, lest they forget.

Deuteronomy 8:11, 14, 19

Context: Warnings against forgetting the Lord and His commandments, leading to idolatry and perishing.

Mark 4:24-25

Context: Jesus teaches that the measure of hearing determines what is given, and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken.

Isaiah 26:8-10

Context: Isaiah declares that God's judgments teach righteousness, but the wicked will not learn.

Isaiah 42:8

Context: God declares He will not give His glory to another, used to show God does not need human help.

Psalm 36:1

Context: The transgression of the wicked indicates no fear of God before their eyes.

Historical References

Philistines' capture and return of the ark

Context: The Philistines defeated Israel, took the ark, suffered plagues, and returned it on a cart, which David later imitated.

Beth-shemesh slaughter

Context: God killed 50,070 men of Beth-shemesh for looking at the ark, demonstrating the holiness of God.

Saul's 40-year reign and neglect of the ark

Context: During Saul's kingship, the ark was neglected and not inquired of, as noted in 1 Chronicles 13:3.

Obed-edom the Gittite

Context: A Levite of the Kohathites who housed the ark for three months and was blessed by God.

Important Quotes

And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?

Significance: This verse captures the moment David's fear of God was awakened after Uzzah's death, prompting him to reconsider his approach.

None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.

Significance: David's realization of God's ordained order for transporting the ark, contrasting with his earlier use of a cart.

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 due order.

Significance: David acknowledges that the breach (Uzzah's death) occurred because they did not follow God's prescribed method.

If you do not use the truth, you lose the truth.

Significance: Weaver's paraphrase of Mark 4:25, emphasizing that neglecting God's Word leads to losing its benefits.

The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

Significance: Quoted from Psalm 36:1 to illustrate that sin indicates a lack of the fear of God.

Discussion Questions

In what ways might we, like David, be tempted to use 'worldly methods' to solve problems or worship God instead of seeking biblical obedience?

Context: Weaver compares David's use of the Philistine cart method to modern Christians adopting worldly practices.

How can we discern whether our good intentions are masking disobedience to God's clear commands?

Context: Weaver notes that Uzzah likely had good intentions but still violated God's command.

What are some practical ways to 'learn the fear of God' as commanded in Deuteronomy 4:10?

Context: Weaver emphasizes that the fear of God must be learned through hearing and heeding God's Word.

Why is it dangerous to think that God needs our help to accomplish His purposes?

Context: Weaver argues that God is sovereign and does not need human intervention, as seen in Uzzah's error.

How does the principle 'with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you' apply to our study of Scripture?

Context: Weaver explains that the depth of truth we receive corresponds to the effort we put into hearing and studying.

Applications

Examine methods against Scripture

Summary: Believers must evaluate their problem-solving and worship practices to ensure they align with biblical commands, not worldly patterns.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We ought to be willing to do that which is biblical and bring everything in conformity to the Word of God.'

Guard against losing the fear of God

Summary: Regular obedience and meditation on God's Word are necessary to maintain the fear of God and prevent spiritual decline.

Evidence: Weaver warns, 'The more you sin, the easier it is to sin... you're losing the fear of God.'

Respond to God's judgments with repentance

Summary: When God brings difficult circumstances, believers should examine their lives for disobedience and return to His ways.

Evidence: Weaver notes that David's fear was awakened by Uzzah's death, leading him to correct his approach.

Prioritize biblical obedience over good intentions

Summary: Good intentions do not excuse actions that violate God's commands; obedience must be based on His revealed will.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Our good intentions do not cancel out our unbiblical deeds.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:05:55Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:15:23Z

Clean Transcript

Losing the Fear of God

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right, let's open our Bibles, if you would please, to 2 Samuel chapter 6. 2 Samuel chapter 6. The title of the message is "Losing the Fear of God." Losing the fear of God. I'll explain that momentarily. Notice, if you would, 2 Samuel chapter 6, beginning there with verse 1: "Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals."
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"And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite." So the title of the message again is "Losing the Fear of God." I've brought forth, I know, a number of messages on the fear of God. The fear of God is indeed a saving work of God in our lives. Godly fear is a saving grace, and there is simply no way that anyone can work up a godly, saving fear on their own.
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God must give it, and God must implant it in our lives. I want you to think about the title of this message, "Losing the Fear of God." You might think the title is a little deceptive, but let me explain. There is an implication that could be drawn, which is fallacious. That is, you should never equate losing your salvation with losing the fear of God. They're two totally different things in one sense of the word, which I shall explain. Of course, it's impossible for a real child of God to lose his salvation. Our Lord made this exceedingly clear in John chapter 10, verses 27 through 30, when He said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." Then He said, "I and My Father are one." So clearly our Lord has given us eternal life, and He said
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we shall never, ever perish. At the same time, there is a sense in which we can lose the fear of God in a way that is often seen in believers. In fact, the truth of the matter is, you may be surprised at how simple, how easy it is to lose the fear of God. In fact, it is a sin, I'm afraid, that is committed many times by the children of God. Now, in order to understand this message, you must understand the background. So I'm going to spend a little time covering the background and demonstrate to you just a simple truth from this passage. So notice, if you would, here's the initial background, which we shall look at momentarily.
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And that is that there was a battle between Israel and the Philistines. You'll find this in 1 Samuel chapter 4 and chapter 5. It was during this battle that the Israelites were defeated, and ultimately the Philistines prevailed, and they then took the ark of God. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests, and they were unsaved men. They should never have been priests to begin with, but they were. In fact, they're called sons of Belial in the Bible. That means sons of the devil. And the truth of the matter is, they were so wicked, the Bible says they made the people of God despise the offerings of God.
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Moreover, they were adulterers, they were whoremongers. And so these were very, very wicked men.
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Now, I want you to look in your Bible, holding 2 Samuel 6, but turn back if you would, please, to 1 Samuel chapter 4. And let me set this thing up and show you what is happening here. Look at this, because this is where many people are today who profess to be children of God. So in 1 Samuel chapter 4, we're going to begin looking at verse 3 momentarily, but one of the greatest sins of Israel is that they trusted so many times in anything and everything other than God. And likewise, we do the same today. We commit the same exact sin. I'll show you this. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 4, beginning there in verse 3. The Bible says, "And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?" Now, if you look back up, the Bible will tell you in verse 2 that they slew about four thousand Israelites. And so now they're back in the camp; this one particular battle is over. So the elders of Israel said, "Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?" Look what they said: "Let us fetch the ark
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of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant."
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Now, notice if you would, please, at this point, Israel is so degraded, so backslidden. The truth of the matter is, they viewed salvation and they viewed deliverance in the ark of God, and not in the God of the ark. Likewise, there are many people today who actually think they are saved because of either artifacts or ceremonies or rituals, whatever they are trusting in. Some people believe they're saved because they're baptized.
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Others because they've partaken of the Lord's Supper. Others maybe because they're members of a particular church, or others just simply because of their good works. In other words, they're like the Israelites here. They're trusting in the ark of God instead of the God of the ark. And they are basically very superstitious individuals. Now, you have to remember that the Philistines ultimately defeated all of the Israelites, and of course Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and Eli died when he found out the ark of God had been taken by the Philistines. He fell over backwards and broke his neck and died. But I want you to notice what God did to the false god of the Philistines. So look in 1 Samuel chapter 5, because the Philistines have taken the ark and put it in the temple of their god Dagon. I've always thought this was very humorous in one sense of the word. "And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon."
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"And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again." He couldn't set himself up, obviously. "And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day."
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Now the truth of the matter is, this false god was destroyed, and he fell before the one true and living God's ark. Now, the interesting thing is, God smote the Philistines because they had taken the ark of God. He smote them with a grievous destruction. So if you look in verse 6 of 1 Samuel chapter 5, notice the Bible says, "But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof." So the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them. He destroyed them. He smote them with emerods. Look in verse 9: "And it was so, that after they had carried it about," so one city was smitten.
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They said, "Let's send it somewhere else." And then God smote the other cities wherever it was carried. "And it was so, that after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts."
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Now look down, if you would, at verses 11 and 12. "So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven." So evidently, the destruction is exceedingly great now, and all the Philistines are willing and ready to get rid of the ark of God. They want to send it back.
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So now you're going to ask, what in the world were emerods? The Hebrew word for emerods happens to be techor, and it refers literally to tumors, to hemorrhoids, and to piles. So God has smitten these people with a very humiliating disease and slew many of them. Moreover, when you read the rest of this, he also sent a plague of mice into the cities, and they were devouring the food supplies. Moreover, probably many diseases were spread because of the abundance of the mice as well.
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Now, I want you to note this. They get together and they said, "We've got to send this ark back in order for this plague to be stayed." Well, they took counsel together, and the elders of the Philistines said, "Well, you've trespassed against this God, so you must send back a trespass offering." So they made golden emerods, and they made golden mice, and they put these things in a coffer beside the ark. And of course they wanted to send it back. So how did they send it back?
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So look in 1 Samuel chapter 6. Let's begin there with verse 7. Here's how they sent the ark back.
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"Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: and take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil."
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"But if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us. And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: and they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh."
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Now let's stop there just for a moment. So what they've done now, they've taken a new cart, they've got two cows that just had calves, and they have separated the calves from the cows. And they've tied these cows to this cart. So the cows were never trained to pull a cart. They were just cows. They were not broken to yoke. So now they've separated them from their calves, and they say, "Now if these cows take this ark straight to Beth-shemesh, we know that the hand of God was upon us. If they just wander left and right and kind of go wherever they want to go, we'll know that it was just chance that happened to us." Well, you've heard me say this before: there is no such thing as chance or luck or fate in a world that's ruled by God. And so it's not by chance. And so these cows went straight to Beth-shemesh.
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And of course, they observed that. And notice if you would, I don't know if you've ever understood this or not, but it's almost impossible to separate cows from their calves. And these cows went straight to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. Lord, they were calling for their calves, but they still kept going. Now, notice if you would what's happened. Notice if you would what happened when they got to Beth-shemesh.
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Look if you would in verses 13 and 14. "And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD." So they take then the cart and they make an altar out of it. And they take the cows and kill them and offer them as a sacrifice upon that altar. Now, the interesting thing is, evidently the Levites have done that, because in verse 15 it says, "And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD." So the Levites now have taken this ark down.
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They were probably the ones that made the sacrifice as well. But let me just tell you this. The truth of the matter is, when it comes to the ark of God, the Levites themselves could not look upon this ark. It was sacred.
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Now, here was a sin that was committed. The sin that was committed is very, very plain. So if you look in verse 13, the Bible says they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted up their eyes. They saw the ark. They rejoiced to see it. Verse 14, the cart came into the field. They made the sacrifice. Notice, if you would, they've done this. Now look if you would skip down to verse, oh let's see, verse 18: "And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite. And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter."
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"And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?" Now, note what else they did. Verse 21: "And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you." So now here's what has happened. God has sovereignly smitten the people of Beth-shemesh, and He's killed fifty thousand and seventy of them because they evidently looked into the ark or looked at the ark. Now, let me point something out. The ark was infinitely holy, and no one outside of the high priest was to see that ark.
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Now if you will hold 1 Samuel, but turn over in your Bibles, or I should say really back in your Bibles, to the book of Numbers chapter 4. Numbers chapter 4. Even the Levites, who were ordained by God to help the priests—they were of the Levitical priesthood, but all the Levites were given to the priests. They were to handle everything in the tabernacle, but they could not do whatever they wanted to do. The duties and the obligations and responsibilities of the Levites were assigned to them by God, and they were under the authority and direction of the priests. So if you look in Numbers chapter 4 and verse 18, God says, "Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites."
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"But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden." They couldn't just do what they wanted to do; Aaron appointed. "But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die." So Aaron and his sons had to cover the ark. They had to cover anything that was specifically holy. No one could see this ark except the high priest.
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And then, of course, he went in only once a year. Now, so what has happened now in 1 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 19? These people have looked into the ark of God. The Bible says, "And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men." Now, here's the interesting thing. There are some scholars who say that they did not actually look into the ark, but what they did was they stared at the ark. They gazed at the ark.
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It was a sinful curiosity. And let me give you this Hebrew word. The word is ra'ah, and it actually means to see, to look at, to gaze, to observe, and to watch. So they were watching that ark. Now, one particular commentator says they did not actually look into the ark. They just simply gazed with a simple gaze at the ark. So here's Colin Dalish, and here's the quote: "The stroke which fell upon the people of Beth-shemesh is sufficiently accounted for in these words, 'because they had looked.' There is no necessity to understand these words, however, as many rabbins do, as signifying that they looked into the ark, that is, opened it and looked in."
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"For if this had been the meaning, the opening would certainly not have been passed over without notice. Ra'ah with beth means to look upon or look at a thing with lust or malicious pleasure. And here it is no doubt signifies a foolish staring which was incompatible with the holiness of the ark and was punished with death."
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Now, whether or not they actually looked into the ark, or whether or not they just simply gazed and stared at the ark, because no one was to be observing this ark, basically, except the high priest. Even these Levites, it had to be covered for them to carry it. So, clearly then, God has judged these people for either maliciously staring or whether or not they opened it or not.
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Now, notice if you would, the truth of the matter is now the men of Kirjath-jearim are saying, they're telling these men, "Come down and get it. We can't handle it anymore. We don't want it now." So notice if you would in verse 21 of 1 Samuel 6, and then in chapter 7 at verses 1 and 2. Verse 21: "And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you. And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD." Now, wait a minute. Twenty years it's in Kirjath-jearim. Now it is true that the Philistines had taken that ark. But I want you to note something. If you look back in your Bibles, hold 1 Samuel chapter 6 and 7, but look in 2 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 2. And now we know that
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the ark was in Kirjath-jearim for twenty years. We just read that. Note if you would 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 2: "And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims." So now David goes to Baale of Judah. Well, I thought the ark was in Kirjath-jearim. Well, let me just explain this. There is no contradiction. Baale of Judah was called Kirjath-jearim in 1 Samuel chapter 7 verse 1. You'll also find it in 1 Chronicles 12 and verse 5. It was formerly called Kirjath-baal in Joshua 15 and verse 60. It was also called Baalah in Joshua 15 in verse 9, and it's also called Baale of Judah because it was of the tribe of Judah, and you'll find that also in Joshua chapter 15 in verse 1. So when they went to Baale of Judah, they went to Kirjath-jearim, because it's one and the same place.
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Now, it's been in Kirjath-jearim for twenty years. May I ask you, who was the king before David? You remember was King Saul. Now the Bible says the men longed for the ark. How long was King Saul king? And the answer is, he was king for forty years. Now I want you to see something. Look in your Bibles to 1 Chronicles chapter 13. 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. So notice if you would 1 Chronicles chapter 13, and I want you to look at verse 3. Here it is. 1 Chronicles chapter 13, and look there at verse 3. Look what the Bible says. Here it is: "And let us bring again the ark of our God to us: for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul." So the forty years that Saul was king, the ark was neglected. No one inquired of it. Okay, wherever the ark was, it may have been at Shiloh at that particular time, but it was neglected. Then of course it was captured, and then of course now it is at Kirjath-jearim or Baale of Judah, and David wants to bring it back to Jerusalem. So
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the Bible tells you in Acts chapter 13 in verse 21 that Saul was king for forty years. So what David does is this: he makes an attempt to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. The city of David is known as the earthly Zion. Now, I want you to look in 2 Samuel chapter 6, and let's go back and read verses 3 through 8. I want you to watch this. This is important because it ties right in with what I'm going to share with you. 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 3: "And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark."
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"And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God." Wow.
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Now, the Bible says in verse 8, "And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day." Now, here's an amazing truth. I want you to look at verse 9: "And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" And David was afraid of the LORD that day. Well, let me ask you a question. Was David not fearful of the LORD before that day? What does it mean when it says, "And David was afraid of the LORD that day"?
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Was it that God gave him more fear, or was it a better fear? By the way, the word "fear" here is the Hebrew word yare', and it means to fear, to be afraid, to make afraid, to terrify, as well as to revere and to stand in all awe.
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Now, we know that David was a believer. In fact, the Bible tells us very plainly that David was a man after God's own heart. And yet, here in verse 9, the Bible said that David was afraid of the LORD that day. Is this then a new awakening of the fear of God in his life? Is this a new realization of the fear of God? In other words, what happened to Uzzah on that day is something that made David stop and think. It was something that caught David's attention and made him consider his actions. In other words, he realized that God was displeased with Uzzah.
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That's why He smote him. And God may have been displeased with other things as well. David was saying, "God may be displeased with me as well." So look in verse 9. Not only does it say that David was afraid of the LORD that day, but he also asked this question: "How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" In other words, if God has been so displeased with us and what is going on, I don't think I'm going to ever get this ark to me, because I'm not interested in displeasing God. Now, probably David thought about the displeasure of God on the Philistines. I mean, come on, let's think about that. I have no idea how many of those Philistines were killed by God.
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And the Bible does not tell us. But the Bible said His hand was heavy upon them. It was a great destruction. And they were eager to get rid of the ark of God. Then we read about the fifty thousand and seventy that were killed at Beth-shemesh.
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Now all of a sudden Uzzah is smitten and he falls down dead. And so David is asking now, "How in the world am I going to get this ark back to me?" David was afraid of the LORD that day. So let me ask a question. Think about this. Had David lost his fear of the LORD? Now the Bible said he was afraid of the LORD that day. Why are we told particularly in verse 9 that David was afraid of the LORD that day? Well, he's certainly considering the displeasure of God, because God has evidenced His displeasure at the Philistines, at the Beth-shemites, and at Uzzah as well. So how can this ark get to David in the city of Jerusalem without God's displeasure? So here's what happened. David was so concerned that he relinquished the idea of bringing that ark to him in the city of Jerusalem. What happened? Well, look, if you would please, to verse 10. "So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David:
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but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obed-edom, and all his household. And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness." Now, wait a minute.
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We see what has happened. When it's turned aside to the house of Obed-edom—Obed-edom, of course, was a Levite of the family of the Kohathites. You'll find that in Exodus chapter 6 and verse 21, Exodus 18 verse 16, and 1 Chronicles chapter 26 and verse 4. But he is called the Gittite or the Gathite because of his birthplace in the Levitical city of Gath-rimmon, which was in the tribe of Dan. So God has blessed now the house of Obed-edom for three months. Okay, God has blessed the house of Obed-edom for three months, and David now is encouraged to go back and get the ark. Now here's my question. David had tried to bring up the ark on a new cart with oxen or cattle. And when the oxen stumbled or the cart hit a rock or root, the ark started losing its balance, and Uzzah reached up and touched it, and God killed him. So what is David thinking now? Is he going to get a newer cart? Is he going to get different cows?
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How is he going to get this ark? Now we know that he got it. But I want to show you. Look in your Bibles, if you would, to 1 Chronicles chapter 15. 1 Chronicles chapter 15. I want us to begin reading there with verse 1. Look at this. 1 Chronicles 15 and verse 1. Look at verse 1: "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. Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever. 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." Wow. None ought to carry the ark but the Levites. That's what God had ordained. Skip down if you would now to verse 11. "David called for Zadok
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and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, 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 due order." Now here's my question: Did David lose his fear of God? Let me say this another way, or ask another way: Had he forgotten the fear of God? Now the interesting thing is this. You must recall just a few weeks ago
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I preached a message on learning the fear of God. It is true: the fear of God is given to us initially and originally by God Himself. His fear is implanted into His people. It's impossible to work up a saving fear of God; man cannot do that. But when God works it in us, He expects us to work it out. You remember that passage in Philippians chapter 2 verses 11 and 12, where the Apostle Paul told those Philippians, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." They're not earning their salvation. He said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Then he tells you in verse 12, "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." So if God works it in us, it's our responsibility to work it out. Now you remember, I hope you do, that when I taught the message on learning the fear of God, I gave you five texts where God tells us that we must learn the fear of God.
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I'm not going to show you all of those five texts, but I am going to remind you of one of them. So if you will turn back in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, look in chapter 4 at verses 9 and 10. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. Look at this, plain and simple. Deuteronomy chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. Look what God says to His people.
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"Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." Now, note if you would back in verse 9, He says, "Keep thy soul diligently." Why? Lest you forget. Lest they depart from your heart, but you teach them. And then He said, "I will make them hear My words in verse 10, that they may learn to fear Me." Now if you can learn to fear the Lord, you can also forget the fear of the Lord. And in that sense of the word, you can lose the fear of the Lord by a failure to hear and to heed His words. Now look if you would in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 11. Look at this warning. Deuteronomy 8 and verse 11. God says, "Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and
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his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day." He says, "Don't forget to obey Me. Don't forget to keep My word." Skip down if you would to verse 14: "Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." He said, "You can forget Me. You can forget My covenant. You can forget My law." Skip down if you would to verse 19: "And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish." So when you begin to forget God's word, God's covenant, God's law, you end up in idolatry. It's just that simple.
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Now, I want you to look in the New Testament, holding 2 Samuel chapter 6, but I want you to look in the New Testament to the book of Mark chapter 4 at verses 24 and 25. Look at this. Mark 4, verse 24 and 25. Here's a very, very important passage. Look at this. Mark 4, verse 24.
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"And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath."
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Now there are two principles here. Here's the first one. God measures truth to us in proportion to our hearing, our reading, our studies, our meditation, and our consideration. So if you study the Word of God 15 minutes, you're not going to get six hours' worth of truth. You're going to get 15 minutes' worth of truth. And that's it. With what measure you mete, it shall be measured back to you. That's all there is to it. So if you only spend 20 minutes a week reading your Bible, you're not going to get 20 minutes' worth of truth. That's all there is to it.
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So you've got to remember this principle. God measures truth in proportion to the degree that we give in learning that truth. Here's the second principle. He said, "From him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath." So let me just kind of put this in a paraphrase for you. Here it is: If you do not use the truth, you lose the truth. If you don't use the truth, you lose the truth. Now, think about this.
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Some of you may have had algebra in high school, maybe calculus in college. That was a long time ago. Can you still do algebra? Can you still do calculus? And the answer for most of us would be no. Because we've forgotten everything. Because we never used it. So Dinah, you could explain to me a lot of things about nursing, and I could sit here and listen intently. Or I could sit here and pretend like I'm listening and let my mind wander. And when you got through teaching me, maybe you taught me, say for 10 hours straight, you asked me, "Now what have you learned?" And I'm, "Beats me, I don't know." But now if I really listened and I was really interested and I really wanted to learn, I ought to be able, after you taught me, to not only tell you what you've taught me, but to explain to you how I'm going to use it and how it's going to be applied. So let me put it to you very bluntly: If you cannot explain truth, or if you do not know how to apply truth, you don't possess truth. So Steve McKinnon, I'm not
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He can explain some things to me, and like the old saying goes, it's Greek to me. Because I can't see it, I can't imagine it. He can explain it in words, but I don't know exactly what he's talking about. But I could repeat back to him what he said if I listened carefully. But if I couldn't do it, if I couldn't make application of it, all the teaching is useless. OK, so this is exactly what God is telling us right now.
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These two principles: if you do not use the truth, you lose the truth. Now, here's my question. Did David lose his fear of God? I'm going to answer that for you. Yes. I can ask this another way. Did David forget the fear of God? And the answer is yes. How do I know that David lost the fear of God? Well, let's see. The Bible said he was afraid of the LORD that day. There was something that reminded him of the fear of the LORD. Hang on. Hang on. What had David just done? Let's see.
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He went to the house of Abinadab. He got the ark of God and put it on the cart being pulled by cows or oxen. And of course, when one of them stumbled or the cart hit a rock or something, the ark lost its balance and Uzzah touched it and God killed him. Wow. Wow. Seems to me like you and I read just a little earlier when the Philistines sent the ark back. What did they do? They put it on a cart with two cows. What did David do? He put it on a cart with two cows. What David was doing was using a method of the unsaved, uncircumcised, ungodly Philistines. Yeah, oh yeah. David said, "God put a breach upon us. Why? Because we sought him not after the due order." In other words, none but the Levites ought to carry this thing. David had forgotten that. David had lost that knowledge. Because he attempted to put that ark on a cart. If the Philistines did it, David said, "It worked for them, it'll work for me."
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No, no, no. God says, "No, the Levites are to carry that ark." And so what is happening today is the same thing. Most of us as Christians are not worshiping God after due order. Even in our churches, our churches are turning into social clubs, entertainment centers, and filled with worldly activities and worldly worship. You remember, I hope you do, in the message I preached on learning the fear of God, I told you that fearing God and obedience were synonymous. You cannot fear God without obeying God. If you disobey God, then you do not fear God. If you disobey God, you've forgotten the fear of the Lord. If you disobey God, you've lost the fear of the Lord, at least temporarily for that time that you've sinned against Him. So it's impossible then for you to fear God and disobey Him. If you fear God, you're going to obey Him. So here's the thing.
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This is what I want to put together in your mind. Every one of us have problems. Each one of us face issues, and we have opportunities for ministries. Anytime we're faced with a problem or an issue, or we're looking at a possible ministry, here's what we should ask ourselves: How should we resolve this, or how should we do this in a biblical manner that's pleasing to the Lord? So if Dinah and I get into an argument, and we get irritated and angry and mad at each other, how am I to resolve that in a biblical manner? How is she to resolve that in a biblical manner? We need money. How do we resolve that in a biblical manner? I want you to listen to me. When you take the attitude, "I have this problem, I have this issue, but I will work it out my own way. I want to do what I think best."
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"I've got an idea exactly what I'm going to do." You're headed for failure if you're a Christian. The truth of the matter is, because in every area of our life, we ought to be willing to do that which is biblical and bring everything in conformity to the Word of God. If we don't, then we're going to be losing the fear of God. David, listen to me, David was awakened by the death of Uzzah.
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No doubt he was considering what happened to the Philistines. He was also considering what happened to the people of Beth-shemesh. But Uzzah died right in front of him. The others did not die in front of him. So it took the death of Uzzah to awaken David to say, "Wait a minute, we might be doing something wrong. We're displeasing God. God has made a breach upon us. What are we doing wrong?"
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"Oh, I found out a little bit later. I finally remembered it. None but the Levites are to carry the ark."
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"Now, let's go back and do it right." Hmm. Wow. So my question would be this: If it took the death of Uzzah to awaken the fear of God in David, what will it take to awaken the fear of God in us so that we want to do everything biblical and pleasing unto Him? Now, I want to show you something. Turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Isaiah chapter 26, and I want you to look with me at verses 8 through 10. Isaiah 26 verses 8 through 10. Look at what Isaiah says. Isaiah 26 verse 8: "Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee." That's what we want. But notice, "in the way of thy judgments we waited for thee." Look at verse 9: "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early."
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"For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." Now look at verse 10: "Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD." Hmm. Go back, if you would.
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Now, in verse 9, "With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." Now, he says in verse 10, it's not the wicked that's going to learn righteousness. Hmm. Well, who will? It is the righteous, it is those who are saved. They will learn His righteousness. In other words, God will use His judgments to awaken us to obedience.
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Now, let me make some applications of this. I hope you can see this. Number one, good intentions do not and cannot negate God's chastisement and judgment when we do something wrong. Uzzah undoubtedly had good intentions. He probably thought, "Oh no, there's the ark. Let me save the ark." He touched the ark. He was not allowed to touch the ark. Many times we do things wrong, but we do it with good intentions. But we're still doing wrong. So, our good intentions do not cancel out our unbiblical deeds, our unbiblical thoughts, our unbiblical actions.
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This is why we have to know what God demands and commands. Here's the second one. And this one is very, very difficult. Here it is. Another valuable lesson that we must learn is that God does not need our help. We need Him, but He really does not need us. God could have saved that ark from falling without Uzzah touching it. You know what He said in Isaiah 42 in verse 8? He said this: "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." God is quite capable of protecting His own glory. He's quite capable of protecting His own people. He's quite capable of defeating His own enemies. He's quite capable of subduing everything to His sovereign authority. God does not need us. Yes, we are His servants and we minister to Him by ministering to others, but God does not need us to work out that which He has ordained from eternity.
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The Bible says that God said, "I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it." I'll do it. It's Mine. I will do it. And I can assure you that God is quite capable of taking care of the wicked. We get all bent out of shape and we get all concerned over what is going on. And yes, we should make it a matter of prayer. And yes, we should search the Scripture. And yes, we should quote the Scriptures.
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And we should plead to our heavenly Father. That is true. But we have to understand that He is quite capable of taking care of everything Himself. OK, here's the third. And I think this should be the strongest emphasis placed. The truth is we lose the obedience, we lose the fear of God through our disobedience. We lose the fear of God through our disobedience. Stop and think about this.
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The more you sin, the easier it is to sin. The more you disobey, the easier it is to disobey. "Well, God didn't strike me down that time. Maybe He's not God, or just maybe He's not paying attention, or maybe He's not going to do it." Wow. Let me tell you something. Psalm 36 in verse 1 says this: "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes." That's the transgression of the wicked. There's no fear of God before his eyes. Notice, "I don't fear God. I'm going to do what I want to do."
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"I'll do it my way." So here we go. It's impossible to fear God and disobey Him. If you fear God, you're going to obey Him. If you disobey Him, you don't fear God. Did David lose his fear of God? Yeah, he did. How do I know he did? Because he used the way of the Philistines. He used the way of the world to try to get God closer to him. You can't get God closer to you by using the world and worldly methods. It's impossible. God has ordained everything, and God has said, "This is the way I'm to be worshipped. This is the way that I come to you, and this is the way you come to Me." And anytime we get in the habit of certain sins, we're losing the fear of God, because if we really genuinely feared God, we would not do what He commanded us not to do. We would be obedient. We must learn we cannot use the way of the world to worship God. We can't use those things which God condemns to bring us closer to Him.
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It's impossible. But it is possible to lose the fear of God, not lose your salvation. But it's possible to lose the fear of God through disobedience. And the more you disobey, the easier it becomes to disobey. The more you sin, the easier it becomes to sin. And in doing so, you're losing the fear of God, until all of a sudden God will send something in your life that will open your eyes and awaken you, and you'll be in the place of David. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, because he realized what he was doing was wrong, and God was displeased with him. Do not lose the fear of the Lord. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee.
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We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We ask, Father, for Your grace and mercy. Teach us, Lord, to be obedient and to honor Thee. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T01:05:55Z

Losing the Fear of God

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver examines 2 Samuel 6 to show that believers can lose the fear of God through disobedience, though not their salvation. David's attempt to move the ark on a cart, imitating the Philistines, led to Uzzah's death and awakened David's fear. The message warns against using worldly methods in worship and emphasizes that fearing God is synonymous with obedience.

Introduction and Scripture Reading

Weaver introduces the message 'Losing the Fear of God' and reads 2 Samuel 6:1-10, recounting David's attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem and Uzzah's death.

Scripture Reading — 2 Samuel 6:1-10

"Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals."

The Fear of God as a Saving Grace

Weaver explains that godly fear is a saving work implanted by God, not something man can produce, and clarifies that losing the fear of God does not mean losing salvation.

Background: The Ark Captured and Returned

Weaver reviews 1 Samuel 4-6, detailing Israel's superstitious trust in the ark, its capture by the Philistines, God's judgment on Dagon and the Philistines, and the ark's return on a cart.

So look in 1 Samuel chapter 6. Let's begin there with verse 7. Here's how they sent the ark back.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 6:7-12

"Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: and take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil." "But if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us. And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: and they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh."

The Sin at Beth-shemesh

Weaver describes how the men of Beth-shemesh looked at or into the ark, resulting in God killing 50,070 men, emphasizing the ark's holiness.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 4:18-20

"Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites." "But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden."

They couldn't just do what they wanted to do; Aaron appointed.

Scripture Reading — Numbers 4:18-20

"But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die."

So Aaron and his sons had to cover the ark. They had to cover anything that was specifically holy. No one could see this ark except the high priest.

The Ark in Kirjath-jearim and David's Attempt

Weaver notes the ark stayed in Kirjath-jearim for 20 years, neglected under Saul, and David's first attempt to move it on a new cart led to Uzzah's death.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 7:1-2

"And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you. And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD."

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 13:3

the Bible tells you in Acts chapter 13 in verse 21 that Saul was king for forty years. So what David does is this: he makes an attempt to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. The city of David is known as the earthly Zion. Now, I want you to look in 2 Samuel chapter 6, and let's go back and read verses 3 through 8. I want you to watch this. This is important because it ties right in with what I'm going to share with you. 2 Samuel chapter 6 verse 3: "And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark."

David's Fear and the Lesson Learned

Weaver highlights David's fear after Uzzah's death and his realization that they had not sought God 'after the due order,' leading to the proper transport by Levites.

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 15:1-3, 11-13

"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. Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever. 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."

Wow. None ought to carry the ark but the Levites. That's what God had ordained. Skip down if you would now to verse 11. "David called for Zadok

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:11-12

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." They're not earning their salvation. He said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Learning and Forgetting the Fear of God

Weaver uses Deuteronomy 4:9-10 and Mark 4:24-25 to show that the fear of God must be learned and can be forgotten through disobedience and neglect of God's Word.

Scripture Reading — Philippians 2:11-12

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." They're not earning their salvation. He said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children."

Now, note if you would back in verse 9, He says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"Keep thy soul diligently."

Why? Lest you forget. Lest they depart from your heart, but you teach them. And then He said,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"I will make them hear My words in verse 10, that they may learn to fear Me."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:9-10

"Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and

David's Loss of Fear and Application

Weaver argues David lost the fear of God by using the Philistines' method, and applies this to believers who use worldly methods instead of biblical obedience.

Awakening to Fear through Judgment

Weaver cites Isaiah 26:8-10 to show that God's judgments awaken the righteous to learn obedience, and warns that sinning makes disobedience easier.

Final Applications and Conclusion

Weaver gives three applications: good intentions don't negate disobedience, God doesn't need our help, and disobedience causes loss of fear. He closes with a prayer.

We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We ask, Father, for Your grace and mercy. Teach us, Lord, to be obedient and to honor Thee. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Losing the Fear of God

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	swQX5mi7lrg
Subject	Biblical Worldview
Course	Biblical Worldview Foundations
Genre	Sermon
Date	2026-01-05
Dictation Name
Book	Book 066: Biblical Worldview Foundations — Chapter 9
Source Timed Segments	75

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Scripture Reading: Weaver introduces the message 'Losing the Fear of God' and reads 2 Samuel 6:1-10, recounting David's attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem and Uzzah's death.
The Fear of God as a Saving Grace: Weaver explains that godly fear is a saving work implanted by God, not something man can produce, and clarifies that losing the fear of God does not mean losing salvation.
Background: The Ark Captured and Returned: Weaver reviews 1 Samuel 4-6, detailing Israel's superstitious trust in the ark, its capture by the Philistines, God's judgment on Dagon and the Philistines, and the ark's return on a cart.
The Sin at Beth-shemesh: Weaver describes how the men of Beth-shemesh looked at or into the ark, resulting in God killing 50,070 men, emphasizing the ark's holiness.
The Ark in Kirjath-jearim and David's Attempt: Weaver notes the ark stayed in Kirjath-jearim for 20 years, neglected under Saul, and David's first attempt to move it on a new cart led to Uzzah's death.
David's Fear and the Lesson Learned: Weaver highlights David's fear after Uzzah's death and his realization that they had not sought God 'after the due order,' leading to the proper transport by Levites.
Learning and Forgetting the Fear of God: Weaver uses Deuteronomy 4:9-10 and Mark 4:24-25 to show that the fear of God must be learned and can be forgotten through disobedience and neglect of God's Word.
David's Loss of Fear and Application: Weaver argues David lost the fear of God by using the Philistines' method, and applies this to believers who use worldly methods instead of biblical obedience.
Awakening to Fear through Judgment: Weaver cites Isaiah 26:8-10 to show that God's judgments awaken the righteous to learn obedience, and warns that sinning makes disobedience easier.
Final Applications and Conclusion: Weaver gives three applications: good intentions don't negate disobedience, God doesn't need our help, and disobedience causes loss of fear. He closes with a prayer.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

David lost the fear of God by imitating the Philistines

David's use of a cart to transport the ark, following the Philistine method, shows he forgot God's command that only Levites carry it.

Weaver says, 'What David was doing was using a method of the unsaved, uncircumcised, ungodly Philistines.'

The fear of God is learned and can be forgotten

Scripture commands believers to learn the fear of God and warns against forgetting it through disobedience.

Weaver references Deuteronomy 4:9-10: 'that they may learn to fear me' and 'lest thou forget.'

Disobedience leads to a progressive loss of fear

The more one sins, the easier it becomes, indicating a diminishing fear of God.

Weaver states, 'The more you sin, the easier it is to sin. The more you disobey, the easier it is to disobey.'

Good intentions do not excuse unbiblical actions

Uzzah's likely good intention to steady the ark did not prevent God's judgment for touching it.

Weaver says, 'Uzzah undoubtedly had good intentions... but we're still doing wrong.'

God does not need human help to protect His glory

God is sovereign and capable of protecting His ark without Uzzah's intervention.

Weaver asserts, 'God could have saved that ark from falling without Uzzah touching it.'

Scripture References

2 Samuel 6:1-10: David's attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem on a cart, Uzzah's death, and David's fear.
John 10:27-30: Jesus' promise that His sheep have eternal life and will never perish, used to distinguish losing fear from losing salvation.
1 Samuel 4:3: Israel's superstitious trust in the ark to save them from the Philistines.
1 Samuel 5:1-5: The Philistines place the ark in Dagon's temple, and Dagon falls before it.
1 Samuel 5:6, 9, 11-12: God smites the Philistines with emerods and great destruction for taking the ark.
1 Samuel 6:7-12: The Philistines return the ark on a new cart pulled by two cows.
1 Samuel 6:13-15, 18-21: The ark arrives at Beth-shemesh, the people look at it, and God kills 50,070 men.
Numbers 4:18-20: God's command that the Kohathites not see the holy things uncovered, lest they die.
1 Samuel 7:1-2: The ark is brought to the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-jearim and remains there 20 years.
1 Chronicles 13:3: David notes that Israel did not inquire at the ark in the days of Saul.
1 Chronicles 15:1-3, 11-13: David prepares a place for the ark and acknowledges that only Levites should carry it, as they had not sought God after the due order.
Philippians 2:11-12: Paul's instruction to work out salvation with fear and trembling, for God works in believers.
Deuteronomy 4:9-10: Moses commands Israel to keep their souls diligently and learn to fear God, lest they forget.
Deuteronomy 8:11, 14, 19: Warnings against forgetting the Lord and His commandments, leading to idolatry and perishing.
Mark 4:24-25: Jesus teaches that the measure of hearing determines what is given, and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken.
Isaiah 26:8-10: Isaiah declares that God's judgments teach righteousness, but the wicked will not learn.
Isaiah 42:8: God declares He will not give His glory to another, used to show God does not need human help.
Psalm 36:1: The transgression of the wicked indicates no fear of God before their eyes.

Historical References

Philistines' capture and return of the ark: The Philistines defeated Israel, took the ark, suffered plagues, and returned it on a cart, which David later imitated.
Beth-shemesh slaughter: God killed 50,070 men of Beth-shemesh for looking at the ark, demonstrating the holiness of God.
Saul's 40-year reign and neglect of the ark: During Saul's kingship, the ark was neglected and not inquired of, as noted in 1 Chronicles 13:3.
Obed-edom the Gittite: A Levite of the Kohathites who housed the ark for three months and was blessed by God.

Important Quotes

And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?

This verse captures the moment David's fear of God was awakened after Uzzah's death, prompting him to reconsider his approach.

None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.

David's realization of God's ordained order for transporting the ark, contrasting with his earlier use of a cart.

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 due order.

David acknowledges that the breach (Uzzah's death) occurred because they did not follow God's prescribed method.

If you do not use the truth, you lose the truth.

Weaver's paraphrase of Mark 4:25, emphasizing that neglecting God's Word leads to losing its benefits.

The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

Quoted from Psalm 36:1 to illustrate that sin indicates a lack of the fear of God.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways might we, like David, be tempted to use 'worldly methods' to solve problems or worship God instead of seeking biblical obedience?

[Context]

Weaver compares David's use of the Philistine cart method to modern Christians adopting worldly practices.

[Question]

How can we discern whether our good intentions are masking disobedience to God's clear commands?

[Context]

Weaver notes that Uzzah likely had good intentions but still violated God's command.

[Question]

What are some practical ways to 'learn the fear of God' as commanded in Deuteronomy 4:10?

[Context]

Weaver emphasizes that the fear of God must be learned through hearing and heeding God's Word.

[Question]

Why is it dangerous to think that God needs our help to accomplish His purposes?

[Context]

Weaver argues that God is sovereign and does not need human intervention, as seen in Uzzah's error.

[Question]

How does the principle 'with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you' apply to our study of Scripture?

[Context]

Weaver explains that the depth of truth we receive corresponds to the effort we put into hearing and studying.

Applications

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