(The Ark of the Covenant) 5. Entering Jerusalem — Roy Hession

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

We're going to consider the Ark of the Covenant brought by David to Jerusalem, which was the centre of the nation's life. This was the very first thing, almost, that David did when at last he was crowned king.

He had such a burden that this Ark of the Covenant, symbol of the presence of Jehovah, who had done so much for him, to be brought right into the centre of the nation's life. He pitched a temporary tabernacle for it in Jerusalem.

And we're going to read the story of how he brought it up. Yes, he had such a burden for this, that he vowed a vow, he says in Psalm 133. Don't look at it for the moment. Saying, surely I will not come up to the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed.

I will not give sleep to mine eyelids, or slumber to my eyes, until I find out a place for the Lord, and habitation for the God of Jacob. So this is a very important part of our study to David. It was the great burden of his heart.

And we're going to read the story of how that Ark of the Covenant was indeed brought up into Jerusalem. Will you turn to the second book of Samuel, chapter 6. Now this story is given us in two places.

First in the book of Samuel, and then in the book of Chronicles. And to get the whole story, you have to compound the two incidents. So, opening it to Samuel, chapter 6, put your finger in 1 Chronicles, chapter 15.

And we'll combine the two records. ...gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, 30 ,000. And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Be 'ali of Judah, to bring up from thence the Ark, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts, that dwelt between the Chaldeans.

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, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was at Gibeah, accompanying the Ark of God.

And Ahio, Major Domer of the Proceedings, 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 hearts, and psalteries, timbrels, cornets, and cymbals.

There was special music for the occasion. And when they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah, with the best intention in the world, 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. 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, who wasn't an Israelite at all.

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 has blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, of the Ark of God.

Carrying the Ark According to God's Command

Keep your finger there, turn over to 1 Chronicles, chapter 15, verse 2. 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 forever.

And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem, to bring up the Ark of the Lord unto his place which he had prepared for it. And David assembled the children of Aaron, the Levites, verse 12. 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.

So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the Ark of the Lord God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bear the Ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon as Moses commanded according to the word of the Lord.

Back to the second book of Samuel, chapter 6, verse 13. And it was so that when they that bear the Ark of the Lord had gone six places, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the Lord with all his might.

And David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the trumpet, the sound of the trumpet. And as the Ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord and she despised him in her heart.

And they brought in the Ark of the Lord and set it in his place in the midst of a tabernacle that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. Now the special interest in this story is that there were two attempts to bring up the Ark of the Lord into Jerusalem.

The first one was aborted and ended in disaster. The second was crowned with success. And both of these attempts emanated strangely from two different homes, which we shall see is very significant and has a special application for ourselves.

The Mercy Seat and the Necessity of Christ's Atonement

Now before we look at this particular incident, just a look at the prior incidents that we might get the picture. The incidents that immediately preceded this. Yesterday we heard the Lords of the Philistines saying, send away the Ark of the God of Israel.

It was too hot to hold. It spelt death wherever it was when it was among us. And they decided they would send it back in this way. They would have a special new cart, built, beautiful cart, very shiny, everything just fine.

And they hitched to the new cart, which had newly had calves. Now naturally that cow, if left to itself, would return to its calves. But they said we will leave it to itself. And if it should happen that it doesn't return to its calves, but does the unnatural thing and goes on its way back to Israel, then we will know that the severe troubles we've had.

Where from the hands, if however, she acts differently, then we will know it was only a chance that happened to us. And sure enough, I believe there's more than one cow, or two, I don't know, those cows, went on their way, away from their calves, back to Israel, to a place called Beth Shemesh.

And so they knew that the Lord himself had been amongst them. And so all unsought, the Israelites suddenly saw the ark coming back to them again. And it entered Israel's territory at a place called Beth Shemesh.

And there's a very interesting incident, a terrible incident recorded there. The men of Beth Shemesh took down the ark from off the cot. And do you know what they did? They lifted the mercy seat to look inside.

Oh, oh, oh, oh. Lifting the mercy seat to look inside. That mercy seat was that which covered the law, which so often and so grievously they had broken. And all they saw was the law which they'd broken.

And you know, death came to those men who looked even the whole area. And take these numbers literally. In the Old Testament, no less than 50 ,000 people died in that area. They presumed to lift the mercy seat and look inside the ark.

They didn't realize the only thing that covered that law that they'd broken and permitted God himself to dwell among them was the blood-sprinkled mercy seat. When they lifted it, death came to them. The lesson for us is simply this.

It is doom and death. To set aside the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and to seek to find faith in the mercy seat, in Jesus' blood. So to set aside the blood of Jesus Christ. Even amongst Bible-believing people, we seem to have lost the sight of the meaning and the utter necessity of the blood of the Son of God.

For that mercy seat is the only... And to seek to set it aside and come some other way is to cause doom and disaster. And there's going to be doom and death for many who seek to dispense with the mercy seat.

You and I know how little we owe every day that the law is covered. We would all be but dead men. Certainly we would have forfeited the blessings we've had long since. But for the mercy seat that covers the law of God for us.

But for that one in heaven who ever makes intercession for us by spreading his hands and showing his will. And so, this was such a terrible thing that they thought we must... we can't have the ark just here in the fields.

Abinadab's House and a Faith Kept at a Distance

And so they took it into the house of a man called Abinadab. And he was to become the custodian of it. And his son Eliezer was sanctified to be virtual priest to look after it. And that ark of the covenant remained for twenty long years all the rails on the periphery of the nation's life in a little house, the house of Abinadab.

Very interesting to note the effect of the ark of God upon that house. Actually it had no effect at all. How different was the effect in the house of Obed-Edom compared with the tremendous things that happened in that later house in which it was lodged.

There was no effect. It is not recorded that the law blessed the house of Abinadab because of the ark as is recorded of that later house. I can only infer that when the ark came in well they didn't quite know what to do with it and I'm suggesting that they possibly put it in the back room and shot it away.

I mean theirs was a busy home they couldn't have the thing in the way. And they had a back room that was empty and they put that ark of the covenant in that back room and could it be that they put dust sheets over it?

And I believe I'm right in inferring that they didn't allow that ark to interfere with their busy daily life. Oh they knew a lot about the ark. Well they would know something about it. Oh they'd often seen it and they could give you a well I don't suppose they had tourists to see it but they could certainly expatiate on the ark.

But nonetheless it was not allowed I suggest to interfere with their lives. And nothing good came to that house because although they'd received the ark they'd shut it away and it wasn't permitted to challenge anything that went on in that home.

Now we, many of us, perhaps most of us are those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as our saviour. And you can say you have. You belong to a bible-believing church and you're involved with it and all the rest.

But it could well be said of some of us that we've not permitted the Lord Jesus whom we've received to have any real influence in our homes. The needs that have arisen in our family are related to him.

We face them on our own. We've not permitted sin in our homes. We behave largely... In Jeremiah 8 God says, I hearkened and heard. And they spake not aright. No man repented himself saying, What has...

We virtually shut Jesus largely away in a back room making our profession, taking our place in our church but in practical matters. He doesn't, isn't allowed to influence things. He's not allowed to scrutinize perhaps some of the things we read nor some of the programs we permit ourselves to look at.

We argue. We behave this way and that way to the children and they to us. And between man and woman, a mercy seat may be. We can even be preachers, pastors. We know about the blood. I've heard people say, Our preacher, our pastor doesn't preach the blood.

It isn't preaching the blood that matters, it's applying it. And we aren't doing it so often in the intimacy of our homes. And things are not put right. A dear girl told me last week how she's married into a family of people who know Jesus deeply.

When she was engaged to her young, the man who's now her husband, she went to stay with those who would have been mother and father-in-law. And she was astonished! Never seen it before, Christian that she was, to see mum and dad in tears at the breakfast table over their Bibles, putting things right with one another.

It hadn't been of that sort in her home. And I think it hadn't been like that in the house of Abinadab. And with what result? Well, first, there was a negative result. You can only say this by comparing it with the second home.

It is not said concerning this house that the Lord blessed the house of Abinadab because of the ark. There was no new blessing. Blessing in the Old Testament, of course, is always physical, material blessing.

When the Lord is said to bless a man, it invariably means that his farm prospers and the calves ride or whatever they do. And there's a touch of prosperity about the place. That's how it was in the other house because of the ark, but not this.

There was no new touch that came to that. And when Jesus is not brought into the center and shut away and not permitted to deal with things and challenge things in our homes, there's no new blessing. No great songs of joy to come into our homes.

We're not blessed. I know one home. You know, someone had been saved in every chair in the downstairs rooms of that home. This man was born there and that man was born here. But not so in the house of Abinadab.

No one gets help. Seek help. How different it could be. Not so in this house. The second result was almost more serious because it was from that unrevived home that there emanated that abortive attempt to bring back the ark of God.

Human Methods and the Failure of the New Cart

David had this concern in his heart. Bless him. Who was he to consult more than the house of Abinadab they knew all about? The ark? They were the ones to consult as to how it should be brought up to Jerusalem.

And of course they said, Oh, well, if that's it, we think we know. What do you think we suggest we do? Why make a new cart and put it on it? They were really rather taken with this cart which they'd seen the Philistines use.

I mean, a cart's an extraordinarily wonderful invention. Who in the world was the first man to invent a wheel? I mean, the whole of civilization rests on that invention. And it was the early days. And so they suggested this new cart and perhaps they helped build it, a beautiful cart, shiny with varnish, everything just fine.

But we know how that first attempt was aborted. Everything was laid on. King and principal people were there. Uzzah and Ahio were driving the cart, really in charge of things. And as it went over a rough place, the ark shook.

With good intentions, was fearful lest the ark might tumble off. And so he put forth his hand to steady the ark. And God smote him. And he died there and then beside the ark. And the whole project had to be called off.

What a lesson this has for us. How shall we bring the ark of the Lord back into the church? How shall it be blessed? And someone thinks up a new cart. Human methods. And I believe this is the day of human methodology in the church.

It's begun in America long since. America is the home of evangelical methodology. I love America. And I want to tell you there are many of my dearest friends who see something deeper than mere methods.

But we've taken them on. And we don't need to take them on from somewhere else. We're capable of dreaming up our own schemes for success. Moving along. But you know it's all human methods. Maybe human methods for even living a Christian life.

How to have a quiet time, how to witness and so on. God is gracious and uses these things but they're less than the highest. And so often the methods that even God's people use are copied as was this one from the Philistines from the world.

We know how they do things. They know how they promote things. The obvious thing is that we must do the same. And some of them are a little more than rather poor copies of what the world does. We're all involved.

I'm sure I've done it in one way or another. Not seeing that there is a more excellent way. We invariably end in disaster. Or at least in non-result. And we find the scheme that we've got involved in begins to wobble.

You see, don't you see, what is of has to be through us. And if successful, it is of Him and through Him and for Him are all things. End of one of the chapters in Romans. But so often it's of us. And what begins with us, what we've initiated, we've got to carry through and things aren't always easy.

And we have to run to stop God from falling down. We've got to hold the arse, as we heard the other night. Instead of which, we are pathetically trying to hold Him. And such attitudes, I can't tell you now how they can express itself, what it means in practice, but Joan Hart will remind you of how it is.

Such attitudes are positive blasphemy. And the blight of God cannot rest on them ultimately. Though in His mercy He does permit some measure of blessing to come by them. But they're a long way short of the blessed, the best.

John and Muriel, Pam and I, were together on a parish retreat and John gave a message there in the heat of his heart about, of his experience of the new castes. Maybe you don't think John can speak in the heat of his heart.

He can. And it was a great utterance. And he detailed to that parish all the innocent things. Ask John, he'll detail them. Suppers and men's dues and all sorts of things. All sorts of things to bring the Ark back and get things moving.

And how none of them succeeded. All had to be had to embark God's more which we'll speak in a moment. And so the whole affair, the whole thing had to be called on. And David was afraid of the Lord. And so he had the Ark carried into the nearest house by the house.

It was the house, the house of a man called Obededim. And the story of the house, of the Ark and the house of Obededim is a most interesting one. Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast wind it in either direction.

This is the continuation from side one. And the story of the house, of the Ark and the house of Obededim is a most interesting one. We have to use a little imagination. I hope you think it's I'm not going beyond proper bounds.

Obed-Edom's House and the Mercy of God

Now Obededim was a Gittite. And the Gittites was that band of loyal men whom David brought back from the Philistines when he'd been in exile there. Philistines or a Philistine extraction that they were, their hearts were united to David.

And the Gittites became his bodyguard. They weren't Jews. And I don't suppose they were well instructed in the worship of Jehovah. So Obededim suddenly finds coming up the garden path men carrying this Ark.

They says, David says, you've got to bring this and put it in your house. He said, what is it? He looked at it, it's all gold and those cherubims and that mercy seat. They said, it's the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the Earth.

And David says, it's got to be in your house. He didn't welcome the prospect. The Lord of all the Ark, Earth, and His Ark going to be in my house? And I think they put that Ark in the sitting room right in the middle and the family circled.

Didn't know what to make of it with this Ark. He said, I must know something about this Ark. So he called one of the Levites to explain Oh, he said, inside there are the Ten Commandments. What are those? said Obadidim.

And then he began to recite them. Thou shalt, thou shalt not, thou shalt, thou shalt not. And you know, I like to think that a deep unease, we would call it conviction of sin, settled on Obadidim and his wife and the children.

He'd been far from blameless. Some of those commandments he'd very definitely done. And she, she felt so at ease. You know, she'd had other men in her life possibly. And there it was, thou shalt not commit.

Adultery, he knew nothing of it. And as I say, he hadn't been blameless either. And the youngsters, they didn't feel very easy when they heard that word, thou shalt not steal. They said, we've got to live with that in the midst.

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Don't you see the top? Well, what's that? We call that the mercy seat. And what's that? Well, don't you see those, can you see those bloodstains? Yes. Well, we sprinkle that once a year with atoning blood.

And that makes it bearable. Indeed, it means, and it could mean tremendous peace for you. For although you have infringed the divine law, there is mercy for those who acknowledge it because of the blood that sprinkled that.

And then they left them. Am I imagining it a bit when suddenly Herbert Eden's wife knelt down before that ark and began to weep and out it all came? It wasn't the law that made her repent. It was the fact that there was mercy for lawbreakers.

Ah, there was hope. This Jehovah wasn't merely a God of judgment. He was supremely a God of grace shown by the blood upon the mercy seat. And then he too came out with things that had to be put right with him and he was on his knees and the children were on their knees.

And as they lifted their eyes and looked at those bloodstains and remembered what the Levite had told them, a sort of strange holy peace seemed to possess their souls. Did you know they they began to feel happier than they'd ever felt in their lives?

To relive with the ark of the covenant in the middle of their sitting room. And what an influence it did have. There were times when he could shout to the other members of the family but he found he had to shout across the mercy seat and somehow he couldn't quite do it.

And he was stopped in his tracks. And a strange spirit possessed them. This was something quite new because of that sweet, precious, gracious, mercy seat in the middle. Well that's a little bit of imagination but after all something must have happened for that house to remain for three months, that's all, in the house of Obadidu.

And more than that they discovered there was a new prosperity on the farm. Things went right. Splendid crops. Not every farm had the crops that they had. And the cattle, everything just sweet. There was a divine hand on all their fair household.

The eight members of that extensive household were so deeply affected in their relationship to the God of Israel, Gittites that they were, that when ultimately that ark was brought into Jerusalem they were permitted to be doorkeepers around the ark.

They weren't Levites but they had a testimony. What? What? A divine blessing. And the Lord blessed the house of Obadidu because of the ark. Well, do we need to apply it when we bring Jesus into the center?

When we permit Him to challenge self and sin and our attitude? When we see the blood, the mercy seat for all that's wrong and know there's peace and cleansing and victory for everything we call sin. Oh, what a wonderful change.

Revival Begins in the Christian Home

There's love in the home. Instead of accusing, we're asking one another to forgive us and asking God to do so. Many a time, we're found kneeling before the mercy seat, receiving grace to help in time of need.

Things that are difficult, that happen circumstantially to us as a family, are immediately related to that One who's now in the center. He's the One who's in control. We don't seek to explain them away by some other cause.

It's the Lord in the midst. It's a wonderful thing. I thank God I'm blessed with a wife who beats me invariably to the cross. She gets there first. Some say she's begun to repent before I've known there's anything wrong.

And it isn't very long before I'm joining her there. And the blessing of the Lord is upon the home. Not because things don't never go wrong. Oh yes, we're human. They do sometimes. But because the Lord showed us there's the mercy seat for what goes wrong.

And that sight of Jesus in the midst available to us helps us, provokes us to come down to that cross. And it matters not how deep and grievous those things are. Maybe some of the things have been hidden away in the past.

You've never told your wife about that. A brother last week gave his testimony. He was a salesman. And he told us about the sexual pressures on salesmen. And how in a certain matter he'd given in. And how the mercy seat had been none the less there.

And grace had reached him. And cleansed him and restored him. And he agreed with the brother who was counseling him. Dear Jeff Jones. Yes, of course they've got to put this right from now on. There they were.

Mutually, they've mutually forgiven one another in our conference. Happy and praising the children. Blessed. And a man went up to him afterwards. He said, I too am a salesman. And I too have something to share with my wife.

This may be, it may be grievous indeed. But I want to tell you such is the mighty efficacy of the blood of Jesus. Whatever has gone wrong, Jesus is an adept at restoring things. And the blood's enough to put you right with God.

This is where Jesus is at his best when things are in a mess. It may be the day-to-day rubber. It may be things such as I've mentioned. Or it may be all sorts of hidden attitudes, phobias and fears and inferiority complexes of one another.

Sometimes you please jealousy of one another. You can be jealous of the other person's spirituality. There was a deep time in my life with my first wife, when I became jealous of her. It was the biggest thing that ever came between us.

I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. But it was very simple because I didn't truly repent. I was out in India when this thing came to a head and she was in England. I had had phone calls from India to try and get it right and we couldn't get it right.

And the problem was, I said, I know, I know I'm not right, but she's wrong. Never got anywhere until there was only one sinner in the situation and that was me. And that was the mighty power of the blood of Jesus, the mercy seed.

That we were reunited in a deeper way than never before. This is characteristic of our Jesus. This is revival. In the home. Jesus brought into the center. Allowed to scrutinize everything. Permitted to put things right where they're wrong.

Attitudes to the children. It's a wonderful thing when mercy and grace reaches the children too. And sometimes, I've known some homes where the children beat the parents to the cross. And what's the result?

The Lord blessed that house. Only three months. But the results were quite phenomenal. And the Lord's going to bless our home. Because of the ark. Because of the mercy seed. Because of Jesus brought into the center.

Blessings abound where He reigns. The prisoner leaps to loose his chains. The weary find eternal rest and all the sons of want are blessed. And right in the middle is the mercy seed and those dear ones in that home have constant recourse to it.

They haven't grown wings. They're just like anybody else but they don't know what to do with sin. They want to know where to go when things aren't quite right. When harmony is disturbed. And love and blessing is restored.

You walk around the house and every room seems full of Jesus. The revival of the home. Abinadab's home is at that. You see, very often you have these wonderful schemes of the committees set up. Could be that nearly everybody in that committee has a home like Abinadab's.

They haven't got a testimony. Nothing much is happening at home. They're just busy Christian workers. They might be even neglecting their home because of their business. Little wonder when they get going they only produce a new cart.

Revival Through Consecrated Witness

Very much like the world's new carts. But not so in this case. Do you know? I'm sure I'm right in interpreting that the successful, ultimate restoration of the ark at Jerusalem it emanated from that home because we read and it was told King David the Lord has blessed the house of Obededim because of the ark.

Really, he said. As far as I know that ark's only spelled death. Well, it hasn't in this case. For three months they had the time of their lives. Everything is just blossoming there. And am I right when I suggest that David went down to the whole house of Obededim he said, Obededim, give me your testimony.

And I think Obededim is why he gave them their testimony. Oh, it encouraged David. So it isn't all death. There is blessing. This is Jehovah. That's the Jehovah I've always known. Well, did that first attempt go wrong?

And he went back to the scriptures. And there he found it. Moses had laid it down that the ark was to be carried on those staves on the shoulders only of the Levites, his select godly tribe. Not on new carts.

So he called them all together. He said, boys, I know I've seen what we did wrong. We used a wretched new cart of man's devising. We didn't seek him after the due order as was commanded in scripture. Therefore he made a breach upon us.

Sanctify yourselves. Get yourselves ready. Have a good wash up. Get ready. Because you're going to do what God told us. We're going to put those staves, well, in fact, they're there already in the ark.

And you're going to bow your shoulders and heads under the load. And you're going to go and bring the ark up. So you have this second attempt to bring the ark back to Jerusalem. Well, David was there.

A few people with drums. They knew now where they'd gone wrong. So they got the ark on the shoulders of the Levites. You ready? Yes? All right. Off we go. Said David. They'd gone six paces. Stop! Stop.

Anybody dead? Two paces, they said. Stop! How are you feeling? Fine, they said. Just praising. All right. They have another sacrifice. His wife just couldn't take the sight of it. And you know sometimes when the husband's getting exuberant for the Lord, the wives cringe.

They say, what were they thinking? Well, sometimes it's the other way around. Beware lest you despise those that rejoice in the Lord. Or they got good cause for it. Here was the longing of David's heart.

And so they went up, up, up. They were climbing the steep hill of Zion because that was quite a heavy ark, you know, not only gold and all the rest, but those big tables of the stone and that mercy seat was solid gold.

And I can see them bending their heads and their necks under the load as they walked step by step in God's appointed way up to Jerusalem. And they put it in the tent, the tabernacle that David had prepared for it.

Revival Begins with Jesus at the Center

Well, what does all this mean for us? God's way of bringing the ark back is through wonderful new methods and schemes. But he is brought back into the center of our churches and into the district only through the personal experience of those who have experienced his power.

Only the leaver and they bending their necks under before the Lord Jesus. Only to see the blood upon the mercy seat doing so in fellowship and bringing Jesus more and more into the center of things. That's the thing.

Oh, that in every church there was a company of such people. That's the secret. It may not bring quick results outwardly, but that company really added to. They've got a testimony. They've experienced the real thing.

What's the use of trying to give to others an answer which we haven't proved adequate in our own lives. But this group have. They've found this power in the blood. They know what's happened in their homes.

They know what's happening in their lives. They've got a testimony to give. They're knowing how to bow before the mercy seat and find release and blessing. You know, as they went on and found all went well, David said, we've got it at last.

We've got the answer. We know the way. And revival which begins in the home and is carried over to other people and a growing number of people learning the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, seeing the cross, bowing their heads there as He bowed theirs, letting Him take over, letting Him be to them all what they need.

That's real revival. See, revival's got to begin somewhere. Why shouldn't it begin with you? You want the whole church suddenly to move into a new place. It doesn't work that way. It begins with one man and then with two and then three, husband and wife and their testimony while others come and say, well, how's it with you?

Oh, this is what happened. My, we need the same in our home. And the pastor says, what's been happening to you folks? He says, well, only the same in my home too. Not much difference between pastor and people when it comes to this level of things.

And Jesus is the answer. Grace abounding to the chief of sinners is the answer. And that it is. He is brought right into the center. And so, as I understand it, the meaning of this, these passages, with my own little imaginations, which I trust you don't think have been excessive have been permissible.

Revival, or if you like, the more fashionable word, renewal. Though I like the old word revival. Revival in the church begins in the home. What's the use of a revived church which hasn't sprung out of revived homes?

And if it's in you and wife and your young people, you've found a way. You've got the testimony. And you haven't always got to be married. You may be single, living with some other friend. Then, there, you can breathe with that testimony to the others.