The Religion of “the New Cart”

The Religion of “the New Cart”

By DR. JOHN N. HAMBLIN Evangelist, Garden City, Michigan

“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 up-on 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 psal-teries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.”—II Sam. 6:1–5.

In today’s world the fundamental, Bible-believing Christian faces the dangerous temptation of trading that which is old for that which is new. It seems like even in our fundamental circles we have a new breed of preachers who are running after things that have not been tested, while leaving behind those things which have been time-honored. All around us we can see “For Sale” signs hanging from the old wagons.

In II Samuel, chapter 6, there is the fascinating account of King David’s seeking to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. It could easily be outlined like this:

Verses 1–5: The Fervor of David;

Verses 6–11: The Fear of David;

Verses 12–15: The Faith of David;

Verses 16–25: The Folly of David’s Wife.

It is while the unknown writer, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is dealing with the fervor of David that we read about the monarch’s putting the ark of God upon an up-to-date wagon.

“The new cart” is a picture, a telling illustration, of any aggressive, popular, unscriptural message in pursuing the work of God.

The Bible says, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16).

Today we need to recognize the new carts! We need to label the new carts! We need to warn our brethren about the new carts! We need to avoid every thought of hitching up to a new cart! We need to stay away from the new carts!

Would to God that every sincere, Bible-believing, fundamental Christian would say, “The new cart may be for others, but it is not for me!”

I do not want anything to do with “the new cart.” There are several reasons why I’ve come to this position:

I. A New Cart Leads to Disobedience

“And they set the ark of God up-on 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.”—Vs. 3.

David had the ark placed upon a recently acquired wagon. He wanted to move it from Kirjath-jearim (“Baale of Judah”) to Jeru-salem. This would make Jerusa-lem not only the political capital but also the religious capital of the nation.

God had clearly instructed that the ark was to be carried on poles supported on the shoulders of the Kohathites (Num. 7:9), but David didn’t do anything that was even remotely close to those clearly defined instructions.

C. I. Scofield, the great Bible scholar and greatly used preacher, once wrote:

The story of David’s new cart and its results is a striking illustration of the spiritual truth that blessing does not follow even the best intentions in the service of God except as that service is rendered in God’s way.

There is a certain way of doing the work of God, and the Word of God tells us how. We shouldn’t want anything to do with the new cart because new carts always lead to disobedience.

The Bible says, “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (I Sam. 15:22).

That verse is still in the Word of God! Today the deafening cry of countless professing, careless Christians is, “We want to be casual in our approach to Christianity.”

We are too casual as it is. We need to straighten up and stiffen up. We don’t need to be casual in our approach to Christianity.

Christian, if you would place those crooked arguments alongside a straight Bible, you would quickly discover that they are nothing short of spiritual high treason.

I know of a church here in this area whose pastor dresses very casually. He does not dress like a preacher ought to dress, and he does not look like a preacher ought to look. He’s casual and carefree about everything, and I believe careless and carnal as well!

There is a reason why I wear a suit; there is a reason why I shave; there is a reason why a man of God ought to look like a man of God! He’s not just some “regular Joe,” and he ought to present himself so people will know who he is and what he’s about!

Some people say, “We need to add to our church services what people like, add what the community wants and subtract what it doesn’t like.”

No! It is not what the community likes or hates that is to set the standard for the church. God’s Word is to set the standard. And it’s not the few vocal critics who are to set the standard; it is the pulpit that is to set the standard.

Some say, “We need a new method.” Hogwash! We don’t need a new method—soul winning worked for us in the past, and it works for us in the present; preaching worked for us in the past, and it works for us in the present; going after people one on one and giving them the Gos-pel worked in the past, and it works for us in the present. You had better take note of that new cart and avoid it!

It will lead to disobedience.

A new cart is filled with faulty merchandise. A lot of things are wrong with a new gospel cart, the worst of which is a tampered-with Bible. We need to keep the God-inspired, inerrant, infallible, impeccable Word of God.

A new cart brings with it a book of contemporary choruses, but there is no hymnal with the old standards. A hundred little “feel-good” choruses cannot take the place of one good hymn about the blood.

The ecumenical movement has taken up residence in the new cart. Those in it are what Dr. Tom Malone calls “a mixed multitude.” In this multitude you find people holding hands with other religions that do not have a grasp on the fundamentals of Bible doctrine. We are not to sit on the same platform with them and call them “brethren.”

Not only is there an ecumenical spirit in that new cart, there are also an easy, casual attitude and a slothful spirit about the work of God.

That new cart pushes parachurch organizations which offer themselves as a substitute for the local church.

That new cart carries worldliness among its wares. Its popular brand of anything-goes Christianity offers something that God never sanctioned. These contemporary-style Christians have abso-lutely no standards and absolutely no separation because they’re traveling with a new cart.

I read that when World War I broke out, the prime minister of Australia said the Australian commonwealth would do what they could to back Great Britain. He asked what was the most useful thing his country could do, and the reply was, “Build us ships. We want ships.”

But Australia was not attentive to the request, so they did not build ships. Instead they began to till the soil, sow seed and reap harvests to send food to the motherland. Grain was gathered, put into sacks and carried to the water’s edge to await a ship, but the ship which they did not build could not come. The grain was available, but there was no way to transport it.

Mice got into the grain and brought disease that attacked the eyes of men, blinding some. Great Britain said, “Ships! Ships!” but Australia was disobedient to the request.

All the way from the Garden of Eden up to this moment, God asks for obedience, but new carts lead to disobedience. Furthermore, they bring wares to your town that are faulty, flawed and foolish!

II. A New Cart Leads to Deception

The entire nation of Israel, from the youngest to the eldest, began to play instruments and celebrate the moving of the ark. Instead of such rejoicing, they should have been on their faces before God repenting.

There is a nine-letter word that could easily be painted upon the canvas of this jubilant scene:

D-E-C-E-P-T-I-O-N.

These people were fooled; they were deceived; they were hoodwinked. They, and we, should not want anything to do with new carts because they always lead to deception.

Not everyone has your spiritual well-being in mind. Not everyone is interested in your doing things right and serving God. There are at least three people who will attempt to lead the believer astray:

1. Self. “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Gal. 6:3).

The most dangerous person who would attempt to lead a believer astray is self. The person whose face you see in the mirror every morning holds the power to deceive you.

Self-deception is the worst form of deception. To be led astray by self is a danger to which you must be alert!

2. Someone who is close to you. “So is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and saith, Am not I in sport?” (Prov. 26:19).

Not everyone who shakes your hand, hugs your neck and calls you friend has the purest of intentions. So be alert!

3. Satan. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).

The Devil holds a doctorate in deception. He is a master at weaving deception and leading you astray.

Some years ago a Persian weav-er put out an antique tapestry which was woven so skillfully that even the experts thought it genuine. His deception began to unravel when his assistant exposed the whole charade.

He had used special threads, and the tapestry was worn away by being dragged behind an automobile. The musty odor was caused by smoking near it. Ultraviolet rays faded it. Dust collected from the crumbling rafters of a church was imbedded into the fabric. The tapestry was sold for a record price, but it was fraudulent, a fake.

Christian, you would do well to check out your spiritual tapestry to find out whether or not it is genuine.

New carts lead to deception.

III. A New Cart Leads to Death

“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.”—Vs. 7.

God tells us that the ark shook upon the wagon and Uzzah stretched forth his hand to steady it, resulting in God’s becoming outraged to the point of killing Uzzah right on the spot!

You say, “I didn’t know God dealt that way with disobedience.” Oh, yes, sometimes He does. He gets that way in the Old Testament; He gets that way in the New Testament; He even gets that way in this hour!

Uzzah’s name means “strength.” You need to get hold of this truth: a strong God doesn’t need weak man’s support! No matter who we are or what we do in service to God, He got along without us before we came along, and He’ll be able to get along just fine long after we’re gone.

I never preach but what I think about John 15:5, which I committed to memory many years ago: “Without me ye can do nothing”! I don’t need five different commentaries to figure out the meaning of that verse. “Nothing” means “no thing.”

Friend, we should want nothing, no thing, to do with the new cart because it always leads to death.

James 1:15 says, “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

Those who have these “new cart” ministries may boast and brag of their high attendance, their millions in the bank and the things they have, but the end will not be as they think. The story is not over yet; the last chapter has not been put on the end of the narrative. They may dislike our fundamentalism and our separation, our old ways tried and tested. They may laugh at us and call us ugly names in an attempt to intimidate, but don’t forget, it’s not over yet!

If you stay true to God, He will bless you. If you stay true to God, He will honor you.

Recently a young preacher came to me and said, “Dr. Hamblin, what single thing do you want more than anything else for your ministry?”

I thought for a few minutes, then answered, “Outside of having God’s power and anointing on my ministry, I want to never change.”

I wasn’t telling him that I had arrived or that there is no room for improvement or that I was some kind of an example to be emulated. I was saying that what I had was right and that it is true. I know that God blesses my ministry, and I’m not interested in changing!

Some time ago my dear mother gave me a tape of when I first started preaching. I started to preach when I was seventeen, so my voice hadn’t changed yet. I listened to that tape with fear and trepidation. I winced a little because I had some trouble getting through the sermon. But what made my heart happy is that what I preached twenty-three years ago is what I’m still preaching tonight and, with the help of God, what I’ll continue to preach!

I am happy with what I have. I’m happy with the kind of preaching I do. I’m not looking for an overhead projector. I’m not interested in colored pencils. I’m not wanting to pass out my outlines before I preach. (I don’t want you to get ahead of me!) I’m not interested in passing out handouts. I’m not interested in the kind of preaching that doesn’t even make for a good Sunday school lesson.

I read in the newspaper the sermon titles of some of these liberal preachers, like, “How to Get Along With Your Mother-in-Law”; “How to Balance Your Checkbook”; “How to Know When You Need an Oil Change.” What a waste of precious pulpit time!

I am happy with preaching. I am happy with the fundamental church service. I visited the facilities of a place recently where they moved the pulpit off the platform to make room for the gospel band. “Gospel” band, my foot!

I am happy with our soul-winning technique because it’s the Bible way of winning souls. I am happy with biblical standards and trying to live a life that doesn’t have the fingerprint of the world upon it. I am not looking for anything else.

We have the Truth, and any other direction is not leading to life; it is leading to death.

I am thankful I have had the privilege of visiting the Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Massachusetts, the school formed and founded by Dwight L. Moody, a great, powerful man of God. It is interesting that the property on which this school is located is the same parcel of property where he lived, where he started this school and where he and Mrs. Moody are buried.

I was driving to a town where I was to preach when I noticed on my road atlas that Northfield was not far from where I was.

After I preached, a pastor took me out to the school early one morning. I got on campus and was there only a short time when I heard and saw things that grieved my heart, things happening around the very buildings that Moody had erected, things that would have caused him extreme sadness.

It is my opinion that this school was the forerunner of our modern-day Christian schools. Mount Hermon is no longer a Christian school; it’s more like a finishing school.

I stopped three young men and said, “I’m an evangelist, and D. L. Moody is one of my heroes. What do you know of him?”

Those three young men hung their heads, one of them kind of kicking the ground as he tried to come up with an answer. Finally he said, “Well, I know that he was a great humanitarian, and I think that he and his wife are buried here on campus. I’m not sure, but I think he is the founder of our school.”

What a tragedy! What a sad thing! They probably knew more of Edison and Roosevelt than they knew of Dwight Lyman Moody.

I decided to go to the school bookstore while I was there. I found a book entitled So Much to Learn by Burman Carter (he was unsaved). It is a commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the Mount Hermon School. I bought the book, which had been written in 1980, and I took it back to my motel room that afternoon. I promised God I would not stop reading it until I could find in that book when the school went in the wrong direction.

I spent most of the afternoon reading that book. I came back to the motel after preaching that night, picked up the book and again began reading. At three

o’clock in the morning, on page 154, I found the very moment when that school took the wrong turn. Mr. Carter wrote:

Spear [president of the school from 1929 to 1932] understood that the students and younger faculty were becoming restless under the restrictions that were outmoded. He began to cautiously modify some of them.

Student smoking had been forbidden in general at all boarding schools, but many had a smoking room for seniors. Spear made provision for a smoking room for the faculty at Mount Hermon, and the room was nicknamed “The Blue Cloud”—a smoking room for the faculty at a Christian school!

I read on:

Even dancing was permitted. Tactfully, Spear arranged for a representative from the Arthur Murray Studios to give instructions.

Elliott Spear didn’t serve as its president for very long; in fact, he was murdered. To this day his murder is shrouded in mystery, and no one ever found his murderer.

Mount Hermon is twice dead and plucked up by the roots, all because the leadership said, “A new cart is the way we will go!”

New carts always lead to disobedience, to deception and to death. That is why I do not want anything to do with the new cart. It is not for me, and I pray that you say, “New carts are not for me either!”

We need to be thankful that we are in the old path by conviction! Let’s be content with those convictions! Let’s be satisfied and grateful, not lethargic, with the Faith our fathers gave us. We ought to be thankful for those who have run the race ahead of us and given us the baton. We ought to ask the help of God to keep us true to the old methods in the old paths. Say with me, “The new cart is not for me.” Say it firmly! Say it fervently! Say it frequently!