[0:00] Please take your Bibles and open them up to Psalm chapter 24. As I mentioned earlier, we're walking through the Psalms for the summer,! And we're in our third year, third summer now doing this.
[0:13] So we kind of take 10 at a time. And so we're walking through this stretch in the 20s this year. And we've come up to Psalm 24 this morning. If you don't have a Bible of your own, you can use the pew Bible in the seat back nearby somewhere.
[0:28] And you can find this passage on page 428 of that Bible. But I do encourage you to have a copy of God's Word open as we walk through the text together this morning so that we can see it with our own eyes as we hear with our ears what the Lord would say to us from Psalm 24.
[0:45] When you found it, let's stand this morning in the honor of the reading of God's Word. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.
[1:04] For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
[1:14] He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully, he will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
[1:29] Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
[1:43] Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty. The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
[1:57] Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching.
[2:10] Lord, we praise you for your Word. Lord, we ask now that as it is taught, as it is preached, Lord, that it would be profitable in our hearts, and in our souls, and in our lives.
[2:21] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. How should we respond to the King of glory?
[2:33] Five times in this psalm, I hope you noticed it, David calls the Lord the King of glory. He is in awe of this truth that God is the King of glory. In fact, that's one way we ought to respond.
[2:44] But there is, at the same time, there's this level of fear, even despair. Who can approach a God so glorious and so wonderful?
[2:57] There's a bit of a paradox here in this psalm. The good news is, on one hand, our God is the King of glory. No one comes close to Him. But the bad news is, God is the King of glory.
[3:11] No one can come close to Him. This is a tension point, isn't it? It's a tension point. Here in the psalm, our God is glorious beyond all compare.
[3:22] He's worthy of worship, and yet, we cannot approach Him. We are unworthy. This tension lies at the heart of this psalm.
[3:35] In fact, many people who are much smarter than me agree that David wrote this psalm in response to the entrance of the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem.
[3:47] And if you know anything about that account, you know that this tension of awe and fear of God's glory, His worthiness, and our unworthiness runs throughout that entire story.
[4:00] So let me recap it for you real quick as we get our bearings here for our psalm. The Ark of the Covenant, as you probably are aware, was the place where God had designated His glory would dwell in the midst of His people.
[4:16] This was, in essence, the presence of God with His people. Well, over the course of time, the Philistines defeat Israel in battle, and they capture the Ark.
[4:27] But they want the glory of God. They want the presence of this God there with them, but not for long. Because as long as this God of glory dwelt with them, they were afflicted by plagues.
[4:39] They were made sick. His presence was not safe for them. God's presence was a danger to them. So after seven months, they sent it back. The Ark came to Beth Shemesh.
[4:53] What happened there? Well, some of the men of Beth Shemesh got a little bit curious, and they wanted to take a peek, and it says that the Lord struck down 70 men for looking upon the Ark of the Lord.
[5:07] In fact, some translations say 50,000 men were struck down that day for looking upon the Ark of the Lord. And so they too, just like the Philistines, they responded, and they said, Who is able to stand before the Lord?
[5:21] This holy God. And to whom shall He go up away from us? And they sent Him away. And the Ark, we're told, came to Kiriath-Jerim, to the house of a man named Abinadab, where it stayed for the next 20 years.
[5:37] We don't know exactly what those 20 years held, except we know David is anointed king. David captures the city of Jerusalem. And then David sets out to bring the Ark back into the city, back into the midst of God's people.
[5:54] So 2 Samuel 6 tells us, David gathers up 30,000 men, and he goes to retrieve the Ark. Now can you imagine the excitement of this moment? Finally, at long last, the presence of God is coming back to dwell with His people again.
[6:15] And we're told that everyone on the way is singing and dancing and celebrating and worshiping. this is a moment of awe and worship and praise until one of the oxen stumbles.
[6:30] One of Abinadab's sons, Uzzah, puts out his hand to help and he lays his hand on top of the Ark of the Lord and instantly the Lord strikes him down.
[6:44] Again, we've moved very quickly from awe, great awe, now to great fear. Who can stand before the Lord? So King David changes his mind and he sends the Ark away to the house of Obed-Edom and for three months it was there in his home, but over those three months guess what happens to Obed-Edom?
[7:07] As the Ark is there in his home, Obed-Edom and all his household is blessed. that same presence of the Lord, that same glorious presence that afflicted the Philistines, that struck down the men of Kiriath-Jerim, excuse me, of Beth-Shemesh, that same glorious presence of the Lord that struck down Uzzah was a source of blessing for the house of Obed-Edom.
[7:37] So David sees this and once again David changes plans. He says, I want that blessing. We need that blessing. The people of God need the blessing of the presence of God with them and so we are trying again.
[7:51] So they go out again and they finally at long last retrieve the Ark and once again we're told on the way into the city they rejoice, they worship, they sacrifice an ox and a fattened animal.
[8:06] David danced before the Lord with all his might because the Lord, the King of Glory was coming to be with his people. It's in response to this great moment that the Lord, that David writes Psalm 24.
[8:26] How should we respond to the King of Glory? Three ways. First, first we see his glory is reason for all. We see this in verses 1 and 2.
[8:39] David begins by standing in awe of the Lord because he is the King of Glory no one comes close to him. He has no equal.
[8:50] In fact, the Philistines when they captured the Ark you know what they did? They brought it into the house of their God Dagon. Now this is one of the funniest stories in all the Bible to me.
[9:00] I love this story. They brought it into Dagon's house. They set it right beside their idol. They went to sleep. They woke up the next morning and what happened?
[9:12] Dagon, their God, had fallen face first in front of the Ark of the Lord. So what do they do? They pick their God up. They dust him off. Are you okay? They set him back up on the mantle.
[9:24] They go throughout their day. They go to sleep again. They wake up the next morning and what do they find? Once again, Dagon, their God, has fallen face first in front of the Ark of the Lord, in front of the presence of God.
[9:38] Except this time, his head has been cut off. His arms have been cut off. It's just his torso there, face first, lying prostrate in front of the Lord. What's the message?
[9:50] The one true God of the Bible has no equal. The one Lord of heaven and earth is God Almighty and he has no equal. The Lord doesn't just rule over one part of creation.
[10:04] He rules and reigns over all of creation. Why? Because he is the creator of it all. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
[10:18] The world and all those who dwell therein. Why? For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
[10:30] this is a sweeping, universal, all-encompassing claim of the complete and total rule of the Lord over all things.
[10:46] David says all things belong to God. The earth is the Lord's. David, of course, as king, he knew what it was like to rule over a territory.
[10:56] He was a king who had a realm. He had a domain of his authority. But here he thinks about the Lord and he stands in awe. This is the king of glory who owns all things.
[11:13] All the earth is his territory. All the earth is his realm. All the earth is under his authority. All the earth is his domain. It is all his.
[11:27] The Himalayan mountains belong to him. The Pacific Ocean belongs to him. The Gobi Desert belongs to him. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and he owns all the hills for that matter.
[11:41] And he says not just this but everything within the earth and all of the fullness thereof. He owns all the sheep on the hillside. He owns every fish in the sea.
[11:52] every grain of sand in the desert. He owns all in all South Carolina and all the mosquitoes that fly within. He owns every blade of grass.
[12:03] Every speck of pollen. It is all his. Of course that includes all of the people of the earth.
[12:15] Every single individual person belongs to God the king by right. we belong to him. He has owner's rights.
[12:26] Creator's rights over every single individual on the planet. You know one of the worst lies that people believe that we've been fed is that we are independent autonomous self-sufficient creatures.
[12:41] We do what we want. We are a law unto ourselves. We don't belong to anybody but us. That's a lie. We belong to God the king by right.
[12:54] And as king he reigns and he rules over all things. Not a single thought. Not a single action. Not a single inclination of the will or of the heart exists outside of his sovereign rule.
[13:13] Our God reigns over times of joy. the new birth of children into a family. Laughter and conversation with friends. A meal in the fellowship hall with your church family.
[13:25] And our God reigns over time of tragedy and death. Our God reigns over war. He reigns over bombings in Iran and in Israel.
[13:38] He reigns over the slaughter of Christians in difficult places. You realize that for God to be God that means he reigns sovereign over all.
[13:52] All the earth is his domain and nothing happens in his domain apart from his sovereign will. That's what it means to be God. Abraham Kuyper rightly says there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ who is sovereign over all does not cry mine.
[14:20] Amen. I imagine King David looking out the window of his palace looking out at his kingdom in his city they called it the city of David looking over his people all the things that are under his rule with a crown on his head leading his people and saying you know what none of this is mine all of this belongs by right to the king of glory now church when we realize that that God is the rightful owner of all the sovereign ruler of all it ought to lead us to recognize that ultimately nothing really belongs to us not ultimately sure we have stuff but it's not ultimately our stuff we have plans for our life ultimately it's not our life we have people that we love children spouses we have goals ambitions we have jobs we have money we have possessions we have a home but none of it ultimately belongs to us all of it by right belongs to the one who is the king
[15:39] Paul David Tripp says if you believe in God you don't live with an ownership mentality as if your life and your things belong to you and you can use them however you want no you have to live with a stewardship mentality this belongs to God and how does God intend for me to use what he has made everything belongs to God listen to this human ownership is a delusion your time your money your home your family your life your breath your past your present your future God the Lord is the owner the creator the ruler of it all when we stop and consider that you know what that ought to lead us to do to stand in awe of our sovereign
[16:42] God amen how often do we sing oh Lord my God when I in awesome wonder consider all the works thy hands have made I see the stars I hear the rolling thunder thy power throughout the universe displayed then sings my soul my savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art do you realize how great our God is are you in awe of how great our God is David is but we see second he recognizes that this great glory also poses a great problem for sinners like us second response God's glory is also a reason for sinners to fear as David considers this basic truth that the Lord reigns that he's God that he reigns and rules over everyone and everything he brings up an important question here in verse 3 how can anyone come into the presence of a
[17:50] God like this who shall ascend the hill of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place this is the question isn't it God is so great and so glorious and so worthy of worship and so righteous who can come into his presence now we get this on a human level even within the horizontal level I cannot just walk into the white house whenever I want and go through the doors and go down the hall and go find the president and sit on the couch and start talking anytime I want why because I don't have that level of clearance I would be shot before I stepped foot on the lawn of course some people do have the clearance not me some people do but God is infinitely more powerful infinitely more glorious infinitely more important infinitely more righteous than any human president or leader what level of clearance would it take for someone like us to stroll up into the presence of almighty
[19:02] God and not be struck down like Uzzah or the Philistines or destroyed like the men of Beth Shemesh that's the question David's wrestling with here who can ascend the hill David gives this image of a man making his way up the hill to meet with the Lord climbing up striving making his way up to be in the presence of God you might think of the temple that was literally up upon a hill sitting atop Mount Zion and the ark there within the holy place who can come into the holy of holies and meet and stand in the!
[19:42] living God or you might think of Moses you know the story of Moses coming up Mount Sinai climbing up the mountain to meet with the Lord and speak with him face to face to receive the word one person out of all the nation anybody else you remember unless they die they may not touch that hill might even think of the garden of Eden Ezekiel chapter 28 interestingly enough calls Eden the God isn't that interesting it was on this high hill that the Lord walked with Adam and Eve and it was from this high hill that they fell quite literally when they sinned against him and were cast down from the mountaintop into the pit of death who can climb back up that hill who can make their way back into the presence of God look there to verses 4-6
[20:42] David gives some qualifications here he says the one who can come into the presence of God must have clean hands and a pure heart he must have clean hands he doesn't put his hands to do evil or to do harm he is ceremonially clean and pure he's totally obedient to the law of God but of course clean hands alone aren't enough he says he must also have a pure heart don't you remember how Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their external righteousness when the inside was corrupt what did he say he said you're like whitewashed tombs they're beautiful on the outside so clean they sparkle you you walk by and you say man that looks great but what's inside death and decay it is not enough to be good moral people buttoned up not as bad as the next guy those who are more concerned with looking like a
[21:47] Christian than actually knowing Christ cannot ascend the hill clean hands and a pure heart another qualification he must not lift up his soul to what is false and if we wonder what that means we just look down a few verses to chapter 25 verse 1 we'll see this Lord willing next week that tells us what this means to you oh Lord I lift up my soul oh my God in you I trust this is an expression of trust faith this man who can ascend to the hill he doesn't put his trust in anything false there is no dagon in his heart no idols he's not led astray by lies rather he trusts fully in the Lord God and his promises so those who trust in idols do not qualify those who put more stock in Fox
[22:53] News than they do in the word of God do not qualify pure hands pure heart pure soul one more qualification here he says pure speech he does not swear deceitfully he is totally pure of speech he speaks the truth at all times his yes is his yes his no is his no he is a man of perfect blameless integrity that kind of person verse 5 will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation I have some bad news for you I promise I'll follow it up with good news the bad news is and I hope you realize this already you don't qualify I don't qualify and not a single person in this room in this town in this world qualifies none of us by right can climb up this hill maybe you've had the experience of applying for a new job and you you find a dream job man it's perfect paid vacation time that salary is like 10 times what you're making now you can work from home which really means you don't work much at all you can do whatever you want this is the perfect job and you go to apply and then you look at the list of required qualifications and you look at your resume you realize
[24:36] I have no shot I'm not qualified if we're honest when we look at this list of qualifications that David gives and then we look at the resume of our life we would be honest and say that none of us are qualified for any of us to come into the presence of this great and glorious king we must be perfect do you realize that to come into the presence of a holy god to ascend this hill and stand in his holy place and not be completely obliterated you must be 100% completely perfect only perfect people are welcomed into the presence of god only perfect people who are pure in heart pure in hands pure in speech pure in faith raise your hand if that's you i think we know this deep down and yet our default answer to david's question who can stand in the holy place of god is well probably me probably me i've worked hard i've done a lot of good things in my life i'm a good person i'm not as bad as that guy i'd do my best surely god wouldn't turn me away we think about it like climbing mount everest who can climb mount everest and make it to the top well plenty of people have done it so sure some have died on the way who can do it well someone who's strong someone who's capable someone who has endurance somebody with a strong heart can do it somebody who has perseverance can do it somebody who's trained for it they can do it somebody who's fearless they can make it to the top of mount everest so who can who can get to god by default we say well somebody strong can do it somebody moral can do it somebody who's tried their best can do it someone with a good heart can do it sure my neighbor doesn't claim to be a
[27:05] Christian but they are just so kind they have such a good heart surely god will accept them right surely god won't turn them away right we need to hear the answer again and we need to let it sit the bible says unless you are perfect you cannot climb this hill don't have the clearance you don't meet the qualifications neither do I that's the bad news here's the good news god has made a way for imperfect people like us to be made righteous you hear that god by his grace has made a way for disqualified people to be qualified for unworthy people to be deemed worthy what is it look to verse 6 such is the generation of those who seek him who seek the face of the god of jacob those who seek his face are righteous you see that those who seek his face are righteous not those who are righteous enough will see his face do you see the difference seek him and you are declared righteous righteous seek him you will be made righteous not try really hard to be righteous and then maybe you'll see him do you see the difference
[29:05] I hope you do this is the difference between heaven and hell David says those who seek the face of god will be righteous you know every other religion says those who are righteous enough will see the face of god stop trying to be righteous enough to get to god you can't do it it's only after righteousness has been given to you that righteousness can begin to be grown in you do you understand and this is the difference between justification I'm declared righteous and sanctification which springs from our justification which is the growing in this holiness growing in purity of heart growing in purity of speech growing in purity of thought growing in purity of hands if we try if we try in our own strength to be pure enough for god we will never climb the hill only by his righteousness being given to you can it begin to be grown in you this qualification list church easily can lead us to despair can't it if we look at it and pair it up with our resume it can lead us to fear who can ascend the hill the lord knows it's not me not in my own strength our greatest problem is that we cannot ascend this hill but praise god he by his own grace and sheer volition he can come down and bring us up and that's exactly what the king of glory does so third third we see god's glory is reason to hope look there to verse seven and get this image back in your minds okay the ark is coming into the city the presence of god is coming back to dwell with his people and as they dance and as they celebrate and as they sing they approach the city and they see the gates are closed the doors are shut so they cry out and joy and celebration open up lift up your heads oh gates be lifted up oh ancient doors so that the king of glory can come in we hear the sound of a voice on the other side of the door it's almost like the door itself is speaking what king who is this king of glory are we talking about king
[31:58] David here you've never gone by that name before! this is new no not David the Lord the Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle he's the king lift up your heads oh gates lift them up oh ancient doors so that the king of glory may come in and again the response just so I'm clear what king is coming in here who is this king of glory you remember what happened to Uzzah right is he safe the Lord of hosts the creator and ruler of all the one who reigns supreme the commander of all of heaven's armies he is the king of glory and he's coming to dwell with us we see the glory of God in his greatness and his power to create and to rule over all things we see the glory of
[33:02] God in his righteousness in his holiness no one can qualify to be in his presence but we also see his glory in his condescension we cannot climb to him so what does the God of glory do he comes down to us God himself makes a way for his people to enjoy his glorious presence King David saw this in a way in the ark of the Lord what utter grace and kindness that the Lord God of all the earth the ruler of it all would stoop down and live in a box to be with his people we see it in a much clearer way don't we we see it in a much greater way in the incarnation of our
[34:03] Lord Jesus Christ who came down from the throne of heaven in order to be the blameless perfect man the one who alone perfectly lived with clean hands and pure heart the one who alone perfectly trusted in God the father the only one who perfectly spoke and still speaks today words of truth the one who is the very word of God the one through whom and by whom all things were made the one who rules and reigns as king over it all he he is the perfect righteous man of God and Jesus is the only one who by right may ascend the hill and yet this king of glory does something shocking doesn't he the perfect sinless king of glory chooses to ascend another hill and to give his life in the place of sinners like me and you the king of glory descended down to death and then he has ascended to the right hand of the father never to die again so that any sinner any disqualified ruined impure sinner any who would seek his face and come to him by faith would not perish but have eternal life be welcomed into the presence of
[35:34] God Spurgeon says our Lord Jesus Christ could ascend into the hill of the Lord because his hands were clean and his heart was pure and if we by faith in him are conformed to his image we shall enter too our only hope is that someone else would climb the hill for us by faith we look to Christ Jesus and say he has done it who is this king of glory it is the Lord Jesus Christ he is the king of glory who is this king of glory it is the Lord Jesus he is the king of glory and friend he is coming soon one day very soon king
[36:36] Jesus will return the king of glory will come into his kingdom reign over all of heaven and earth to finally lay claim to everything that is his to finally destroy every enemy to finally at last dwell with his people the gates will be lifted up the doors will be opened and all creation will receive the king of glory this glorious!
[37:04] day is the great hope of all of God's people I wonder if that day for you will be a day of great awe and worship celebration and joy or if it will be for you a day of great fear the only way to know for sure is to lift up the gates open up the doors and welcome him now to reign as the king of glory father god we praise you that although none of us are worthy to be in your presence by your grace by your mercy by your kindness you have stooped low to be with us but not just to be with us to bring us up to where you are father we look forward to the day of
[38:18] Christ's return we pray that we would welcome him now and hope for that day so we might welcome him then in joy we love you and we pray this in! name Amen!