My text this morning is found
in the 24th chapter of Psalms. If you would turn there with
me, please. Psalm chapter 24. After the Lord Jesus had risen
from the dead, as you know, he joined himself with two of his
disciples on the road to Emmaus. And these are the words that
our Lord spake. He said, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet you that all things
must be fulfilled which are written in the law, the law of Moses,
in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. In Acts chapter
10, Peter was preaching and he said to him, speaking of the
Lord Jesus, gave all the prophets witness. The Old Testament is
about Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, Moses wrote of
me. Abraham saw my day and was glad. Whenever we study the Old Testament
scriptures, and this is not the first time you've heard me say
this, we must remember that we're not just simply studying history,
biblical history, but we're looking into His story, Christ's story. This is a book about Him. The
Lord Jesus said, lo, I come in the volume of the book it is
written of me to do thy will, O God. And He's talking there
about the Old Testament scriptures. The New Testament hadn't been
written yet. The Old Testament scriptures are about Christ.
beginning at Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
all the prophets, the major and minor prophets, and in the Psalms,
they're all about Him. So this morning, this morning,
we'll speak of Christ. Jesus Christ is our message. This time, it'll be from the
book of Psalms, Psalms 24, verse one. This is a Psalm of David,
as you might see at the heading there. As you know, David was
a man after God's own heart. David was a man that knew God.
David was the apple of God's eye. And it would be wise for
us to listen to what this man has to say. He's a man that knows
God. He's a man that was after God's
own heart. Oh, I want to be a man after
God's own heart. I want to be the apple of God's
eye. I don't see myself as such. None of us do, do we? but I so
want to be." Notice David's first words here. He says, the earth
is the Lord's. Men and women live on the earth,
but the earth is the Lord's. Mankind has divided the earth
into continents and countries and provinces, states, cities,
communities, even subdivisions. But the earth is the Lord's.
It all belongs to Him. And men and women may sing, this
land is your land and this land is my land, but this earth all
belongs to Christ. He is the Lord. Now I have a
deed to a house that's on Simmental Street here in Madisonville.
I pay taxes on that house to the city of Madisonville. And
on paper, that house belongs to Teresa and I, but I don't
own the home. And the city don't own the street
that it's on. Because it all belongs to the
Lord. The earth is the Lord's, it's just on loan to us. And
I've heard farmers say things like, my great-great-grandfather
left this land to my great-grandfather, my great-grandfather left it
to my grandfather, my grandfather left it to my father. and my
father left it to me, and one day I'm gonna leave it to my
children." Well, that may be so. You may have the deed, you
may live on the land, you may farm the land, you may pay the
taxes on the land, you may do the upkeep, but the earth is
the Lord's. And that includes your farm and
your house or whatever it is that you have. The earth is the
Lord's by way of decree. All authority to execute judgment
is given to Him because He's God the Son. God has by decree
given Christ power over all flesh, all power in heaven and all power
in earth is given unto Him. The earth is the Lord's by way
of creation. The first words of the Old Testament
scriptures tell us that. In the beginning, God, God the
Son, created the heavens and the earth. And the first words
of the New Testament tell us the same thing. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
the same was in the beginning with God and all things were
made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.
Paul said in Colossians 1, for by Him, that being the Lord Jesus,
where all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him, all things
consist. The earth is the Lord's. But
that's not all. David says the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. The fullness of the earth is
also the Lord's. We have nothing of ourselves.
Everything we have is given to us. Everything. Nothing we have
entitles us to anything. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul asked,
what do we have that we did not receive? If we received it, how
can we glory in it? You can't glory in a gift. You
can only glory in the giver. You can only glory in the one
who gave the gift. It's God who makes us all to
differ. The earth was the Lord's and
the fullness thereof before He ever made man. You read the account
of creation, it's amazing. God made everything that was
made and He said, behold, it's very good. Well, of course it
is, He made it. And the Lord God formed man out
of the dust of the ground. Did you hear that? God formed
man out of the dust of the ground. And he breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life and man became a living soul. And the Lord God
said, it's not good that the man should be alone. I'll make
him an help beat. Genesis 2, 18, and the Lord took
a rib from man and he made he a woman and he brought her into
the man and God provided everything that they needed. Everything. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Christ made the earth and he
equipped the earth and he completed the earth. And when God put man
on the earth, it was full of everything he needed. The earth
had the oxygen man needed to breathe. Still does. The earth
had all the food that man needed to eat. God provided it all.
The earth had all the water that man needed to drink. You know,
we can't produce water. We can't manufacture air. You
know, even medical oxygen is made by separating and compressing
and filtrating that which is already in the air that God provided. We don't produce anything from
scratch. We don't create anything from nothing. God does. The only
thing original with us is sin. That's the only thing original
with us. That's something we can take
credit for, but we dare not do. From the beginning until now,
for thousands of years, the Lord has provided the fullness. His fullness has never been depleted
and it never will be. I remember years ago, not so
much now, it's other things, but they were blaming the depleting
of the ozone on aerosol hairspray. Not gonna happen. Not gonna deplete
the fullness of God. If there's global warming, I'm
telling you, God has the thermostat. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. But that's not all. The earth,
read with me, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof.
Now watch, the world and they that dwell therein, it all belongs
to God, all of it. Every living soul belongs to
Him, not in a saving way, but God is the God and the creator
of every creature. In Psalm chapter 50, verse 10,
the Lord says, for every beast of the forest is mine. and the
cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains
and the wild beasts of the field are mine." And then he says this,
if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you. No need to. To those who
preach that God is dependent upon us, they need to read this
book. God said, if I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you. For the world is mine and the
fullness thereof. The Lord said, all souls are
mine. You remember when we looked at
that passage of scripture? All souls are mine. The soul
of the father, the soul of the son. Every soul belongs to him. Again, not in a saving way. And
God has the right to do what he will with his own. That's
what the Lord said. Is it not right? Is it not lawful
for me to do what I will with what belongs to me? May God enable
us, I mean this so sincerely, that God may enable us to enter
into the glory and the majesty of who He is and who Christ is. Oh, I wish that God would enable
us to worship Him as He ought to be worshiped. Don't you? We
should pray before we come into the house of the Lord. Lord,
enable me today to worship You as You should be worshiped. Speaking
of the lost sinner, Paul said, there's no fear of God before
their eyes. Men know nothing of God's sovereignty. They know nothing of his almighty
power. They thank God to be altogether
such a one as they are. Let's just be honest. We do,
we have. Many still do, till God showed
us differently. There's no fear. There's no reverential
respect. That's what the word means for
God. And I can sure see why, because
of the way that men over the years have preached him. But
this is the sovereign God in whom we have to do. And the enlightened
sinner has been made to know by God that the beginning of
wisdom is the fear of the Lord. The beginning of wisdom is to
respect reverently the Lord our God. This is the sovereign God
with whom we have to do. And as we saw this morning, it's
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You know, we have no impotent
Savior. I grow so tired and weary of
hearing men preach Christ as an impotent, pathetic Savior,
wanting and trying to do something. Why do men preach Him as such? It's because they don't know
Him. Why do men think that God owes them anything? The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. If it all belongs to
Him, then anything I've got, He's got to give to me. He doesn't
owe me anything. Who's first given to Him that
He should repay? Whatsoever is under the whole
heaven is His, Job 41 11. Where were you, God said, when
I laid the earth's foundations? Where were you when I put the
stars in space? And it's here that we see the
issue between God and sinners. Look at verse three. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy
place? Now that's not talking about
the mountains here on earth, whether they're 3,000 foot elevation,
5,000 foot elevation. That's not what this is talking
about. This is talking about the high heaven. Who's gonna
ascend into the high heaven? Who's gonna ascend into the heavens?
Who's going to ascend to the throne of God? Who's gonna stand
in God's holy place? Who's gonna dwell in His presence?
That's a question I'm interested in. This question is not simply
who's going to ascend. The question is, is who's going
to ascend and who's gonna stand? Who's gonna ascend and stand
without being consumed? What sinner is going to stand
in the presence of a thrice holy God? This question is answered
in verse four. It says, he that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity
nor sworn deceitfully. Oh, to stand in the presence
of God, to dwell in the presence of God, you're going to have
to have hands that have never sinned. Hands that have never
transgressed against God's holy law. No sin whatsoever. Gotta have clean hands. You're
gonna have to have a pure heart. And that's our dilemma. Our hearts
are deceitful, deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Not just deceitful, deceitful
above everything that is deceitful. Not just wicked, but desperately
wicked. God requires a pure heart that
has never thought contrary to perfect holiness or contrary
to His sovereign will and purpose. If that's so, I'm in trouble.
Because the thoughts of this mind and this heart are only
evil continually. Is there any man or woman that
fits these perfect qualifications? Now, before you answer, let me
give you the correct answer. Yes, one, there's one, just one
who fits those qualifications. Who shall ascend into heaven?
Only he who came down from heaven. He not only ascended into heaven,
when he ascended, he sat down at the right hand of God. God
told Moses that no man in their sinful state can see God and
live. And you can't. You can't see
God and live. Why? He's too holy and we're
too sinful. God said, but, thank God for
the buts. There's a place, a person by
me. There's a man that can look to
God face to face. This man is the God man. He's
the Lord's Christ. And he's sitting down. You know
why? Because his work's finished.
If you're in Christ Jesus by way of substitution, then you
can ascend and you can stand before God. God is out to do
you good, but only in Jesus Christ. And he's the cliff of the rock.
that God told Moses about. Christ is the rock of ages. He's
the solid rock. He's the believer's firm foundation. He's the hand that covers us
in the presence of God. Read Exodus 33 again sometime,
the last few verses. Jesus Christ is all those things. There's only one man who shall
receive the blessings of God. Blessed is the man whom God chooses
and calls us to approach unto Him. That man is Christ Jesus. That man is truly blessed. He
shall receive the blessings of the Lord. Blessed is that man
to whom God will not charge sin. That man is Christ. But by way
of substitution and being the one mediator between God and
men, this is also the blessing and the righteousness of all
who are in Him. And that's what we preach. That's
the comfort that we have. That's the assurance that we
have. and Adam all die. Even so, in Christ, shall all
God's elect be made alive. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who's gonna stand in His holy place? The man, the
woman, and the sinner that's in Christ, that's who. In Christ,
my hands have been made clean. In Christ, my heart has been
made pure. In Christ, my soul has never
been lifted up in vanity. In Christ, my mouth has never
sworn deceitfully. In Christ, I have no sin. If
you look to yourself and your sin, you'll never convince yourself
of that. So don't do that. Don't do that. But if you look to Christ alone,
if you look to His righteousness, if you look to His finished work,
as Clayton prayed, if you look to God's acceptance of Him, you'll
see that you are yourself accepted in the Beloved. He's the Beloved.
God said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And if I'm one with him, if my
union with him is as he says it is, then I have no reason
to doubt that my sin is put away and I am accepted by God the
same as he is. Did you know that if you're in
Christ, God doesn't love him anymore and he loves you? Because
when he sees you, he sees him. Oneness, oneness. What did he
say about the believers' union with Christ? These are the most
beautiful words a sinner could ever hear. They're found in John
chapter 17. I want you to turn there with
me. Keep your marker here in Psalm 24, because we're coming
back. Look at these very familiar verses in John chapter 17. I want you to see them in your
Bible. I want you to read them often, and I want you to believe
them. I want God to make them effectual
to you. John chapter 17. Look at verse
21. Speaking of every believing child
of God, look at what our Lord said. That they all may be one
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me. Verse 22, and the glory which thou gavest me. Now look, I have
given them. that they may be one, even as
we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one." Try going home and looking in the mirror and
saying, I'm perfect. Not easy to do, is it? But you
are if you're in Him. Perfect in one. Read on. And that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. God loves you as much as He loves
His Son. That's what His Son said. If
you don't believe me, believe Him. Every believer is one. God is in Christ. Christ is in
God. We are one in them. God gave
Christ His glory. Christ gave us His glory that
we may be perfect in God and in Christ. Them being God the
Father and God the Son. God sent his son for that purpose. This was the will of God. God
sent Christ into the world. Christ loved God's chosen people. God loved his people. And in
Christ, God loves the believer the same as he loves his son.
Amen. Look at verse 24. Father, I will
that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I
am. Where is he? He's sitting at
the right hand of God. Where are you? Sitting at the
right hand of God with him. That they be with me where I
am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Oh, righteous father,
the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee, and these
have known that thou hast sent me. How'd they know? God revealed
it to them. Verse 26, and I have declared
unto them thy name and will declare it. Now look, that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them. Now do you
know what that means? That means that in Christ, I
got clean hands and I'm never sinned. I have a pure heart that
is never sinned. Now back to Psalm 24, And look
at verse five. It says, he shall receive the
blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
We have the perfect righteousness of God. How? Christ was made
sin for us. We were made the righteousness
of God in him. And that's the only way we can
be. It's not by our nature, it's not by our religion, our choice,
our decision, our works, our righteousness, our will, our
worth. No, no, no, no. But only by Christ taking our
place, taking our sin and giving us His perfect righteousness. Verse six, this is the generation
of them that seek Him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. And then we have that little
word selah. It means stop. It means pause. Think about that. For I am the
Lord, the change is not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Boy, you think about that. Verse
seven, lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye
everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. These
gates have been shut for a long time. They've been shut ever
since man sinned. The gate's been shut, the door's
been closed to the kingdom and the presence of God. Lucifer
said, I will ascend above the throne of God. The Lord said,
no, you won't. Adam said, I'll be as God. And God said, no,
no, no, no, you will not. The tower builders of Babel said,
we'll ascend into heaven. And God said, I'm going to shut
your mouth where you can't understand one another. And you're going
to become guilty before God. May all the world become guilty
before God. May every mouth be stopped. The
Pharisees said, hey, we're going to work our way to glory. And God said, not by works of
righteousness that you've done. Then our Lord Jesus came And
He said, lift up ye heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye
everlasting doors. The King of glory is coming in. Verse eight, who is the King
of glory? He's the Lord strong and mighty,
the Lord mighty to save. Mighty in battle. He's able to
save. He's willing to save. He's willing
to save those that come to God by Him. He's able to stand in
the presence of the Lord. He's able to sit at His right
hand. He's the Lord mighty in battle. He's won the war. The
war's been won. He says it's finished. He's the
Lord of hosts. He is bringing with Him a host
of people. The host which no man can number.
And the gates and the doors will open. The King of glory is coming
in. That's what all my hope is in. The King of glory is coming in.
And if I'm going with Him, I'm going with Him. Verse nine, lift
up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King
of glory? The Lord of hosts. He's the King
of glory. Well, He's the King of kings.
He's the Lord of lords, and He shall come in and all that's
with Him. What a hope we have. Isn't that
a wonderful hope? All that God requires of you
and me is fulfilled and finished in Christ. The war's won. Battle's over. It's finished. Jesus is Lord. Who is received
into God's presence? All that believe and trust in
Him. Christ died the just for the unjust. Why? That He might
bring us to God. How? He was put to death in the
flesh, but quickened, made alive by the Spirit of God. I rejoice
this morning not in what I've done or what I'm doing for Christ,
no, but in what Christ has done for me. Who's the King of glory? The Lord Jesus Christ, strong
and mighty. Oh, you're weak and pathetic
just like I am, but He's strong and mighty. He alone is able
to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. No chance
of failure. No chance of defeat. Won't you
come to God by Him? That's the question. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe
on Him. Trust in Him. His yoke is easy. Can you see why? His yoke's easy. His burden is light. Amen.