So tomorrow I actually get my
shoulder done, which I'm rejoicing about. I'm not sure that I'm
going to be rejoicing too much for the next week. But Simon's
bringing messages to you next couple of weeks finishing his
series on Jonah. So please pray for him. It is
a great burden, isn't it, that God places upon people who stand
here before Eternity bound men and women. We are just a heartbeat
away from eternal things, aren't we? This week I've been wrestling
with God to try and find a message for you. You never know, do you? One of the great things about
anaesthetics is you get a taste of resurrection, I reckon, You're
still lying there on a bed and they put this needle into your
arms and you just disappear from reality. And then you wake up
again. It's just the most remarkable
thing. You wake up with all these things having been done to you.
So thank God for anaesthetics. They are just wonderful, wonderful
things. But the psalm that we have before us is a psalm which
for the Jewish people was far more famous than Psalm 23. And
it was a psalm that they sang every day at the sacrifice. And it was a psalm that the early
church sang every Sunday. It was a hugely significant psalm
for the people of God in those days. And it's a hugely significant
psalm because it declares the wonders of resurrection glory. When the Lord was taken from
the disciples. In Acts 1, he finally says goodbye
to the disciples. If you turn in Acts 1 to verse
9, he spoke to them, telling them not to worry about times
and dates and seasons. And then he promised them that
you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and
you'll be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria
and to the end of the earth. And here we are in Australia,
about as far away from Israel as you can get. Promises fulfilled. When he'd spoken these things,
while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out
of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
towards heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand
gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken
up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you
saw him go into heaven. He's coming back again. The scriptures
talk about the Lord Jesus coming back again. And the early church
and our forebears rejoiced in this psalm because what was happening
in heaven during those extraordinary days that the Lord Jesus was
on this earth. We proclaim Him as God and as
God He rules this universe and He rules heaven. But they were
extraordinary times for heaven when the Lord Jesus was here.
Imagine what was going on in heaven as the Lord Jesus was
being crucified, as he hung on that cross. Psalm 24 is a declaration
of the bigness of our God and a declaration of the triumph
that was going on. So let's just read this amazing
psalm together and then we'll look at some major parts of it
just briefly. But it's a beautiful psalm. It
begins, The earth is the Lord, Lord's in all its fullness, the
world and all those who dwell therein. For he has founded it
upon the seas and established it upon the waters. And then
we have this question, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord,
or who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands
and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation that seek
him, that seek your face, O Jacob. Lift up your heads, O you gates. and be lifted up, you everlasting
doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King
of Glory? The Lord Strong and Mighty, the
Lord Mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates,
even lift them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord of Hosts. He is the King of Glory. So let's go back to verse 1.
The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness the world and all
those who dwell there. The Bible makes no effort to
explain the fact that this is God's creation and that the Lord
Jesus is Lord of Lords and He's King of Kings. This is His creation. John 1.3 and Colossians 1 talk
about the fact that Jesus is the Creator. When we look at
this creation, we are seeing the handiwork of the Lord Jesus.
Not only did He create it, but Hebrews 1.3 says that He sustains
it. He sustains it right at this
very moment. He is sustaining this universe. Every little tiny thing. The
reason the sun is shining right now is because the Lord Jesus
Christ is making it shine. The reason we're standing here
on reasonably solid ground is because the Lord Jesus Christ
is making us stand. So it's His by creation. It's His because He sustains
it. It's His because He is the ruler
of it. and it's his especially because
of his resurrection. All authority on heaven and earth
has been given to me. This is God's creation. But especially the Lord Jesus
rules all the people of this earth. The earth is the Lord's
in all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. This probably comes as a shock,
a shocking verse to so many people who see this world, the human
beings of this world, the world's governments, the world's systems
of thinking, operating as if Jesus does not even exist, let
alone rule them and be their God. God's children know better. God's children are taught things
that are better. God is ruling all the things
of this world and he is ruling all the thoughts of all the people
of this world. So often people, I was talking
to Norm this week and there was a famous atheist called Christopher
Hitchens who has been debating with Christians all over the
place. But it's really fascinating that the debate that he's having
is a debate about a false God. Because the God that Christopher
Hitchens is debating about is a God who is in the business
of trying to get everyone saved. He's a God who's in the business
of making an offer to everyone. And Christopher Hitchens says,
well, if God's making me an offer, I can reject the offer. And I
am still God. This is not the God of the Scriptures.
He rules all things and He rules all people. Quite simply, the
reason that everyone is not a Christian and honouring God right now is
because of God's purposes. Ultimately it is God's purposes. If God is trying to save everyone
in Nauru and only a few are saved, then God is a failure. The scriptures
never ever present God as a failure in any way at all. He shall not
fail. So if God is in the business
of saving 100 people out of Nauru, His glory is great in their salvation. And those who are not saved stand
completely and fully responsible for their willful disobedience
to God. That's just what the scriptures
say. Our God rules all things. In fact, in his high priestly
prayer in John 17, the Lord Jesus said, you have given him, given
me authority over all flesh that you should give, that he should
give eternal life to as many as you have given him. It's just a declaration. The psalm starts with a declaration
of God's absolute sovereignty. In verse 2 we are reminded that
He's founded this, founded this earthly creation upon the seas. This is why it's His, He's founded
it upon the seas, He's established it upon the waters. Job says that He hangs the earth
upon nothing. He establishes what we see as
solid things upon things which are incredibly fragile and incredibly
dangerous. The seas. It's a reminder, as the tsunamis
recently are reminders, that this world is not a stable place
to make our homes. It provides no stable, secure
foundation to build anything upon that will last for any significant
length of time. And this creation is founded
upon this unstable thing called the seas. Remember in Genesis
1, the spirit hovered over the waters and then the floods, the
flood of Noah covered this earth. There's a lot of water out there.
In fact, if the earth was perfectly smooth, the depth of water covering
this earth would be almost 2km. There's a lot of water out there.
But God sustains the habitable parts of it by His power. He has founded it and He sustains
it. One of the wonders of the new
creation is that there will no longer be any sea. A wonderful, wonderful thing.
And then we come, having seen God's sovereignty and seen God's
sustaining sovereignty, we come to this big question. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? How do you get to Heaven? Who may stand in His holy place? The question that is before people
in the Bible always is how good do you have to be to get into
Heaven? How good do you have to be to
get into Heaven? The answer of the scriptures
always is that you have to be as good as God. If you are not as holy as God,
you cannot get into God's holy place. If you are not as clean
as God, you cannot dwell with God. Our God is a consuming fire. Without holiness, no one will
see the Lord. In the next verse we get a clearer
description of what's involved. What do you need to get into
heaven? You have to have clean hands. Clean hands. Perfectly clean
hands from all that you have done. Not only do your deeds have to
be perfect, but you actually have to have a perfect motivation
for your deeds, a pure heart, clean hands, a pure heart. Not only that, but you mustn't
break the first commandment from Sinai, He who has not lifted
up his soul to an idol. Clean hands, a pure heart and
never having anything other than God as the focus and the delight
of your life. And then to add all these things
together and to make it serious, you have to be truthful about
the fact. clean hands, pure heart, has not lifted up his soul to
an idol and has not sworn deceitfully, not told a lie at all. Is there anyone here who thinks
that they qualify? If you think you do, come up
here now and I'll sit down and you can take over because I'd
just love to hear from you. It's serious, isn't it? Who can
stand in God's holy hill? Who can stand alongside someone
who is so unbelievably holy? So God wants to establish the
fact that he's absolutely sovereign and he sustains things. But he
wants to establish something significant about his character. He is absolutely, blindingly
holy. Anything that is not absolutely,
perfectly holy, when it comes into contact with God, will be
destroyed by the justice that comes from his holiness. The
scriptures make it really clear, don't they? None of us have ever
done anything good. No one seeks after God. All of
us together have turned away. It seems to me the longer I go
on in this world, there are just two groups of people out of all
humanity. There are some people, surprisingly,
who will read those words and think, well I've done that a
bit better than June Mesner, just a little bit better than
that Alex Cochran, just a little bit better. I mightn't have the
purity that God demands but my standard, if I look around, I
have something, something that I have done and have and I am
in myself with which I will have as my righteousness. That is just the truth. You challenge
people about the gospel, you challenge people about the holiness
of God, and out comes, all the time, my righteousness. I've often said that I speak
to the Men's Shed guys at home on a regular basis and you try
and talk to them about eternal things. Every single one of them
will tell you in an instant about how righteous they are, about
how good they are. One of them even says, I've never
done anyone any harm. This is a guy in his 70s. clean
hands and a pure heart. They seem to be just two groups
of people. People who will cling, despite all the evidence around
them and despite all the evidence inside them, they will cling
to something of their righteousness. They will especially cling to
something of their righteousness if it's religious righteousness.
They are especially clinging to the fact that they have done
these religious deeds. The Lord answers the question
for us in Isaiah 57. For thus says the High and Lofty
One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. The very essence of his character,
his name is Holy. And he says, I dwell in a high
and holy place. He dwells in a high and holy
place, but remarkably he dwells with people. I dwell in a high
and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. God dwells with people who have
no righteousness of their own. He dwells with people who never
achieved anything in their lives with which they can take to God.
How dare we think that with these hands we could take something
to God and say, you must accept me or you must reward me on the
basis of something I have done. May the Lord protect us from
such folly. But the Lord not just only dwells
with these people, He revives the spirit of the humble and
He revives the heart of the contrite. for those who come without any
righteousness of their own, knowing that they don't have clean hands,
knowing that they don't have a pure heart, knowing that they've
been involved in idolatry, knowing that they are, as the psalmist
says, they come forth from their mother's womb speaking lies.
They don't need to be taught to speak lies. It just comes
naturally. God will revive these people. Because there is one man, there
is one man who can say, I have done these things. There is one
man with clean hands. There is one man with a pure
heart. There is one man who has loved
the Lord his God with all his heart, all of his mind, all of
his soul and all of his strength. There is one man who never ever
once told a lie. This is the man that Psalm 24
verse 5 tells us about. He, the Lord Jesus, shall receive
the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of
His salvation. The Lord Jesus' blessings come
to all of God's children as a gift. They flow to God's children as
a gift from Him, but for the Lord Jesus they were earned. They were His as God in eternity,
but as a man who walked this earth, he earned the blessings
of God. All the spiritual blessings come
to us as a gift, but he earned them by perfect, perfect obedience. He received a blessing from the
Lord. He received all of what was promised
to him as our mediator. He received all of the rewards
for His perfect obedience. He received all of the reward
for His sin-bearing death. And He has a righteousness, a
righteousness which is an everlasting righteousness, a righteousness
which is God's righteousness. To be righteous before God is
to be one who has actually performed deeds which are perfectly acceptable
to God. Perfectly obedient to His holy
law. Not just obedient in action but
obedient in thought and doing. His righteousness is an everlasting
righteousness. His righteousness is an infinite
righteousness. And His righteousness is a righteousness
that flows to all of God's people. Their righteousness, says Isaiah
54.17, is from Me. And this is the result, isn't
it? He is promised as a result of His perfect obedience these
blessings and these blessings then flow to people. 24-6 says, this is the generation
that seek Him, that seek your face, O Jacob. The Lord Jesus was promised in
Isaiah that he will see the travail
of his soul, he'll see all of his pain that he went through,
and he shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge, my righteous
servant will justify many. He will have a generation, he
will have a people, that seek Him. The Lord Jesus didn't come to
this earth to attempt to do anything. The Lord Jesus came to this earth
as God to achieve something perfectly. This is the generation that will
seek Him. God promises us that no one seeks after God. in their hearts are rebellious
against God, turn to seek Him. God says that they seek Him because
He seeks them. Blessed is the man, says Psalm
65, 4, blessed is the man who you choose and calls to approach
you that he may dwell in your courts. and we shall be satisfied
with the goodness of your house, of your holy temple." The generation
that seeks God is the generation that the Lord Jesus died for. Not only do we seek Him, but
God's children seek intimacy of relationship with Him. We don't just want to know about
the Lord Jesus. Knowing about Him is wonderful,
but it's not the same as knowing Him. God's people seek His face. They seek that sort of intimacy
of relationship. The Lord Jesus says that those
who see the Son and believe in Him may have everlasting life. They are a holy people. They
are the redeemed of the Lord and they are called by God as
people sought out. He seeks us out because we would
never ever seek Him. And then at the end of this verse
there is a remarkable declaration where the Lord Jesus identifies
Himself with us, O Jacob. It's amazing, isn't it? The scriptures
declare that all that the Lord Jesus is, He is for His people. When He donned flesh, when God
donned flesh and lived in this world, He was perfectly one with
His people. His people who are called Jacob,
His people who are by their name, as fallen people in this world,
deceivers, slippery ones. He so much identifies with us
that we have His name. He gives His people His name. In Jeremiah 23, In Jeremiah 23 verse 6, in his
days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called. He'll be called the Lord Our
Righteousness. And in 33 verse 16, in those
days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem, the people of God,
will dwell in safety and this is the name by which she, the
Church of God, will be called the Lord Our Righteousness. These are the people that seek
Him. Those who are His from eternity. Those who bear His name. And this is the response. This
is the response in heaven. This psalm, it's believed, was
written in response to David bringing the Ark into Jerusalem.
And that great celebration, you can read about it in 1 Chronicles
15, that great celebration where all the priests and all the people
of Israel celebrated as the Ark, which represented the Lord Jesus,
represented salvation in Him, was brought into Jerusalem and
it was a triumph. Lift up your heads, O you gates,
and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory
shall come in." The Lord Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem
with those shouts about His salvation, Hosanna. This is a message, as I said
earlier, about the resurrection. When the Lord Jesus had ascended
on high, angels kept those gates in Heaven. As they did in Genesis,
there is no way back to the Tree of Life. No way for man by any
of his activities to get back to the Tree of Life. It is guarded
by angels. There is no way into Heaven. It is guarded by angels. Unless you are gathered and taken
into Heaven in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus opened this way
into the Holy of Holies, having obtained eternal redemption.
This is a triumphal declaration that Heaven is to resound with
the songs of redemption that our Lord Jesus has won for His
people. Who is this King of Glory, strong
and mighty, The Lord, mighty in battle. What a great declaration about
our great God. Strong and mighty, mighty in
battle. And he did it all alone. He conquered
Satan by himself. He conquered sin by himself. He conquered death by himself. He fought for those years he
was here. He bled, he died, but as he died,
he conquered. He is this king of glory. He's strong and mighty for his
people and he's mighty in battle. Glory is just the essence of
God's being. It's what he is. is glorious. It's a description of His name. He is glorious and the Lord of
Glory shall come in. Psalm 24 verse 9 says, Lift up
your heads again, O you gates, and even lift them up, you everlasting
doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. He comes into
heaven glorious now. He comes into heaven because
now God's holiness is manifest to all this world. God's righteousness
is manifest to all this world. No charge can be laid against
any of God's children now. Satan can't get into heaven.
He has no right in heaven. There is no accusation to bring
against God's people. The law which stood opposed to
them and said, this is the holiness that God demands of you. Here
are ten lessons in holiness. That law was perfectly fulfilled
by the Lord Jesus and perfectly taken out of the way. There is
no longer There is no longer any condemnation for God's people
and Heaven rejoices. Imagine the people like Abel
and Abraham and Noah. They've been in Heaven for all
this time. What's going on down there? All
the myriads of angels. What's happening? And all of
a sudden this triumphant Messiah returns to Heaven and God's people
sing. and God's people rejoice. So he's the King of Glory and
he comes in. He comes into heaven as our representative. He comes into heaven as the head
and we are the body. He comes into heaven as our King
and we are his servants. He comes into heaven as our husband
and we are his dearly loved bride. He comes into heaven so that
we will be with him and behold his glory. And he comes into
heaven as a great high priest and he continually pleads his
righteousness and his sin-bearing death before the courts of heaven.
And he says to the courts of heaven, this is my dearly loved
bride. She is holy. She is blameless. She is free from accusation. She is a spotless bride for a
great King. And Heaven rejoices. Who is this
King, this King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts? He is the husband
of His Church. It's the most remarkable privilege
that God's children have to be called the Bride of Christ. To be His special, dearly loved
possession. To be loved infinitely. To know
that our King is mighty in battle. Even though we are weak, He is
mighty for us. The foes that we have to deal
with in this world are too big for us. The sin that's in you
and the sin that's in me and Satan are too big for us. God's law is too holy for us. This world is too powerful for
us. Our flesh is weak. We need someone
else to stand in our place. The Lord is strong and mighty.
the Lord to do battle. I plead with God's people, when
things are tough, don't look inside of yourself for your resources. Look to heaven and plead with
God and wait in faith. He'll come in, this Lord of hosts,
this Lord who leads his people in battle array, This Lord who
leads his people in this world triumphant over the things of
this world. And he comes in not just to heaven
but he comes into the hearts of his people. He comes to gates
of human hearts which are barred shut against him and oppose him
at every turn. And he waits until his time of
love And he bashes down those gates and he takes up residence
on the throne of our hearts. And God's people seek his face. And he reigns there as a glorious
saviour, continually causing us to see that we don't have
clean hands and we don't have a pure heart. And that we do
swear deceitfully. We do have idols. And he reminds
us again and again that our righteousness is not something that we do ourselves. Our righteousness is the Lord
Jesus. He is our righteousness. We have
none to defend. We have none to establish. We
just hold on to Him. We hold on fast to who He is. And we keep proclaiming Him to
each other. And when Christ, who is your
life, appears, you shall also appear with Him in glory. Glory is just around the corner,
a heartbeat away. This world has no pleasures ultimately
for God's people. It's a very, very shallow place
and a dangerous place for us to make our refuge. Our refuge
is in the Lord Jesus, and I pray that He will care for you this
coming week and guide and direct you into His love.