Well let us turn to this psalm
that we've just read, Psalm 24. I'll read part of the psalm again
from verse 3 to verse 5. The questions that are presented
in verse 3. and the answer that's then given
in verses four and five, who shall ascend into the hill of
the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place, either that
clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. borrowing the words of the eunuch
in Acts chapter 8 we might ask the question of whom speaketh
the psalmist this of himself or of another man well the psalm
is of course prophetic it's a psalm of David and doesn't Peter reminds
us in his sermon back in Acts chapter 2 that as a prophet David
does speak of the Lord Jesus Christ and he speaks of Christ
in this prophetic psalm. It's a messianic psalm and we
see that certainly at the end of the psalm where Christ is ascending to
heaven, entering into all the glories that await him after
the accomplishment of that great work that he had undertaken in
the eternal covenant. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lifted up, ye 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 ye gates, even lift them up, ye 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. Selah. Well, as we turn to the
psalm tonight for a little while, I would center what I say on
the question that we have at the end of verse 3. concerning
the Lord, who shall stand in His holy place? Who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand, who shall stand
in His holy place? And to consider how it is only
the Lord Jesus Christ who is able to stand in that holy place. And dealing with three headings
as we consider this particular statement at the end of verse
3, first of all I need to say something with regards to the
ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course, He could only ascend
because He had first of all descended. And doesn't Paul remind us of
His descent and then His ascension? there in his epistle to the Ephesians
in Ephesians chapter 4 at verse 8 he says when he ascended upon
high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men and then
the parentheses now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended
first into the lower part of the earth He that descended is
the same also that ascended up, far above all heavens, that he
might fill all things. He was eternally with the Father,
because He is the eternal Son of God. But in the fullness of
the time, God sends forth His Son made of a woman, and made
under the law, how He condescends, how He descends into this fallen
world how he humbles himself like it is the same one who descended
that has ascended and of course we have to recognize that every
aspect of his experience is so vital what we read in the Gospels
concerning his coming, his birth the record that we have of his
life. The great detail that is given over in the record of his
dying upon the cross and then his resurrection from the dead
and also his ascension again to the right hand of God. Now
all of these various stages of the The ministry of the Lord
Jesus Christ are so vitally important. And when he comes to his ascension,
what does he say to Mary there on the morning of the resurrection? I ascend unto my Father and to
your Father, to my God, and to your God. And so at the end of
the Gospels, that's where we find the Lord Jesus after showing
himself to his disciples for some 40 days after his resurrection,
these infallible proofs of the reality of that physical resurrection. And then he ascends, the end
of Mark's gospel, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was
received up into heaven, we're told, and sat on the right hand
of God. But it is Luke in particular
who seems to go into more detail with regards to the ascension
of the Lord Jesus. He, of course, like Mark, makes
reference to it at the end of the gospel, there in Luke chapter
24, and verses 50 and 51 he led them
out as far as to Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed
them and he came to pass while he blessed them he was parted
from them and carried up into heaven even At the end he is
there pronouncing his benediction, blessing his disciples and as
he blesses them he's taken up into heaven. But it's really
in what Luke has to say in the opening verses of the Acts of
the Apostles where he goes into some detail concerning the ascension
of the Lord Jesus. He makes reference to his gospel
The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus
began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken
up, after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandment
unto the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom also he showed
himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being
seen of them forty days, and speaking of things pertaining
to the kingdom of God. being assembled together with
them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have
heard of me. For John truly baptized with
water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence. When they therefore were come
together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them,
It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the
Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses
unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken
these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud
received him out of their sights. And as they looked heavenward
we see how angels came and spoke to them and assured them that
the same Jesus whom they had seen ascending would also come
again. The promise of his return, his
second coming. But how important is that ascension. He returned from whence he had
come. But there was a difference now,
of course, because he returns as the God-man. He has entered
into heaven in that glorified human nature, forever united
to the eternal Son of God. And there he appears in heaven
on behalf of his people. And so we have this question,
who shall stand in his holy place? It is the Lord Jesus, who has
ascended into heaven, but here we are reminded of something
of the glories of that Christ who has ascended. As I said,
he has returned to heaven, but he has also ascended as man. as the sinless man, as the perfect
man. Is he not the last Adam? The
first man we're told is of the earth, earthly. The second man is the Lord from
heaven and he is ascended as a man and perfect. And we're reminded here of the
perfections of the Lord Jesus. How He is that One who is faithful
to all that He has undertaken in the eternal covenant. At the
end of verse 4, He hath not sworn deceitfully. There are a number
of matters that are set before us concerning His character in
this fourth verse. And amongst them He is One who
hath not sworn Deceitfully there was that eternal council of peace
between the father and the son that's spoken of in Zechariah
6 and verse 13. There was an eternal covenant
that was entered into by the persons in the Godhead. the great
covenants of redemption in which the father sends the son and
the son willingly comes to accomplish the salvation of sinners and
then as the father sends the son so having accomplished that
work that the father had given him to do the son then gives
promise of the Holy Ghost the very things that he is reminding
his disciples of in that portion that we just read at the beginning
of the Acts of the Apostles. And the Holy Spirit in that covenant
willingly agrees to come as the Spirit of Christ. Not to speak
of himself but to take of the things of Christ and to reveal
them. These are the covenant engagements of the Blessed Trinity,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And now we are reminded that
as the Lord Jesus Christ comes in the fullness of the time,
so he comes as that one who will do all the will of his Father. He comes as the Father's servant. Behold my servant, he says, whom
I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put
my Spirit upon him. Or didn't the Spirit agree in
those eternal councils that He would come and anoint the Son
manifest in the flesh? He is the Anointed One, He is
the Christ. And as the Father speaks of Him as His servant,
so He speaks of Him there in Isaiah 53 as His righteous servant. Behold, He says, My righteous
servant, by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify
men he is righteous in that he fulfills all righteousness as
he is made under the law so he honors that law and he magnifies
that law by his willing obedience to all the commandments of that
law of God and remember how Paul speaks of his obedience writing
in the tenth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews and he's making
reference really to the language of Psalm 40 which again is a
messianic prophecy of Christ. And there in the 10th chapter
of the Hebrew epistle, verse 5, Wherefore, when he cometh
into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure, then said I, Lo, I come. In the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. What is the volume of the book?
It is the book of God's decree, it's the book of the covenant.
All those things written therein concerning the coming of Christ,
and amongst those things what we have here in the psalm concerning
his ascension on high. Or doesn't Christ come as that
one who is the great messenger? of the Covenant. That's how we
find him there at the end of the Old Testament in the opening
words of Malachi 3, the very last of the prophets, speaks
of that messenger of the New Covenant. And then in the epistle
to the Hebrews, Paul repeatedly makes mention of the fact that
he is the mediator. The mediator of the New Covenant,
Hebrews 8, 6 and 9, 15 and 12, 24. Three times the Apostle speaks
of him then as that one who is the mediator. And he is the mediator
of course between God and men. Between God and all those that
the Father had given to him in that eternal covenant. David
said, He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure. Oh, this one is faithful, he
hath not sworn deceitfully all that he undertook, all that he
promised in that eternal covenant he has accomplished." And so
those comforting words of Isaiah 55, I will make an everlasting
covenant with you says the Lord God, even the sure mercies of
David. Behold, I have given him for
a witness a leader and a commander to the people well this is that
one then who is able to stand in God's holy place, the one
who has not sworn deceitfully but has done all that he undertook,
all that he promised in terms of that eternal covenant but
then also see how in verse 4 we are reminded of the purity of
the heart and soul of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him there was
such an inward holiness. We read here of a pure heart
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity. He is so holy within. It's the Lord Jesus, isn't it?
He reminds us of those things that defile the man as he rebukes
the Pharisees or the Pharisaic religion, it's all on the outside
it's all a matter of show, it's all a matter of rituals ritual
washings and so forth and they're ready to criticize the disciples
of Christ because they don't observe those rituals that they
made so much of And Christ says, those things which proceed out
of the mouth and come forth from the heart, they are the things
that defile a man. But there was nothing of defilement
in Christ. There was no original sin in
the Lord Jesus. How the angel tells his mother
Mary, the virgin, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also, that holy
thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. That holy thing that human nature
conceived by the Holy Ghost miraculously in the womb of a virgin. Or we can say in the language
of Psalm 40 which I referred to just now quoted of course
there in Hebrews chapter 10, Yea, thy law is within my heart. How God's law was within his
heart. It wasn't just a matter of the
externals of a righteous life. He was all holy and pure within Then writes Isaac Watts, says,
thy life was pure without a spot, and all thy nature clean. Oh,
he was a sinless man. He is the last Adam. The first Adam was a sinless
man, as he came pristine from the hand of his maker God. and
the woman that he made for the man taking a rib out of Adam's
side and presenting to him his wife she was a sinless woman
we read in the third chapter of Genesis how our first parents
sadly transgressed how the first man Adam fell but not the last
Adam Christ's human nature It was
always His will, as we were saying at the Lord's table only last
Sunday. How His human will acquiesced
in all the will of God. I came down from heaven, He says,
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that has sent
me. And all that that cost Him. all
the strugglings of his human soul, O my Father if it be possible
let this cup pass from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done
he will do the will of the Father he will accomplish all that work
that he has promised to undertake and fulfill all righteousness
the purity of his heart and his soul that inwards holiness but
then also the obedience of his life all the righteous deeds
that he accomplished and we have it here at the beginning of verse
4 he that hath clean hands who shall stand in his holy place
is the question he that hath clean hands and a pure heart
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfulness
What do these clean hands speak of? They speak of his righteous
deeds. When Peter is preaching in the
house of Cornelius, he speaks of him who went about doing good. All he ever did was good. Never
one bad deed. Everything good, holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. Obedient. And not only obedient
throughout his sinless life, but also obedient in his sin-atoning
death. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He was that righteous man, that
just man. And He suffered and died the
just for the unjust. Oh, He willingly takes to Himself
all that sin of His people. They were the unjust, they were
the transgressors. All their sin reckoned to his
account imputed to him, and he suffers as their substitute.
The great doctrine, of course, of substitutionary atonement. Here then are something of the
glories of the one who was ascended. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? And then we have this wonderful
description of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 4, and then again
in verse 5, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. Oh, how the Father
has vindicated him, how he is that one who is declared to be
the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead. and as the father has owned and
acknowledged him in the resurrection so also in his ascension and
that's what we have here of course in the last four verses of the
psalm the everlasting doors opened the gates lifted up the king
of glory entering into heaven itself and so thirdly
here we are to take account of his session now in heaven at
God's right hand who shall stand in his holy place Hebrews 9.24
answers that question Christ is entered heaven itself it says
now to appear in the presence of God for us for us all that
Christ did was all that Christ did and is still doing is for
his people. He is a public person. Remember, he is the mediator.
He is the mediator of the new covenant. He is the surety of
a better testament. He has taken upon him the responsibility
of a surety on behalf of his people. He is a public person, that's
what we have to recognize. and do we not see it here in
the psalm notice in verses 4 and 5 we have the the singular pronoun he he shall receive he that hath
clean hands verse 4 he that hath clean hands and a pure heart,
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully,
he shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness
from the God of his salvation." We have these muscular, singular
pronouns, he and his. Clearly it's referring to an
individual, but then when we come to verse 6, we have the
plural, them. This is the generation of them. that seek Him, that seek Thy
face, O Jacob, Selah. He has done all of this for this
particular generation, even those that the Father has given to
Him. He mediates to them all the blessings
of His accomplishments here in the earth he has overcome all
he has overcome is sin and satan he has overcome death and the
grave who is this king of glory the lord strong and mighty the
lord mighty in battle he has vanquished all he has vanquished
all the powers of darkness or death where his eyes sting or
grave where his eye victory The sting of death is sin. The strength
of sin is the law. But Paul says, thanks be to God
who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is ascended. And who is he
ascended for? He is ascended for men. They
were descended on high, says the Psalmist. They were led,
captivity, captive. They were received gifts for
men. Yea, for the rebellious also." And those words in Psalm
68, as you know, they're taken up and they're applied clearly
to the Lord Jesus Christ there in Ephesians 4 at verse 8 following. He is the one who has ascended
and He has ascended for His people, the generation of them that seek
Him. All Christ has accomplished,
all their salvation, The sinner's justification, of course, is
altogether in him, in that righteousness. By him all that believe are justified
from all things that they could not be justified from by the
deeds of the law. That's the apostolic gospel that
we find Paul preaching there at Antioch in Pisidia in Acts
chapter 13. by Him, by the Lord Jesus Christ,
all that believe are justified from all things that they could
never justify themselves from and that was Paul's great desire
to be found in Him or that man who was once such a self-righteous
pharisee and thought he was blameless touching the righteousness of
the Lord then when he saw that he was a transgressor that he was a man who was guilty
before that holy righteous and just Lord of God then his desire
to be found in him not having mine own righteousness which
is of the Lord he says but that which is through the faith of
Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith for this one
that hath clean hands who has fulfilled all righteousness but
not only the sinner's justification all of salvation, the sinner's
sanctification also Paul says to the Corinthians of him are
ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption that as it is written he that
glorieth let him glory in the Lord not just clean hands, not
just righteousness but a pure heart Or those who are in Christ, are
they not partakers of the divine nature? Do they not have a new
nature? Are they not a new creation?
All things are passed away, all things have become new. Peter
says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature. All that seed that's in the child
of God can never see. And so we read in another psalm,
Psalm 45, of the king's daughter. And she's all glorious within. She's sanctified. She's all glorious
within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. and she shall be brought before
the King in robes of needlework. She is glorious within, she is
glorious without. And that's why we can come and
stand in the presence of God and present our prayers because
for us there is now a way made open whereby we can come within
the veil or when he died was not the veil of the temple rent
in two the way into the holiest was made open and when we come
we enter heaven we are made to sit together in those heavenly
places in the Lord Jesus Christ that's our blessed privilege
to come where He is, and to plead His name, to plead His merits,
and to be assured that the Father will not refuse us, but He will
always hear us for the sake of His well-beloved Son who has
pleased Him in all that He has done. Who shall stand in His holy place? Well, we can come By the grace
of God in our Lord Jesus Christ we can come and present tonight
our prayers. The Lord help us then in all
our coming and the Lord be pleased to hear and answer us in all
our petitions. May the Lord bless his words
to us. Let us before we do turn to the
Lord in prayer sing Our second praise in the hymn 119 and the
tune St. Agnes, 218. Great God, from Thee there's
naught concealed, Thou seest my inward frame. To Thee I always
stand revealed exactly as I am. But since my Saviour stands between
In garments dyed in blood, Tis He instead of me is seen When
I approach to God. 119, Tune 218.