I wonder how many people have
gone from Psalm 23 to the next Psalm, Psalm 24. Many people
use Psalm 23 quite often, but the succeeding Psalm, Psalm 24,
is what I will be dealing with this morning. It is one of the
clearest declarations of God, the God of the Bible. in his
true character, in his sovereignty, and of his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, in all of God's word. One of the clearest declarations.
And I hope you will look at it with me, or at least listen carefully. Verse 1 of Psalm 24 reads like
this, The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the
world and they that dwell therein. The earth is the Lord's. It's
not man's. It belongs to the Lord God. It
belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Lord. Men live here and
boast of their possessions, but it does not belong to them, really.
Men divide continents, countries, countries into states, states
into counties, counties into cities, cities into subdivisions,
People lay claim to lands, farms, ranches, and houses, issue their
title deeds of ownership, but after all is said and done, the
earth is the Lord's. The only part of this earth which
will become ours in the end is a six-foot hole in the ground. We don't own anything. We are
tenants here, subject to eviction by the Lord of the land at any
time. We are squatters without rights. The great landowner of heaven
sits and laughs at the tidal deeds of men to his earth. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, it says. the fullness thereof. The Lord
has made all things well and good, and He has made all things
full. The air is full. Animals, man,
plants breathe it, yet it remains full. Soil is full. You dig it, mine it, rape it
or ravage it, yet it remains full. The rivers and the seas,
water, remains full in spite of every living creature on this
earth, dependent upon it, drinking it, using it. They remain full. Let not anyone be concerned about
depleting this earth of its natural resources. No, we need not worry
about that. I believe God is going to burn
it up before we use it up. But He made it full, the fullness
thereof, the world, and let men worry about the destruction of
the earth by fire and not by our abuse of it. Well, the fullness
thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. All souls
are mine, God said. All things, the whole creation,
was made by God. He's the creator of it, and therefore
He's the owner of it. And the scripture says in Romans
that to this end Christ both died, buried, and rose again
that he might be Lord of the dead and the living. Jesus Christ
reigns over all creatures on this earth, and he decides who,
what, where, when, and how. He is the owner of it, and therefore
he does with his own as he pleases. and they that dwell therein."
Everything about this world belongs to the Lord. Verse 2 says, "...for
he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods."
He hath founded it upon the seas. Well, the world is two-thirds
water. There is less land than there
is water. And the Lord made it that way as if to tell us that
this is really a shaky ground that we're upon. That we are not to take refuge
here, because these are sinking sands, but rather we should look
for our eternal refuge on Jesus Christ, the eternal rock of Asia. He established it upon the floods,
and surely that is a reference to the deluge or the flood in
Noah's day. Our Lord mentioned that in Matthew
24. He said, As in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of
the Son of Man be. And Peter said in 2 Peter chapter
3 that men are willingly ignorant of not only creation by God,
they refuse to believe that God made this world and therefore
is the owner of it and we're answerable to him. They not only
refuse to believe that and accept evolution as fact, but they refuse
to believe that there was a flood, which is proof of God's utter
and absolute hatred of sin and his just punishment of sin. So they refuse to believe that.
and certainly refuse to believe that the same Lord who destroyed
the world by water will someday destroy it by fire. Well, let
the pot-shirred strive among themselves. Let unbelievers continue
in their unbelief, but surely He will come. He has established
it on the floods itself. Look at verse 3 with me. In verse
3, he asks the question, who shall ascend into the hill of
the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place? Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord, which is speaking of heaven itself, or the place
where God dwells? Who will go up to God's heaven? Who will be with God someday
throughout eternity? Who will stand in His holy place? Psalm 130 says this, If thou,
Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who shall stand? Who is going
to stand before God someday, accepted by Him? Who is going
to ascend or to sit at His right hand and to dwell in His holy
place? Who will God allow to live with
Him forever? Who shall be in His presence
forever." Well, he goes on to say who it will be. In verse
4, he says, "...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." All right, read that with me
again. Listen very carefully. Who shall ascend unto the hill
of the Lord, or God's heaven? Who shall stand in his holy place? Why, he that hath clean hands,
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. Now, lest someone out there who
is listening to this say, well, that applies to me. I have clean
hands. and a pure heart. Whoa, just
a moment. God seeth not as man seeth. Man looketh on the outward countenance,
but God looketh upon the heart. The Word of God, the Scripture
says, is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This
perfection which God is describing here must be in thought as well
as deed, must be in motive as well as action. Well, he says,
he that hath clean hands, that means has never sinned, never
actually committed any sin. He that hath a pure heart, that
is, the heart has never thought any evil or foolishness, but
been purely for God's glory, never lifted up his soul unto
vanity, that is, loved God perfectly without any ulterior motive or
self. never done, said, or thought
anything but that which pertaineth unto God's glory, that is, never
lifted up his soul unto vanity, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. He goes on to say, he that hath
not sworn deceitfully, that is who is going to be in God's heaven.
One who has and does always speak the truth, never spoken deceitfully. Well, who can do that? Who has
done that? Why, the Scripture says, there
is none that doeth good, no, not one. There is none righteous,
no, not one. The Scripture says there is not
a just man on the earth who doeth good and sinneth not. Who can
do it? David, the writer of this psalm,
says, I was brought forth from the womb speaking lies. In sin
did my mother conceive me, the Scripture says. Scripture says,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Scripture
says, every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Well, who
is this talking about? Who is going to ascend unto God's
heaven? Who shall stand in His holy place? Well, it says, he that hath clean
hands, a pure heart, never lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. Who is this talking about? Well,
it is only talking about one person. There is only one man
who ever lived who qualifies for that. Only one man who can
ascend under the hill of the Lord. Only one man shall stand
before God, holy, righteous, and pure in God's sight, and
be told, enter in by virtue of your holiness, and that's the
Holy One, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Christ came
to this earth as a man. He came to do what God requires
of us by nature. Clean hands, pure heart, no vain
soul-seeking, no liars. And Jesus Christ came down here
not to show us how, because we can't do it perfectly, but he
came to do it as a substitute for his people. He did it as
a substitute for his people. And what this is called is establishing
righteousness. Jesus Christ established this
perfect righteousness as a substitute for the elect of God, those whom
God chose before the world began and gave to Christ in a covenant
of redemption for him to come down to this earth as their substitute
and live this perfectly pristine, holy, pure life for them and
impute it Read Romans 4 for yourself. The whole chapter is about imputed
righteousness. This is what Jesus Christ did
on behalf of His people. Not all, but rather His people. Call His name Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. Not all men and women, but His
people. Not who will let Him, but those
whom the Father had given Him. and he imputed this perfect righteousness
to them so that they will one day, in Christ, by faith in Christ,
and that faith is not of themselves, Ephesians 2 says, it is the gift
of God, and they shall be accepted in the Beloved, Ephesians 1,
6, accepted in him, found in him. They will be considered
by God in Christ their substitute as having clean hands, a pure
heart, never lifted up their soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully."
And verse 5 goes on to say, "...he shall receive the blessing from
the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Yes,
all blessings are in Christ, and this righteousness comes
from Christ, who is our God and our Savior. Verse 6 says, "...this
is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face,
O God of Jacob." This is the generation, true seekers, those
who truly know and understand something of what David is saying
here. The absolute requirements of
God's holy law upon us will see their need of Christ and his
righteousness. And they will not be ignorant,
as Paul wrote in Romans 10, of some who go about to establish
their own righteousness, thinking themselves to be holy when God
requires something much deeper than our outward obedience. And
they will see their need of Christ's righteousness to be their own,
and Christ's blood to pay for their sin. And they will not
go about to establish their own, but will believe Christ unto
righteousness. Read the book of Romans. That's
what the whole book is about. The righteousness of God which
is in Jesus Christ by faith. And the generation of His people,
those that will stand with God someday, They look to Christ
and Him alone for this so great salvation. I hope that is you. I hope you see your need of Christ
and His work. Until next Sunday, may the Lord
bless His Word. Amen. Thank you.