Our text is in Psalm 24. But. Just thinking about that. that verse of scripture that
says, A zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. And we can apply that to Christ when
he went into the temple where they were selling turtle doves and so forth for
sacrifice for the people people's offerings. He was selling different
things for gain, for money. They had made the temple a place of business. It's a business place. It was
just a common, everyday place of buying and selling and so
forth, rather than a house of worship. And he planted that
whip, you know, the cat of nine tails, and drove them out and
said, the house of prayer, you've made
it a den of thieves. You've made it a place of great
gain and business transactions, and there's no worship of God
going on. And I thought about this verse
also that says, Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house
of God, and be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice
of fools. And what is that? He'll go on
to say here in a moment, a fool's voice is known by a multitude
of words. There's much going on today in the name of God,
in the name of Christianity, much so-called worship, which
is really just man-exalting, man-honoring, and a lot of foolishness. And he calls it here the sacrifice
of fools. They consider not that they do
evil, making the house of God a den of thieves for their own
gain and their own glory, the name of men. He says, Be not
rash with thy mouth. Let not thine heart be hasty
to utter anything before God Almighty. For God is in heaven and thou
upon the earth. Let thy words be few." Now, here in Psalm 24, I said
that because we major on and we dwell upon the holiness of
God. our holy God. And we exalt this holy God who
dwells in light, unapproachable, the Scripture says, because he's
worthy, because that's who he is. That's what the Bible describes
him as being. And we've met him, and I don't mean to come across as
being hard or without compassion. I don't mean
to portray, display God as being austere and unmovable. Yet, there's only one way to
approach this God. There's only one way, and it's
not by what this generation says, just
rushing up and accepting Jesus as your personal Savior. That's
not Bible salvation. That's not worshiping God. And
I wonder how many people have gone from Psalm 23 to Psalm 24. Psalm 23 is a blessed, blessed
psalm. But it's written to believers.
The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord, when you say that word,
Lord, that name, that implies the sovereign ruler and controller
of all things, the almighty God who does according to his will
in the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of earth, and none
can stray his hand or say, what doest thou, who works all things
according to the counsel of his own will, who gives not account
of any of his matters. He doesn't consult anybody as
to what he does. And the psalm says, he's my shepherd,
my kind leader and guide. And it's sung in this psalm,
it says, he's our friend. I've been the blood of everybody.
The Lord is not everyone's shepherd. He is to a believer, to a regenerated
man or woman or young person. That's a blessed privilege. But
an old preacher once said, Rothbard once said, you can't have Jesus
as Jesus until you bowed to him as Lord. Now, many people say
that, Jesus is Lord, but they don't define it, they don't clarify
it, what it means for him to be Lord. That means over all
things, not only providence and creation and our lives, but he's
Lord over salvation. He gives it to whomsoever he
will. Old preacher, he said, you can't
have Jesus as Savior until you've bowed to him as Lord. And I wonder
how many people have just scanned across the page from Psalm 23
to Psalm 24. It's immediately afterward. And
Psalm 22 is the scripture that describes the passion of our
Lord. Well, there's not a clear declaration
in all of God's scripture of God's sovereignty and of Christ
in the way of acceptance with this God in Psalm 24. Not a clear
passage in the scripture of God's sovereignty and his Christ and
how we approach him. Look at it with me. It's going
to be verse by verse here. Look at Psalm 24, verse 1. The psalm of David, who was a
man after God's own heart, when David said, The earth is the
Lord's. It's not man's. It's the Lord's. The earth. Who is the Lord? The Lord Jesus Christ. All things
were made by him and for him. The earth is the Lord's. It's
God's. It's Christ's. They're one and the same person.
and the Holy Spirit, three gods. There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these
three are one. One person, one Lord, one God. The earth is the Lord's. It's
not man's. It's God's. It's his. We live
here. Men live here. We boast of our
possessions. We take and divide them into
countries. We take countries, divide them
into states. We take states, divide them into
counties. We take counties, divide them
into cities. We take cities, divide them into communities
and subdivisions. And we put our rulers here and
there. We stake our claims to these various places. People
claim the lands, the farms, the houses, the possessions and all,
but it's not ours. None of it. according to God's
Word. It's the Lord's. We're merely
tenants here, subject to eviction at any notice. Like that fool
who said, I've got me great gain. I want to tear down my barn and
build big, bigger ones. God said, you fool. Tonight,
your service is going to be required. Then whose things shall these
things be? Same persons they were when he thought he had them.
The Lord's. The earth is the Lord's, and
we issue our title, deeds of ownership, but after all is said
and done, it belongs to him. It belongs to him. We don't own
anything. We're squatters without rights. You've heard of squatter's rights?
We've squatted here. We don't have any rights, though.
And we're subject standing and kicked off at any notice. The great landowner of heaven
laughs. at the title deeds of puny worms. This is kind of like an army
of ants. I bought a piece of property.
Listen to me. That's our nature, isn't it?
I rented a piece of property. Maybe I bought a piece of property.
Built my house on it. What if an army of ants came
walking up on my property while I was there? And they said, they
elected a leader and all, and he said, he stuck a little toothpick
in the ground. This is ours! You get out. What would I do? I'd laugh. If I didn't, I'd laugh first,
you know. I might let them go on and amuse
themselves. I might. out of the goodness
of my heart, but it's mine. That's how absurd mankind is
concerning this earth. Look at it. He says the earth
is the Lord's. It's not mine. It's not yours. It's the Lord's.
Everything you own that we work so hard to accumulate, and when
it's all said and done, we'll lose it in the end. The earth
is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof—the fullness. God never
did anything halfway. When he made the world, he made
it well and good. He saw the world and he says,
good. He made everything full. The air is full. Billions and
billions and billions of animals and insects and human beings
and so forth have been breathing this air, even plants. You take
them in this air, it's still full. It keeps going. And it
always will be. He made it full. The fullness.
Eons of time, we've been partaking of God's water. It's God's water.
It's full. It remains full. The ocean, we
haven't begun to deplete the ocean. We haven't begun. The
rivers and the seas and the forest. How many houses and things have
we built? How much furniture and so forth
have we built out of the trees? He'll never deplete God's forest. He made it full. But it's all
His, the Scripture says. It's all His. Not only the earth,
but everything in it, all the fullness thereof. He says here,
now look at this, get a little more personal. The earth is the
Lord's, everything in it, and most people won't acknowledge
that. Yeah, okay, God made the world, that's it. And the fullness,
everything in it, yeah, yeah. God made animals and plants and
trees and all that, and they're all his, that's right. And the
world and things that dwell in it, There he is. Oh, wait a minute. I'm my own man. I know. That's
the way the God of the world is, you know. He brought me here.
That's what it says, doesn't it? The world and they that dwell
therein, all, where he is by creation. He created us. Where he is by decree. God hath
given him all things, all power over all things. We're healed
by purchase. Christ died, and rose, and revived, that he might
be Lord. Because we're both the dead and
the living. You're not your own. Scripture says you're bought
with a price. We're healed by reign, by his
rulership. All creatures are his. Now, you may be a son of God,
you may be, Scripture says, a bastard. If you're not sons, you're bastards,
Scripture says. If you're not called by Him,
adopted by Him, then you're bastards, Scripture says. You're not His
at all, you're illegitimate children. Children of the devil, Christ
called them. But you're still in God's power, belong to God. You may be a sheep, you may be
a goat. who butts all the time. Butt,
butt, butt, butt. I don't like that. Butt, butt, butt, butt.
He may be a sheep. I like that. He may be a vessel
of mercy or a vessel of right. You're still his vessel to do
with as he pleases. That's, that's the way he is. I don't apologize for it. I like
it that way. I like moving in God's hands.
Yeah, I do. The world and they that dwell
there in him, they're the Lord's to do with as he seems fit. Yes,
as he seems fit. Look at verse three. For he found
it. He made it. He created it. He started it. He thought of
it. He created it. Now if I create something, if
I build this house over here, humanly speaking, it's mine. I can do what I want to with
it, can't I? I can decorate it up. I can wear it down. Can't
I? It's mine. Can I? I brought me a car. I
can do anything I want to with it, can't I? It's mine. Can I?
Didn't God say, cannot I do with mine own as I will? Did he? Did he say that? He did. Terry Kennelly, you belong to
the Lord. Can he do with you as he will?
Yes, he can. Yes, he can. Can he save you
or damn you? Yes, he can. Does he have to
save you? No, he doesn't. If he gives you
what you deserve, what will he give you? Damnation. All his sin that comes short
of the glory of God. We've all gone astray by faith.
He does not have to save anybody. And you see why we exalt this
holy God? You see why we approach him like
this? See, he doesn't have to save
anybody. And God in his holiness, in his pure character, according
to the Scriptures, is unapproachable by mere mortal man. We can't
approach this God in and of ourselves. We're sinful. We're unrighteous. We're unholy. Scripture calls
us, says, from the crown of our head to the sole of our feet.
There's no soundness in us. It says we've all come short,
way short of the glory of God Almighty, of what he demands
of us, his perfect holy righteousness, holiness and righteousness. And
we cannot come to this God like this. Can't do it. And God in
himself is a consuming fire, the Scripture says. If you try
to come to God in yourself, I've lived a good life. I've been a religion. I've tried the best I can. Can't do it. Can't do it. Well, how are we going to approach this
holy God? That's what he says here. He says he's founded upon
the seas and established upon the floods. He's telling us there
and back to tell us not to take refuge here. Not to take refuge. We're on sinking sand. These
refuges, the Scripture says that man's built up a refuge of lies
in his religion and so forth, and thinks that God is all love,
and God just wants to and can't, and if you'll let him, and that's
not according to Scripture, it's a God of their own imagination,
and they think they're just going to, when they die, they're just
going to rush up to God and say, here I am! It won't work that way. It won't
work that way. That's not the God of the Bible.
Now look at verse 3. He says, Who shall ascend in
the hill of the Lord? It's like Mount Sinai. Everybody knows
the story of Moses when he went up to that mountain to get those
tables of stone, that revelation of God's holy character, that
it must be perfect, absolutely perfect to be accepted. Christ
took those commandments. He said, You've heard that you
shall not commit adultery. You've heard that. He said, You
think about committing adultery. You've already done it. You're
guilty. He said, You've heard it says that you shall not kill?
God said that? You've heard that it says that?
You help somebody without a cause. You get angry without a cause.
You're in danger of hellfire. Didn't he say that? It must be
perfect to be accepted. And that law that God issued
upon that holy mountain was a revelation of his holy character. That mountain
trembled at his prayer. We read a prayer in Psalm 99.
The mountain trembled at the presence of God. The mountain
trembled. And all the people said, Moses,
you better speak to God. Don't let him speak to us. And
Moses went up there, and even Moses, this man of God, went
up there. And God said, take your shoes
off, get on your knees, get on your face, and Moses got on his
face. And then he said after all said that, he said, now get
in the rock if you want to hide you in a rock. You can't see
me. You're a sinful man. You cannot
be in my presence. The only way you can be anywhere
close to me is in the rock. You see, mankind has messed up
God's will, has rebelled against God's rule, has been ungrateful
for all that God has done, has not given God thanks, come short
of the glory of God. That's what it means, not to
give God thanks, come short of glorifying God for all that we
have and all that we are. Let me illustrate that once again.
My wife used to fix me plate lunches when I used to go to
work every day on the railroad. She used to fix me plate lunches.
And one day she fixed me my favorite plate of food, roast beef, mashed
potatoes, and biscuits, and I think corn. And I settled on the table,
on the lunch table in there, and went out to work. and came
back in. We didn't have a refrigerator,
so I just had to put it on the table. I went out to work and
came back in at lunchtime. I was looking forward to eating
that lunch. It was my lunch. She fixed it
just for me. It was mine. Mine. And I was looking forward to
eating it. I came in, and there it was. And I took the aluminum
foil off of it, peeled it back, and it was black. It was covered
with ants. I mean, just a mass of ants. Oh, they were consuming my lunch. They had messed up my lunch. It was mine. It didn't belong
to them. It's mine. And I looked down,
and those ants were making a, they had a line all the way down
the chair of the table of that, the leg of that table, all the
way down that table leg, across the floor, and I followed it. And there's a line of ants. Boy,
they were having a heyday. They was coming and going, coming
and going, you know. They were telling their friends, come on.
And I walked, I followed that side, and it went outside, and
it went to a trash can. That's where they were living
evidently, in garbage. They were making their refuge,
their home, in a garbage can. And not only that, but they had
messed up my lunch. I got furious. I got what we
call a fusee, a flare. You know these things you break
and it catches on fire, burns red hot. I took my lunch and
dumped it in that trash can. and set the trash can on fire.
And then I took that flare and burnt every ant I saw. I walked all over the yard burning
up ants. Do you think I was cruel? Do
you think I was hard and unreasonable? It's my lunch, wasn't it? My lunch. They had no right whatsoever
to it. Now if they'd asked me, do you
have a little bite of your lunch? I'm very merciful. I was a cheerier,
but only more so, more than a naked hand. But they proceeded to mess
up my lunch. And not a one of them said thank
you. Not a one of them. So I brought
them all up. But one. After I thought I'd burned all
the ants inside, I set it on the beach. sat out on the bench
and looked down and there was another ant. Now my fuse had
burned out. And I started to grab another
one and set him, set his little rear ant on fire. But you know
what he did? He crawled under a rock. And I burst out into tears. I thought, you stand in that
rock now and you're okay. You've been done like everybody
else, haven't you, little ant? You've messed up my lunch, and
you haven't thanked me like you should, have you? You're still
in that rock, you're okay. You get out of that rock, I'll
burn you alive. And ladies and gentlemen, we've
messed up God's world. Sin, And you and me have been
unthankful, unholy, unrighteous, rebellious. We're still that
way. We still don't thank God enough, we ought to. We still
don't acknowledge God in all that we have and are. We're still
messing up his world, aren't we? And this God is consuming fire.
There's only one way you're going to be safe from this consuming
fire. It's to be in a rock. to be in,
and that rock is Christ Jesus. Now, let me explain. Who shall
ascend in the holy hill of God, it says, and who shall stand
in His holy throes? Look at verse 4. He that has
clean hands. Clean hands. That is, you've
never sinned. The only way that you can come
to God Almighty is if you have never, ever, ever in your life
sinned one sin. Ever! That's what that means,
clean hands. Then it was said, who's going
to ascend into the hell of the Lord? He would have clean hands.
Not a speck of dirt on your fingernails, not a spot on your rectum anywhere,
not even in your baby you couldn't have cried without a just reason. A little child, every event against
your parents, ever think of that? Faith in thought, word, deed,
it's perfect! Oh, you're not going to stand
in his presence. And have you seen it? Clean hands. And look at this, it goes even
further. And a pure heart. Never even thought about sinning. Never, ever looked on another
woman. Never, never told a lie. Never thought of any evil. Always
thought of good, clean, pure thoughts all of your life. And
look at this, "...nor lifted up his soul on the bank." Never
ever done anything, thought anything, but what was absolutely for the
glory of God. The glory of God, the presence
of His gospel, the love of the people, the love of God. Always,
all your life, going about doing good and righteous and holy things
just for the glory of God, consumed by the love of God and His glory.
Always, all your life, every minute, every hour. Never done
anything idle, ever thought an idle word. Never looked up to
serve, vanity, uselessness, never done anything useless. Wasted
time. Scripture says, If thou, Lord,
shouldst mark iniquities, who shall stand? Not me. Huh? How about you? Who's going
to stand? I can stand before that. Can
you? Look at this. Nor sworn deceitfully, one who has and does always speak Never a murmur, never a complaint,
always thanksgiving and praise to God Almighty. That's the glory
of God. He said all sin will come short
of that glory. Who shall stand? Only those with
clean hands, pure heart, haven't lifted up their soul, done anything
useless or idle, never spoken an idle word. Who's going to
do it? Huh? Not me. Not you. Well, this is verse 5. Whoever
does that, he shall receive the blessing of the Lord. Acceptance. Salvation. He said,
when you preach, you know, you're making this thing impossible.
Yes! With man, it is impossible. You can't do anything. to make
yourself accepted by this Holy One. Anything. Repentance won't get it. Your faith won't even get it.
Clean hands, pure heart, never lift up your soul, never sworn
deceitfully. Whoever does that will receive
a blessing from the Lord and righteousness. That is, God shall
say, you're righteous. You're accepted. Come on in. The God of His salvation. Well,
what if I shut the door? said, you're dismissed. Who shall? One man has. Just one man. There's only been one man that's
ever done it. One man. The Lord Jesus Christ. That man. That man who God said,
I approve of him. He's never, ever sinned. Never, ever sinned. He has a pure heart. Pure, clean, holy. Even as a child, as a child,
as a young man, as a middle, as a man my age. Lifted up his
soul unto man, never did he a useless thing, never thought an idle
word, an idle thought, never, ever, totally, 100%, 24 hours
a day, every minute of every day, perfect. Always did those
things that pleased heaven upon him. Never swore deceitfully. Always
spoke the truth. He said, My words are truth.
Truth. And the scripture says, He shall
receive the blessing of the Lord. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness. God said, I'm afraid of you.
I approve of you. I accept your person. This man. This man. No other man. Not that man. Not that man. Not
that woman. This man. And everybody that comes to Him,
by the way, everybody that gets in Him like that rock, everybody
that comes and says, like I said, if those ants would just come
up to me, now listen, if they would just come up to me and
say, listen, we're sorry. And I thought about it. When
I sat there, I thought, if I could just become an ant, And go down
there and tell them what they've done. Maybe they'd listen. And warn them to flee from the
wrath of God. To get over there and get a rock. And if they come to me, we're
sorry. Would you please have mercy on us? We're just angst. I'd have probably said, okay.
Okay. We'll get another rock anyway. And the scripture says, all that
call upon him, the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ.
They see their desperate condition before this holy God. They see
what they've done. They see God in His holiness. They see them
and their sins and their rebellions. And they call upon Christ? Christ! Help me. And when God sees us, He doesn't
see what we've done, our sins. He only sees that righteousness,
the cross, covers us in His blood. He died on that cross to pay
for the punishment that we deserve. Scripture says the soul that
sins must surely die. God will by no means clear the
guilty. God said, if you sin, you'll die, because I'm holy,
and that's what the law requires. And we've all sinned, so we have
to die. He died for some people. He died for them. Shed His blood
on our behalf. And if we get to Him by faith,
look to Christ, please, He'll cover us up. And we'll stand. We can stand in His presence.
And He said, what do you know, Harry? I'm with Him. Oh, come
on in. Come on in. Verse 6. This is the generation of them
that seek Him. This is the generation of them
that seek thy face, O God of Jacob. This is how people seek
Him. This is how people come to Him. It's the only way, through Christ.
And you see, we're not going through any... We don't have
robes and crosses and choirs and sing just as I am a hundred
and twenty times, a bed for somebody to come. We just got the naked
Word open to full people and said, this is what God's Word
says. This is God. This is you and me. And there's
Christ. Now, you've got to get to Christ. And we go through all kinds of
rigmarole and need all kinds of helps and all that to make
people feel religious or do this, do that, just trying to point
men to Christ. There's a rock, and you better
hope God gives you eyes to see Him and to see that rock and
get in Him real fast by faith. Cry out unto Him. Hide me. Hide me. Oh boy, it feels so helpless,
a subject like this, but that's the generation, that's God's
people. Every one of them, every person
that's in heaven right now, every person that's going to heaven
right now has come the same way. Not by their religious works,
not by living a good life or being a certain way or doing
or not doing. By looking. Like Moses talking
about that serpent on the pole, by looking. and living. Christ. There's only one password in
the head, Christ. My only hope, Christ. And that's the generation of
people that seek him and that are standing beside him now,
holy, righteous, unblamed one, reproved one his side, because
they look like Christ. God put them in Christ. Well, spiritualize with me just
a moment now. let you go. Look at verse 7. Suppose, you know, the way to
God was shut to natural man. The bars of God's justice wouldn't
allow me and Ian for thousands of years. Nobody was granted
entrance into heaven. But sin, it separates, the scripture
says sin separates us from our God. God can't look upon us because
we're Even the sun and the moon are not pure in his eyes. How
much more is man which drinks iniquity like the water? For I suppose the gates of pearl,
as Scripture calls the gates of heaven, were rusted, and nobody
had been in. No man. And no man has walked
in that gate, or by himself. No man. The doors were shut fast,
and nobody was able to please God, to keep His law, and nobody
has. Nobody has. Nobody was able to do His will,
and God disapproved of all men and women, and He has. Oh, it's fallen, it's come short. Well, the Scripture says here
in verse 7, but wait a minute. Verse 7. Lift up your heads.
Wait a minute. Everybody said, wait a minute,
here comes somebody. through these gates, through
this holy gate of God, this heaven. Here comes somebody walking up
here. Wait a minute. Lift up your heads. Somebody's walking in the gates.
It can't be. Now you've got to have a clean
head. Who is it? It's the Lord Jesus Christ, a
man. He comes walking up through the
holy presence of God, a man. This is why Christ came, to be
a man. So you and I, as men, as women,
can go up to this holy God. And this man walks in, says,
open the gate. What right have you got to say
that? He shows up his hands. They're clean. He opens up his
bosom. His heart's pure. And His Word, grace pours from His
lips, never sworn to sin. He lifts up his soul on the face.
And they just have to open those doors. Amen. Who is this? He looks like a
king. He's got a crown on his head.
Who is it? Verse 8. The Lord. None other
than the Lord himself. Well, I thought God was on the... There's God too. God on
the throne. God as man. The Lord. Strong. He was able
to do exactly what the Scriptures required of him—mighty. He defeated
all the foes of sin, Satan, and flesh—mighty in battle. So he
says unto us in verse 9, Lift up your heads. Don't be bowed
down with a sense of despair because of your sinfulness. Lift
up your heads, O you gates. Lift them up, you everlasting
doors, and this King of doors is coming in. He's coming in.
He's coming in. In verse 10, and I ask you again,
who is this King? Just who is He? He's the Lord
of hosts. Look behind Him. Here comes this
man walking in. Holy, righteous, immaculate,
awesome man. The Scripture describes Him over
there in Revelation 2. hair as white as snow, and his
feet as fine as brass, and his eyes as shone as the sun, and
all its countlessness as the sun, and all its strength, he
comes walking in. And right behind him, thousands and millions and
millions of people, hosts, the scripture says. And maybe you,
you might be right behind him. Hold on to the robe. That's how I'm going to him.
I speak as a man. I speak by way of illustration. But I'm holding on to that road
with His righteousness. If I let go, I'd be up among
the rock, you see. If we get in, pass through those
gates, through the river of death, and we become like Him, instantly
we become like Him and never need fear again. We become like
Him, like Christ. Then God sees us as His And we
enter into the everlasting salvation life that's in Christ
because of Him. See, it's all because of Him.
Because He is clean hands and a pure heart. Never lifted up
His soul in abandonment or sworn deceit. Because of Him. Because
of Christ. Not because of you, you, me,
or anything. Not because the preacher prayed.
Not because you prayed through all night? No, no, no, no. only because of what Jesus Christ
did. It's your only hope, that's my
only hope. Now, that's the good news. That's about as clear as
I can make it. The Scripture is very clear,
every passage of the Scripture. The Lord is host, he's the king
of glory. We started out, the earth is
the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and the world and day that dwelleth
therein. You're his to do with as he will.
I don't mean to be hard. but just truthful, that God can
save us or damn us. It's His prerogative. We belong
to Him. In Christ, though, is love. God loves the people in
Christ, and He does. Outside of Christ, He's a consuming
fire. The wrath of God abides upon
the ungodly. He's angry with the wicked every
day. So the best advice that I could possibly give, based
upon the Scriptures, is give to Christ. How? Go home and ask him how. That's how. Stand with me. I'll dismiss this
in practice.