Again, the message will go to God in prayer again. Every time I hear that song, the thing that stands out the most is the honesty of the songwriter. Thy faithful servant I would be. But as hope was, by thy hand you leave me. I mean, There's no arrogancy there. Your faithful servant, I will be. He didn't say that. Oh, I would be. And my hope is that he leadeth me. I have a lot of scripture that says he does. I have a lot of promises that says he does lead me. He guides me. I want to remember those that are sick.

We just got the text from Tia that Marvin, did you hear anything this morning? I didn't hear anything this morning. Marvin Stoniker had a seizure, as far as we know. Huh? They weren't sure. Well, they weren't sure. There was no brain bleed, right? Right.

That's one of the important things, but pray for him. Pray for his family. I had just asked him if he would come to our conference, so we don't know about that now. That may be, or sets a long ways off anyway. But pray the Lord would be gracious to heal him and raise him up again. I really enjoy his friendship. He is a wonderful friend to me. And also, I spoke with Gabe Stoniker this last week, and he extends his love and appreciation to you. as well.

So pray for that family. I ask you to pray for me as I desire to preach the gospel to you. I stand in need of his spirit, of his power, of his grace, of his words. I don't want to give you my words. I really want to speak what he has for you. And then pray he speaks to you.

There's no benefit to hear me. Is that just so? There's no benefit to hear me. I don't have anything. I don't have any power to take this and make it effectual to you. I can't put it in your heart. I can't put it in your mind. And yet that's what I'm charged with. I'm charged to take these things I've preached them to you, but I can't make them effectual. So, except the Spirit of God come, there's just no benefit.

Pray for your family, pray for my family, that God be gracious to open the blind eyes. How many blind people do we know? How many dead people that we love? Let us be faithful to pray for them and never cease as long as they live, as long as we live. Don't faint. Don't be weary to pray for them.

He's not weary to listen to you. That's a joy, isn't it? He's not weary of hearing me. I get weary of hearing me. I don't like listening to me. But because of Christ, he never grows tired of hearing me. That's a joy we should embrace. So pray for those that we know have no interest in the things of Christ. I do pray God would keep us. Any other requests need to be mentioned that I'm forgetting? Cindy, Joanne's niece, pray for her. I'm sure there are others. but just ask the Lord's blessing upon them. Let's go to him in prayer.

Our most gracious Father in heaven, we bow ourselves before you. We lay ourselves low in the presence of omnipotence, in the presence of absolute holiness. We bow ourselves to you only covered in the blood and righteousness of your son. And I know in that blood and righteousness we are welcome before you. We come boldly making our request known to you. We have many. We are a needy people. so full of other sorrows and griefs and pains, weakness and unbelief. Our old man of sin is about our necks pulling us away.

Be merciful. Be gracious to us. Send forth the Spirit. He should teach us the things of Christ. Comfort us. Give us peace. Restore again the joy of our salvation. Hold us in your hands. Lift us up. Cause us to rejoice and give thanks to Thee for the great salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. Set our eyes on Him this morning. Set and fix our eyes upon His perfect person and His work. Set our eyes upon His victory, His success for our salvation. cause the things of earth to grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.

Those of our friends and family, those of our kin who are dead. We lay them before you, Father, seeking only what you can give, life, faith, Something that men can't have in themselves and they can't work out in religion, that only you can give. Please give it today. Forgive us our sins, cast the cares of this life away in this moment and exalt Christ. We pray this in his name and for his sake. Amen.

All right, if you take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 24. Psalm 24. I've entitled this message, The Rule and the Triumph of Jesus. The Rule and the Triumph of Jesus. Now, David begins this Psalm, he says, The earth is Lord's, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods." Now, by way of introduction, I want you to see, by God's grace and power, how the Holy Spirit has put together the Word of God so that it flows together in its exaltation of Jesus Christ. This book is a book concerning Jesus Christ and His perfect person, His perfect work. If you go to Psalm 22, you see the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the very first verse, you see these are the words of Christ upon the cross.

He said, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? And we know the answer to that is because He bore our sin in His own body on the tree. The scripture says, for God hath made Him to be sin for us. And as a result of Him being made sin, God forsook Him. God punished Him. God in justice slew His own Son for our sins. You see the suffering Savior. You see how he died so he might reconcile us to God. And then you see his victory. Look at verse 24 of that chapter and you see his victory. Look at this.

For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Who's the afflicted? It's the Son of God. He was afflicted. And God said He didn't despise the affliction. Why? Because His affliction actually accomplished something. You see, a man could suffer his whole life. He could suffer all eternity for his sin and never satisfy the justice of God. But this man, look what he did. God did not despise the affliction of the afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried, he heard.

He heard him. Remember what he said? It is finished. You know, God heard that. God heard that. He heard his cries. And God raised him from the dead and notice this, my praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. This is speaking of his resurrection.

After he suffered, listen to what he said. He said, I'm going to come to my own. I'm going to come in the congregation. And what does he do in the congregation? He exalts God. He glorifies God. In the midst of the congregation, I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

What does this mean? It means that he's going to save us. That's what it means. Isn't that what he vowed? Isn't that what he promised? He promised to save us. You know what he said? I'm going to pay my vows. I'm going to do what I said I'm going to do.

And so now he is risen at the right hand of the father and the scripture says this, all power is given to the son for what purpose? That he might give eternal life to as many as vows given to him. So we see the death and the suffering of this and the promise. Look, verse 27, 28. I don't want to spend all my time on this. Look at this.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord. This is the bringing in of all his elect from wherever they are. Remember, he loved his people, not all men without exception, but listen, all men without distinction. And what does he promise? They'll remember. They'll remember. And they will turn to the Lord all the kindreds and nations shall worship before thee for the kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among the nations. He rules all things after the counsel of his own will to save his people.

Then you go to Psalm 23. What do you see there? You see the suffering Savior. Now what do you see? You see the shepherd. You see the shepherd. Scripture said we all like what? Sheep have gone astray and turned everyone to his own way. And here's our hope, the hope of the sheep. The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. You see, He is the Great Shepherd of all those who are found of Him. All those that believe on Him. Listen, He suffered for our sins and now He comes to us as the Great Shepherd.

And the great shepherd calls his sheep, and he calls them by name. He knows who they are, and he calls them, and they, what? Make a decision. I'll tell you, there is no more foolish notion in all the world as that. No, God, when he calls his sheep, when he calls his sheep, they come. They come. No, that's all right, baby. When he calls his sheep, they're going to come. And we see that God has a chosen sheep. He said that. He said, I've come to give my life for the sheep, to lay down my life for the sheep. And He said, Other sheep I have that are not of this fold, them I also must bring.

And so as He brought you this morning, are you His? Do you believe on Him? Then listen, He is not only your suffering Savior, He is your great Shepherd. And what is the promise? The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. You that have Him as your Shepherd, what do you lack? Tell me something that you really lack. Do you lack righteousness? You feel like you do. Do you? No. Do you lack the acceptance of God? No. He's all my acceptance with God. You lack peace with God?

No. He's all I want. He's my joy. He's my peace. He's my comfort. He's my shepherd. And as the shepherd, he protects us. He guides us. He leads us. You know, He leads me by the still waters. You realize sheep, they can't drink from running water. They have to drink from still water. And so the Lord leads us to a place where we're able to drink. We're able to find comfort and peace and we follow Him.

So we see how the Lord in these two shows us Christ, our suffering Savior and our Shepherd. Now then, in our text, look at your text, and I want you to see this, that now David, would have us look from Him being our Savior, our suffering Savior, and our Shepherd, now that He would have our eyes to turn to heaven. Because after our Shepherd suffered, where did He go? He went into heaven. He's seated now on the right hand, Paul says, of the majesty on high. David would have us look at the risen Savior. the successful Savior.

And I've got three points this morning I want from this text, and may the Lord give them to us this morning. First of all, I want you to see the glory and the dominion of Jesus Christ. If we can see this, then we're not going to be discouraged by any other faith. If we understand that, we're not going to be discouraged by it. Why? Because He did it, whatever it is. the Lord and His dominion. Second of all, I want us to see the perfect acceptance of Christ, our Savior, His perfect salvation. You know what I need? I don't need a partial salvation. Do you? I need a perfect one. Well, that's good. because Jesus Christ has made our salvation perfect. And thirdly, I want us to see the glory of Jesus Christ as King, as King.

And notice this in your text, the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, and they that dwell therein. Listen, for He, He hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods. Believer this morning, behold, your Savior is not just a man, He is the God-man. He is God, very God. What does that mean? That means He is sovereign ruler over all things. The earth is the Lord.

And listen, not just the earth, in general, the fullness thereof. Everything in it. And not only that, the world, and listen, the men that dwell in it. Not just the trees and the plants. Men don't mind that. They don't mind you saying God rules over plants and trees and seasons. And you can say, well, thank the Lord. It's a beautiful day outside. Oh, it's raining. We know God sent the rain. Yeah. Oh, that's true.

But he's not sovereign just over those things. He's sovereign over you. And not just you. Everyone. I think it's a great display when that child came in here this evening. You know who's ruling that child? God did. I don't know why. Does it really matter? We all belong to Him and He rules us. It's not a loose rule. It is a sovereign rule. He rules over all things. Why? He created them. It is His right to rule them. Scripture says in Colossians 1 verse 16, For by Him were all things made that are made.

In heaven and earth, Visible and invisible. Man, does that not cover everything? Everything you see and everything you don't see. That's His. He made it. Now I'm going to tell you why. Whether it be thrones or dominions, principalities, powers. Listen, all things were created by Him. And listen, listen to this. For Him. Not for you. We think that. They're created by him and for him, for his pleasure to do with us as he pleases.

A man by nature is so corrupt, so corrupt as to suppose that God's will is in some measure under his own, that man has a free will, that God rules over everything except himself. That's what man believes. If you trace this out, I don't care which religion you go to, they all have this as a premise, man has free will. You go to Catholic Church, they believe man has a free will. You go to the Baptist Church, they believe man has a free will. Pentecostals, Buddhists, Islamists, they all believe man has a free will, that God is somehow subject to his will. No, that's a lie. Why?

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, and they that dwell in. They belong to Him, and they are His property. We belong to Him. When the Lord Jesus ascended, is that not what I just quoted? He said, Thou hast given Him power over all flesh.

See, man is bound. He's not free. He's bound by his nature, and he can only do what's in the confines of his nature. Now listen, a man can make a carnal choice, but even these choices are not free. A man cannot choose what he don't know. Isn't that right? It's just simple, isn't it? He can't choose something he doesn't know. He can't choose something that's outside of his reach. So his will is what?

It's not free. It's not free. It is subject to God. It is subject to God. God has written this, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand it. How could a man choose something he doesn't understand? There's none that seeketh after God. How could he seek a God he doesn't know? He can't. So regardless of how men feel about it, all men belong to Him.

Listen to what He said in Ezekiel 18 verse 4. He says, Behold, all souls are mine. You ever heard that? That people sell their soul to the devil. What a foolish thought and statement that is. As though their soul belongs to them and they can sell it to whom they will. God says, No, your soul belongs to me. Your soul belongs to me. It's mine. As the soul of the Father, so the soul of the Son, the soul that's in it, it shall die.

And listen, all things are for His glory. All of this that is His sovereign providence, His sovereign rule over everything is for His own glory. It's for His own glory. Remember in Romans chapter 9, Paul reveals this, right? This sovereign election of God.

He said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. You're going to say to me that's not fair. Is that not fair? Is God unrighteous? God forbid. He told Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So then, it is not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy.

And then he shows Pharaoh as an example of that, right? Pharaoh. He said this, have I not raised thee up that I might show my power in thee. See, is there anything else? God said, I raised this man up for one purpose, to destroy him. Pharaoh had no other purpose. Do you not see the sovereign hand of God? Now, the world hates this.

The church loves it. God's people love it. This is what the church sings in Revelation 4. When he's talking about the 24 elders, he's talking about all the Church of God. Listen to what the Church of God sings. He says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are created. You that believe, don't you know that? That the Lord rules over all things. All things belong to Him. Remember he said that in Isaiah chapter 46 in verse 10? He said that he had determined all things from the beginning. And the things not yet done say my counsel shall stand and I will do what? What will God do? Now ask that. Be honest. What is God going to do? Well, I'll tell you what he's going to do. All his pleasure. All his pleasure.

Psalm 115, verse three, the heathen asked, where's your God? Isn't this so when tragedy happens, when difficult times come? What do the heathens say? Well, where's your God? Oh, we got an easy answer for that. He's right where he's always been. Our God is in the heavens. You know what's happening here? He did it. He did it.

I remember that. when 9-11 happened, there was massive amounts of preachers on television, and that was always the question of the week. Where was God, and why didn't he stop it? And they just hee-haw around, they couldn't figure out how to answer that question. Milton Howard preached a message after that, and it just stuck. He said, I think he preached from Deuteronomy 36. He said, it is, I am the God that kills and makes alive. So what happened at 9-11, who did that? You listen, God did.

Men don't like that. Does it really matter? What if you shake your fist and you're blue in the face? What does it matter? You'll just die. You'll just die eventually. When God decrees you'll die, you'll just die. And all your shaking and all your rebellion will do nothing.

Why? For the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof, and the world, and they that dwell therein, they belong to Him, and He'll do with them as He pleases. Now why is this a comfort to the believers? Well, we who believe, let us by faith know this, that he is ruling all things after the counsel of his own will, and he tells us what he's doing. When the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, you know, you call me Lord, that's right, I am your Lord. But you know what? I'm also your friend. He said, a friend tells what he's doing. another friend what he's going to do. He said that's what I'm telling you. I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do. Go to Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah chapter 29.

What causes fear in the world should cause comfort in the believer. God's sovereign rule causes fear in the world. But for us, it should cause our hearts to be settled. Because God has told us what he's going to do. Look at this in verse 11. Jeremiah 29 verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you. When something bad or evil happens to us, we assume we understand God's thoughts, which is to destroy me. That's what we assume. We assume God set out to destroy me. Wait a second. God says this.

Who are you to tell me what I think? Who are you to put that on me? I know what I think. And I'm going to tell you what I think. Look at this. Say it to the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil. Now what is your God doing for you? What are his thoughts towards you? He who rules all things. What is his thoughts? His thoughts of you Our only peace. His thoughts of you, his will, his decree is, listen to this, to give you something, what?

An expected end. Is there anything greater than an expected end? Something you know is going to happen? I mean, what causes us fear is that we don't know things, right? Well, I know the end. You that believe, you should know your end should be expected. Which is what?

Righteousness, peace with God, eternal life, joy. These are unexpected ends for every believer. See that our circumstances, our lot by no means is accidental. Our sickness, our weakness, our joys, our pleasures, our pains are purposed and ordained of God to give us what? An expected end.

I'm going to give you this Ezekiel in Ezekiel 1 and I think in Ezekiel 10. He's given a vision two times of the wheel within the wheel. It's a vision and inside this wheel spinning forward, rolling forward that the scripture says it's full of eyes. It sees everything. This is this is the providence of God. The providence of God is the wheel that moves forward. It doesn't turn to the right. It doesn't turn to the left. God never changes his mind. God doesn't say, oops, I made a mistake. And he turns. No, he's always what he determined in eternity.

That's what's taking place in time. This is the wheel. And there is a wheel within the wheel. And I like this. There were actually four. And it seemed like that the wheels all inside the wheel were spinning in all different directions. I thought of it looked like an atom. You know, you see the loops and that, but inside this wheel that these wheels were just going in this direction. How many times do you think the wheel, your wheel spinning this way, you think it's going to go this way and then whoop, it goes back that way. Just like the wheel within the wheel.

But guess what? It's all under the umbrella of God's providence moving in one direction so that it doesn't change. It doesn't turn. So what? If we believers look at the providence, if we look at the circumstance, we're confused. We don't understand. We think it's going this way and all of a sudden it goes this way. We think God changed. No, no. That providence is within the wheel of providence. It's moving forward. And so what is the remedy in these times? It's knowing this, to look at the hub. Don't look at the wheel. Look at the thing that doesn't move. And this is the thing that doesn't move. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And all they that dwell in there, all time, all providence, belong to who? Who does it belong to? It belongs to the Lord. And what is He doing with it? He's saving his people. Now I know this, you and I don't see these things. What does that matter? Faith doesn't have to see it, does it?

Faith believes it. Faith trusts. So our suffering, now listen to this, our suffering has meaning. Because it's ordained of God for our good to give us an expected end, it all has meaning. It all has purpose. It's not random. It's not by chance we suffer or that we hurt or that we find joy or that we have peace. It's all ordained of our God in his sovereign control for our good and our benefit and our salvation. This should bring you comfort that he rules all things. So fix our minds upon the point that does not move, which is what?

Our Lord Jesus, who is our suffering Savior, who is our shepherd, is also the risen Lord who controls all things to save me. Now, the second purpose is this. I've got other things here, but I'll move on. The second point is this. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only acceptable Savior. Look what he says. Go back to your text. Not only does he sovereignly rule over all things for our salvation, but he has accomplished our salvation. Look at this.

David asks this question, he says in verse 3, Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place? Now, as he looks up to heaven and he sees the risen Savior sitting on the throne ruling all things after the counsel of His own will, sitting in holy omnipotence, he looks within himself.

Isn't this what happens? When we see the holiness of God, we then immediately look within ourselves and what do we see? We see nothing but sin. And so the question must be asked, if He who rules all things and all things belong to Him and He will judge all men, how then may we be accepted? Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord or who shall stand? in His only holy place. Seeing the earth and all creatures are belonging to Him, how shall we be able, who are sinners, to be able to stand before Him? Listen, He says this. He gives us the answer. Who's going to stand before God? Listen to this.

He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully. excludes all men. When Adam walked in the garden, he without fear communed with God, but in the day he sinned, he lost all communion with God, he lost all understanding, and all his race then from his firstborn till now are born dead in sins. So then who shall stand in the presence of God? We know this, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart.

You know that narrows it down? You notice he didn't say they that have clean hands and a pure heart. He said he. This narrows it down to only one person. There's only one who's had clean hands and a pure heart. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only man.

Cheryl and I were talking the other day about this and she made that statement, what his enemy said, never a man spake like this man. Now that was his enemies. You know what Pilate said right before he killed him, right before he crucified him? He said this, I find no fault in this man.

Jesus said, which of you convinces me of sin? Could you do that? Could you walk up to somebody and say, man, I'd like you to show me one sin that I've done? Wouldn't take them long, would it? Jesus made that challenge. He said, which of you convinces me of sin? Why?

Because he is the only one who has clean hands and a pure heart, Jesus Christ. Robert Hawker wrote this, he said, where shall we look among the fallen sons of Adam to answer this description? All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is one man, there is one man and his name is wonderful. He hath been found worthy as a representative of our poor nature, both to ascend and to dwell before God, even Jesus Christ.

Jesus told us no man hath ascended to the Father. Isn't that what he said? Who shall ascend in the heel of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? Our Lord said this, no man hath ascended to the Father, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven, he hath ascended. What does this mean?

It means this, that Jesus Christ, by his obedience, obtained righteousness acceptable to God. Scripture says in Romans 3, verse 22, that even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. How can a man then be accepted with God only by the righteousness of another man. Isn't that how we became sinners? Wherefore it is by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. Paul says, Even so by the righteousness of one shall many be made righteous. Behold Jesus Christ who has now ascended because he obtained my righteousness. He earned it. And not only this, he brought with him his own blood as payment for sins.

Over in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 9, Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11, But Christ, being common high priest, good things to come greater and more by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands. That is to say, not of this building. What are you talking about? He's talking about his body. That's a perfect tabernacle, wasn't it? Perfect in every work and deed. Look what he said. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in. How many times? Once. How many sacrifices did he need to make? One. How many times did he offer his blood? One.

He entered into the holy place once, having, listen to this, obtained eternal redemption for us. Got it. As you look to heaven, And you see him seated on the throne? You know this, that he alone ascended to the hill of God as our representative, as our high priest. And you know what? Because of his clean hands and his pure heart, look what happened. Go back to your text. Look what he received.

He shall receive the blessing of the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. He received the blessing. Isn't this the covenant promise that he made? Scripture says that blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with what?

All spiritual blessings in heavenly places. And where are they? They're in Christ. Why? He obtained them. He earned them. All spiritual blessings. All of them. Eternal life. Peace with God. Redemption. Sanctification. Justification. Righteousness. Reconciliation. Anything you can name in salvation.

That's the blessing. I think he says in Galatians that it is called the blessing of Abraham. What was the blessing of Abraham? Let's look at that in Galatians. Look over there in Galatians and read it with me. Galatians chapter three. Look at verse, uh, um, You see, it's verse 13.

It says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Curse is everyone that hangeth on the tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. What was the blessing of Abraham? That his sin was not counted to him. Abraham believed God and Righteousness was imputed to him. Righteousness was charged to him. That's the blessing that Christ received for us.

And now, as he sits on the throne, what is he doing? He's ruling. He's ruling all things after the counsel of his own will. To do what? To give eternal life to as many as the Father gave him. That's what he's doing. He's ruling to give eternal life. Why? He received the blessing. And now that blessing is given to us. What is that?

Righteousness, even righteousness from the God of His salvation. Oh, believer, consider His success, His victory on Calvary. And lastly, I want you to see through verses 6 and 10, I want you to see the triumph of the glory of the King, the King and His glory. Look at verse 6.

This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob." Notice he turns from him to them. Pronoun changes. He hath clean hands, he hath a pure heart. Look, and he received the blessing of the Lord, righteousness from the God of his salvation. And notice this, this is the generation of them. You see, everything he got, He gives to the generation of them that seek Him. Notice that, seek Him. Isn't that against our nature?

Scripture says, no man seeketh after the Lord. There's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand it. Listen to this, there's none that seeketh after God. You see, we weren't seeking God until God came to us. And by the power and grace of his spirit, he gave us life. And what is the first thing we did? We sought him. We knew our sin. We knew our need. And we saw Christ as the only hope. And what did we do? We fled to him. Why? Because he gave us a new heart, a new nature by which we fled. And now we fled to him. We are the generation of them that seek him. That's who we are. We seek Him. For what? To be all our salvation.

And notice what He says in verse 7, Lift up your heads, O you gates, lift them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. This has to do with the procession of the Ark of the Covenant. When David had rightly brought the Ark back, remember he did that stupid thing and he put it on a cart the first time. But the second time he came through, He put it on those staves like God told him the priests carry the ark. They sang and they made offerings and a big procession. And what is he saying?

Let the gates be open. The king of glory is coming in. You imagine the procession when Christ rose from the dead. Can you imagine the glory of heaven as the gates opened and the king rightfully came into his possession. And he came and regally sat down on the throne of God, ruling all things. And the praise of all the angels, of all the saints, sang out. Lift up, you gates, open wide. The King of Glory has come in. Who is this King of Glory? There is no doubt in the mind and heart Of God's people, there is no doubt who that man is. Jesus Christ, the Lord. How do I know He is Lord?

He is strong. He found Him to be strong. He was so strong that He raised this dead sinner by His word. He spoke. And I lived. Strong. Mighty. Is there anyone more mighty than Him? You think of all the struggles and enemies that you face in this life. Is there any more mighty than Him? Mighty in battle.

When I think of that phrase, I think of what Isaiah said, who is this that cometh from Bosra with his garments dyed? We know this, it is the Lord who fought for us. It is the captain of our salvation who tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone and has come forth victorious, triumphant, the king mighty in battle, who then shall stand in opposition to him to save us, who Who shall in thy presence stand and match omnipotence? Unfold the grasp of thy right hand and pluck the sinner thence. Who? Name Him. Name a trouble that'll separate you from your God. Name a difficulty that He cannot overcome to keep you. Name an affliction, name a sin that He cannot overcome that he has not overcome. Our Lord is mighty in battle. Verse 9, lift up your heads. Oh, my head seems to hang down an awful lot, don't yours? I seem to be in so much woe and misery that I just hang down all the time. I said, oh no, lift up your head. Lift up your heads.

Oh, your gates? Even lift them up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. You know, when I think about these gates, I think about Samson. You know, they had those gates blocking. They thought that would keep the people of Israel, and they could rule over them. You know, Samson comes up to those gates, and he just grabs that gate by the bars and pulls the post and the gates up, puts them on his shoulder, and he just carries them out.

That's what our Lord did at Calvary. He took all your sin, carried him away. He took all your unrighteousness, and he carried it away. He took all your unbelief, all your lust, all of your greed, all of your passions, and he bore them away. Anything that separated you from God, he took away. Lift up your head. The way is open, isn't it? It's open, it's wide open. Can't you go inside the temple now? The veil is rent. The way is made plain. You that believe, lift up your heads. The gates are gone. The bars are removed.

The King of Glory has come in. Who is this King of Glory? It is the Lord of Hosts, Jesus Christ. He is the King of Glory. He is the King of Glory. Yes, He's our Suffering Savior. Yes, He is our Shepherd, but He is also our God. You take comfort and you hold on to this no matter what takes place. You hear this, listen, He rules all things after the counsel of His own will. And this is to do this, not for your evil, but for your good. Why? Because he is a successful Savior.

He's done it. There's nothing left to do. Nothing left to add. No cooperative work here. He hath clean hands and a pure heart and received the blessing of his God. Ascended to the throne as our mediator. And now then, listen, he has come into glory as the risen Savior. He is the King. He is the King. Oh, that God would steal that in our hearts and stamp it in there. He is king. No votes needed. No election to be run here. He is king.

He's removed the bars and gates of our sins, and now it is open. For the vilest of sinners, it's open. Isn't that true? The vilest of sinners, it's open. The worst of men, come, trust in Christ. And listen to this, the king of glory shall come in. You know what, he's in heaven, but he's also in us, isn't he? He's in you. I pray that God would comfort us in our troubles concerning this and just grab ahold of this. All you can, hang on to this. And know this, He's just hanging on to you. He's hanging on to you. That's my hope, isn't it? That He's hanging on to me. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer.

Gracious Father in heaven, be so merciful to us. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for this text. Thank You for this glorious vision of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has ascended to the throne of glory and taken our sins away, established our righteousness and saved us and keeps us. Oh, that you would even now come and break the doors and bars of men's hearts and come in, give them faith. We pray this in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. I'm not talking so much about it.