If you would open your Bibles
now with me to Psalm 24. Psalm 24. This won't serve as our text
this morning, but you may want to mark it because we'll be referring
back to it in the message. Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
He hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand
in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and
righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation
of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, O God of Jacob. That's how that should be translated,
that seek thy face, O God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O
ye gates, and be ye lift 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. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, oh, how we desire,
as we've just read, to come into your courts and stand and be
accepted. We only dare come into your thrice
holy presence in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And oh,
how thankful we are that sinful men and women, such as we are
here this morning, can in Christ come in thy presence accepted,
have our prayers, our praise, our petition heard because of
who our Savior is, because of the person, the work, the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, how we thank you
for the Savior who whose sacrifice atones for the sin of his people.
How we thank you for a Savior who would love sinners so much,
would love those sinful people that you gave him to save so
much, that he would humiliate himself to come in the flesh
and to sacrifice himself to suffer and die for our sins, for the
sins that we've committed, that he would die the death that we
deserve that we might be brought to God. Father, how we thank
you. And Father, I beg of you this
morning that you would enable us to rightly exalt and lift
up the name of Christ our Savior. Father, enable the name of Christ,
the person of Christ to be exalted in the message. And Father, enable
your people by faith to see, to look to him and be saved. to look to Him and be comforted
and assured, to look to Him and find in Him everything that you
require of us. Father, how we thank you for
this blessed opportunity that you've given us to meet together
and to worship you. Thank you for a place that you've
given us, a place that's appointed, that's been reserved for your
people to gather together and worship. And Father, I pray you'd
never let us take this blessing for granted, that you cause us
to guard it carefully, that you cause us to be faithful to preach
Christ in this place to our generation. Father, we thank you for many
blessings. Oh, how richly you've blessed your people, and specifically
how richly you've blessed this congregation. It's beyond measure. Truly, it's more than we could
ever number. And Father, we're thankful. And Father, while you
blessed us so richly, we are still in these bodies of dust,
subject to the many trials and sorrows of the sin that's in
our bodies and in this world. And Father, I pray that you'd
comfort your people that you brought into the valley of trouble
and trial. We pray for Novi, Father, that
you'd touch and heal her body, Give the doctors and nurses some
understanding of how to treat her. Father, we pray for our
brother, Cecil, that you'd be with him in a special way. Be with him and his family. Comfort
their hearts. Father, heal and comfort according
to thy will. Father's brother, he needs you
especially. There's so many. They're deep,
deep, deep waters and heartache. Father, we pray you'd be with
your people. Comfort their hearts with your presence as only you
can. All these things we ask and we give thanks in that name
which is above every name. The name of Christ our Savior.
Amen. Right now, if you would, turn
in your Bibles back to 1 Samuel chapter 6. 1 Samuel chapter 6. I titled the message this morning,
Who Can Stand Before This Holy Lord? I took my title from verse
20 of 1 Samuel chapter 6. And the man of Beth-shemesh said,
who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall
he go up from us? Now that's the question, who
shall stand before this holy Lord? I want us to go back at
the beginning of the chapter and see what led up to this question
being asked by the man of Beth-shemesh. Now Philistines had stolen the
Ark of the Covenant. 1 Samuel 6, and the Ark of the
Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And
in those seven months, the Philistines moved the Ark around each of
their five different principal cities. Every time they would
move the Ark to a different city, the people of that city were
stricken with hemorrhoids and dysentery. So they finally thought,
well, we got to get this, the ark out of the cities. All these
people are suffering. So they sent the ark to the open
fields away from all the cities. Well, when they did that, the
fields were overrun with mice and they destroyed all the crops.
In verse two, the Philistines called for the priests and the
diviners saying, what should we do to the ark of the Lord?
Tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. And wherever
the Philistines took the ark, the people of that place suffered
so much. They said, we want to be rid
of this thing. How do we send it away from us? What they're
saying is there's no one able to stand before this holy Lord
God. How can this holy Lord God be
pleased? So he'll quit destroying us this
way. Who can stand in his presence? Well, here's my first point.
We can't stand in the presence of this holy Lord God by worshiping
an idol. Look back in chapter five of
1 Samuel. The Philistines, this is when
they first stole the Ark of the Covenant. The Philistines took
the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When
the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into
the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. And the Philistines
thought, well, the God of Israel He's a God, a deity, just like
our God, Dagon, so we're gonna set them side by side. We'll
cover our bases. We'll have God, we'll have Dagon,
everything will be good, you know? Just like people today,
the attitude of the flesh is still the same today. People
will tell you, it doesn't matter what you worship, who you worship,
just as long as you worship. Just worship your idea of God,
and we'll all worship our different ideas of God, and we'll all end
up in the same place. It's okay, just worship whatever God you
want, just whatever religious ceremony, just as long as you're
sincere, it'll all work out. Well, the Philistines found out
that's not so. Verse three. And when they of Ashdod arose
early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon
and set him in his place again. And the Philistines came to do
whatever morning rituals they do with their idol, and they
found Dagon falling face down before the Ark of God. Dagon
was falling prostrate at the feet of the Ark, the God of the
Ark of Israel. It was like Dagon was telling
everyone, I'm inferior to God. I fall down before him in the
dust and worship him and y'all be wise to do the same. Now there
he lay in the dust. Dagon can't set himself back
up, can he? They had to set him back up. They'd do it for him.
They set him back up in his place. And verse four, when they arose
early on the morrow morning, the old Dagon was fallen upon
his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord and the head
of Dagon. And both the palms of his hands
were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left
to him. The Lord showed them there's no idol can stand before
the true and living God. Dagon can't go anywhere and lets
men move him there. And wherever it is they put him,
that's where he's got to stay till the Lord knocks him down
before the ark. Dagon can't even stay standing
in his place. Not before the ark of God he
can't. It's obvious to everyone, Dagon doesn't have the power
to do anything. And not every man made idol is
the same thing. They're powerless. Dagon's head
and his hands were all cut off. He's powerless to do anything.
So verse six, the hand of the Lord is heavy upon them of Ashdod,
and he destroyed them and smote them with emeralds, even Ashdod
and the coast thereof. Now Dagon's hands were cut off.
Dagon's head was cut off. He's powerless. His hand was
shortened, but God's hand wasn't shortened. Oh, he destroyed this
place. He gave them these emeralds.
And what those emeralds are, they're a form of hemorrhoids. and they include a bloody dysentery
with it, and the people are in misery. They're in misery under
the hand of God. Now this is something. They had
the ark of the Lord God. They had the ark of the great
physician. They never did think to ask him
for mercy. They never did think to ask him
for healing. They didn't say, Now, they knew the Lord was doing
that. They knew the Lord of the Ark, the Lord of Israel. They
knew He was doing all this to them. It never crossed their
mind. You know, there's a prophet down
there in Israel, Samuel. They never thought to call Samuel
and get him to come up there and intercede for them. They
never thought to find out, how can I beg this God for mercy?
You know why they didn't? Because they're dead. Because
they're dead. Now this is a very good warning
to those of us of this congregation. This is a very well taught people.
You've been taught the word of God for years and years and years. Some of you in this room start
out and you're three years old being taught the word in Sunday
school. Probably you were taught some at home before even that.
All the way up to now, week after week after week. Month after
month after month, year after year after year, you've been
taught the scriptures. Here's the warning. There's a
great big difference in knowing about God and knowing God so
that you trust Him, so that you believe Him, so that you cast
your soul upon Him. We'll see this as we go through these chapters.
The Philistines knew a lot. They're diviners, they're religious
guys. They knew a lot about God. But
nobody knew God. Nobody was asking God for mercy.
Nobody was trusting God. So verse seven, chapter five.
And when the men of Ashtod saw that it was so, they said, the
ark of the God of Israel should not abide with us, for his hand
is sore upon us and upon Dagon our God. They sent therefore
and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and
they said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?
And they answered, let the God of Israel be carried about unto
Gath. So they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither. And it was so that after they
carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city,
the city of Gath with a very great destruction. And he smote
the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emeralds
in their secret parts. Therefore, they sent the Ark
of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the Ark
of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying,
they brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and
our people. So they sent and gathered together
all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the Ark of
the God of Israel. Let it go again to his own place,
that it slay us not and our people. For there was a deadly destruction
throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy
there. And the men that died not were smitten with emeralds,
and the cry of the city went up to heaven. Now, the Philistines,
this is what they found out, trying to move the Ark of God
all around. They found out there was no place
they could put that Ark, that God did not rule there. They
found out this about the God of Israel. He's sovereign everywhere. I mean, completely sovereign.
There's no idol anywhere. They're all powerless to help
them. And again, rather than beg for mercy, they said, let's
keep Dagon and get rid of the Ark of the Covenant. Who can
stand before this holy Lord God? He's destroying us all. Well,
what they found out is this. You can't stand before this God
by trusting in Ida. Can't do it. Second, we can't
stand before this holy Lord God by the motions of our religion.
Now look at chapter six, verse one. And the ark of the Lord
is in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines
called for the priest and the diviners saying, what shall we
do to the ark of the Lord? Tell us wherewith we shall send
it to his place. And they said, if you send away
the ark of God, the God of Israel, send it not empty, but anywise
return him a trespass offering. Then you shall be healed and
it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from
you? And they said, what should be the trespass offering, which
we shall return to him? They answered, five golden emeralds
and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of
the Philistines, for one plague was on you all and on your lords.
Wherefore, you shall make images of your emeralds and images of
your mice that mar the land, and you should give glory unto
the God of Israel. Perventure, he will lighten his
hand from off you, and from off your gods and from off your land?
Wherefore then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians
and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had wrought wonderfully
among them, they did not let the people go, and they departed."
Now these diviners, you see how they'd studied the Jewish religion. They studied their history and
they studied their ceremonies. They knew the correct form of
worship. They knew that, they knew the
correct form of religion, but they denied the power thereof.
See, they're just like all men. They knew they had offended the
holy God, but they didn't know how to appease him. All men instinctively
know this. Men are born into the world this
way. We know just instinctively it's
in us. God's put this in us. I've sinned
against God. Something's got to be done to
make this up. Something's got, it's not right between me and
God. Something's got to be done to make this up. That's why the
diviners knew there has to be an atonement. There has to be
an atonement. There has to be a trespass offering
because we've sinned against God. Now if you make an atonement,
you have this trespass offering, they said you'll be healed. But this is how dead in sin men
are. I mean religious men, people who have studied religion. Their
idea of the atonement was to make golden emeralds and golden
mice that were destroying the land and give them to God. Their idea of the atonement of
the trespasser was to make pictures of the sin and the disease that
was destroying them. All their study of religion all
their religious activity. And you know what they left out?
The most important thing. There's got to be a blood atonement.
There's got to be a blood sacrifice. Man by nature will always do
this. Go 180 degrees the wrong way. Instead of seeking the Lord,
instead of trying to find something that would picture Christ, they
used pictures of sin. for the trespass off. And in
all our works of religion, trying to please God, that's what we're
doing. We're trying to offer God our
sin to make a trespass off. Sin can only be put away by the
blood, by the blood of the sacrifice, and they left the blood completely
out of the equation. So we won't read all these verses,
but what the Philistines did is they put the ark on this cart,
and they got these cows to pull the ark back to the city of Israel.
In verse 19 of chapter six, first Samuel chapter six. And the ark
arrived at the city of Beth-shemesh. And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh
because they looked into the ark of the Lord. Even he smote
of the people 50,000 and threescore and 10 men. And the people lamented
because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great
slaughter. Now the ark arrives in Beth Shemesh. Now these are people who should
have known better. And the first thing they did was look in the
ark. They should have known better
now. This is part of the law. Only the high priest could ever
even see the ark of God. And he could only see the ark
once a year through a haze of burning incense. They put that
incense in the holy of holies and the high priest went there
to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat Once a year, only the high
priest ever saw the Ark of God, and it was through this haze
of smoke. They're going through this ceremony of religion. They
thought, well, we've got the Ark back. We've got the Ark back
in Israel. And their ceremony of religion could not please
God. It did not let them stand in the presence of God. So, verse
20, the men of Beth Shemesh said, who's able to stand before this
holy Lord God? And to whom shall he go up from
us? Now God's holy. If we've learned anything at
all in this story, if we've learned anything at all in all our years
of reading about God from the scriptures, God is holy. He's holy, we learned that God's
holy. He can't look on sin, he can't accept sin, God is holy.
Now I'll tell you what that means. No son of Adam can ever stand
in the presence of this holy Lord God in ourselves. So here's our question. Who should
go up for us? Huh? Who should go up for you
and me? We're not talking about Philistines and Israelites anymore.
Now we're talking about you and me. Who shall go up from us? We've sinned against God. Who
should cause God's wrath to go up from us? Who can intercede
for us? It's been proven none of us can
stand before this holy Lord God. Who can go up for us? Now, this
is an important question. How can we come into the presence
of God accepted? How can we do that? See, the
problem is we lost the presence of God. We lost fellowship with
God when Adam fell. When Adam fell, Adam died and
all of us died in him. When Adam fell, when he sinned
against God, God thrust him out of the garden He thrust him out
of the presence of God and we were thrust out in him. And every
one of us are born under the curse of death, under the curse
of Adam's sin. And ever since then, man has
been asking this question, how are we gonna get out from under
this curse? How is it I can go back to God and be accepted? Well, the diviners, the false
prophets of man's religion cannot do it. They can't tell you the
answer. You know why? They don't know
the answer themselves. They don't know the problem.
They don't know the right question. So they sure don't know the answer.
And the motions of religion can't do it. Let's never fall into
the trap of thinking we please God because, oh, I go to church
every Sunday and every Wednesday and I'm very faithful. You know,
God says about our motions of religion, All the motions of
religion that we do, trying to please God. You know what God
says? He said, there's smoke in my nose. They're offensive
to me. We're trying to please God by
what we do. Even the motions of religion
now, God says, it's not pleasing to me. It's offensive. Well, who then can stand before
this holy Lord God? That's the question Job asked.
How should a man be just with God? Something wrong between
me and God. How can a man ever be just with God? What can ever
put this enmity away? David, the man after God's own
heart, said, enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy
sight shall no man living be justified. Can't be done, so
don't enter into judgment with me. Well, how then came we stand
in the presence of this holy Lord God? Look back at Psalm
24. And David gives us the answer
to this question in Psalm 24. Psalm 24, verse one. The earth is the 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.
The earth is the Lord's. That's what the Philistines learned.
He's sovereign everywhere in the earth. It all belongs to
him by creation. He's the one, he's spoken into
existence from nothing. And everything and everyone who
lives on God's creation belongs to God. The earth belongs to
God and he rules over it. And that's why our Lord could
tell his disciples and to tell us, go into all the world and
preach the gospel. He could tell us to do that because
Christ owns the whole world. He's got a people from all over
this world, from every nation in this world, and He's gonna
save every last one of them. See, the Lord's sovereign. Their
sin and their rebellion won't stop the Lord from saving them
like it would an idol. You know, an idol, if you don't
do your part, well, you know, the idol can't help you, you
gotta do your part. Our sin and our rebellion and our inability
to please God won't stop God from saving His people. because
He's sovereign over them. And when we go into all the world,
this earth that belongs to God, we go into all the world, God's
given us a message to preach. The message of God's gospel is
we're sinners and we need a Savior. Now, is there a Savior who can
save us? Is there a Savior who can justify
us? Is there a Savior who can perform a miracle? and enable
us to stand before this holy Lord God? That's the question
David asked in verse three, Psalm 24. Who shall ascend into the
hill of the Lord God? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? I can't stand there. You can't stand there. We can't
satisfy God. This is what Dave is asking.
Is there one who can? Is there one who can satisfy
God? Is there one who can stand before
God and be accepted? David says, yes, there's one.
Now there's only one, but there's one. And he begins to describe
him in verse four. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul into vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. There's one that God will accept.
And here he is. This is my third point. The one
who stands in God's presence must be perfect. Must be. He
must have clean hands. He could never have used his
hands to see. He could never use his hands to shed innocent
blood. He could never have lifted up his hands to idols. The one
that God will accept has to have a pure heart, not just hands. He has to have a pure heart.
He's got to have a pure nature. He must be holy. His nature is
holy. Holiness is not just outward.
Holiness is not, well, I've quit acting on my sinful desires. Holiness is never having the
sinful desires in the first place. It's a holy nature. The one that
God will accept has to have a holy nature. He can't be shaping iniquity
like you and me. The one that God will accept
must never have sworn deceitfully. He could never make a promise
that he didn't keep. A promise to men or a promise
to God. He'd never make a promise that he didn't keep. Now who
is this describing? You know it's only describing
one, don't you? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only perfect
man who ever lived. Not only did he do no sin, he
knew no sin. He never thought sin. He never
wanted to sin. It's not like he didn't outwardly
sin, but he wanted to, but he didn't do it. He never even wanted
to sin. He's the only one who did no sin. Neither was any guy
I found in his mouth. He never told a lie to anybody.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who made a vow to his
father. and kept it, the only one. The son swore to his father
he would redeem his people from their sin. Father, you've given
me these people to redeem. I'll do everything it takes to
redeem them. I'll humiliate myself to become flesh. I'll make myself
to be born of one of my creatures under my very own law, and I'll
keep it. And Father, I promise I'll take
their sin into my own body on the tree. I'll sacrifice myself
to put their sin away." And he did it. How many vows have been
made to God in foxholes? How many have been kept? I bet
none. This man kept his vow. Look across
the page at Psalm 22, verse 25. My praise shall be of thee and
the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them
that fear Now the only one who could ever say that is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He made a vow to his father and
he kept it. So, verse five, Psalm 24, he
shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from
the God of his salvation. The son kept his vow to his father
in the covenant of grace and the father kept his vow to the
son too. The father gave the son everything he promised his
son he'd give him. He will receive the blessing
from the Lord. He'll receive righteousness from
the God of his salvation. He'll receive righteousness from
his father because he earned it. He earned it by his perfect
obedience. The father gave the son a name,
which is above every name. He gave him all the glory and
all the honor because he's the only one that deserves it. He's
the only one that earned it. He is the only one. Lord Jesus
Christ is the only one the Father will accept, standing in his
holy presence, and it's because of his perfection. Well, here's
the fourth one. The only people that God will
accept to stand in his holy presence are people who've been made just
like Christ. Verse six, this is the generation
of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O God of Jacob. Now, we just saw the description
of Christ, didn't we? He's perfect. He's holy. He's
sinless. He's pure. He's righteous. And
the Father accepts Him. The Father gives Him every blessing
because He earned it. He deserves it by His obedience
unto death. Now, the only way the Father
will accept you and me is if we are as perfect as Christ Himself. We've got to be as righteous
as the Son of God. Now, the miracle that the gospel
declares is this, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam, second
representative man, made all of his people to be exactly like
him, to be what he is. See, the first Adam, he made
all of his people, everybody he represented, he made them
all sinners by his disobedience. Whatever Adam did, we did. Adam
sinned, so did we. Adam was disobedient, so did
we. Adam died, so did we. We're born of this world just
like Adam. You don't have to go long to
figure that out. But Christ the second Adam made all of his people
to be just like him. By his righteousness, by his
obedience, he made his people perfect. That's what David's
saying here. That word generation he uses.
This is the generation of them that seek him. That word means
the description or the characterization. David says this is the description
of all of God's people. Here's how you can characterize
all of God's people. All of God's elect have clean
hands and a pure heart. They've never lifted up their
souls to vanity. They've never sworn deceitfully. They've never
sinned. Because that's what Christ made
them to be. Look back at Ephesians chapter
four. See, they're one with Christ. So they are what Christ is. When Christ causes them to be
born again, they're born with the very nature of Christ. They've
been made partakers of the divine nature. Ephesians 4, verse 24. And that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. That new man born of God in the
hearts of every one of his people is created in righteousness and
true holiness. This is not pretend. This is
not, well, God's just gonna pretend you're holy and righteous till
someday you are. That new man born of God is born
in true holiness, in true righteousness with a righteous nature. Here's how this directly affects
you and me. If you trust Christ alone, Are you trusting Christ
alone? I'm not talking about Christ
plus something you did. Not Christ plus your doctrine. Not Christ
plus your knowledge of the scriptures. Not Christ plus your morality.
I'm talking about do you trust Christ alone? Is he your only
hope? If he is, you stand accepted
before this holy Lord God. You stand there. You dwell there. You are as accepted and as loved
as the son of God himself, because he's our federal head. The father
accepts you and me as he accepts his son. Now that's amazing,
isn't it? That's a miracle of God's grace,
and we could never believe that so if it wasn't in God's word. It's just, it's too wonderful
to believe if God didn't say it, isn't it? And here's another
description of those people that God accepts. They're seekers. David says they seek Him. They
seek thy face, O God of Jacob. People that God saves, they seek
God. They're seeking His face. They're
seeking for something. You know why? Because they don't
have it. They don't know where it is.
I'm not seeking for this glass. Because I know where it is. I
know where it is. I'd still be thirsty if I didn't
know where that glass was. I'd be seeking it. God's people
are seeking righteousness because they know they don't have any.
I must be righteous. I must be perfect to be accepted
of this holy Lord God. I'm seeking righteousness. I'm
seeking Christ as my righteousness. because I need Him. I need Him. See, a true seeker, they're not
just seeking blessings. They're not seeking trinkets
from God. Now, I mean, whatever it is we
have in this life, materially speaking, God gave it to us.
We ask God to give us this day our daily bread, because we won't
have it if He doesn't give it. But these seekers, they're not,
with all their hearts, seeking just things of this life. They seek Christ. They're seeking
a person. Someone that God saves. See,
this thing is a union with Christ, a union with a person. They're
in love with a person. They trust a person. They want to be in the presence
of a person. I just don't want to know doctrine. I want to know
the person. I don't want to just know about
him. I want to be in his presence. I want to hear from Him. I want
to worship Him. I want to have fellowship with
Him. Seek Christ. Oh, if I can impress
this upon you. Seek Christ. If you do, you'll
find Him. If you seek Christ, you'll have
everything you need. Everything your heart desires.
You'll have righteousness. You'll have forgiveness of your sins.
You'll have peace with God. You'll have every spiritual blessing.
You know why? Because they're all in Him. Seek
Christ and you'll have it all. Heaven's gonna be filled with
seekers. Seekers and finders. Here's another promise from God.
If you seek Christ with all your heart, you'll find him. If you seek Christ because you
need him, not like, well, I'm gonna seek him in this, I'll
find out, you know, if you'll save me. If you seek Christ because
you need him, Because your soul must have Him. You can say with
a songwriter, give me Christ or else I die. You'll find Him. That's a promise from God Almighty.
See, the door to God has been closed ever since Adam fell. God thrust Adam out of the garden.
He put that angel with the flaming sword that turned every way to
keep Adam from coming back into the garden, back into the presence
The door's been closed ever since Adam fell. That door was closed
by Adam's disobedience, but that door to God was opened by Christ's
obedience. Look at verse seven, Psalm 24.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Open the doors,
the King's coming. Well, 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. Oh, by his obedience, by his
sacrifice, Christ has sent him back to glory. And the Father
said, open the doors. The King's coming in. Christ
has sent him back to the Father. That door was opened wide. There's
no reason to keep him out. He pleased his father. And when
Christ entered, you know how he entered? As the forerunner
of his people. All of his people entered in.
He opened the door for heaven. He removed every reason that
the father would shut his people out. He put their sin away. He
made them righteous by his obedience. And all of them are going to
be brought to the father. And there they'll stand. There
they'll stay accepted. Accepted in Christ. He's the
only Savior and the only King. And I'll say it one more time,
for our encouragement, for our comfort, to encourage us to seek
Christ. If you trust Christ alone, you
stand accepted before this holy Lord God. Now Christ is the only
way. but aren't you thankful God provided
a way? We never figure it out. We never
provide a way. We're the ones who've sinned
against God. And God's the one that provided
the way to come back to him. Now if that's not grace, I don't
know what is. And that's the way I want it in you. All right,
let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you that he's the
way. the way of righteousness, the way of forgiveness, the way
of life, the way of salvation, the way to come into thy presence
accepted. Father, I pray that you take
your word as it's been preached, that you cause it to go forth
and take root in the hearts of your people, that we might see
your glory, that we might see the glory of Christ our Savior
and trust him. Father, it's in his name, for
his glory, In his sake we pray. Amen.