Would you turn with me to the
24th Psalm? Psalm 24. If I was going to give this psalm
a title, I would call it the Gospel Psalm. I hope you'll understand
that by the time this is over. Psalm 24. 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. Who shall ascend into the hill
of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. who has not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and the righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob, Selah. 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. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in the king of glory's
name that the king of glory might be preached and that we might
be given eyes to see him, faith to hear his gospel. Lord, be
in our midst. Speak from your word for the
Lord's sake. Forgive us of our sins for the
Lord's sake. Accept our thanksgiving for the
King of glory in his name. Lord, we pray for your blessing
upon this church according to your
will. We pray that we might be found in your son. We pray for
those that are sick and suffering. We pray for your blessing upon
them. Give us grace to love you more and love one another more.
In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord's. It belongs to him. And the fullness thereof. Now the earth belongs to the
Lord. Now this is talking about his ownership. This is talking
about his sovereignty. Everything you see, everything
you have belongs to him. The earth is the Lord's. He said,
the cattle on a thousand hills are mine. If I were hungry, I
wouldn't tell you about it. I love that scripture, don't
you? He's utterly independent. He has no needs. The earth is the Lord's. And I want you to notice this
phrase, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness. This is very
important. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. You know, men fear the earth running out of resources. And they believe that through
their efforts, we can keep that from happening. Now, I want to,
I'm not making a political statement when I say this. I'm really not,
but puny man thinks he can preserve the earth or he can destroy it.
He can really do neither. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Now we are to be good stewards. We're to not, I don't want to
pollute. I want to be, I don't want to
pollute the environment, all that kind of stuff. but the earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. I want you to turn with
me to Genesis chapter eight. This is a promise right after
the flood. And this settles this issue.
You see men think they can save the earth and men think they
can destroy it. They can do neither. The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Now look in this promise
in Genesis chapter eight. This is right after the flood. Verse 22, while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest. Now you see that? Not going to
run out of that. Seed time and harvest, cold and
heat. Summer and winter, day and night
shall not cease. Now that's the promise of God's
word. And when the Lord does destroy this place, it's gonna
be just like that. The world's going to melt with
fervent heat. The elements will melt with fervent
heat. When the Lord does destroy this
earth, it's gonna be quick. It's not a gradual, we're running
out of the fullness. No, the earth is the Lord's and
the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
Do you know you belong to the Lord? Somebody says, well, sheep
belong to the Lord. The goats are his too, aren't
they? You see, whoever dwells in this earth, they belong to
the Lord. He's God. He really is God. That means He owns, controls
everything. He's the utter sovereign of the
universe, the cause of all things, the owner of all things. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Verse two, for He hath founded
it upon the seas. and established it upon the floods. Now, this is what only the Lord
can do. I'd never really thought about
this. I've wondered about it before, but what about something
that's founded on the seas? What about somebody, something
that's founded on the floods, the rivers, the waters? Well,
the scripture uses the water like this, unstable as water. Thou shalt not excel. Now, the
Lord is able to establish it on the seas and the flood because
he can do anything. He's God. He's able, but that is a reminder
to us that this present creation is unstable. It's not eternal. It's not going to last. It's
established on the seas. Remember at one time, all there
was was water and the earth was brought out of the water. Now
I don't understand that, but it's what the scripture presents.
And this, everything right now is unstable. It's not gonna last. And then he asked this question
in verse three, and this is the question of questions. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord or who shall stand in his holy
place? Now that's the question. Who is going to be accepted by
God? Who's gonna stand in his holy place? How can he be clean,
which is born of woman? How can man be just with God? Now that's the question of questions. Who shall stand in his holy place?
And I believe that that question David presents has something
to do with that story before David was born that he had read
of. Do you remember when the Philistines
had captured the Ark of God? And they brought it into their
temple. And they came in the next day, and their false god
had fallen down before the Ark. And they set him back up. And
the next day, he was fallen down again. And his head was cut off,
and his arms were cut off, fallen before the ark. And God plagued
the Philistines at that time. The hand of the Lord was heavy
against them, so they sent the ark back to Israel. Maybe you
know the story of the ox cart and so on. But when it got back
to Israel, some men opened the ark to look inside. And 70,000 people died as a result
of that presumption. And they said, who can stand
before this holy God? And that's what David is asking.
Who can stand in his holy place? Now, if I didn't know the gospel,
This next verse would terrify me. Here's who's going to stand
in his holy place. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. He's not lifted up to his soul
into vanity. nor sworn deceitfully. Now this is the only person that's
going to stand in his holy place. Clean hands. You know what that
means? It means you've never done anything
wrong on the outside. Clean hands, all your works,
clean. A pure heart. You're not only
clean on the outside, you're clean on the inside. You have
a pure heart and you've never lifted up your soul to vanity. Not one time have you ever lifted
up your soul into vanity. Look what David says in Psalm
25 one, unto thee, oh Lord, do I lift up my soul. You've never lifted up your soul
to vanity, to lies, to deceit, to false gods. You've never lifted
up your soul and you've never sworn deceitfully. You've never
said, I promise I'm going to do something. And you know, you're
not going to do it. You're lying. You're lying. I
promise I didn't do that. I promised to do that. You've
never sworn deceitfully. Now that's the only person who's
going to stand in His holy hill, that person with a pure heart,
that person with clean hands, that person who has never, not
even once, lifted up their soul to vanity, and that person who's
never sworn in deceit. You know anybody like that? I know one, the Lord Jesus Christ. This describes him, but not only
does it describe him, and what a beautiful description of the
Lord. Clean hands, an absolutely pure heart, pure motive. He never
lifted up his soul to vanity. He never swore deceitfully. What
a glorious description of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this gives
us the true nature of justification. This describes you personally,
literally. If you're somebody he died for. Now, this is yours. This is what's
called justification. If you're justified, that doesn't
mean you're treated as if you were this way, even though you're
not. It means this is you. You remember the publican in
the temple, beating on his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. And what did Christ say about
that man? He said, I tell you, that man went down to his house.
And this is so important. He didn't say he went down to
his house forgiven. He didn't say he went down to his house
having been shown mercy. He didn't say he went down to
his house pardoned. All of those things are true.
It says this man went down to his house, you know the next
word, justified, without guilt. having clean hands and a pure
heart, one who had never lifted up his soul unto vanity, and
never sworn deceitfully. That's what justification is.
Now somebody says, how could that be? Well, that's the mystery
of the gospel. For he, God the Father, hath
made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, sin. On the cross, he was made
the man with the unclean hands, impure heart that had lifted
up his soul under vanity and sworn deceitfully he was made
sin. Now he never committed sin, but
what's worse, he was made sin. He was made sin. My sin, he bore in his own body
on the tree. that we might be made the righteousness
of God. Clean hands, pure heart, never
lifted up my soul to vanity, never sworn deceitfully, perfect
in Christ Jesus. And that's who's gonna stand
in his holy place. That man who has the righteousness
and merits of Jesus Christ as their personal righteousness,
literally. You see, if we didn't know the
gospel, that'd scare me to death. That would totally exclude me
from any hope of heaven. But thank the Lord for the gospel. Now, verse four says, Verse five says, he, this one
that has clean hands and a pure heart who has not lifted up his
soul into vanity nor sworn deceitfully, that's Christ and everybody in
him, Christ and everybody he saved, Christ and everybody he
worked out his righteousness for, Christ and everybody who
he paid for their sins. This describes them. When God
sees me and God sees things as they really are, Me and you don't. We just don't see things as they
are, but God does. And when God sees me, he sees
someone with clean hands and a pure heart who has never lifted
up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully. That's the justifying
work of Christ on the cross. Now he, verse five, this person
shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from
the God of his salvation. Now, I love the way it says he
shall receive righteousness. And that's the only way I can
understand. Righteousness is having God give it to me and
me receiving it. It's called the gift of righteousness
in Romans chapter five. And let me tell you something,
if God gives you something, you receive it. Somebody says, well,
I haven't received it. Well, they never gave it then.
Everything he gives, he has no unclaimed gifts. Everything he
gives is received and every believer receives the righteousness of
God as their personal righteousness before God. Now, with regard to our righteousness,
what did Isaiah call our righteousness? He called it filthy rags. What
did Paul call the things he hoped in? In Philippians chapter three,
he called it dung. He called his religious experience,
he called his religious righteousness dung. Now I asked Lynn if it
would be appropriate to use the other word for that, and she
said no. But you know what it is. You know what it is. That gives us some idea as to
what Paul meant when he says, what things were gained to me,
those I kind of lost for, I count all things, but no. Now look what verse six says. This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face. What's it say next? Oh, Jacob. Oh, Jacob. And then he says,
Selah, meditate on that. Now, what in the world, Jacob? Jacob was not a good person. He was deceitful. Everything
he got, he got by swindle. He was, in many respects, a fraud. That's Jacob. You look at his
life, but he was somebody God loved. But here's the point.
My marginal reading says that, Seek thy face, O God of Jacob. That's what my marginal reading
says. And I can understand why somebody would say that, because
it doesn't make sense. Why would you seek Jacob? You
seek the God of Jacob. Christ identified with his people
so much. On the cross, he became what
they are. Jacob. Now that's something to meditate
on. That's the only hope we have
of being saved. He became what I am, sin. that I might become
what he is, the righteousness of God in him. This is the generation of them
that seek thy face, O Jacob. Now this is the triumphant entry
back into heaven. Lift up your heads, verse seven.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and ye lift up ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Now this is what
has been called the Ascension Psalm. And this is, you had Psalm
22, the Psalm of the Cross, and now you have Psalm 24, the Psalm
of the Ascension, when he comes back into glory. And I love the
way he's called the King of glory. What a name for our Lord. What
an apt description. The King of Glory. And gates
be opened. Gates be opened. They've been
closed. They're opened back up. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting lords, and the King of Glory
shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty, The Lord, mighty in battle. Now, what is the promise of the
gospel in Isaiah 40? Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
tell her her warfare is accomplished. Because the one who accomplished
her warfare is mighty in battle. This is talking about the strength
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He took on the law of God and
satisfied it. He took on Satan and he destroyed
him. He took on my sin and he made
it not to be. You see, he's mighty in battle. The king of glory is mighty in
battle. This is speaking of his achievements. He by himself purged our sins. Lift up your heads, verse nine,
O ye gates, and even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and
the King of glory shall come in. Now, I love this imagery
of the Lord entering back into heaven as the King of glory. And this is what was brought
to my mind when I thought about this. In Revelation chapter five, when
he came up to the throne, the scripture says, the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, there had been weeping. No man was found worthy
to open the book or to loose the seals thereof. No man. And
then he comes up and the scripture says he took the book. He didn't ask for it. He didn't
say, may I have it? He came into the very presence
of the father as his equal and took the book. Now this is the
Lord, the doors opened to him. You know what I think is very
interesting is when he left glory, he left alone. He came down here
by himself. But look what verse 10 says.
Who is this king of glory? The Lord of what? Hosts. Multitudes. Armies. He left alone. But he came back with many people
with him, everybody he represented, all of his hosts. The Lord came back with a vast
multitude, all the elect. You see, the scripture says we're
seated together in heaven in Christ Jesus right now. Now this
is one that says, we know this by faith. But I am not as sure
for heaven as if I'm already there. I'm already there in the
person of my representative and savior. I'm already there. You see, he's the Lord of hosts.
He's the king of glory who came in. Once again, 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. Now, closing thought is this,
the King of glory. Is glory essential to you? Would you look at yourself and
say, well, I ought to have glory? Of course you wouldn't, or you
shouldn't at any rate. But glory is essential to him. He is the king of glory. Scripture says he's the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of his person. Glory is essential to God. I
wish I could say that the right way. Glory is essential to God
because of the glory of his character, of his person. Glory is not essential
to me and you. We've sinned. But the Lord said,
I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do. And he comes back having finished
the work, glorifying God. how he glorified God when he
hung on that cross and he displayed every attribute of God, God's
justice, God's gonna punish sin, God's wrath, God's love, God's
grace, God's mercy, God's power, every attribute of God, he fully
glorified on the cross. I have finished the work thou
gavest me to do. I have glorified thee on the
earth. And he returns as the king of
glory. And he came, returned with hosts. Everybody he represented. A great multitude that no man
can number, yet it's an exact number. The King of Glory. Can you see why a good title
for this song is the Gospel Song? Indeed, this is the Gospel Song.