Okay, this evening we'll take
a few minutes and look at Psalm 24. I'm taking the title for
the message from what's repeated several times here in verse eight. Who is this king of glory? Who is this king of glory? Again, down in verse nine, it's
mentioned again, and the king of glory shall come in. Verse
10, it mentions again, who is this King of glory? It's the
Lord, Jehovah. Notice that Jehovah, L-O-R-D,
capital, the Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. There it is again. It's mentioned
three or four times, the King of glory. I like that title,
don't you? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
King of kings and Lord of lords, and he's the King of salvation.
He's King in creation, King in providence, and he's king in
salvation, isn't he? He's a big God. My pastor used
to say, our God is a great God. He's no peanut God. He's the
almighty God, the almighty God. So that'll serve as a title,
who is the king of glory? Of course, we know the answer,
don't we? As God has taught us in his word, to the believer
the answer is most obvious. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
our King, he is our Lord. And he's not Lord and King by
some democratic process. He's King and Lord by the decree
of Almighty God. This same Jesus whom you crucified,
God had made him both Lord and Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ
enters into glory by the merit of his finished redeeming work. You remember this scripture from
Hebrew chapter one, When he had by himself purged our sin, he
sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. When he
finished redeeming his people, when he finished the work, he
ascended and he sat down because his priestly work was done. By
the merit of his righteousness, by the merit of his redemption,
by the merit of his perfect righteousness, he established by his obedience
unto death, That's the good news of the gospel. He's our faithful
king, king of kings. You remember from Philippians
chapter two, he made himself of no reputation, that is God,
think about this, the king of glory took on him and made, he
was made in the form of a servant. He never stopped being the king
of glory when he was a servant among men. He made himself of
no reputation, made of a woman, made under the law, and took
upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore,
God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which
is above every name, that at that name every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. All gets down to his glory, doesn't
it? That's why he's called the King of Glory. Jesus Christ,
and here's what that means to us as believers. The Lord Jesus
Christ enters into glory as a representative man, as a federal head, as a
public head of his covenant people. Upon His finished redemption
and upon His perfect righteousness, God only demands His ascension
to glory, but ours in Him. Entrance, He enters not only
His entrance and reception into glory, but also demands ours
as well. Remember, I've told you how many
times over the years, what's through the head? It's true of
the body. Where the head is, that's where
the body is. We, in Christ, when he died,
we died. When he was buried, we were buried.
When he ascended, we ascended in him. When he sat down, we
sat down in him. We've read that in Ephesians
chapter two, haven't we? When he ascended to glory, we
sat down in him, in the heavenlies. God who is rich in mercy for
his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in
sin hath quickened us together with him, raised us up to sit
together in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. When he
ascended, we ascended. That's the good news of the gospel. By one man's disobedience, the
wages of sin is death, By another man's obedience, he brought in
everlasting righteousness for us. The wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Now, verses one and two is a
powerful, clear declaration that all things in heaven and earth,
all things in the universe and the world, the earth and the
world, heaven and earth, Everything belongs to the creator. In the beginning, God said, let
there be these things. The earth is the Lord, verse
one, Psalm 24, and the fullness thereof, the fullness. I'm thinking about this today.
Do you ever lack for any air, breathing? The air is always
full, isn't it? You walk around outside, We just
think how much air we've used, and yet it's full. He keeps it
full. In the Lord Jesus Christ dwells
all the fullness of God, and of his fullness have we all received
grace for grace. The earth is the Lord. He created
all things by the word of his power, and he keeps it full. How many thousands of years have
men been pulling fish out of the oceans? rivers, lakes, and
yet they're full, aren't they? Who supplies that? Our God supplies
everything. He supplies all grace for us
and all glory hereafter. The earth is the Lord's. It belongs
to Him. And I know men especially in
years gone by, a certain king will raise up and say, this country
is mine. Or the Roman Empire will say,
well, we conquered this country. Or the Greek Empire, they say,
well, we conquered this country. And they say, that country's
mine. We planted our flag in that country. It belongs to England
or belongs to Rome. No, it doesn't. It belongs to
the Lord. And we may have our title deeds
registered over at the courthouse. You say, well, this property's
mine. No, it's not. You're just a tenant. It belongs
to the Lord. We're just temporary tenants. All things are created by Him
and for Him, and by Him all things consist. What keeps this universe
together? Why doesn't the Earth just fling
out into space? Why does the sun stay where it
is, It's brilliance and power and heat and radiance just keeps
shining, shining. Who sustains that? Who keeps
that? Why doesn't it just burn out?
God is light. He maintains everything for His,
and think about this, everything God does, He does for His covenant
people. He sends the rain on the just
but also the unjust benefit too from the rain. But God, everything
he does, everything he creates, everything he makes is for his
covenant people. He is the Lord of hosts, the
Lord of hosts. So the earth is the Lord's, the
fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell, dwell in it. No man is his own. We're answerable
unto almighty God. All creation God made that first
man, Adam, out of the dust of the earth, and everybody else
came through that first man, Adam, but they all belonged to
God. He created this whole human race. He's the Lord. He's God and Lord
of all men everywhere. Not by something we have done,
but by God's eternal decree. The earth is the Lord's, the
fullness thereof, the world, all those that dwell therein,
all accountable unto God Almighty. For he has founded it, verse
two, the Lord has founded it. We didn't find anything. We didn't create anything. He
founded it. He established it. He created
the heavens and the earth. He said, let there be light.
He divided the water from the dry ground. He established the
seas and the floods. The scientists tell us that two
thirds of this world is what? Water. The earth is round. Why doesn't the water just, why
doesn't the water just pour out of it? I mean, try to keep water
on a basketball. You can't do that. And yet the
Lord maintains this earth. The waters of the earth, he founded
it, he established it. How vital is the water to this
earth? How vital it is, it's vital.
The rain that we're getting right now, that's coming up from the
gulf all the time, doesn't it? It comes up from the gulf, it
comes over these Appalachian hills and it dumps all the moisture
out, doesn't it? It all runs down in the rivers,
down into the Ohio River, down into the Mississippi River, down
into the Gulf, and it comes right back again, doesn't it? He maintains
the fullness of it, doesn't he? We ever run out of water? The
oceans ever run out of water? He maintains the fullness of
it. You see how great and glorious God's creation is? And he has founded his church,
he has established his church upon that living water, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, I'm the water of life.
Now, that being established, that being established, he controls
all things by the word of his power. Now the question is asked, who
shall ascend Into the hill of the Lord or in other words who
shall ascend to the presence of God God said I've set my king
you remember psalm 2 we may look at that in a few weeks psalm
2 says I've set my king upon my holy hills I am Who shall
ascend into the presence of the Lord? Who shall ascend in the
presence of the Lord? That's why I picked out that
song. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. I know this, no sinful
man in the earth is going to ascend to the hill of the Lord
and stand in his presence. Look at verse three. Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand? If you could
ascend, and you can't, but if you could, you wouldn't stand. God's too holy. God's unapproachable. He's holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty. Who shall ascend into the presence
of the Lord? What sinful, puny creature possesses
the ability and righteousness to enter into God's holy presence? Name me one man. None, none. You remember John chapter 6,
our Lord said, no man can come to me except the Father which
sent me draw him. In 1 Timothy chapter 6, it says,
the Lord only has immortality, dwelling in a light into which
no man can approach, whom no man has seen nor can see, to
whom be honor, glory, and power, Forever, amen. God's too holy. He can't be approached by sinful
men. And then the second question
is asked, who shall stand or who shall abide in his holy place? If you could ascend upon the
merit of a creature, upon the merit of creature righteousness,
who would be able to continue there? None, none. Remember we studied some, 130
recently, where it says, if thou shouldest mark iniquities, O
Lord, who shall stand? Who shall stand? Let me read
this one to you. It says here, the foolish shall
not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all the workers of
iniquity. The foolish shall not stand in
his sight. It says here in Psalm 1, therefore
the ungodly, the ungodly are not so. But they're like the
chaff, which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall
not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
We cannot stand in God's holy presence, not in the merit of
this flesh. No man can. But there is one,
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that question being asked,
who shall ascend and who shall stand? And here comes the answer
in verse four. He that hath clean hands, he that has a pure heart, who
hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. Now that's a description of the
man who's going to ascend to the hill of the Lord and abide
there. Well, I know this, that just slammed the door on me.
That just slammed the door shut in my face because I don't have
clean hands. I don't have a pure heart. I
lift up my soul to vanity all the time. I swear deceitfully
all the time. All men are liars. Let God be
true and every man a liar. Who shall? Now, who is this describing? It would be a sad perversion
of this precious scripture to suppose that it describes anyone
but the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I would almost guarantee
you if you would go to the average religious Joe and read this verse
to him, a man who was very strict in his morality and righteousness
and church duties and all these different things, Said, yeah,
I've done all those things. That describes me. That man's
a seed. The heart, you remember, is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? So it
would be a sad, ungodly perversion of this precious scripture to
suppose it describes anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the only one that has a pure heart, who has
never lifted up his soul to vanity, who has never sworn deceitfully. You know, there's some things
God cannot do. God cannot change. We read a
moment ago in Hebrews 6, God cannot lie. It's impossible for
God to lie. He's the only one who was never
sworn deceitfully, never sworn deceitfully. Where shall we look
among fallen sons of Adam to find such a man? For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none righteous,
no, not one, but there is that one God-man mediator. This verse
describes him, doesn't it? His name is called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. He's the
God-Man Mediator. He's the one who represents us.
He's the forerunner for us who has entered in, and we've entered
in into Him. He shall and He has ascended
and does abide in God's presence right now. He ever lives right
now, sitting on the throne of glory, wherever that is, It's
a real throne. The God-man mediator, the risen
Lord Jesus Christ, he occupies the throne and he abides there. The right hand of God, a place
of privilege, a place of power. When he by himself purged our
sins, he sat down. on the right hand of God. You
remember from our study in Hebrews chapter 9, where it says that
he did not enter into the holy place made with hand, but into
heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.
None but the Lord Jesus Christ could it be said he had clean
hands. No outward violation of the law of God. The law of God
demands perfection, not the best you can do, Well, I've done my
best. That's not good enough. That's
not good enough. Clean hands. One who has never
sinned in word, thought, or deed. Now that doesn't describe this
flesh, does it? It only describes the Lord Jesus
Christ. The scripture says in him that
he had no sin, that he knew no sin, and that he did no sin.
Such a high priest became us who was holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, he said,
I honor the law of God. It says in Psalm, excuse me,
Isaiah 42, the Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He'll
magnify the law and make it honorable. Remember we studied in Matthew
chapter five where it said, our Lord said, I didn't come to destroy
the law or the prophets. I came to honor the law of God,
to establish righteousness. None but the Lord Jesus Christ,
could it be said, that he has a pure heart. He has clean hands. He has a pure heart. A pure heart. A sincere heart. A holy heart. One who has never imagined a
vain thing, a vain thought, or an evil thought. Not one time. Not one time. We can't say that. So our thoughts often, we don't
have a pure thought because we don't have a pure heart. The
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,
as I've said. He's never lifted up his soul
to vanity, never one time. The Lord Jesus Christ is one
who has loved God perfectly with all his heart, mind, and soul
perfectly. You know why that's good news
to the believer? His obedience unto the law of God is our righteousness. His obedience has been imputed
and reckoned and counted to his people as our personal righteousness
before God. That's good news. What he's describing
us, describing the Lord Jesus Christ and what we are in him,
of his fullness have we all received for grace. Never has lifted up
his soul to vanity, who has loved God perfectly with all his heart,
mind, soul, and strength. No man in the flesh has ever
done that. I don't care how much of a Pharisee
he is, if he thinks he has. And most religious folks, they
think this describes them. They're pretty good. They're
pretty good folks compared You know, if you compare one worm
to another worm, I mean, he may look a little bit better than
the other worm. He's still a worm. We're worms. And then it says there, fourthly,
who has never sworn deceitfully, one who always and absolutely
speaks perfect, absolute truth. I've got a preacher friend in
Lexington. Many of you know him. Todd Nibert, he said, the only
time I'm telling the absolute truth is when I'm reading thus
saith the Lord. I think that's a pretty good
statement. His word is absolute truth. His word is absolute truth. Our Lord said this, the word
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. These
conditions suit none. And these descriptions suit none
but the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man, the mediator. He had
no sin. Oh, he was made sin for us, but
he had no sin of his own. He bare our sin in his own body
on the tree. He was manifested to take away
our sin, but in him is no sin. He had our sin charged to him
and reckoned to him that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. In John chapter three, our Lord
said, no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down
from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven. And when
he said that, he was standing as the God-man mediator on this
earth, even the son of man which is in heaven. So he has God,
he's everywhere present. Even when he was walking as the
God-man mediator upon this earth, he's still in the presence of
God. As the Son of God, he's everywhere
present, omniscient, omnipotent in all things. Now look at verse
five. That man shall receive the blessing
from the Lord. That man. And righteousness. from the God of his salvation. We have righteousness and we
have salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have all blessings. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's given
to us a perfect righteousness, a justifying righteousness. Remember
Paul said, that's why I counted all things lost, dung and ruin,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. His people receive
all spiritual blessings from the Lord. They come from Him.
All the promises of God in Him are yes and in Him, amen. And to the glory of God by Jesus
Christ. And the righteousness, blessings,
righteousness from the God of His salvation. Now that's what
we need. We need, sinners need, what do
they need? Salvation. I like what John Newton
said, I'm a great sinner, Christ is the greater Savior. I'm a
great sinner, but Christ is the great Savior. He's the great
Savior of sinners. This is a faithful saying, worthy
of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners, didn't He? Look at verse 6. This is the generation of them
that seek Him were generation of sinners been called out of
darkness into his marvelous light. And because he said, seek ye
my face, we seek him. This is a generation of God's
elect, God's chosen that seek the Lord, that seek salvation
where it's revealed in Christ. Now watch this, that seek thy
face. Seeking the face is seeking a
person. The glory of God shines in the
face of Jesus Christ. He sees salvation, it gets back
to this one point, salvation's in a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. That seek thy face, oh God. He's the God of Jacob. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. He's the God of us Jacobs. God's elect, God's chosen, God's
loved of God. They sing unto the Lord that
their salvation is of the Lord. Now, let me wind this up. Verse 7, 8, 9, and 10. Lift up
your heads, O ye gates. Be ye lift up, ye
everlasting doors. The King of glory shall come
in. The King of glory shall come
in. Our great God repeats this glorious statement twice. Verse
eight, who is this king of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates.
Lift them up, ye everlasting doors. The king of glory shall
come in, not maybe, not could be, shall come in and occupy. Our great God repeats that statement
twice. The king of glory shall enter
and occupy the throne as believers. We read earlier in Hebrew chapter
six, the forerunner for us has entered in and seated, and we're
seated in him. The doors of glory are shut to
guilty sinners, but the doors of glory must open wide to receive
returning conquering king. He is that door. What a great celebration must
have been. Think about this. The disciples
watched the risen Lord ascend to glory, bodily ascend to glory. There he goes. The cloud received
him out of their sight. The messenger said, this same
Jesus who has gone up is gonna come again. He's gonna come again. But think of this. Think of all
the departed saints whom God has taken to glory, There's Abraham,
there's Moses, there's Job, there's Isaac, Jacob, and all the saints
of God that have gone on. All the Old Testament saints
are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ all around
the throne of glory. All the elect angels are there,
and here comes the Lord Jesus Christ. What a celebration that
must have been. I can't even imagine. Can you
imagine? Even in your sanctified mind,
Even in your best thoughts, the celebration of the Lord of glory
who accomplished the salvation of God's people. All those saints
that were redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Reckon
what they were saying, boy, I'm sure glad I made a decision for
Jesus. Oh, no. It's unto Him who loved
us and washed us from our sin and His own blood, to Him be
all the honor and glory, both now and forever. Amen. That's what they were saying.
But that must have been a glorious day. And I love this description
of the Lord. This King of Glory, verse 8,
He's the Lord strong and mighty. He's the Almighty God, isn't
He? He has all power over all flesh that He should give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given to Him. The Lord is
strong. He has all power in heaven and
earth. He does according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the heavens and the earth, and
none can stay His hand. He's the Almighty Strong. We
have a strong God. He's a mighty God. He's no little God, the Almighty
God. The Lord who is mighty in battle.
He's never lost a battle. He took Satan and whipped him. Just as it was said in Genesis
3.15, the seed of the woman will crush his head. Satan's dominion
was crushed at Calvary's tree. He defeated Satan. He defeated
sin. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. He defeated death. I am he that
liveth and was dead. Oh, but I'm alive forevermore.
I have the keys of hell and death. The Lord is mighty in battle.
He's won the victory for us. Remember in Revelation chapter
6, our conquering king went forth to conquer and to conquer. He's
never been defeated. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ. He's mighty in
battle. He's called the captain of our
salvation, isn't he? He's the captain of our salvation.
He defeated every enemy for us, redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us. He freely gives us all the
spoils of his victory. Thanks be unto God for everything
we have. God who spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Now, verse 10, who is this King
of Glory? He's the Lord, Jehovah, our Savior. He's the Lord of hosts. He's
the Lord of the people. He is the King of Glory. When
he came, he came as a representative man. When he died, he died as
a representative man. And when he entered into glory,
he entered in as a representative man, and we entered in with him. He's the Lord of a covenant people,
the Lord of hosts. How many people you think that
he's the Lord of hosts, that his covenant children? Remember
from the revelation? It describes those in chapter
5 that sing that song, Worthy is the Lamb, and there was 10,000
times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. That's a pretty good
math problem. God has a people infinite number
known unto God. He knows every one of his sheep.
Now think about this. How many stars are there in the
universe? Billions. Scripture said he knows
them all by name. How many elect of God did he
choose in Christ before the foundation of the world? 10,000 times 10,000,
1,000. He said in John chapter 10, he
knows his sheep by name. Chosen in him before the foundation
of the world. When he chose you, he named you.
You're mine. He redeemed us. The Lord, who
is this King of Glory? He's the Lord of hosts. He's
the Lord of His people. He's the King. He's our King. He's our Lord. He's our Lord.