And to preach the same things
to you, to me indeed, as Paul said in Philippians chapter 3,
to write the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous.
to preach the same message over and over again to you, to me
indeed, is not grievous, but it's good for you. It's good
for me. We don't have a new message.
The message we have is the old, old, ancient, everlasting gospel
message. And we just look at different
Scriptures, but it's the same message. It's all about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The title of the message then
this evening is taken from verse 8. And verse 10, where the question
is asked, who is this king of glory? Boy, I want to know who
he is. He's going to enter into glory.
Who is this king of glory? the Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle. Again, verse 10, the question
is asked, who is this king of glory? Who is this king of glory? He's the Lord of a people. He's
the Lord of a host of people. 10,000 times 10,000 and 1,000.
That's a host, is it not? I asked my phone today, what is 10,000 times
10,000? It's 100 million. 100 million. And thousands of thousands, I
can't do the math on that, who is the King of glory? He is our
God and Savior. He's the King of all the earth.
He's the King of salvation. Now to the believer, the answer
is most obvious. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is
our King. He is our King. Peter said, that
same Jesus whom you crucified, He's both Lord and Christ. He's our King. And our King enters
into glory by the merit of His finished redemption, redeeming
work. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
By the merit of His perfect righteousness, He enters in. And the good news
of the gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ enters in for us. He's a representative man for
his covenant people. Upon his finished redeeming work
and upon his perfect righteousness, we enter in to glory in him. not only demands His entrance
and His reception in the glory, but also demands our salvation
as well. For who can lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Also demands our salvation. He gives us right and title unto
salvation that he had wrought out for us. He made us heirs
of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely, I love that word, freely give
us all things in our blessed Savior. Now look at verse 1 and
2, and we'll look down through these verses. Verse 1 and 2,
the earth The earth is the Lord's. Now what a vast creation God
has made. He created all things by the
word of his power. By the word of his power, God
said, let there be light, and there was light. God said, let
there be day, let there be night, let this appear and that appear,
the dry land appear, the water appear, and it was so. The earth
is the Lord's. It all belongs to Him, doesn't
it? It's His creation. The earth is the Lord and the
fullness thereof. He has filled His creation with
the fullness. The fullness, I think of that
word fullness in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ was all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is the fullness of salvation.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof and the world,
the earth and the world and all they that dwell therein They
all belong to Him. They all belong to Him. He created
all men in that one man, Adam. He founded it. He established
it. He created it. He fills it. He sustains it. And He blesses
it. Always, always, all the time. Now don't try me, let me just
read this to you. If you're familiar with this,
in Colossians chapter 1, For by him are all things created,
that is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creation, every creature, he's the Lord
of all. For by him are all things created
that are in heaven, that are in the earth, visible, invisible,
whether it be thrones or dominions, principalities or powers. All
things were created by him and for him, He is before all things,
by Him all things consist. All things are held together
by Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. He is the head. of the body of
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminent. For it pleads
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Everything
that was made was made by the Lord Jesus Christ. The earth
is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell
therein. Now what a clear and powerful
declaration that all things Heaven, earth, and hell, all things belong
to the Creator. The Creator. Not the creature.
Not the creature. He founded it. He established
the creation of all things. And the Lord is the sustainer
of all things. Have you ever noticed the exact,
repeated order of all things in creation? How the planets
all revolve? and how everything has an order
in God's universe. How does all that happen? How
does all that, the sun, the moon, the time, the tide goes in, the
tide goes out. Who controls all those things?
Consistently, always. God Almighty. He's a controller,
the sustainer. He created it. He established
it. He's a sustainer of all things.
And my friend, we know this. He is the absolute sovereign
and dominion. He has absolute sovereign dominion
over all things. Turn over here. Hold your place
there. Find Psalm Psalm 135. Remember this scripture? Psalm
135. For I know that the Lord is great,
verse 5. Psalm 135, verse 5. I know that the Lord is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever the Lord pleases,
that did He in heaven and in earth, in the seas, and all deep
places. Whatsoever the Lord pleases,
that's what He does. Look back here at Psalm 115. Not unto us, verse 1, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens,
and He has done whatsoever He hath pleased. Our God is God
over all things. God created all things by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He has redeemed, bought His people,
redeemed His church, His people, by His precious blood. We are bought with a price. He
redeemed us with His precious blood. in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches
of His grace. We know that our salvation is
of the Lord. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as a God-man mediator, has been given power over all flesh, that
He should give eternal life unto His people. He told His disciples
to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,
knowing, I have all power, I have all dominion. God will use the
preaching of His Word to call out His people. And that's what
we're about. Preaching the Gospel. Preaching
the Word. Look at verse 3. Who shall ascend?
Who shall ascend into the presence of the Lord? To the hill of the
Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy
place? Who shall ascend? And who shall
stand? To ascend is one thing, but to
ascend to the presence of the Lord and to stand there? That's
quite another, is it not? Who shall ascend into the presence
of the Lord? What sinful and puny creatures
possess any ability and any righteousness to enter into God's holy presence
upon anything they have done? Or they have given. Or they have
thought. Our Lord said, no man can come
to Me except the Father which sent Me. Draw him. Remember,
let me just read this to you. 1 Timothy chapter 6. He's the
only potentate. King of kings and Lord of lords,
verse 15. I think we read this recently
in a message. Who only have immortality dwelling
in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man has
seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Who shall ascend to the
hill of the Lord? Only those in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Who shall stand and abide in
his holy place? If you could ascend upon the
merit of creature righteousness, who would be able to continue
there? None. None at all. Hold your
place there and look back here at Psalm 1. Look at verse 5. Therefore the
ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the
congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way
of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Look over here at Psalm 5, verse 5. The firmest shall not stand
in thy sight. Remember what the fool said?
The fool hath in his heart there is no God. The foolish shall
not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all the workers of
iniquity. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquity, Psalm 130, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand? We can't stand in our merit.
We can't stand in our righteousness. We can't stand in our morality.
But how foolish is the religion of men, how foolish is the religion
of men to think they can ascend to the hill of the Lord, to the
presence of God, His holy presence, and then to stand there and continue
there upon creature righteousness? I was watching the news a while
back. May have been today. And tomorrow
is that high Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur. And they were interviewing
a Jewish rabbi. And he's talking about how good
people are and how they have merited mercy and how they have
merited all this from God. And I thought, how deluded. Can sinners be to think they
merit God's mercy? Well, if you could merit mercy,
it wouldn't be mercy. It'd be something you've earned
or deserve. Now, here's his answer. Who shall
ascend? Who shall stand? Well, pretty
high bar. Pretty high standard. He'd have
clean hands. He'd have a pure heart. who has
not lifted up his soul to vanity. You remember Psalm 39 verse 5,
it said, every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Who's going to sin and who's
going to stand in the holy place, God's holy presence? One who
has a clean hand, a pure heart, who has no vanity, no emptiness,
No God, no sin, nor has sworn deceitfully. Now, who's this
describing? It would be a sad perversion
of this precious scripture to suppose that it describes any
fallen son of Adam. It only describes the second
Adam the Lord of glory from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ in our
nature. He's the one God-man mediator. He's the only one that has ascended
to glory upon the merit of His righteousness. Where shall we
look among the fallen sons of Adam to find such a man? He doesn't
exist. He doesn't exist. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. You remember Romans
3? There is none righteous, no,
not one. Oh, but there is one, the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a man whose name is
called Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. who has ascended to glory and
does abide in God's holy presence for us. Let me read this to you. I've set my king upon my holy
hill, Zion. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty in the heavens on high. You remember this scripture
we read recently in Hebrews 9, 24, for Christ did not enter
into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the
true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. the presence of God for us. None but the Lord Jesus Christ
could it be said that he had clean hands. No outward violation
of the law of God. One who never sinned in word, motive or deed. Never, never,
never. He honored and magnified the
law of God for us. He had no sin, as we often say,
and the scripture says this. He had no sin, he knew no sin,
and he did no sin. He was made sin for us, but in
and of himself he's a holy harmless, undefiled high priest that represents
none but the Lord Jesus Christ. Could it be said that he had
clean hands? And how about a pure heart? We often hear men say, well,
that man, he has a good heart. And I know what they mean by
that. He's a good old guy. He would probably pull you out
of a mud hole. But no man has a good heart. No man has a pure heart. Only
the Lord Jesus Christ, could it be said, He has a pure heart.
One who has never imagined a vain thing or ever had an evil thought. In Hebrews 7, it talks about
our great high priest. who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sin. He never lifted up his soul to
vanity, one who has loved God perfectly with all his heart,
soul, mind, and strength, always. We study in the book of Acts.
Chapter 10, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy
Ghost and with power, who went about doing good, healing all
that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. There's
none good but God. He never sworn deceitfully, one
who always speaks perfect, absolute truth. Our Lord said in John
6, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they
are life. You know what some things that
God cannot do, God cannot change, and God cannot lie. I heard someone
say on the radio just recently, a lie is a lie no matter how
many times it's told. A lie is a lie no matter how
many people believe it. And a lie never becomes a truth.
A lie always changes. It's impossible for God to lie. He has never sworn deceitfully. He said, I've spoken it, I bring
it to pass, I purpose it, I will do it. The words he speaks, they
are spirit and truth. These are a description of none
but our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. who was holy, harmless, and undefiled,
who appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
I read this in John chapter 3 today. No man has sinned up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven. That's our Lord speaking to Nicodemus. No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is
in heaven. Now look at verse 5. He shall receive. This person
who has a clean hands and a pure heart, who's never lifted his
soul to vanity, never sworn deceitfully, that man is going to be blessed
of God. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord. He shall
receive the blessing, all the blessings that come from the
Lord. God has blessed us with all spiritual blessing in the
heavenlies in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. He shall receive
the blessing from the Lord. Every good gift and every perfect
gift comes from where? from the Lord, from the Lord.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness
from the God of his salvation. Boy, who needs salvation? I tell
you who needs salvation, sinners. And we're sinful through and
through. Sinners need God's salvation. Who but the Lord Jesus Christ
has earned all the blessings of the covenant of grace. And
he did this for his elect. and the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
If we throw Christ out of this picture, if we take Christ out
of the gospel, if we throw Christ in the background and put covenant
blessings based upon our obedience, our righteousness, or upon our
faith, our repentance, and make ourselves As the character described
here, only to gratify our sinful pride, we sadly corrupt the truth
of this blessed Scripture. We're only blessed because of
Christ. We count everything else lost,
dung, and ruined that we may win Christ and be found in Him. Look at verse 6. This is a generation
of them that seek Him, that seek His face. Now when you seek someone's
face, you're seeking his person. Simeon said, Lord let me die,
now I've seen thy salvation. Salvation is in a person. This
is the generation of them that seek him. When he says unto us,
turn one page, look over here at Psalm 27 verse 8, When thou saidest, Seek
ye my face, my heart, My heart said unto me, thy face,
Lord, will I seek. When he says seek the Lord, that's
what we'll do. This is the generation of them
that seek him, that seek thy face, O God of Jacob. He's a God of Jacob. Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. The generations of believers
The true seed of Abraham, the true seed of Christ, the elect
of God, given to him in the covenant of grace, all that the Father
giveth to me, they will come to me. And those that come to
me, I will unknowwise cast out. You remember, we studied in Galatians
chapter 3, where our Lord said, If ye be Christ, then are ye
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. This is the generation
of them that seek Him, that seek Him, that seek Thy face, O God. Look right across the page, Psalm 22 verse 30, a seed shall
serve Him. Thy seed is Christ. A seed shall
serve him, and it shall be counted unto the Lord for a generation.
They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people
that shall be born, that he hath done this, that he hath saved
his people by his grace. They seek salvation upon the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They seek
salvation in him, in him. His face, His person, His sacrifice,
His righteousness. They sing unto Him that all the
salvation we enjoy is of the Lord. Unto Him who loved us and
washed us from our sin in His own blood, to Him be all the
honor and glory both now and forever. Look at verse 7 and
verse 9. This is repeated. Verse 7 and
verse 9. Now lift up your head. Often
times we get discouraged and we hang our head down. Lift up
your head. Lift up your head. We have so
many reasons to be thankful and rejoicing in the Lord. Lift up
your head. Look unto the Lord. When you
lift up your head fix your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Lift
up your heads O ye gates. and be lift up, ye everlasting
doors. We have reason to rejoice, the
King of glory is coming in. The King of glory is coming home. You remember, what do you think
the angels of glory thought? when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
to the right hand of God and sat down. They were rejoicing. Rejoicing in the Lord. The salvation
of the Lord. Look at verse 9 again. Lift up
your heads. Oh, lift up your heads. Rejoice
in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. Lift
up your head, O ye gates. Even lift them up, ye everlasting
doors. The everlasting, our Lord said,
I am the door of salvation. He's the everlasting Savior.
He has everlasting salvation. Lift up your heads, O ye gates.
Even lift them up, ye everlasting doors. The King of Glory is coming
in. The King of Glory is coming home.
That's good news. Our great God repeats His glorious
statement twice. He is the King of kings and He
is the Lord of lords and the King of glory shall enter in
and occupy the throne as a believer's forerunner. That's what we read
a moment ago over here in Hebrews chapter 6. which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within
the veil where the forerunner is for us, entered in. Even Jesus, the Savior, made
a high priest forever after the order, unchanging order of an
eternal priesthood like unto Melchizedek. The doors of glory
are shut to guilty sinners, But the doors of glory must swing
open wide to receive the returning, conquering King. He's coming
back as a conquering King, as a victor. And we're more than
conquerors through Him that loved us and gave Himself for us. The disciples of the Lord watched
the Lord of glory ascend to heaven. What a great day of celebration
this must have been to all the inhabitants of glory, redeemed
saints, elect angels who attend the greats of heaven, the King
of Glories coming home as a mighty victor having accomplished all
God's will in the salvation of His covenant people. Verse 8
and verse 10, who is this King of Glory? The question is asked,
who is this king of glory? I love the answer. The Lord's
strong. How strong is he? He's the almighty
God. He's strong, and He's mighty,
and the Lord's mighty in battle. He's taken on all of our enemies
head on. Sin, death, the devil, and defeated
all of our enemies. We're more than conquerors through
Him that loved us. The Lord's strong and mighty.
The Lord's mighty in battle. Who is this King of glory? Verse
10. He's the Lord of a people. He's the Lord of hosts. He is
the King of Glory. He's the Lord, strong and mighty,
who's able to perform all of His purpose. It says in Psalm
57, He's performed all things for us. Able to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. Able to save sinners to the uttermost
that come to God by Him. He's able to keep us from falling.
He's able to perform I'm persuaded like Abraham he's able to perform
all that God has promised. And he made a lot of promises.
All the promises of God in Christ are yes, and in him, and amen. And he's fulfilled them all for
us. He's the Lord strong and mighty. He's our Savior. He's
our Redeemer. He's the Lord, verse 2, mighty
in battle. He's the captain of our salvation
who has won the great victory for us. How many battles has
he been in? A lot of battles. How many losses
does he have? None. He's won every battle. He cannot fail. He's a God who
cannot fail. He defeated every enemy of our
soul. I'm he that liveth and was dead.
Behold, I'm alive forevermore. Who freely gives us all the spoils
of his victory. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them Himself. He made us heirs of God and joint
heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is this King of glory? Verse
10. He's the Lord of hosts. Don't forget that. He's a Lord
of a covenant people. He came as a representative man,
lived as a representative man, honored the law of God as a representative
man, died on Calvary 3 for our sins laid upon Him, did so representing
those people given to Him in that covenant. And when He ascended
to glory, He ascended to glory as a representative man. You
remember, don't turn because you're so familiar with this.
I quote it all the time and read it all the time. It's over here
in Ephesians chapter 2. But 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 Christ, by grace
are you saved, raised us up together. made us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, already seated in glory. When the Lord
Jesus Christ ascended, we ascended. When He sat down, we sat down
in Him. That in the ages to come He might
show exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward
us through the Lord Jesus Christ. He ascended as the Lord of hosts. The forerunner for us has entered
in. We have an anchor and hope of
our soul in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the King of Glory. He represents a people redeemed
by His blood out of every kindred, tribe, nation, tongue under heaven,
10,000 times 10,000 of thousands. That's a lot of people. All redeemed
with His precious blood. He's the God of all grace. He's
the King of Glory. He's the Father of mercies. Where sin abounded, grace does
much more abound. Who is this King of Glory? He's
the Lord of Hosts. He's my God, my King, my Lord,
my Savior. Christ is all and in all. In Him we stand complete.