The Lord’s Day Morning
Psalm 24
“Heart Failure”
Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas
Amen. Now turn with me if you would to Psalm 24…the Twenty-fourth Psalm. Before we read the Psalm together, let’s once again look to the Lord in prayer. Let us all pray.
Lord, we bow again in Your presence. We come confessing that without You we can do nothing. Come, Holy Spirit, descend upon us; illuminate our minds and hearts. Help us to lay hold of Jesus Christ. And grant, Lord, that Your word and the entrance of Your word might give us light in a dark place. For Jesus’ sake we ask it. Amen.
Psalm 24:
“A Psalm of David.
“The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the rivers.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who may stand in His holy place/
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,
And has not sworn deceitfully,
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Thy face—even Jacob.
“Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is the King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates,
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is this king of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory.”
Amen. And may God bless to us that reading of His holy and inerrant word.
In the Bible translation that would have been used at the time of Jesus and the apostles (the translation, that is, of course, of the Old Testament), in a time when Hebrew wasn’t terribly well known, a Greek translation emerged, and that translation had by way of a comment on Psalm 24 that it was A Psalm for the Sabbath Day. It reflected a practice that developed during the period from the destruction of the temple until the time of Jesus. In that Old Testament period, three or four hundred years or so, in the life of the synagogue a particular Psalm was chosen for every day of the week. This was the Psalm chosen for the Jewish Sabbath Day, Psalm 24.
It asks the most important question any one of you can ever ask. Now I know preachers say things like that all the time, but I actually mean it this morning!
This is the most important question you could ever ask yourself today:
“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall
stand in God’s holy presence?”
The question of course is set in an Old Testament context, in a time when formal worship took place in Jerusalem in a temple located on top of a holy hill, the hill of Zion. There in the temple there was the division that you’re all very familiar with, the outer court (the Court of the Gentiles), and the inner court (the Court of Israel), and then, the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies was the ark of the covenant, a golden box that contained the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded, and for a time, the Urim and Thummin. Above it were the cherubim with outstretched wings; and then, between the outstretched wings of these holy creatures, the Shekinah glory representing of course the very presence of God.
So the question, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in God’s holy presence?”…you understand by a cursory reading of the Bible that this is not a simple question to answer. When the prophet Isaiah, in that famous sixth chapter (“In the year when King Uzziah died…”) …the earthly king was dead, and Isaiah was in the temple reflecting on the passing of the earthly king, wondering what is going to happen next. You remember he saw a vision, a display of the presence of God, the glory of God, the holiness of God:
“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of Your glory.”
You remember Isaiah’s response: “Woe is me! For I am undone.” The Apostle John in the opening chapter of the book of Revelation on the Isle of Patmos sees a vision of the glory of Christ, and he fell down as though he were dead. You remember the Apostle Peter, when something of the glory of Christ shone through Him, you remember Peter’s words: “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
So I ask the question again: “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in God’s holy presence?” I say to you again that it is the most important question that you could ever ask yourself. And if you have never asked yourself that question, it is doubtful that you can ever be a Christian, because in order to be a Christian, in order to be a believer, in order to have an answer to that question, you have got to have asked it in the first place: “How can I stand in God’s holy presence? By what right do I come into God’s presence and survive the ordeal?”
The background to this Psalm is probably set in that period of Old Testament history recorded for us in I Samuel 6 and again in II Samuel 6, that period when the ark of the covenant was no longer in Jerusalem. You remember, for a period of history the Israelites thought [well, the lost their minds, really!] …they thought that they could win battles against the Philistines by taking the ark of the covenant with them as a kind of talisman, as a kind of amulet, a lucky charm. You remember what happened, of course. The ark of the covenant was captured, and for twenty years it lay outside of Mount Zion, it lay outside of the temple. The presence of God was no longer in the temple. It lay in Kerioth-Jearim. You remember the trouble in getting the ark of the covenant back to its proper location. You remember the story of Uzzah, when the ark was on an oxcart, trembling along the road, and how Uzzah, because the ox seemed to stumble as though it would fall, he put out his hand. And you remember God struck him dead.
The ark is an Old Testament
representation of the Lord’s presence, a presence that normally would be
in the temple, on Mount Zion; hence the question, “Who may ascend the hill of
the Lord?” Perhaps the Psalm is written upon the occasion when the ark of the
covenant is making its way back to Jerusalem, and coming to within sight of the
temple, and somebody asks this question: “Who has right
to come into this presence?”
And the answer of the Psalm:
The Lord of hosts has that right. The King of glory has
that right.
But I want us to ask the more personal question, the question that this Psalm forces us to ask: “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in God’s holy presence?” and I want to reflect on the Psalm along three lines of thought: first of all, that the call to enter God’s presence is established by a consideration of the majesty of God; secondly, that the difficulty of coming into the presence of God is established by a consideration of the holiness of God; and, thirdly, that the right to come into the presence of God is established by a consideration of the Son of God.
I. The majesty of God.
In the first place, and you see that in verses 1 and 2, the call to come into God’s presence to give Him worship and praise and glory is established by a consideration of God’s majesty. You notice how the opening Psalm reflects on God as Creator: God, who made all things; God, who established the earth and the fullness thereof, and the world and all who dwell therein; God as the maker of heaven and earth, and the sea and all it contains, and how He made the dry land and formed it, as it were, out of the seas and the water, and the firmament. And reflecting the language and the metaphors of Genesis 1 and 2, picking up now on that descriptive language of the book of Genesis—God, the Creator…He made all that is. He made you, and He made me. And because He made us, because He created us, because He formed us, He formed us for what? For worship, in order that we might praise Him, in order that we might live to His glory, in order that we might extol His majesty and greatness. That’s what we were made for. That’s why we were created, and therefore the call to come into God’s presence is established by this consideration of God’s majesty. He is the Creator. That is what we ought to be, worshipers of God in His holy presence on His holy hill.
II. The holiness of God.
But secondly, and you see this in verses 3-6 of the Psalm, the difficulty of coming into God’s presence is established by a consideration of the holiness of God. Look at that question again in verse 3. Was there ever a question like that? “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?” Who may stand in God’s presence? And you notice the answer:
“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, and who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”
In order to come into God’s presence the psalmist says you need clean hands and a pure heart, and a morally, ethically, righteous, upright life. Isn’t that what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount? [Don’t you love it when people say, “I’m not too much about the Bible, but I love the Sermon on the Mount”? People who say that have never read the Sermon on the Mount!] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Isn’t that the same as what the psalmist is saying here? The one with a pure heart will see God. That’s the answer of the psalmist; it’s the answer of Jesus.
You remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and said to Him, “Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Isn’t that a beautiful question? Don’t you long for people to come and ask you questions like that? “Tell me the way of salvation. Tell me the way to eternal life.” You understand that the question that the rich young man is asking is precisely the question that the psalmist is asking. “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord, and who may stand in His holy presence?” is of the same order of logic as saying “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Do you remember Jesus’ answer? He took him to the Ten Commandments. He took him to the Law. And you remember the answer that the rich young man gave to Jesus: “All these I have kept from my youth up.” And then Jesus said to him, taking him to the tenth commandment and the commandment about covetousness, He said, “Go, sell all that you have and give it to the poor.” And he wasn’t able to do that.
What is Jesus saying to this rich young man? What is the answer to the question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus says, “Bring Me clean hands and a pure heart, and you can have eternal life.”
There ought to be a storm going through your brain just about now. Because that’s not the answer of the gospel, is it? Is the Psalm really saying that the one who has clean hands and a pure heart can enter into God’s presence…has the right to enter into God’s presence? Because if that’s the answer, if that’s the solution, if that is what the psalmist is saying, if that’s what Jesus is saying in the Sermon on the Mount, if that’s what Jesus is saying to the rich young ruler (as it appears to be), then we have no hope. We have absolutely no hope. Because there is not a single individual in this building this morning who has clean hands and a pure heart.
“There is none righteous, no, not one; for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.”
All our righteousness, all our efforts, all our attempts to obey God’s Law, they are but filthy rags. Whatever the Law says (Paul summarizes), it says to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be stopped…that every single one of us this morning, in our attempts to obey God’s Law, can do or say absolutely nothing. All we can do is put our hands upon our mouths, because there is none righteous, no, not one. Because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
“Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy Law’s demands…. Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow…Thou must save…. All for sin could not atone…Thou must save, and Thou alone.”
Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in God’s holy presence? And the psalmist says the one who has clean hands and a pure heart. And, my friends, if that is so, we have no hope. We have absolutely no hope whatsoever this morning. Because all our efforts and all our strivings, and all our doings, and all our church membership, and all our good work—they amount to absolutely nothing. They amount to absolutely nothing, because we don’t have clean hands and we don’t have a pure heart.
III. Only the Son of God may stand in the presence of the holy and majestic God.
If the call to enter is established by a consideration of the majesty of God (that He is the creator), if the difficulty of coming into God’s presence is established by a consideration of the holiness of God, the right to enter into God’s presence is established by a consideration of God’s Son. Of God’s Son.
You see, there is a reason why in the early church Christians understood the Psalm as speaking about Jesus. This Psalm, especially the closing section from verses 7-10, these words of course are in Handel’s Messiah. Maybe those words and the tune of that is going through your head just now.
“Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.”
And the early church saw this Psalm as a Psalm most suitable for Ascension Day, the day in the calendar of the church that celebrated the ascension of Jesus after His resurrection. Six weeks later, prior to Pentecost, He ascended into the clouds, into God’s presence. He came home to His Father…came home wearing the spotless, righteous robe of His perfect obedience to every command of God’s Law.
One of the early church fathers, Gregory of Nyssa 1 —a man that we’re indebted to for many things, not least of them the doctrine of the Trinity—but Gregory of Nyssa put it like this:
“When Christ ascends, our guardians [that is to say, the angels] form a procession for Him, and command the hyper-cosmic powers to open the heavens that He may be adored there once more. But they did not recognize Him, because He had put on this poor coat of human nature, and His garments were red from the winepress of our sins, and this time it is they who cry, ‘Who is the King of glory?’”
Take a look at verses 7-10. You can imagine, can’t you, how this might have been sung antiphonally – that is, in a responsive manner. So in verse 7, a chorus is approaching Jerusalem. Imagine the original setting as the ark of the covenant is coming back to Jerusalem, and a chorus is now singing as they approach the gates of the temple: ‘Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, in order that the ark of the covenant might come back into the city again.’ And from within the gates there is this voice that asks the question, “Who is the King of glory?” And there’s an answer: ‘The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, mighty in battles; the God of armies, the God of hosts, the God of victories: He is the One. So lift up your heads, O you gates, and lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.’ And again there’s this question from within: “Who is the King of glory?” And there’s the answer: ‘The Lord of hosts, the mighty resurrected and ascended Jesus Christ: He is the King of glory.’
And what is the question? “Who may stand in God’s presence? Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?”
“He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” And, my friends, there is only one. There is only one who has clean hands and a pure heart: the spotless, sinless, perfect Jesus Christ, who never sinned, who never transgressed God’s Law, who never fell short of the glory of God, who obeyed to the full every demand that was ever laid upon Him. And so as He comes to the gates of the city, they must burst open for Him! There is no impediment for Him. They must rise and let Him in, because He’s the Lord of hosts. He’s the King of glory, He’s the God of battles. He’s won a victory, triumphing over Satan and all the powers of darkness in the cross. And He comes wearing the spotless righteous robe of His perfect obedience, stained as it is in the winepress of our sins. And you know what? You know what? As He comes into the presence of God, He says, “Behold, I and those whom You have given to Me.”
Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in God’s holy presence? Jesus may. God’s Son may. And all who are in union and fellowship with Him may, too. That’s the beauty of the gospel – that when I trust in Jesus Christ, when I cast myself entirely upon Him, when I say “Not the labors of my hands can fulfill Thy Law’s demands,” and I come to Him and I say, “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling”…and when you do that, my friends, you get access, too! He lets you in!
But you say, “I’m a sinner.” And I say, “No, you’re not. You’re a great sinner! You’re a terrible sinner! You have no idea, my friend, how sinful you are! You don’t even know a tenth of it…you don’t even know a hundredth of it. You are far worse than you ever imagined yourself to be, or ever confessed yourself to be. It cost the shed blood of Jesus to atone for your sins.”
And you see what this beautiful Psalm is saying. How can I come into God’s presence, vile and full of sin as I am? By laying hold of Jesus, who alone has the right to come into God’s presence. I come grasping Him and Him alone. I come saying, “Not my works, not my labors, not my efforts, but His…His alone.”
You know, it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing. It’s a question all of you need to ask this morning. Every single one of you need to ask this question. I don’t care who you are – young people, children, teenagers, college folk here this morning, parents, grandparents, and others. You need to ask yourself this question: How can I ascend God’s hill? How can I come and stand in God’s presence? And I’m telling you the answer is in Jesus Christ, by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. That’s the answer of the Psalm. Come, casting yourself entirely and completely and unequivocally upon Him, and He will never cast you away. He will never say no to you.
May God give you grace. May the Spirit come and descend upon your heart and soul this very hour. And if you’re not a Christian this morning, if you’re not a believer, if you’ve never trusted in Jesus Christ this morning, may the Spirit take hold of you and draw you to Christ, for whom the gates of glory burst asunder to let Him in…and you, my friend…and you along with Him, when you put your faith and trust in Him.
Father, we thank You now for Your word. We thank You for its power. We thank You for the gospel, that it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Come, Holy Spirit, do Your work, Your mighty sovereign work, in the hearts and lives of sinners here in this building this morning. And we ask it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
[Congregational Hymn: Rock of Ages]
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
1. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/macrina.html
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