Psalm 24
Read Psalm 24
This Psalm is titled “The King of Glory.” It’s believed that David wrote this Psalm when the Ark of the Covenant entered into Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6. He first brought it into Obed-edoms home, and then into the city and into the tent that he had built. A great celebration ensued, and this is the story that you might remember where David danced before the ark, and his wife got really embarrassed and upset, saying that David had not acted like a king, but had shamed himself and his position.
And this is David’s response: “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” David celebrated the glory of the Lord and was not ashamed to dance before Him. This is when it is believed that David wrote Psalm 24.
Big Question: Who Can Enter Into the Presence of the Lord?
David starts with a recognition of the power of God as Creator and Sustainer.
The Earth Belongs to the Lord (1-2)
The earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof. Another way to say this is that the earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it. Not only that, but also everyone who dwells on it. In other words, every inch of this earth belongs to the Lord. Nothing is out of His reach, or outside of His control.
Why? Because David tells us, He created it! He “founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers.” David is remembering back to the creation account where God brought forth land out of the waters.
God is the Creator. God is the Sustainer. God is in complete control. Everything belongs to Him. My finances belong to Him, and I have been given them to steward wisely. My children belong to Him, and I have been given them to steward wisely. My possessions belong to Him, and I have been given them to steward wisely. Nature is His, and we have been given it to steward wisely. Everything belongs to Him! Therefore, He is worthy of our worship. But, who is it that can even enter into the presence of the Lord? “Who can ascend the hill of the Lord?” David asks. This great God, this all powerful God. Who could possibly enter into His presence? Who can stand before Him?
Who is Worthy? (3-6)
A.. Clean Hands
According to the Jewish Virtual Library, “ritual hand washing is found in Exodus 30:17-21. Moses was commanded to make a copper laver and to place it at the entrance to the altar area so that Aaron and his sons could wash their hands before approaching the altar to offer sacrifices. The washing of hands makes them ritually pure.” This is surely what David had in mind when he wrote this. However, he is talking about our spiritual lives. He isn’t saying that in order to enter into the presence of the Lord, we have to wash our hands. There is a spiritual implication behind what he is saying.
Our hands represent action. The priests washed their hands in a symbol of forgiveness and purity. They were to enter the temple courts to make sacrifices after being ritually cleansed. In the same way our lives, our actions need to be marked by purity. Pure. Unstained. Not a smudge.
In order to enter into the presence of the Lord, our actions need to be marked by purity. If that isn’t challenging enough, David takes us to the motivation behind our action. The state of our hearts.
B.. Pure Hearts
Really clean hands are meaningless without pure hearts. Our right actions are meaningless without a heart motivated by the gospel. In fact, Jesus, in Matthew 23:25-29 addresses this: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.”
We can appear to have our act together on the outside, but if our hearts have not been changed by the gospel, then we are playing a dangerous game. I learned how to play this game in high school. I learned how to speak the language. I went on mission trips, played the drums on the student worship team, went to camps and retreats, did all the things. But I don’t believe that I had a heart truly transformed by the gospel. It is dangerous indeed. Our actions do not matter if not backed up by a heart that has been purified by the gospel. What else does David say?
C.. No Idol Worship
“Who does not lift up his soul to what is false.” Who does not attach his soul to anything that is not God. Who does not elevate his worship to anything outside of the Lord. Idol worship is not as black and white as it was in the Old Testament; a physical representation of a god, Baal, a golden calf. Israel was tempted to place their trust, their worship in those things. But with the advancement and growth in our world, we have so many other things that can be considered idolatry. Really, it’s anything that takes the place of the Lord in our lives. Anything that we prioritize over the Lord.
It can be things like money, a sports team, a specific athlete or celebrity that we idolize. It can be our kids, our possessions, our spouse. Martin Luther said this about idolatry: “Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God, your functional savior.” Another pastor said that idolatry “is the elevation and glorification of anything other than God, which eventually leads to personal emptiness and separation from true life.”
David says if we want to enter into the presence of the Lord, there can be nothing in the way. There can be nothing that has taken His place. There can be nothing that we trust in for fulfillment, for purpose, for peace, for salvation…apart from the Lord.
Now, some of these can be really good things. It’s ok to aim our love and devotion to our marriages, to our kids, to our friends, to our jobs. It’s ok to enjoy spending time with those people, or enjoy the work that we do, and pursue these things. The problem begins when our love and affection for these things replaces our love and affection for God.
And finally, he says that you must not “swear deceitfully.”
D.. No Deceit
In other words, don’t lie. We can circle back, here, to the purity of our hearts. What we do, our actions, should reflect the state of our heart. In the same way, the words that we say reflect the state of our heart. Charles Spurgeon asks the question in his sermon on Psalm 24: “How could they (liars) have fellowship with the God of truth, if they did not hate every false way?”
This is such a big deal that one of the 10 Commandments is devoted entirely to it! “Thou shalt not lie.” God obviously views this as an important issue. But this isn’t just a flat out lie. This can be a twisting of the truth. This can be not telling the WHOLE truth. This can be misleading someone in a business deal, saying you’ll do something and then not follow through, slandering someone, and so many other things. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Oh Lord.”
Clean Hands. Pure Heart. No Idol Worship. No Deceit.
Wait a minute now, if this is the standard that we must meet to enter into the presence of the Lord, then no one ever could! This sounds like perfection is needed, or I at least need to get close! It also sounds like we have to work really hard to gain access to God, almost like a works based righteousness. I want to address both of those briefly, because in the midst of something that seems impossible on our own, there is good news!
Imputed Righteousness
We first need to understand that the only person who has ever existed that can meet these standards is Jesus. He was sinless, and therefore had purity of actions, words, desires, and worship. He was perfect. And the good news about His perfection, His righteousness, His right standing with God, is that when we place our faith in Him for salvation, we immediately receive that same righteousness. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We aren’t just given righteousness, we become righteousness. What an incredible gift. And while God looks at us and sees the righteousness of Jesus in us, we are still not perfect. And so we need to understand the difference between 2 theological terms, and this addresses the 2nd of our challenges, how to reconcile righteousness in terms of our works.
Faith & Works (Justification and Sanctification)
The work of Jesus on the cross and the subsequent righteousness that we receive as Christians is called justification. A simple way to remember this term is like this, “it’s just as if I had never sinned.” Justified, just if I, you hear that? So the work of Jesus on the cross, His resurrection from the grave, and our belief in that is sufficient for salvation. We don’t need to come to Him and prove our cleanliness before salvation, it’s impossible. Our sin has stained us, and the blood of Jesus is the only thing that can fix that. Romans 5:8 says, “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.” That’s it. Justification by faith alone. Ephesians 2:8 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Titus 3:5 says, “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
However, once we receive justification by faith, once we are given the righteousness of Christ, it doesn’t end there. We enter into a process called sanctification. The word “sanctify” means “set apart.” Scripture tells us that we are set apart to be holy. So sanctification is the process that gets us there. Sanctification is the process of pursuing Jesus and becoming more like Him. So while God looks at us and sees the righteousness of Christ, we still do battle with our flesh, and work to represent Jesus well by how we live, by what we say, by what we pursue.
James 3:17-26 - “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
What James is saying is that our works are a reflection of our faith. Our works prove our faith. Works don’t give us faith, they don’t save us, but they do prove a real heart change. Our clean hands, our pure hearts, our elevation and worship of God alone, our truthfulness…are proof that we have the Holy Spirit working in us, moving us towards Christ-likeness.
Back to our Big Question: Who Can Enter Into the Presence of the Lord? The answer to that is anyone who believes in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, who in turn has been given the Holy Spirit who grows us and shapes us into the image of Jesus. To put it simply, because of Jesus and His righteousness, we as Christians can enter into the presence of God. And the only natural response to this truth is that we worship!
Worship the Lord (Read Psalm 24:7-10)
Application
By the power of the Holy Spirit, we aim to represent Jesus in word and deed, in motive and pursuit. As David says in our Psalm this morning, we “seek the face of the Lord.” And while the Lord is present today, we will one day enter into His presence, face to face. What a joyous day that will be.
