The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Who Is This King Of Glory？｜ Psalm 24

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, real quick before we get started, I have a small request.

00:00:03.420 If you've been blessed by our content and you like this show,

00:00:06.420 would you take just a brief moment and leave us a five-star review?

00:00:09.760 This is quite possibly the most effective thing that you can do

00:00:12.840 to ensure that this content gets out to as many people as possible.

00:00:17.520 Thanks.

00:00:18.340 To provide some framework for our psalm today, I want to do two things.

00:00:23.420 I want to talk about the structure of the text itself,

00:00:26.180 but then I want to talk about the background,

00:00:28.280 the context in which this particular psalm was written.

00:00:32.100 We don't have knowledge of the background for every single one of the psalms

00:00:36.040 that we find throughout the Psalter, but this one we do.

00:00:39.640 We know the purpose for which it was written.

00:00:41.940 We know the context in which it was written.

00:00:44.360 We know the emotions of the author and what he felt

00:00:47.520 and what he experienced immediately prior to this psalm being written

00:00:52.680 and pinned by his hand under the inspiration of the Spirit.

00:00:55.920 And so by knowing the background and the context, I believe that it heightens the experience of the psalm and heightens and strengthens our understanding of what's being conveyed.

00:01:06.440 But before we get into the background or the context for the writing of the psalm, let's briefly look at the structure, the textual structure of the psalm itself.

00:01:15.480 In your notes, I've written this.

00:01:16.920 Psalm 24 can be broken into three primary parts.

00:01:20.140 Number one would be verses one and two, which speak of God's sovereignty.

00:01:23.920 And number two, the second part, if you will, would be verses three through six, which speak

00:01:29.660 of God's holiness and by consequence, the holiness, which he demands of his people as

00:01:36.140 they worship him.

00:01:37.520 And then the third part of our Psalm today would be verses seven through 10, which speak

00:01:41.480 of God's victory, God's triumph.

00:01:45.220 So the first two verses, part one is God's sovereignty.

00:01:49.060 Verses 3 through 7 would be God's holiness and his demands, his prescription for holy and reverent worship.

00:01:56.580 And then the third part would be God's victory, God's triumph over his enemies and his triumph in his act of redemption.

00:02:06.760 The primary focus of our exegesis today will lie on the second portion of our text.

00:02:12.860 verses three through six and primarily even more specifically verses three through five here we

00:02:19.560 find two vital lessons for the christian number one we find the necessity for true worship and for

00:02:27.340 holy devout reverent worship and secondly we find not only the necessity for true worship

00:02:34.240 but the true worship can never occur without christ so we see the necessity for jesus and

00:02:41.840 finally, we'll briefly conclude at the end of the sermon today with a brief exegesis of the third

00:02:47.600 part, verses 7 through 10, which reveal the glory of Christ in his accomplishment of our redemption.

00:02:54.520 Now, for the background, the context for the writing of our text today, Psalm 24. Psalm 24 was

00:03:01.360 written for a particular occasion, namely the event described in 2 Samuel chapter 6, where David,

00:03:08.440 King David, went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David,

00:03:15.540 namely Jerusalem, with rejoicing. Now in 1 Samuel chapter 4, during the time of Eli the priest,

00:03:23.760 the one who trained Samuel as a boy, the Israelites were in rebellion against God.

00:03:30.140 Eli committed the sin of complacency. He was complicit. He was spiritually apathetic.

00:03:37.200 One of Eli's greatest sins was not that he himself was not reverent towards the Lord,

00:03:42.340 but that he tolerated irreverence in his sons.

00:03:46.160 He refused to discipline his sons.

00:03:48.940 He refused to set the record straight.

00:03:51.400 He bought into false narratives.

00:03:53.360 He was content to say, well, hey, you know, maybe there's a little sin here and a little sin there.

00:03:58.940 He wasn't willing to see the truth because it was painful.

00:04:03.040 Sometimes recognizing the truth hurts.

00:04:06.300 It's inconvenient.

00:04:08.040 It would require us to confront.

00:04:10.580 See, one of the chief reasons why people do not choose to see the truth as it really is,

00:04:15.760 is because the truth, when we see it, it demands something of us.

00:04:19.760 It requires something of us.

00:04:22.000 And almost always what it requires is a confrontation.

00:04:24.980 At minimum, a confrontation of ourselves.

00:04:28.120 That we must confront our own flesh.

00:04:30.220 We must confront our own idols.

00:04:31.960 We must confront our own sin.

00:04:33.840 You cannot repent of that that you don't even acknowledge, that you're not willing to even

00:04:39.440 confront. And often, a recognition and acknowledgement of the truth requires us not

00:04:45.240 only to confront the sin in our own lives, but to confront the sin in the life of others.

00:04:50.940 It propels us and demands of us. It requires that we step into those uncomfortable contexts

00:04:57.620 relationally with other people. Eli refused to do this with his own sons.

00:05:03.320 And according to scripture, Eli hated his sons.

00:05:06.840 See, that's what it is.

00:05:07.680 Remember, Jesus with the rich young ruler, I've said it many times, so I'll say it briefly.

00:05:10.920 But the text actually says that he looked at him and loved him and then put his finger on his sin.

00:05:17.600 In the rich young ruler's case, namely the sin of greed.

00:05:20.740 But the text actually says that before he called him out for his greed, it says he looked at him and loved him.

00:05:26.840 So immediately after loving him, he convicts him of sin.

00:05:32.860 Which tells us necessarily the conclusion is that to convict someone of sin is one of the most loving things that we can do.

00:05:41.000 It is to follow in the example of the standard of love, the Savior.

00:05:46.420 And according to scripture, to spare the rod, that is to neglect confrontation, is to hate.

00:05:52.260 It is to hate. The Bible uses the word to hate the child.

00:05:55.980 Now certainly we see that with discipline with our children.

00:05:58.140 But we see that as a general principle beyond merely our own household, our own children.

00:06:03.580 We see that in relationship with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

00:06:07.740 Our fathers in Christ and sons and daughters in Christ.

00:06:10.620 Spiritual sons, spiritual daughters, spiritual fathers and mothers, spiritual brothers and sisters.

00:06:16.200 That when we neglect to confront, we hate.

00:06:20.660 And we hate in the same way, we could say, or at least in a similar way, that God loved Jacob but hated Esau.

00:06:27.860 Now, we know that in God's common grace,

00:06:30.320 he has compassion on all he has made.

00:06:32.120 The Psalms say he has compassion on all he has made.

00:06:34.920 There's always been this debate.

00:06:36.820 I don't know if you've noticed in the Reformed camp,

00:06:38.880 this debate of does God love everybody?

00:06:40.900 And the answer is yes and no.

00:06:44.080 God does not possess a fatherly love for all people.

00:06:48.860 Not everyone is a child of God.

00:06:50.960 You're a child of God by virtue of adoption,

00:06:53.180 which only comes by grace through faith in Christ.

00:06:56.260 and not everybody gets that.

00:06:58.500 God is determined before the foundation of the world

00:07:01.040 to elect some, not all, for salvation

00:07:04.060 and to be adopted as his children.

00:07:06.200 So God possesses fatherly love for some, not all.

00:07:10.240 But God possesses a benevolent love of the creator

00:07:13.720 for all his creation.

00:07:16.780 In a universal sense, he has compassion

00:07:18.680 on all that he has made.

00:07:21.060 And so in his common grace,

00:07:22.480 he is a benevolent God even toward the unbeliever.

00:07:27.080 God is loving even towards those who are not his children in that sense.

00:07:33.840 And so Eli, Eli refused to obey the Lord.

00:07:39.020 He refused to love his sons.

00:07:41.640 And that hatred, spare the rod, hate the child.

00:07:44.820 That hatred, just like what the word of God says in regards to Esau and Jacob in Romans chapter 9 verse 13.

00:07:51.640 It says, for Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

00:07:54.300 It's a comparative love and hatred.

00:07:57.660 By comparison to my love for Jacob, my elect love, my fatherly love, my salvific love for Jacob,

00:08:06.120 the compassion, the general common grace benevolence that I have for Esau looks like hatred.

00:08:12.820 It looks like hatred.

00:08:14.600 And so too, when we fail to love others by not confronting them, what it really is, is it's comparative hatred and love.

00:08:21.960 meaning this. Well, what's it compared to in that instance? It's compared to the love that you

00:08:26.300 possess for yourself. I love myself and my comfort and my ability and opportunity to avoid discomfort

00:08:34.860 that comes by confrontation to somehow preserve convenience in my life. I love myself so much

00:08:42.440 and my comfort and convenience that by virtue of comparison, my refusal to confront you looks like

00:08:49.400 hatred for you and this is what Eli does he hates his sons and the problem persists in his sons

00:08:57.300 and the people begin to follow his sons that's that's the point that's the result is that the

00:09:03.440 nation not just Eli's two sons but that the nation begins in turn to follow his son's example

00:09:09.300 the sons were stealing the choice pieces of meat that were not for them right off of the altar

00:09:16.160 and eating it. 0.91

00:09:17.780 The sons were committing temple prostitution, 0.99

00:09:20.320 manipulating weak-willed and weak-minded women 0.98

00:09:23.520 who were coming in to worship God, 1.00

00:09:25.160 manipulating them into bed.

00:09:28.040 The sons were, what they were doing

00:09:30.020 is they were perverting worship.

00:09:33.040 They were perverting worship.

00:09:34.480 It wasn't just in their private lives.

00:09:36.240 It was at the temple, the place of worship,

00:09:39.240 in the act of worship.

00:09:40.900 That is what they were perverting.

00:09:42.400 They were not fearing God.

00:09:44.880 There was a complete absence of reverence.

00:09:47.560 And as these two sons of the priests exemplified an irreverent worship,

00:09:54.180 the people began to follow. 0.60

00:09:55.600 And as the nation followed that example, within Israel, the problem began to be created,

00:10:00.580 which the problem was this.

00:10:02.280 There was no fear of God before their eyes.

00:10:04.800 There was no reverence in worship of a thrice holy God.

00:10:10.340 And they thought, here's the ticket.

00:10:12.540 They thought that God would be faithful to them, that they would experience the benefits of God so long as they had his presence, even if they didn't obey. 0.50

00:10:26.300 And so what they did as they were being attacked in a raging battle with the Philistines is that the people went into the temple and took the Ark of the Covenant.

00:10:35.560 The Ark of the Covenant represented a tangible presence of the Lord on earth.

00:10:41.220 And they thought that if they had God's presence with them, as they went into battle, they would be victorious.

00:10:48.320 But they were defeated.

00:10:50.260 Why?

00:10:51.000 Because even though the presence of the Lord was with them, they weren't obedient.

00:10:57.080 And it's not merely the presence of the Lord, a superstitious view of the presence of God with us, that ultimately brings about blessing.

00:11:06.580 No, it's obedience to what the Lord has objectively commanded.

00:11:10.560 So to say I have God's presence for this reason and that, but I'm not obedient, it doesn't benefit you.

00:11:19.860 It's obedience that brings about the blessing of the Lord.

00:11:22.440 Not superstitious rituals and practices surrounding the presence of God, but rather obedience to God that guarantees the blessing and the victory.

00:11:32.540 So the Israelites, in a superstitious manner, they take the Ark of the Covenant with them into battle,

00:11:37.660 yet they have not turned back to the Lord in their hearts they have not repented of their irreverence 0.79

00:11:44.100 in worship of Yahweh and so they walk into battle they march into battle with the ark of the

00:11:50.380 covenant but with disobedient hearts and they're they're slaughtered they're completely destroyed

00:11:57.740 and one of the most tragic things that happens is the ark of the covenant itself is actually

00:12:02.160 captured by the philistines it falls into enemy hands and when the news of this gets back to eli

00:12:09.020 the priest who ultimately by his complacency is responsible he's the ultimate person in all of

00:12:17.500 israel who's responsible for the whole nation's sin not because he himself engaged in these acts 0.94

00:12:23.160 of irreverence but because he let them go on he let them go on and it says that eli was a fat man 0.99

00:12:30.920 He was a fat man.

00:12:32.060 And it says that when he got news that the ark had been captured 0.97

00:12:35.020 and that his two sons in the battle had been slaughtered and killed,

00:12:38.320 he fell over backwards in his chair and broke his neck.

00:12:42.640 And even the size of him, even the Bible depicting his physical stature as a fat man

00:12:48.400 falling over out of his chair, not being able to stop himself and breaking his neck,

00:12:52.360 even that, I believe, symbolically signifies this.

00:12:55.700 It was the idol of comfort.

00:12:58.340 That was Eli's MO.

00:13:00.620 Comfort is what kept him in complacency

00:13:02.780 and kept him from disciplining his sons.

00:13:05.300 And comfort is also what caused him to be overweight.

00:13:08.840 And in a brutal sense of divine irony,

00:13:11.120 all of his idolatry and its effects

00:13:13.000 gathered together in one moment and broke his neck.

00:13:17.340 And that's the story of Eli.

00:13:19.660 And that's the story of how the Ark of the Covenant of God 0.95

00:13:22.280 fell into the hands of the Philistines. 0.93

00:13:23.960 Now the Philistines captured the Ark 0.95

00:13:26.080 because it represented their victory not only over Israel, 0.87

00:13:29.800 But in their minds, a perceived victory over the God of Israel.

00:13:33.680 And so they took the Ark of the Covenant back with them to their Philistine city. 0.88

00:13:38.460 Particularly the Philistine city of Ashdod. 0.91

00:13:41.380 And in Ashdod, they had a pantheon.

00:13:43.480 Which basically, it's a temple for many gods.

00:13:46.680 They were polytheists.

00:13:47.720 And in their pantheon to all their gods, they put the Ark of the Covenant.

00:13:52.240 The presence of God.

00:13:53.820 The one true God in the temple in front of one of their greatest gods.

00:13:57.820 gods which was Dagon and and what happened is it is that the priest the Philistine pagan priest

00:14:05.980 the next morning after the ark had spent the night in the temple directly positioned they

00:14:10.500 positioned it intentionally in front of Dagon in such a way that it looked like the god of Israel

00:14:15.160 was bowing down paying homage in subjection to Dagon and when the priest the pagan priest of

00:14:22.600 of the philistines came back into the temple the next morning dagon was toppled over in a prostrate

00:14:29.480 position in front of the ark and then the next night they do it again they stand dagon up and

00:14:36.460 the next morning they come back in and this time dagon is toppled over and his arms and head have

00:14:41.560 been broken off in the same way that the priest eli's neck had been shattered so the neck of dagon

00:14:48.540 had been broken to pieces because of the presence of God that dwelt before him.

00:14:54.340 And then all of a sudden, the implications began to spread beyond the temple

00:14:57.800 to the whole city of Ashdod, a capital city,

00:15:00.820 one of the five capital cities in all of the Philistine country.

00:15:04.400 And the implication was this, that the people began to be inflicted with tumors,

00:15:08.920 cancerous tumors, and they died.

00:15:10.940 Many of the people were slaughtered.

00:15:12.700 And so what the Philistines did was they said,

00:15:14.380 we must take the Ark of the Covenant to another place, to another city.

00:15:17.900 And the same thing happened there.

00:15:19.740 And they did this multiple times

00:15:21.420 to where each city in Philistine,

00:15:23.820 wherever the ark went,

00:15:25.160 the people were plagued with tumors and death.

00:15:28.160 And eventually the priests got together and they said,

00:15:30.400 far be it from us, woe to us,

00:15:32.160 we cannot tolerate the presence of God.

00:15:35.080 Because see, here's the thing, brothers and sisters,

00:15:37.040 the presence of God for Philistines,

00:15:39.940 just like it was for the Israelites when it was captured,

00:15:42.520 they were defeated in the first place,

00:15:44.080 the presence of God is not blessing to the disobedient.

00:15:47.960 The presence of God is a thing to be feared when your heart is not in submission to his commands.

00:15:54.100 The presence of God is not blessing to the disobedient, but a curse.

00:15:58.840 And so they say, we must rid ourselves of the ark.

00:16:01.660 We must somehow get the ark away from us.

00:16:04.000 And they were afraid at that point even to touch it.

00:16:06.540 And so what they did was they put the ark on a cart that had never been used.

00:16:10.200 And they took two oxen that had never carried any yoke, any burden.

00:16:13.740 They had never been used to drag or to carry anything before.

00:16:18.720 And they made five golden statues, images of the tumors,

00:16:23.100 and five golden statues of rats as a sacrifice to pay homage to Yahweh 0.55

00:16:28.220 so that perhaps he would lift his punishment, his judgment from among their nation. 0.66

00:16:33.160 And they loaded the cart up behind the oxen with the Ark of the Covenant

00:16:37.580 and these five golden images of tumors and five golden images of rats.

00:16:42.540 And they said to themselves that if the oxen do not go to the right or to the left, but go straight on the path without any person persuading or leading them, we'll know that our sacrifice to Yahweh is acceptable.

00:16:55.980 And that the curse, his judgment, has been lifted.

00:16:59.020 And sure enough, wouldn't you know it, the oxen go straight.

00:17:02.080 And they go all the way to an Israelite city.

00:17:06.400 They go all the way to a city named Beth Shemesh. 0.79

00:17:11.140 It's the first Israelite city that the Ark comes to after having been captured by the Philistines. 0.53

00:17:17.820 But the men in that city, here's the problem. 0.78

00:17:20.900 The Israelites, the people of God, they exemplify the same level of irreverence as the pagans.

00:17:30.780 And what they do is they actually open up the Ark of the Covenant.

00:17:34.980 And just like Indiana Jones style, it's a face melter.

00:17:39.300 They open up the Ark of the Covenant and God struck, the Bible says, he struck 70 of the men.

00:17:45.580 And the whole village begins to weep because God struck such a severe blow.

00:17:50.940 He killed, God put to death, 70 men.

00:17:56.440 Then the men of Beth Shemesh, they say, who was able to stand before the Lord in his presence?

00:18:01.040 This holy God.

00:18:03.820 Lastly, the Ark ended up staying in Kirjath-Jerim.

00:18:07.740 and it stayed there for a hundred years.

00:18:12.040 In 2 Samuel chapter 6, picking back up with the narrative now,

00:18:15.400 once David had assumed the throne and become king of Israel after King Saul,

00:18:19.980 he was determined to bring the ark finally back to Jerusalem,

00:18:23.700 where it rightfully belonged.

00:18:25.960 And we see that when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon,

00:18:29.760 as they're taking the ark from this place where God has struck people, 0.66

00:18:34.580 Beth Shemesh, and then it went to Kirjath-Jerim.

00:18:36.780 It was there for 100 years, and now the ark is going from Kirjath-Jerim to Jerusalem.

00:18:41.340 And David is leading a host of armies, a host of Israelite people, priests, and warriors, and musicians to take the ark of the covenant from Kirjath-Jerim all the way to Jerusalem.

00:18:52.940 But there's a fatal flaw with David's strategy, with the practice that he employs.

00:19:01.320 See, what David does is this.

00:19:03.300 He has the men put the ark of the covenant on a cart again.

00:19:06.780 to be carried by oxen.

00:19:10.040 He does the same thing that the pagans do. 0.83

00:19:12.600 The difference between Israel and the pagans 0.83

00:19:14.400 is razor thin if there's any difference at all.

00:19:18.560 I mean, that's the tragedy.

00:19:19.600 The tragedy is that the people of God

00:19:21.100 possess no more reverence for God

00:19:23.860 than the pagans who hate him.

00:19:26.800 And so they put the Ark of the Covenant of God.

00:19:28.920 The people of God do this.

00:19:30.180 Israel does this.

00:19:31.380 David, a man after God's own heart 0.98

00:19:33.080 who should know better, does this.

00:19:35.040 He treats the Ark of the Covenant

00:19:36.540 in the same way that God's enemies do. 0.99

00:19:38.840 The same way Philistine did. 0.91

00:19:40.420 He puts it on a cart. 0.98

00:19:42.680 And there's a point in which the path gets rough

00:19:45.600 and the wheels and axles of the cart give

00:19:48.500 and the ark begins to slide off the cart

00:19:50.900 as though it's going to fall into the ground.

00:19:53.760 And a man named Uzzah stretches out his hand

00:19:57.100 to save the ark.

00:19:59.680 To save the presence of God from being defiled.

00:20:02.280 From falling into the grime and the dirt. 0.98

00:20:04.220 But the problem is that Uzzah, in the sin of arrogance and presumption, he believes that somehow his hand would be an improvement from the dirt. 0.94

00:20:17.120 But the reality, as I said, I believe last week, dirt, physical dirt, has never defiled the presence of God. 0.95

00:20:24.740 Remember, even what God says in his theophany, in the burning bush, his encounter with Moses, he says, take off your sandals for you're on holy dirt.

00:20:33.580 The dirt's fine, Moses.

00:20:35.580 The problem is you.

00:20:38.000 The dirt's fine, David.

00:20:39.980 The problem is your men. 1.00

00:20:41.840 The problem is Uzzah. 1.00

00:20:43.320 Uzzah reaching out and touching this ark. 1.00

00:20:46.420 That's not just dirt. 0.97

00:20:47.740 That's the dust of the ground that was made into man and raised up his fist in defiance of God.

00:20:53.540 Dirt has never rebelled against God.

00:20:55.520 Dirt has never disobeyed his commands.

00:20:57.240 Even Jesus himself said, if these people don't cry out, Hosanna and worship me,

00:21:01.840 even the rocks themselves will cry out in worship.

00:21:05.080 The dirt worships God.

00:21:06.660 The mountains sing his praise.

00:21:08.580 The sky echoes his glory and majesty.

00:21:11.540 All of creation is singing the testimony

00:21:13.840 and the witness of the glory of God.

00:21:16.560 It is man and man alone that fails to do this.

00:21:20.600 The dirt's not the problem. 1.00

00:21:22.580 Uzzah is the problem. 1.00

00:21:23.880 And Uzzah, sadly, is just an example 0.95

00:21:25.600 that represents this corporate problem in all of Israel. 0.78

00:21:28.380 and fear, fear grasped the heart of David.

00:21:34.020 And they leave the ark at a nearby place,

00:21:36.400 the home of a man named Obed-Edom.

00:21:39.220 And the ark stays there for three months.

00:21:42.220 And then David decides, let's try again.

00:21:45.240 Now, part of the reason that he worked up the courage

00:21:48.240 to go and try again to bring the ark 0.97

00:21:50.340 now from Obed-Edom's household to Jerusalem

00:21:52.820 was that for those three months,

00:21:54.600 the Bible said that God blessed Obed-Edom.

00:21:58.380 And for the first time in over 100 years, if you've been following the narrative,

00:22:02.880 for the first time in over 100 years, the presence of God brought about blessing rather than death.

00:22:10.600 Because Obed-Edom feared the Lord.

00:22:13.260 And David realized that's the ticket. 0.94

00:22:15.480 The problem is not the presence of God.

00:22:17.140 The problem is the way that we're treating the presence of God.

00:22:21.840 The presence of God is truly, in its truest sense, blessing.

00:22:26.200 but it's not blessing for those who do not fear him and worship him as he truly is and so david

00:22:36.160 goes back but this time he does it right he consults the law of god and he remembers that

00:22:41.160 in the law of god that one of the precepts in carrying the ark of the covenant was that no man

00:22:46.560 should touch the ark and that it should never be carried on a cart but rather it should be carried

00:22:50.840 by men by poles, acacia poles. And so he gets the priest, the right people, and the right garments,

00:22:58.160 the right clothing, the right attire, the right poles, the right wood, the right manner, the right

00:23:02.360 practice, the right posture, everything. And he puts before the priest, and we have the musicians,

00:23:07.080 and they're singing. And David, all the way from the house of Obed-Edom, all the way to the city

00:23:11.880 of Jerusalem, him and a host of Israel, they walk only six steps, and then stop. And they

00:23:20.400 slaughter an animal and sacrifice to the lord now the number six represents the number of man

00:23:26.480 it's a number of incompletion seven was was thought to be a divine number because really

00:23:31.580 what it represents more than divinity it represents completion and so what david is saying by taking

00:23:36.620 six steps and then stopping the whole host of israel to sacrifice to the lord is this they're 0.75

00:23:41.580 saying we cannot move one more step we cannot complete anything apart from making atonement

00:23:49.800 for our sin.

00:23:52.100 We're not worthy.

00:23:53.620 We're not worthy to go seven steps

00:23:55.960 to complete this task

00:23:58.020 apart from being reminded once more

00:24:00.580 that you're holy

00:24:01.760 and that we have fallen short

00:24:03.360 and that the only hope of reconciliation

00:24:06.040 that we have

00:24:07.180 is the death of a substitute,

00:24:10.220 the blood of another.

00:24:12.380 That's the only way that we can continue.

00:24:14.860 The only way that we can continue

00:24:16.920 to the kingdom of God

00:24:19.460 to the house of God,

00:24:21.560 the only hope that we have in progressing

00:24:23.760 is with blood,

00:24:26.580 is with atonement,

00:24:28.420 is with forgiveness of sin.

00:24:30.900 And David continues this practice,

00:24:33.120 six steps,

00:24:34.080 and then slaughtering an animal

00:24:35.220 so that there was a river of blood

00:24:36.800 all the way from the house of Obed-Edom

00:24:39.120 all the way to Jerusalem. 0.68

00:24:42.240 And he continues this ritual

00:24:43.580 and as he gets into the gates of the city,

00:24:46.880 he is dancing with all his might

00:24:48.820 And he's not naked, as some people said, or in his boxer briefs.

00:24:52.100 That's not what the text is saying.

00:24:54.100 But what he's done is he's removed his royal garments, his robe, outer royal robe.

00:24:58.740 It signifies authority, royalty.

00:25:01.940 Because he recognizes there's only one king in this scenario.

00:25:06.380 And so he's wearing clothes just as much as you and I, but he's not dressed in his royal garments.

00:25:12.080 He removes those royal garments, and not a way to defile himself, not in a way that would be promiscuous or foolish, but in a way that portrays humility.

00:25:25.980 And the Bible says that he dances with all his might.

00:25:30.580 And his wife, the daughter of the previous king, King Saul, Mikael, she sees him from the window and despises him.

00:25:39.600 She despises him.

00:25:40.860 And the reason she despises him is, as any good wife knows, 0.91

00:25:44.740 your reputation is tied up with your husband. 0.97

00:25:48.120 If he's a doofus, you're embarrassed. 0.98

00:25:50.760 He embarrasses you. 0.97

00:25:52.360 And for David to strip himself of his garments that represent royalty

00:25:56.840 and to be dancing with all his might in front of all of the people of Israel to see

00:26:01.720 he wasn't acting kingly.

00:26:07.140 I mean, it's kind of like a Donald Trump move.

00:26:09.920 I know you're the president, and I think you're right in your content,

00:26:13.580 but your presentation is just not presidential.

00:26:16.500 Goodness gracious, this guy, I love his policy.

00:26:18.780 Could we take away his phone from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m.?

00:26:22.660 And now big tech and their breach of the First Amendment and freedom of speech

00:26:28.900 have done it for us by banning them off of every social media platform,

00:26:32.140 which I think is wrong.

00:26:33.880 But the point is he's not acting.

00:26:35.320 David's not conducting himself with dignity in the mind of people,

00:26:40.760 in the carnal view of man.

00:26:44.040 But he is conducting himself exactly the way that is pleasing to the Lord.

00:26:49.640 He strips himself of royalty to show a posture of humility.

00:26:55.320 And he dances with all his might and sacrifices an animal every six steps

00:26:59.780 and follows the law of God to the T

00:27:01.940 and the way that they carry the ark and the procedures that they follow

00:27:05.060 All of this is because reverence finally has come back to Israel.

00:27:11.860 Eli let it go.

00:27:14.040 Not because he himself was irreverent, remember,

00:27:17.140 but because he refused to discipline irreverence in others.

00:27:21.400 But David brings reverence back.

00:27:24.340 And notice, David isn't content to be reverent towards the Lord while others are not.

00:27:27.940 He uses his authority in the way that Eli should have.

00:27:30.580 He commands that all of Israel do what's right in the sight of the Lord. 0.76

00:27:35.060 All of Israel takes six steps.

00:27:37.180 It's not David took six steps and then fell behind the rest of the procession 0.57

00:27:41.540 and stopped and sacrificed himself.

00:27:43.660 No, I'm doing this and everyone else is doing it too.

00:27:47.440 As for me and my house, we will fear the Lord.

00:27:52.000 He doesn't give them a choice.

00:27:53.300 He uses his vested authority to command reverence for the thrice holy God.

00:27:59.700 That's what he does.

00:28:01.620 And the Lord is pleased. 0.94

00:28:03.200 and the ark finds its way back to Israel.

00:28:07.480 And one of the songs for this long procession

00:28:11.300 where every six steps they have to stop and make a sacrifice.

00:28:15.460 One of the songs that was written by King David himself

00:28:19.520 for this extended long worship service was Psalm 24.

00:28:26.380 David wrote Psalm 24 to be used as a part of the liturgy

00:28:30.820 for the procession of Israel

00:28:33.140 as they carried back with reverence

00:28:35.180 the ark of God to the city of Jerusalem.

00:28:41.980 See, the one thing that is clear

00:28:44.020 from the chronicle of the ark in the Old Testament

00:28:46.500 is this.

00:28:48.780 God is not to be trifled with.

00:28:52.160 He is a holy God who demands holiness

00:28:54.280 from those who offer Him praise.

00:28:57.060 In Leviticus chapter 10 verse 3,

00:28:59.540 God says,

00:29:00.820 By those who come near me, I will be treated as holy.

00:29:06.820 And before all the people, I will be honored.

00:29:09.760 And Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28 says that if we want to serve God acceptably,

00:29:14.300 we must do it with reverence and godly fear.

00:29:18.240 See, we live in an age of casual worship.

00:29:20.980 Statistics show that the vast majority of people who profess to be followers of Christ

00:29:25.100 claim that a church's style of worship and song selection

00:29:28.460 is the number one determining factor

00:29:30.580 for whether or not they will choose

00:29:32.000 to be a regular attender at that church.

00:29:34.560 Today, it has become commonplace, normal, 0.94

00:29:38.480 expected for Christians to make demands on worship 1.00

00:29:42.860 without ever stopping to ask or consider even

00:29:47.360 if God, the one who is being worshiped,

00:29:50.240 has demands for worship.

00:29:52.560 See, this is not a biblical approach to worship.

00:29:55.240 In the same way that it was physically deadly,

00:29:57.620 Think of Uzzah and the 70 men who opened the ark in the same way that it was physically deadly to approach worship of the presence of God in a trite and lighthearted manner in the Old Testament. 0.86

00:30:12.360 Still to this day, it is spiritually deadly. 0.90

00:30:16.440 And in some instances, it was physically deadly.

00:30:18.600 In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, that's New Testament.

00:30:21.100 but certainly spiritually deadly in the new covenant in the new testament for us to approach

00:30:27.940 worship in a trite and light-hearted way today see worship is meant to be reverent now listen

00:30:34.080 don't make this mistake this is not to suggest that our worship is to be grim and gloomy reverence

00:30:42.620 and depression are not synonyms.

00:30:47.780 Reverence is not synonymous with gloominess.

00:30:52.720 It doesn't mean that our worship

00:30:54.460 should be grim and gloomy.

00:30:56.360 See, there is a tremendous amount

00:30:58.420 of the deepest kind of joy

00:31:00.680 in true worship from a pure heart.

00:31:04.840 This is why David danced before the Lord.

00:31:08.580 He wasn't just weeping and miserable,

00:31:10.380 he danced.

00:31:11.960 However, he did not dance flippantly.

00:31:14.980 He danced with all his might.

00:31:17.920 It was the kind of serious joy.

00:31:21.520 Now that seems like an oxymoron,

00:31:23.040 but it's biblical, it's right, it's good.

00:31:24.680 When we approach God's presence in worship,

00:31:28.240 we approach him with a serious joy.

00:31:31.380 Not a serious sadness,

00:31:34.160 but also not a flippant, trite, lighthearted,

00:31:36.880 happy, clappy joy.

00:31:38.020 So it's not a happy, clappy joy,

00:31:39.980 And it's also not serious depression.

00:31:43.780 No, it's serious joy.

00:31:45.880 When we approach the Lord with serious joy,

00:31:49.780 it's the kind of joy that David had.

00:31:52.220 It's the kind of serious joy that's only possible

00:31:55.260 to come from someone who has first understood

00:31:58.300 the fear that David felt when Uzzah was struck dead

00:32:02.080 for mishandling the presence of God. 0.65

00:32:04.940 See, you might say that it was the death of Uzzah 0.91

00:32:09.060 that prepared David for this moment. 0.96

00:32:12.680 It was the tragic death of Uzzah 1.00

00:32:15.280 that was used by God in His providence 1.00

00:32:18.700 to instill back in the heart of King David

00:32:21.980 a reverence and fear for His presence.

00:32:26.920 See, many people do not approach the Lord with reverence.

00:32:30.480 They do not possess serious joy in worship of this holy God

00:32:35.200 because they've never experienced the fear of God that David did.

00:32:39.060 they've never witnessed what a terrible thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God

00:32:46.020 as Hebrew says I've said before that I believe that the love of the Lord has been wasted

00:32:53.420 on a generation that has not been taught the fear of the Lord

00:32:56.740 because the love of God is small if we don't see his holiness I preached that just last week it's

00:33:05.320 the gap between a holy God and sinful man, when that gap is not in real objective terms, but in

00:33:11.720 our perception, in our understanding, in our theology, as that gap is widened, because we

00:33:16.660 come to see more of the holiness of God and more of our own sinfulness, when that gap is widened,

00:33:21.620 then for the Christian, what fills the gap? It's the love of God. So the love of God doesn't get

00:33:26.820 smaller as we see more of his holiness and more of our own sinfulness. The love and mercy of God,

00:33:32.600 the cross of Christ that bridges the gap, it gets bigger. So when we see more of the holiness of God,

00:33:38.480 we understand more of the mercy of God. We see more of the love of God. And as 1 John 4, 19 says,

00:33:44.400 as we see more of God's love for us, we come to love him more. And if we love him, as Jesus says,

00:33:50.000 we'll obey him. How do you grow in obedience? Grow in love. How do you grow in love? Come to see more

00:33:56.360 of his love for you. How do you see more of God's love for you? See more of his holiness and your

00:34:01.180 sinfulness and the gospel that bridges the gap this is what happened in the heart of david he

00:34:08.840 saw the holiness of god and the sinfulness of man put on display in the death of us

00:34:14.980 and then he approached the lord with fear and trembling but notice notice the appearance

00:34:24.960 the posture of his fear and trembling it's in the form and don't miss this because it's a beautiful

00:34:30.080 truth. His fear and trembling, King David's fear and trembling, it comes in the form of dancing.

00:34:37.160 It is a joyful fear, a happy trembling, a serious joy, the kind of deep, profound, and genuine joy

00:34:51.080 that many people who profess Christ today, I'm convinced they've never even experienced.

00:34:57.660 They don't even know that joy exists.

00:35:00.660 They think they have joy, but what they have

00:35:02.600 is a lighthearted, trivial, happy, clappy, shallow joy.

00:35:09.600 And they look at churches like ours

00:35:12.140 and they would compare and contrast and say,

00:35:14.260 you guys, yeah, you get reverence, you get holiness,

00:35:18.140 but you don't get joy, brother.

00:35:20.100 No, you don't get joy.

00:35:22.960 This is not our substitution for joy.

00:35:26.300 This is our experience and practice of the truest kind of joy.

00:35:31.540 A serious joy.

00:35:33.820 A deep joy.

00:35:35.860 It doesn't just cause us to weep and mourn and wail.

00:35:39.140 It causes us to dance.

00:35:41.300 But with all our might.

00:35:42.980 Not flippantly.

00:35:44.800 But with everything we have.

00:35:47.040 For the Savior who loves us.

00:35:51.220 So that's the necessity.

00:35:53.100 for a right view of the holiness of God

00:35:56.480 and therefore a right practice of worshiping God.

00:36:01.240 That's the necessity, right?

00:36:03.020 I said the structure of the text was verse one and two,

00:36:05.560 the sovereignty of God.

00:36:06.500 We're not hitting that at all

00:36:07.320 because we've hit that at great length

00:36:08.680 as we've worked through the Psalms.

00:36:10.280 See verses one through six of Psalm 19.

00:36:13.020 See Psalm 16, see Psalm two.

00:36:15.160 We've already hit that.

00:36:16.080 So verse one and two, this idea,

00:36:18.000 the theme of the sovereignty of God,

00:36:19.440 his power, his authority, we've dealt with that.

00:36:22.160 And we'll deal with it again.

00:36:24.160 But this morning, verses 3 through 5, we see the necessity for right worship.

00:36:29.960 Really what we could say is we see right here, we see on display, not through prescription,

00:36:35.660 not a prescribed, a prescriptive text, but a descriptive text, if you will.

00:36:40.660 We see a descriptive text in the Old Testament for the principle, the regular principle of worship.

00:36:46.720 To worship according to what God prescribes.

00:36:49.280 You don't get to carry the Ark of the Covenant however you feel like.

00:36:52.860 Well, we think a cart will work.

00:36:55.080 Dead.

00:36:58.760 No, I said acacia pulse.

00:37:01.660 Well, this is going to be a really long,

00:37:03.080 I mean, think about every road trip you've taken.

00:37:05.220 Think about your kids.

00:37:06.100 Can I go to the bathroom?

00:37:06.900 Can I go to the bathroom?

00:37:07.620 Six steps?

00:37:08.780 Imagine that.

00:37:10.100 Every six steps,

00:37:11.180 we've got to stop for a sacrifice break?

00:37:14.120 A divine potty break?

00:37:15.800 Every six steps?

00:37:17.340 We're never going to get there,

00:37:18.460 but it's right.

00:37:19.300 and notice

00:37:21.900 it doesn't drain David

00:37:23.920 it doesn't burden him

00:37:26.000 it doesn't weary him

00:37:26.900 he dances with all his might

00:37:30.140 it fills his heart with joy

00:37:32.340 David probably looked back

00:37:34.400 on this experience for the rest of his life

00:37:36.260 as one of the most wonderful

00:37:38.340 sweet moments

00:37:39.700 in the presence of God that he had ever experienced

00:37:42.240 he views it fondly

00:37:44.760 it's a beautiful thing

00:37:49.580 It's what Christ says,

00:37:50.480 all who are weary and heavy laden,

00:37:51.940 come to me and I'll give you rest.

00:37:54.180 Why?

00:37:54.620 Well, because with the entrance of the new covenant

00:37:56.220 for New Testament Christians, for Jesus, 0.98

00:37:58.920 he's gotten rid of God's moral law 0.73

00:38:00.740 and he gives rest

00:38:01.540 because he doesn't require all those commandments

00:38:03.940 that the Old Testament God required.

00:38:05.640 And so the rest is it basically comes

00:38:07.780 because he just expects very little

00:38:09.260 and it's really restful.

00:38:10.180 No.

00:38:11.720 No, Jesus didn't abolish the law.

00:38:13.400 He fulfilled the law.

00:38:14.400 When he says, come to me,

00:38:15.580 my yoke is easy,

00:38:16.480 my burden is light,

00:38:17.340 I'll give you rest.

00:38:18.080 it's not because he has no burden at all.

00:38:20.360 It's not because he has no yoke at all.

00:38:21.620 It's not because he doesn't have any more commandments

00:38:23.660 for his people to follow.

00:38:25.240 It's because through obedience to his commandments

00:38:27.740 come joy.

00:38:29.820 Because you're always going to obey someone.

00:38:33.520 Everyone is a slave.

00:38:35.300 Everyone has a master.

00:38:37.400 At best, your master is sin.

00:38:42.220 You're a slave to yourself.

00:38:43.760 You're a slave to your flesh

00:38:45.100 if you're not in Christ.

00:38:46.820 Your master is the world, the culture.

00:38:50.320 The culture has commands for you.

00:38:52.960 There is a reigning orthodoxy of secularism,

00:38:55.520 but it's so burdensome.

00:38:57.320 It's so exasperating.

00:38:59.540 Their commandments change every five seconds.

00:39:02.160 The woke can't keep up with the woke.

00:39:05.880 The most leftist person in the world

00:39:08.860 will be a conservative in 15 or 16 days from now.

00:39:12.340 Obama is viewed as, he's not progressive enough.

00:39:18.020 The guy's kind of close-minded, right?

00:39:20.660 He was the president like five seconds ago.

00:39:24.740 But you want to talk about burdens that are heavy?

00:39:28.760 Yokes that are binding, that break the back, that weary the soul?

00:39:33.720 Go to the world.

00:39:35.960 And you might say, well, the world's not my master.

00:39:38.500 Well, you want a master that's even more taxing?

00:39:40.540 Go to yourself.

00:39:42.340 Go to your flesh, its cravings.

00:39:45.600 You know, how painful is it

00:39:48.000 when you have an idol in your life and you watch it,

00:39:51.460 you're watching it destroy your spouse.

00:39:55.180 You see its direct effects on the people you love most

00:39:58.360 and you can't stop yourself.

00:40:01.300 And you know, you know that it's killing you

00:40:04.180 and it's not just killing you, it's killing your kids. 0.98

00:40:06.340 It's killing your wife. 0.99

00:40:07.980 It's killing your friends and your family. 0.59

00:40:10.020 And you know it.

00:40:11.180 and you watch it

00:40:12.860 and you still, as a dog returns to its vomit,

00:40:15.840 go back and back again

00:40:17.280 because you're enslaved.

00:40:21.200 The culture of the world is a cruel master.

00:40:23.860 The flesh, our sin, idolatry is a cruel master.

00:40:29.140 Here's the reality.

00:40:30.440 Freedom, in terms of autonomous freedom,

00:40:34.160 being your own master in a positive,

00:40:36.860 non-taxing, non-exasperating way is a myth.

00:40:41.660 Everyone's got to serve somebody.

00:40:43.920 A prophet once said, Bob Dylan.

00:40:49.380 Everybody's got to serve somebody.

00:40:52.260 See, the thing about Jesus is not that he has no commands.

00:40:55.060 It's not that he has no reigning orthodoxy.

00:40:56.800 It's not that he has no prescribed worship.

00:40:59.440 And it's not that he's not a master.

00:41:00.920 And it's not that those who follow him are not his slaves, his bond servants.

00:41:05.720 No, it's just that he's the only good master.

00:41:09.460 He's the only kind master.

00:41:11.580 He's the only master who doesn't just burden his followers,

00:41:15.640 but actually took upon himself our burden and carried it for us.

00:41:19.420 He's the only master who will command us in his holiness,

00:41:23.580 that is not to be trifled with,

00:41:24.960 and in the very same breath will address us as friends.

00:41:31.540 That's what he says to his disciples.

00:41:33.140 No longer do I call you slaves, servants,

00:41:35.540 but I call you my friends.

00:41:41.180 and so verses three through five of our text it shows us it gives us it's a descriptive text

00:41:47.640 for the regular principle of worship that we worship God with fear and trembling we worship

00:41:52.940 him according not only to spirit David possessed that right spirit zeal passion he danced with

00:41:59.020 all his might thrown off clothes right spirits there but he also worshiped him in truth it's

00:42:04.940 not spirit at the expense of truth, but it's also not dead, crusty, lifeless, cold orthodoxy

00:42:11.540 at the expense of spirit. It's both. It's zeal and law. It's spirit and truth. It's serious joy.

00:42:23.680 Serious joy. Reverent happiness. That's what David possessed. And it did not burden him.

00:42:32.300 It infused him with life and energy.

00:42:35.220 It rejuvenated his soul.

00:42:37.380 The law of God, remember, we preached this.

00:42:40.020 Psalm 19, we saw the law of God,

00:42:42.780 it restores the soul.

00:42:47.940 But there's not just a need, brothers and sisters,

00:42:50.920 moving quickly now.

00:42:52.680 There's not just a need for reverent worship,

00:42:56.180 to worship God in spirit and in truth.

00:42:59.380 Because despite your best actions,

00:43:01.360 To be as reverent and as zealous as you possibly can be, it'll never be enough.

00:43:11.380 Our best work done in ourselves, our righteousness, is what?

00:43:19.500 Filthy rags.

00:43:21.680 And so, although we need progressive righteousness in terms of sanctification,

00:43:28.700 Our deeds, our words, our actions, progressive righteousness is in a hill of beans without the positional righteousness of justification that comes by grace through faith in Christ.

00:43:44.140 In order to grow in the righteousness of sanctification in our deeds,

00:43:51.760 we must first be declared righteous,

00:43:55.840 not on the basis of our deeds,

00:43:58.280 but on the basis of the obedience of another.

00:44:01.640 See, in the end, in the final analysis,

00:44:04.480 did you know that no one will ever be saved apart from works?

00:44:08.800 Everyone is saved by works.

00:44:09.980 part of the gospel is just that it's the works of christ

00:44:14.760 god pardons us on the basis of mercy but there's a sense in which god pardons us on the basis of

00:44:21.460 justice it would be unjust not just a lack of grace or kindness or mercy no it would actually

00:44:28.540 be unjust for god not to commune when you with you when you run to him why because you were

00:44:37.640 saved by works your salvation was bought it was paid for it was earned not with a lowering of the

00:44:47.080 bar everything that god demands to love the lord your god with everything in every moment for all

00:44:54.760 of your life with your heart your soul your strength your mind all of that it was not lowered

00:44:59.760 The standard was not compromised.

00:45:02.320 No, it was met by Christ on your behalf.

00:45:07.980 And so God pardons you and communes with you

00:45:10.300 on the basis of both mercy and justice.

00:45:13.580 And justice.

00:45:15.680 And so although the regular principle of worship

00:45:17.740 is such an important principle

00:45:19.860 that the church in America has forgotten,

00:45:22.600 it still is not enough in and of itself.

00:45:24.580 right worship

00:45:28.720 without right standing

00:45:31.500 is lethal

00:45:34.160 it's lethal

00:45:36.660 right worship

00:45:39.000 in spirit and in truth

00:45:41.240 but without right standing

00:45:43.660 being first clothed in the righteousness of Christ

00:45:47.020 through faith

00:45:48.780 it means nothing

00:45:50.580 it's filthy rags

00:45:51.780 it's actually an offense to God

00:45:53.300 It's actually an offense because it presupposes that you possess the power to please God.

00:46:01.480 And that the sacrifice and work of His Son was redundant and unnecessary.

00:46:09.400 So we need right worship.

00:46:12.320 We need obedient actions in our sanctification, progressive righteousness.

00:46:17.020 But the only way that counts is if we first have right standing before God in our positional righteousness, by grace through faith, in justification, the righteousness of Christ.

00:46:33.080 And that's what we see.

00:46:34.620 See, because Psalm 24, at the surface level, is a song that King David wrote for carrying the presence of God, the ark, from Obed-Edom's house to Jerusalem.

00:46:49.320 But in a prophetic, much, much deeper and eternal sense, Psalm 24 doesn't speak to King David, and it doesn't speak to the earthly city of Jerusalem.

00:47:01.420 No, it speaks to the celestial city

00:47:03.580 and it speaks to the king of all kings

00:47:05.220 and the Lord of all lords.

00:47:07.440 And so in conclusion,

00:47:09.040 here's my brief exegesis of verses seven through 10.

00:47:13.380 The messianic prophetic sense,

00:47:16.200 the Christ-centered truest meaning of Psalm 24.

00:47:20.660 On the surface, verses seven through 10 of our text

00:47:22.980 describe the cries of David and his men

00:47:25.180 as they approach the gates of the city of Jerusalem

00:47:28.140 while carrying the Ark of the Covenant.

00:47:30.560 And yet, in a much deeper sense, this is a prophetic song that describes the majestic scene of heaven directly after the ascension of Christ.

00:47:40.340 For the first time in the history of history, a man actually approached the ancient doors of heaven.

00:47:48.560 And this man did not humbly request that he might be granted permission to enter the celestial city.

00:47:54.400 Rather, he cried out with absolute authority, demanding that the angelic beings who guard

00:48:00.440 the doors of heaven with swords of fire open those ancient doors for the very first time.

00:48:07.720 And as those doors opened, every angelic being that has ever been made immediately fell prostrate

00:48:13.780 before this man and began to scream and wail, saying, bring the ancient diadems, crown him,

00:48:21.280 and crown him with many crowns.

00:48:23.380 Our text asks one of the most important questions

00:48:26.220 in all of the universe.

00:48:28.120 Who is this king of glory?

00:48:30.280 The scripture proclaims that this man

00:48:32.120 is not ultimately King David.

00:48:34.580 It is none less than the God-man, Christ Jesus.

00:48:39.200 He is the king of glory.

00:48:40.500 He is the one who earned entrance as a man

00:48:44.980 for the very first time into the celestial city.

00:48:49.120 men have have weeped and wailed with gnashing of teeth think of all the parables for those who are

00:48:56.660 disobedient for for those who do not listen to the to the message of the gospel what what happens 0.94

00:49:03.380 to them it says they'll be thrown out of the gates that's part of the reason why Jesus he 0.91

00:49:08.120 wasn't crucified in the city he was crucified outside the gates at Golgotha outside the gates

00:49:14.300 because he bore the curse on our behalf and part of the curse right the wages of sin is death but

00:49:19.020 it's not just death, it's utter rejection. It's being cast out. Jesus was cast out, accursed for

00:49:24.420 us outside the city gates. And it's the same language that Jesus uses in his parables. He

00:49:28.920 says, for those who do not listen, for those who don't receive the invitation to the wedding banquet

00:49:34.680 of the king, what's going to happen? Eventually a time will come where the invitation is no longer

00:49:39.860 on the table. The deal is done. And those who have not responded, the gates are closed. And the

00:49:45.480 wedding banquet, it begins without them. And no matter how hard they try, it'll be too late.

00:49:52.380 Think of the parable of the ten virgins. Five were wise. They brought extra oil for their lamps

00:49:57.040 because the bridegroom may come in the middle of the night. They needed to see so they could follow

00:50:01.040 him to the wedding. But five of the virgins, they were foolish. They did not bring enough oil in 1.00

00:50:06.940 their lamps. And wouldn't you know it? They ran out of oil. They can no longer see. And the bridegroom

00:50:12.740 appears, and they want to come in. They want to be a part of the banquet. They want to be a part

00:50:18.740 of the feast, the celebration, but they can't. And what is the language that Jesus uses multiple

00:50:24.140 times in his parables to describe those who are outside the gate? There is weeping and wailing

00:50:30.840 and gnashing of teeth. We might say, at least in a symbolic spiritual sense, the gates of the

00:50:38.700 celestial city those pearly great gates of heaven the outer side of the gates are marked with with

00:50:46.300 claw marks from men who forever regret that they rejected the son of god weeping and wailing and

00:50:54.620 gnashing their teeth wishing that they could have another chance wishing that it was not too late

00:51:00.180 Many have tried, brothers and sisters, to get through those gates.

00:51:06.200 But they couldn't.

00:51:08.220 They had failed.

00:51:10.300 Their righteousness was not sufficient.

00:51:13.440 But for the first time in the history of history,

00:51:15.900 when the God-man Christ Jesus came before those gates,

00:51:19.800 He cries out. He doesn't ask.

00:51:22.580 It's not a request for any permission, any favor.

00:51:26.480 He demands.

00:51:27.460 He commands.

00:51:30.180 Open up, you ancient doors.

00:51:33.100 Be lifted up, you gates.

00:51:36.160 For the king of glory will come in.

00:51:40.200 I've earned it.

00:51:41.720 It is my right.

00:51:43.500 And he walked through those gates.

00:51:45.440 And with him, in union with him by grace through faith,

00:51:50.220 we too will walk through those gates as well.

00:51:54.320 On the basis of mercy and on the basis of justice,

00:51:57.980 what Christ has earned for us.

00:52:02.800 Those gates, we don't have to weep and wail

00:52:04.900 and claw and gnash.

00:52:07.960 We're not cast out, rejected where there's utter darkness.

00:52:11.780 We will experience, all those who are in Christ

00:52:14.560 will experience eternal communion with God

00:52:17.200 on the basis of Jesus

00:52:20.220 who has opened the gates for us on our behalf.

00:52:25.360 Let's pray.

00:52:26.720 Father God, we thank you for Jesus.

00:52:28.880 We thank you for his work.

00:52:30.820 We thank you that the gates that separate a sinful man

00:52:33.940 and a holy God,

00:52:36.300 that they've been opened through the work of Jesus Christ.

00:52:39.600 We thank you.

00:52:40.620 Likewise, we could say that the veil,

00:52:43.120 that the veil that separates the holy of holies

00:52:46.200 and sinners like us,

00:52:48.460 it has been torn.

00:52:50.140 And it was ripped from top to bottom.

00:52:52.220 Even that is symbolic.

00:52:53.300 as though God himself ripped it all the way down to earth.

00:52:58.640 Jesus has removed the dividing line

00:53:01.520 between God and man.

00:53:04.760 And through him, we have sweet fellowship

00:53:07.840 and confidence before you.

00:53:11.620 We thank you for this.

00:53:13.520 And now, Lord, we pray that you would empower us

00:53:15.440 to worship him in spirit and in truth through song.

00:53:18.520 We pray this in Jesus' name.

00:53:20.920 Amen.

00:53:21.180 Big news, really big news.

00:53:24.680 Our next Right Response Conference is in the works.

00:53:28.320 We've got a number of things already lined up and organized.

00:53:31.740 This is what we've got so far.

00:53:33.200 The whole conference, three days long

00:53:35.620 on post-millennialism and theonomy.

00:53:39.000 And the speakers, Dr. James White, Dr. Joseph Boot,

00:53:43.500 Gary DeMar, and of course, yours truly, Pastor Joel Webin.

00:53:47.400 We've got a great lineup.

00:53:49.320 We've got great topics.

00:53:50.380 If you want to find out dates and location and registration and anything else, go and

00:53:56.560 visit our website, rightresponseconference.com, rightresponseconference.com.

The NXR Podcast - August 21, 2022

SUNDAY SERMON - Who Is This King Of Glory？｜ Psalm 24

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

The NXR Podcast - August 21, 2022

SUNDAY SERMON - Who Is This King Of Glory？ ｜ Psalm 24

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

SUNDAY SERMON - Who Is This King Of Glory？｜ Psalm 24