And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who's at the Father's side. He has made him known. Well, good morning. As Glenn mentioned, my name is Ben Reed, and I currently work just down the road at Christ Church Halifax, and it's my privilege to be with you this morning. Let me invite you if you have your Bible, or you can follow along on the screen, to turn to Psalm 24, where you'll find our sermon scripture reading this morning. Before we read that, let me just say a little piece about the Psalms. So the book of Psalms known as God's songbook for his people, it's the melody of the maturing Christian life. In them, God himself teaches his people how they're to faithfully walk with him amid all of life's greatest highs and darkest lows. For millennia, these Psalms have been used in both public and private worship by God's people. Martin Luther, he called the Psalms a little Bible and a summary of the Old Testament. And so with poetic beauty, the Psalms describe who God is. What he's done for us in history and why he can be trusted. And so through the Psalms, we get to know God better. John Calvin, he called the Psalms an anatomy of all parts of the soul. And so the Psalms also give voice to the everyday griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, cares, hopes, and perplexities, which God's people have always experienced. And so through the Psalms, we get to know ourselves better. God himself gives us a Psalm so we can give voice to the whole range of human emotions and experience is that we go through as we learn to trust in his goodness and live faithfully before him. As I mentioned, we're going to read Psalm 24. But before you do that, let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we ask now for your help as we read your word by your Spirit. Open our ears, soften our hearts so that your word might dwell in us. Would you mold us and shape us that we might become more like Christ? It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Psalm 24, the Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. Who is this 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. Psalm 24 makes it clear that the God that we have come to worship is the king of glory. There's none more powerful, more holy, more majestic, more amazing than God himself. There is none like him. As the Psalmist David, as he reflects on this amazing reality, he's left with the same question that everyone has who encounters the incredible glory of God. Who is worthy? Who is worthy to draw near to God, who is glory himself? Who is even worthy to see God, to associate with God, to do the work of God? We see this same question posed throughout scripture in both the Old and the New Testaments. In fact, we read one of these instances already this morning in the in the prophet of Isaiah. But let me read it for you again in chapter six. This is what Isaiah writes. He says, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And the train of his robe filled the temple and above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings. With two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to the other, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke. How does Isaiah respond to this vision? He says, woe is me, for I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. My eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. Isaiah says, who is worthy? At the end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, John, he also has a vision of God's glory. He writes, I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one, no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or look into it. As John sees this vision in heaven, how does he respond? John writes, I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Throughout the Bible, we see time and time again when people encounter the glory of God, the holiness of God, they have the same response. Who is worthy? And this is the question at the center of our Psalm today. Right. This is what the Psalmist David asks in verse three. Right. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? In other words, who is worthy? Who is worthy to draw near to the Lord? Well, this question was asked by Isaiah and John and the Psalmist David thousands of years ago. It's still an important question for us to ask today. If God's glory is where true happiness, joy and satisfaction lies, then the question of who can actually associate with God and partake of his glory is really important. If you're here today and not yet a Christian, you might ask questions like this. Am I living a good enough life? Will I make the cut? Am I worthy of love? Where can I find true confidence and security and hope? In other words, am I worthy? But maybe you're here today as a Christian and this question, who is worthy is also important to you. If you're anything like me, it's easy as a Christian to live with low grade guilt. Maybe constantly wondering if how I'm living is good enough. Maybe you wonder if God still loves you despite neglecting him in different ways this past week or maybe indulging in things you shouldn't have. We wonder, does God's patience wear thin? Am I worthy? Does God love me? Does he still love me? How could he? These are the questions Christians wrestle with all the time as well. At first glance, the psalmist's answer to these questions is difficult. It kind of heaps on the discouragement and despair. The one who is worthy is he who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who does not lift up his soul to what is false and who does not swear deceitfully. The question for you and I is, do any of us meet this standard? If we're honest, should we not head for the doors? Maybe shut this service down. Like who is worthy? This is the question that we hope to answer this morning as we look more closely at Psalm 24. And we'll do it by looking at Psalm 24 in two parts. And we'll begin with the context of Psalm 24. So what's the purpose of the Psalm? What's behind the Psalm? And then after looking at the context, we'll look at the content of Psalm 24. And so we'll begin with the context, which will hopefully then bring some light to the content of this Psalm. And so the context, Psalm 24 was written by King David to mark the return of the Ark of the covenant to the city of Jerusalem, which we read about actually in 2 Samuel 6. Now, why would David write a psalm about this? Why was the return of the Ark such a big deal? Well, the Ark of the Covenant symbolized God's presence, his glory with his people. It represented the fact that God dwelt in the midst of the Israelites and his glory resided with them. The fact that the Ark was the place of the Lord's presence among his people brought great assurance to the Israelites. This high, this lofty, majestic, glorious King dwelt among his grumbling, complaining, bickering and sinful people. The Ark of the Covenant, it came with a lot of rules and regulations. Only certain people could carry it. You couldn't touch it. You couldn't look into it. In fact, the Ark was kept in the Holy of Holies, the innermost court and chamber of the tabernacle. And only once per year could the high priest actually enter into the Holy of Holies. These regulations and rules not only surrounding the Ark, but those to do with the tabernacle and the sacrificial system, they reminded the Israelites of the holiness and of the glory of God and of their own sin and of their own shortcomings, which God's glory exposed. Who was worthy to enter into God's presence? So what was the central question to the Israelites? Because their lives revolved around its answer. Right again, a lot of sacrificial and ceremonial laws that the Israelites had to follow in order to be deemed worthy to even enter into the court of the tabernacle. Eventually, the Israelites, they entered the Promised Land and the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle, they found a permanent home in Shiloh. But generations pass and these stories are forgotten. And the Israelites, they become a little superstitious about the Ark and its power, ultimately treating it almost more like a genie than the gift of God's presence. Eventually, it's this disobedience that leads to the Philistines defeating the Israelites and capturing the Ark. The Philistines, they treated this Ark like a trophy. They thought it proved that their gods were greater than the Israelite God. But the Philistines soon learned that something was different about this Ark. They're people. They became afflicted with disease and sickness and tumors. And so the Philistines, they try to move an Ark to a second city. But the same thing happens, more sickness, more disease and more tumors. And so they move it again. Third city, same thing happens, more sickness, more disease, more tumors. And so the Philistines, they realize they have to do whatever they can to get rid of this Ark. And so they actually hitch the Ark to a cart and a couple of cows and they just send it off in the distance. But God, God directs the Ark back to the Israelite city of Beis Shemesh. And this at the time, it didn't actually work out so well for the Israelites. When the Ark came there to Beis Shemesh, God put 70 people to death because they looked into the Ark, something that was strictly forbidden. The people in Beis Shemesh, seeing God strike down their people, they ask a familiar question. Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? Who is worthy? If he strikes down people who look into the Ark, who is worthy to stand before him? A hundred years pass, the period of Judges ends in Israel and eventually David becomes king. And David sets out to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem finally. But his initial attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant back, it stalls when God strikes Uzzah dead for simply touching the Ark. Fearing what the Lord might do to him and to others if they kept going with the Ark, David has it taken to the house of Obed-Edom. And there they grappled with the same question, who is worthy? But here God blesses the house of Obed-Edom. Well the Ark was there and this convinces David that he should move forward with his journey bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. And it's this final journey of the Ark into the city of Jerusalem for which our Psalm this morning, Psalm 24, was written. It was written to mark this final journey. It's a monumental day in the life of Israel as the Ark which represents God's presence, his glory and his holiness that has come to dwell in their city again. This was cause for great joy and celebration because God had not forgotten them and he sought to dwell with them. Psalm 24 then in this sense, it almost acts like a liturgy for this event, a call and response as the Ark is transported. As we look at Psalm 24 in this context then the statements and the verses, they take on new meaning as we understand this context. And this is what leads us then to the content of Psalm 24. The first section of the Psalm verses 1 and 2, they remind us just who God is. Whose presence is returning to the city of Jerusalem in the Ark? It's God. The creator and sustainer of the world, the one who formed it and filled it and established it. All of it, all the world, all the universe belongs to him. He created it from nothing and now rules and sustains it by his word. God is not just one God among many, he is God alone, holy, glorious and righteous, powerful enough to create and sustain by his word. This is who has come to dwell with his people. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, God himself, that's who is returning to the city of Jerusalem. And as we have already seen throughout scripture that when we are confronted with the reality of who God is, as verse 1 and 2 remind us of, the most common response to that question is the question David poses in verse 3. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who can stand in his holy place? In other words, who is worthy? Who can draw near to God? And now I hope you can begin to understand the weight of this question for David and for the Israelites. They had seen people struck down for looking into the Ark, for touching the Ark. They knew intimately the holiness and the glory of God and they had seen what happens when those unworthy draw near. This question has weight for them. This question was life and death. In verse 4, we finally get our answer to the question, who is worthy? But it's not all good news. The requirements for who is worthy, they're extensive. There's a requirement of both purity within and without. It's not only that you must do all the right things, obey perfectly, give generously, never lie or cheat or steal or give into lust or selfishness. What the psalmist calls clean hands is that your heart, your heart must be pure as well. In other words, the thoughts and the motivations must also be perfect. You must obey, but you must obey for the right hands. You must have clean hands. Your heart must be pure. This is reiterated then in a slightly different angle in the next line. To be worthy, one must have clean hands and a pure heart, which means the person must not lift up their soul to what is false. This is getting at idolatry, chasing after false gods, chasing after false glory, which most often, if we're honest, is our own glory. These are things that make a person unworthy. God's perfection demands our perfection. Now this answer presents us with a bit of a problem. If being completely pure and upright is the prerequisite to dwelling with God, then if we're honest, we can't come. We don't make the cut. No one has lived this way. No one is worthy. Maybe we should head for the exits. This is a central problem actually of the entire Old Testament. How could a holy God dwell in the midst of a sinful people? And how could a sinful people ever hope to approach a holy God and not be destroyed? David, we read elsewhere, he answers this problem by putting his faith in a coming Savior. But we, we have the privilege of seeing fully what David could only see in part. Take the Ark of the Covenant itself. On top of the Ark on the lid, there was a seat on it, and it was called the Mercy Seat. Each year on the Day of the Atonement, that one day of the year where the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, where the Ark was, the priest would make specific sacrifices, and then he would take the blood of those animals and sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat on top of the Ark. The point conveyed by this imagery is that it is only through the offering of blood that the condemnation of the law could be taken away. It is only through blood that that sin could be covered. Right, the Old Testament is clear that the penalty for sin is death. Blood must be shed, and this sacrifice and ceremony symbolized cleansing for the people. No one was worthy apart from the shed blood. Interestingly enough, we hear about this Mercy Seat again in the New Testament. In the Book of Romans, Paul tells us that God presents Christ as the Mercy Seat. What David saw in part, we see in full. Christ is presented as the Mercy Seat. It is his blood that would be shed, and it is his sacrifice that wouldn't simply symbolize cleansing for his people. But would actually cleanse them, making them holy and righteous before God. The word the New Testament uses for this propitiation, this process of restoration and reconciliation to God himself through Christ, is essentially the Greek word for Mercy Seat. It is trying to make clear to us that Christ, in his perfect life and atoning substitutionary death, has satisfied the wrath of God through his shed blood. Christ is our Mercy Seat, the true and better Mercy Seat, the one whose blood actually cleanses us and can restore us. See, it is through Christ that we are made worthy. It is through Christ that we can ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place. Hebrews, it goes on to tell us more about this work, again, which we had already this morning. Christ has entered the holy place, not by the temporary sacrifices of goats and calves, as the Israelites had to do, but by his own blood. Entering in, he has made a way for you and now for me to enter as well. So now, when we look to Psalm 24, we can ask the question, does Jesus have clean hands? We can say yes, and so do all who have been washed in his blood. Is Jesus of a pure heart? Yes. And so are all who have been cleansed by him. Through the work of Christ, our hands and our hearts have been cleared and cleansed. This means that because of the blood of Christ, we are able to enter into the presence of God. When we hear Psalm 24 and we're asked who is worthy, we don't have to head for the exits, fearing that you might be found unrighteous. But rather, we can stand and sing and pray and commune with God confidently, claiming his righteousness as our own. Christ has ascended the holy hill by descending into humanity and living the perfect life that we could not live. Christ stands in the holy place, his perfect record in the face of incredible evil and injustice against him. And the message now of Christianity is not that we too must ascend the hill and enter into the holy place by living a really good life or simply by just trying hard enough. But rather, the God in Christ trudges all the way down the hill, enters into our sin, our brokenness, our messiness that surely would have killed us and destroyed us. And Christ straps us on his back and carries us up the hill himself, giving up his own life to do so. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul toward his faults and does not swear deceitfully. Christ is worthy and our hands are made clean by him. Christ is worthy and our hearts are made pure by him. The final section of Psalm 24, verses 7 to 10, the act is a call and response when the ark was getting close to Jerusalem, just outside the city gates. You can picture it. You have the crowd outside the city walls. And this is what they say, lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. And then from inside the city walls, the people respond, who is the King of glory? And then the answer, again, from outside, 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. Again, the answer from inside those walls, who is this King of glory? And the answer, the Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. The amazing reality of the gospel is that the Creator, sustainer, and Redeemer of the earth, the King of glory, wants to dwell not only with you, but in you. He sees you for who you truly are, and yet he still loves you and wants you to dwell with him. And through Christ, that is now made possible for each of us. Through Christ, each one of us can be made worthy if we will only trust in him and look to him for our salvation. Christ knocks at the door and he asks to enter. He delights to show mercy. He does not tire of it. And as he gives it, he makes people like you and I worthy to enter into his presence. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that through Christ we are made worthy, that through Christ we can enter into your presence with thanksgiving and commune with you, the Creator and sustainer of the universe. Father, as we reflect on this amazing reality, in response, would you help us to live lives that do honor you? By your spirit, help us to live lives with clean hands and a pure heart. Help us to seek your face. Grow in us a desire to live according to your commands, not to earn your favor, but because you have already given it to us in Christ. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. Amen.