All Souls, Langham Place – Rico Tice -
Seek his face –
20/20 vision - L042
20/20 Vision - 06/07/2000
Our sin really is serious and separates us from God
Psalm 22 – God the Saviour
Psalm 23 – God the Shepherd
Psalm 24 – God the Sovereign
(1)
The LORD’s earth (v1-2)
We are God’s tenants.
This is God’s world.
He owns it.
Because God made it all.
He is the creator.
We ignore God in his world.
We depend on God.
We are rightly accountable to him.
We breathe because Jesus sustains us (Heb 1:13)
Applications of the doctrine of creation:
(i) Responsibility – we are to live according to the Maker’s
instructions
(ii) Thanksgiving – 1 Tim 6:17
Thankfullness is soil in which pride does not easily grow
Gratitude makes us glad
(2)
It’s the LORD’s hill (vv3-7)
The bringing of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem
The climax of David’s career
The 10 commandments in the ark
We are lawbreakers
Moral purity is required if we are to come into God’s
presence (v4)
Holiness is necessary for worship
V4 – actions, thoughts, soul, words
How are your hands? Have we snatched or stolen, written
or touched or turned on what we shouldn’t have?
How is your heart?
Have you loved God with all your heart and soul?
Idols – pleasure, popularity, position, power, possessions,
prosperity
Heart and soul – secret sins
The atonement cover on the ark – the blood of sacrifice
required
* * *
ENTERING GOD’S PRESENCE
Seeking
for God?
Where
is God? How can we get to him?
1. The earth is the LORD’s
(v1)
Place
Everywhere
we’ve ever been belongs to God, every last corner
God
not just found in church buildings
Everything
is his
V2
echoes Genesis 1
People
My
life is not my own.
I
belong to the LORD.
The
LORD, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, the covenant God of Israel, that God, not
just some supreme being, owns the world.
Cf.
Matthew 28 – Great Commission - all authority has been given to Jesus
Kaka
(Brazilian footballer) – "I belong to Jesus" T shirt
Focus from
the whole earth to one hill, Mount
Zion – Jerusalem
2. The hill of the LORD
(v3ff)
"Holy"
– separate – set apart – a blazing moral purity
The
question presupposes we can’t just amble up to God when we feel like it!
Who shall ascend? (v3)
Notice
what isn’t mentioned - e.g. background, religious observance
§ Clean hands –
outward actions esp in relations with others
§ Pure heart –
inner motives and thoughts
God
sees the heart
Jesus said, “Blessed
are the pure in heart for they shall see God” - Beattitudes
§ Does not lift up
soul to what is false
"False"
– worthless or empty idols
"Soul"
= life
Idolatry - Treating
the creation as the creator
§ Does not swear
deceitfully
Cf.
10 commandments - no idols, no false swearing
“Without
holiness no one may see the Lord” - Hebrews 12:14
Holiness
is worth it.
We
will receive blessing. (v5)
Those
genuinely seeking God will live holy lives (v6)
“Selah”
– musical interlude – stop and take stop – think about this
David
didn’t reach this standard
David
had blood on his hands, sending Uriah the Hittite to his death because he
desired his wife
Cf.
Ps 51
3. The King of Glory
(v7ff)
Who is he?
The
King of Glory (5x)
David
was God’s chosen king, but David is pointing to anoter
The
King of Glory is the LORD himself, the Lord Jesus Christ himself
What has he done?
He may come in, he may ascend the Holy Hill
Jesus’ perfect, sinless life
Jesus was victorious in battle (v8) he has defeated sin
and evil
Ps 22v31 – God’s king has done it!
By being forsaken by God, the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the
price for our sin
The ascension – Jesus’ victory march into the true
temple, heaven
Heb – Jesus has gone into the true holy place
God vindicates his people, they receive righteousness
from him (v5)
God the Saviour, v5, not working our way up to God
The focus, on the end, is in King Jesus
We can have confidence in him.
Jesus can bring sinful people like me and you to heaven.
* * *
A most important question – v3
A question of eternal significance
(1)
Entering the presence of God, ascending his holy
hill, is the greatest goal of this world, the greatest joy and delight
The greatness of God the creator and owner of all things
Ps 16:11 – “You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your
right hand.”
Ps 27:4 – “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
(2)
Entering the presence of God is the hardest task
Ps 24v1 written over the Royal Exchange
God ultimately owns it all
We can’t blag our way into God’s presence
Cf. getting in to see the Queen, into a club…
Psalm 14:2-3 – “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any
who understand, any who seek God.
All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no-one
who does good, not even one.”
* * *
Michael Wilcock BST
(1)
A very special occasion – David’s bringing of
the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6; 1 Chron 15-16)
The Lord comes first in the
Hebrew text
V2 – God has established order
out of the chaos
He who made all places places also
has a special holy place to which only some people may come
V5 – This righteousness can
only be received, not achieved
(2)
A climax – not only of David’s career and of the
Exodus wanderings but a fulfilment of the promises to Abraham and something of
a return to Eden - Ex 15:2-3, 17-18
(3)
A starting point – pointing to Jesus Christ
* * *
Kidner, Tyndale OT Commentary
King of Glory
(1)
Vv1-2 The All-Creating
(2)
Vv3-6 The All-Holy
(3)
Vv7-10 The All-Victorious
* * *
Gerald H. Wilson, The NIV application commentary
Vv1-2 Yahweh’s creative authority
Vv3-6 Preparation to enter the presence of God
1 Sam 16:7 – “The LORD does not look at the things man
looks at.
Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks
at the heart.”
Cf. v4 and 25:1f, “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul”
Vv7-10 The King of Glory comes
* * *
Vv3-4 - Habakkuk 1:13 – “Your eyes are too pure to look
on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.”
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