Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Some jottings on Psalm 24



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

* * *

St Helen’s website – Anerin Glyn - 12 September 2010 – Looking for God? – Entering God’s Presence  http://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/media-library/src/talk/52157/title/entering-god-s-presence

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.

* * *

James Buchanan – How To Be Happy - 4 Who Shall Ascend the Hill of the Lord? - 24 August 2004 - http://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/media-library/src/talk/8536/title/4-who-shall-ascend-the-hill-of-the-lord

 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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