Hope in Our King

I have had a lot of time to think here lately that used to be taken up by sleep. Who knew what I was missing out on.

talk about how we view God and make your way to recognizing him as our king

don’t live in a land with kings; closest is the president but he even has restrictions; in a monarchy, the king is the end all be all; final say

we live in a kingdom; talk about build the kingdom(God’s) and impact our community; still about this

Psalm 24 is a psalm of David; he was king; but when you read this, and we will see as we go through it, that David did not see himself as the final authority

What do you think about when you think about God?

is he a buddy, a friend, a counselor, a genie in a bottle, or is he king; the highest authority, the highest power in the land

Psalm 24 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. 3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 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. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah 7 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

Big Idea: Because God is our King, we have hope

The psalms point us to worship; our worship should be given to the king; and if we don’t have hope in our king, then who is there to worship

3 things in our text that describe our king

Our King is the Creator

talk about building things with your own hands and the sense of accomplishment

a goal of mine is to build a cabin; maybe even harvest the logs myself and mill them and then build

even with as great of an accomplishment as that would be, I would only be the builder and not the creator; God is the one who provided everything for something like that; David understood this

Psalm 24:1–2 ESV

1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

break it down; everything is God’s; under it, in it, on it, above it; it doesn’t matter

but not just materials; the people are God’s;

talk about creation and sense of dominion that we have as him creation, but we are ultimately caretakers

application

creator of you

creator of us(congregation)- home for hope for all; as the bride of Christ, we are under his authority as the head of the church; something that has really burdened me over some time is if we are being the church that God wants us to be

so we pursue him personally as our king; and we pursue him corporately as our king because he has created us for a purpose; Our king is creator

Our King is Holy

the Hebrew word for holy literally means to be set apart; that is what we are as believers; talk about imputed righteousness and give gospel presentation

but we are only holy because of Jesus

Psalm 24:3 ESV

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?

Lord is capitalized; means Yahweh; this is the Hebrew name for God; not just some ruler that has been put in place but the ruler who puts all other rulers in their place

This is Jesus; when you read this title in the OT, think Jesus

believe in the trinity; one God, 3 persons; Yahweh and Jesus are not 2 different beings

Jesus teaches this in his ministry when he would describe himself as “I am”

Who can ascend and who can stand in the holy place? Jesus is the one who is able

holiness was such a big deal in the OT that even the Levitical priests could not enter into the holy of holies but 1 day a year and that was only after a crazy intense cleansing process that they went through

So who can it be?

Psalm 24:4 ESV

4 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.

clean hands - outward conduct

pure heart - intentions and thoughts

does not look to falsehood - idols in our life

does not swear deceitfully - faithfulness

this is what the Christian life looks like; it is a whole life change; every facet of life changes; our acts and thoughts and things we value and who we live our life for; everything

what happens when we are like this

Psalm 24:5 ESV

5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Receive blessing - greatest blessing is eternal life; getting to spend all of eternity in worship to our savior;

receive righteousness - righteousness only comes from God; we cannot achieve it by anything that we do; repentance and faith are what bring it and even those are initiated by God;

Psalm 24:6 ESV

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

The ones who receive righteousness and blessing are like the generation of Jacob

talk about generations and the legacy that we leave behind; loved Homecoming and we could sit here for hours talking about those that came before us;

will the generations after us be able to do the same?

it isn’t about our legacy but about the building of the kingdom of God

So who was Jacob and why is this relevant?; Jacob was the son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham; son of the promise; Jacob wrestled with God

Genesis 32:24–30 “24 And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. 25 When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. 26 Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” 28 Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” 29 Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. 30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.””

had a physical encounter with God; even says that he saw him face to face; you want blessing and righteousness? Seek the face of God like Jacob did

this may not end up like you think it does; probably isn’t sitting around a circle holding hands and singing songs; probably looks more like trials and wrestling

this is the cost of holiness; to seek the face of a holy God, you must be ready to get a few scratches on you and be forever changed by Jesus because he is holy

Our King is a Warrior

talk about my love for the warrior

more obvious to us that this is part of a song; see the repetition in it

Psalm 24:7–10 ESV

7 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory! Selah

Gates and doors are commanded to be opened for the king

king is the highest official; in this case, not just the land but the earth

who is he?; strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle

repeats himself and changes the last line; the Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory

Jesus is not soft; yes, he is gentle and lowly; but scripture describes him both as a lamb and a lion

when he returns, he is going to come riding on a horse like a warrior

Revelation 19:11–16 “11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

This is a warrior; and if we are to be like Jesus, then we are to be warriors; what does this look like for us today?

Men - you are to lead and protect; but doing it in a servant like manner; teach your family and counsel them through God’s word; continue to point them to Jesus

Women - being devoted to God; spending time in prayer and scripture; supporting husbands and leading and teaching other women to grow in God’s word

Kids - stand for truth; but you have to know the truth; the world is trying to confuse you; Jesus is not confusing

Just as Jesus is a warrior, we should be as well

Conclusion

I want to end with a quote that resembles one of the first questions I asked this morning

“What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” - A.W. Tozer

the king of glory is the one who commands the army of the Lord, the one who ascends the hill of Zion and climbed the hill called Mount Olive

he ascends from earth to heaven; he ascends to the eternal sanctuary where all will bow before him in worship

this is what this entire psalm is aiming to do. Point us to worship Jesus. He is the one who is worthy. He is our creator, he is holy, and he is a great warrior which nothing can stand against

This psalm is a rich one with a lot that we can take away. Now go and live it out. Do not let this just be words that are heard on Sunday morning but a life that is lived out each day. Pursue the creator, pursue holiness, and be a warrior for Jesus