The God Who Wins

God does some of His best work on the first day of the week. On day one of creation in Genesis, He created light and called the light day and the darkness He called night. Then, on the first day of the week, just after sunrise the women go to that garden tomb to anoint the body of Jesus and find the tomb empty.

God does some of His best work on the first day of the week. God’s people had a Psalm that they would read on the first day of the week and that is Psalm 24. The Jewish people may have seen Psalm 24 as a celebration of creation. Christians celebrate the first day of the week as the first day of a new creation since Christ conquered the grave.

I believe Psalm 24 summarizes the story of the Bible in a nutshell. Psalm 24 starts at creation, “The earth is the Lord’s,” continues with the broken relationship between God and humans, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?”, then moves to what the King of Glory will do about it, “The Lord, strong and mighty.” In other words, Psalm 24 tells the good news of God restoring His people back to Himself through King Jesus.

As we move through Psalm 24, I want us to hang our experience together on three images: Earth, Hill, and Gates. These images function like a funnel that starts out big with the earth and then gets closer and closer from the earth to a hill, and then from hill to gates.

First, The Earth holds God’s Investment.(Psalm 24.1-2).

Psalm 24:1–2 ESV

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.

All that is on the earth belongs to God. Another quote that I took away from the recent Iron Sharpens Iron conference is, “God rules the universe with His feet up” (Bryndan Loritts).

Creation in Ps 24.1 is founded on the waters. 70% of earth is water [picture of Earth].

Genesis 1:1–2 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Abraham Kuyper, who later served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1901-1905), said at the dedication of Free University in Amsterdam in 1880, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!” (Quote from Kuyper’s inaugural address at the dedication of the Free University. Found in Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, ed. James D. Bratt (Eerdmans, 1998), 488).

David who wrote this section of Psalms that we have studied this weekend: Psalms 22, 23, 24 was familiar with the outdoors. As a shepherd, He talked about God as his shepherd in Psalm 23. He wrote how the Lord made him lie die in green pastures and by the quiet waters.

I wonder what the Creator thought about how people created in His imaged used His creation to mock and crucify the Son of God. As the soldiers wove that crown of thorns that God had raised up from the ground and then pressed those thorns into his scalp, what was our Creator feeling? The purple robe that was woven from plants and placed upon the Son. And yet, even in their mocking, there was the truth that there was a king in their midst. The royal color purple and the sign above His cross: King of the Jews. The tree that had grown that became the cross beam; the nails forged from materials from the earth. “The earth is the Lord’s” Psalm 24 reminds us.

Then as Jesus hung between earth and space, the skies grew dark. Then, as the Son died, the earth quaked. “The earth is the Lord’s.” Even the place where Jesus laid was in a garden. Jesus was placed in a grave hewn from the earth, and the stone was rolled in place. The earth is the Lord’s.

As you walk through creation this week, will you pause to remember that everything you see is a gift from God? Everything you see is an opportunity for good or bad.

In Psalm 24.3, we move from the earth to the hill of the Lord.

Second, The Hill highlights God’s Holiness (Ps. 24.3-6).

Psalm 24:3–6 ESV

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. Selah

In verse three, we find the first of a couple of questions. First, “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?” The second one is repeated twice, “Who is this King of glory?”

“Who may ascend the hill of the Lord?” David probably has in mind the city of David or Jerusalem, where the tabernacle was located and where David had hoped to build a temple for God. Jerusalem is on top of a mountain at an elevation of 2,575 feet above sea level. Add to it that many start from Jericho that is almost 1,000 feet below sea level and that is quite a climb on a 17-mile hike.

Physically, it takes some energy and endurance to ascend the hill. It takes strong legs and good lungs. But David is asking something deeper. It also takes clean hands and pure hearts.

Psalm 24.4 gives the answer with some do’s and don’ts. In all he lists three expectations: Do’s: clean hands and pure hearts (Ps. 24.4) describes both outward and inward purity. In addition, the call to seek God’s face (Ps. 24.6).

Don’ts: lift up soul to an idol or what is false and don’t swear deceitfully (Ps. 24.4).

In our RightNow Media library, Kyle Idleman has a helpful study on this theme of idols in his series called, “gods at war.” I encourage you to check into it if God is stirring in your heart. In episode one, he asks a handful of questions to help reveal the idols in our lives. Here’s just a couple to consider: 1) What has left you the most disappointed? Sometimes our complaining reveals an idol. 2) Where do you go when you’re hurting and need comfort? Henry Blackaby says, “An idol is anything you turn to for help instead of first turning to God.”

David says for those who have clean hands and pure hearts and who go to God first for help and meaning, they will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation (Psalm 24.5).

The problem is we do not always have clean hands or pure hearts. Sometimes our thoughts get us into trouble. Sometimes what is in our hearts comes out of our mouth and we are unclean. We have fractured relationships with family, friends, coworkers, and ultimately God.

1 John 2:1–2 NIV

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

What John is saying is that, we don’t have clean hands and pure hearts. Our thoughts and words get us into trouble. Thus, we are unable to ascend the hill of the Lord, but there is someone who can.

Jesus our Savior, ascended the hill on his triumphal entry on Palm Sunday as recorded in Mark 11.11. Jesus ascended the hill and went to the temple. Then, later that week, Jesus picked up a cross beam and ascended another hill. He walked the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Suffering. Trust me, it was up hill. I’ve walked it. He walked up the hill to Calvary to spread out his clean hands to receive the nails that carried our sins. His pure heart bled so we could become clean. He gave up His spirit not to an idol, but to His heavenly Father.

So, the next time you encounter a hill and it may take some time here in Illinois, I want you to think of the hill of the Lord, where He purchased your freedom and restored our relationship with our Father.

Third, The Gates Open God’s Invitation (Ps. 24.7-10).

Psalm 24:7–10 ESV

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! Selah

Lift up your heads, O gates! What does that mean? Does it mean that gates have heads? Well, some gates do have heads. The next line talks about the ancient doors. Do doors have heads? Yes. We call them “headers.” In wood construction, the header is one of the biggest pieces of wood in the whole house to make that doorway or window or gate strong. David is saying that the King of glory is so strong, powerful, and big that you need to lift off the headers so there is room enough for Him to enter.

Some suggest that the ancient doors were also a description of death.

Mark 16:3 ESV

And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”

Some suggest that this Psalm was composed by David to accompany the ark of the covenant, that special golden box that represented the presence of God among the people. This song would have been sung as a victory parade song as the ark of the covenant came back home to Jerusalem.

Once safe in the tabernacle and then later in the temple, the ark of the covenant was behind a thick curtain in the Holy of Holies or the Most Holy Place. On the temple grounds, there was a series of barriers. There was the court of the Gentiles and then a gate or a barrier that said, no further if you are a Gentile. Then, an area for the Jewish women, and another barrier or gate. Then, for the Jewish men. Another barrier and another gate. Then, the Holy place for the priests and another barrier, the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place where the ark of the covenant was kept.

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain of separation was torn in two from top to bottom. The death of Jesus opened up the way back to God. Then, Easter Sunday morning another barrier was removed, the huge stone that sealed the grave of Jesus was opened up. Jesus opened up the ancient doors and conquered death.

What amazes me in Psalm 24 is that David invites the gates and doors to open up for the King of Glory. But is David really talking about gates and doors or is He talking about people and hearts?

WELLINGTON DEFEATED...

It is a story about how the news of the victory at the battle at Waterloo arrived in England. There were no telegrams or telephones in those days, nobody could send an SMS or put it up on Facebook or Youtube, of course, but everyone knew that Wellington was facing Napoleon in that great battle on the 18th of June 1815, and that the future of England was in great uncertainty.

A sailing ship semaphored (signalled with coded flags) the news to the signalman on top of Winchester Cathedral. He signalled to another man somewhere on a hill, and this way the news of the battle was passed on by semaphore from one place to another all the way to London and across the whole land.

When the ship came in, the signalman on board semaphored the first word: “W e l l i n g t o n”. The next word was “d e f e a t e d”, and then the fog came down and the ship could not be seen. “Wellington defeated” went across England, and there was great gloom all over the countryside.

After two or three hours, the fog lifted, and the signal came again: “Wellington defeated the enemy.” Then all England rejoiced.

There was that day, when they put the body of the Lord in the tomb, that the message appeared to be Christ dead, defeated…. But three days later, the fog lifted. [https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/79416/wellington-defeated-by-milo-velebir]

Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and Mighty, The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. The Lord, strong, Mighty, Lord of heaven’s armies. Our King of Glory, Jesus Christ is strong, mighty and victorious. He conquered death and defeated the evil one. We celebrate His victory today!

As you leave today to go home, you will pass through a series of doors. There are doors in this building, car doors, garage doors, front door, back door, closet, bedroom, and bathroom doors. As you open doors this week, will you repeat this verse from Psalm 24? As you open doors this week, will you pray, “King Jesus, you are welcome here.”

Dominant Thought: We have the opportunity to share in God’s victory!

5 Day Devotional Guide

Dominant Thought: We have the opportunity to share in God’s victory!

You may want to refer to the sermon notes for further discussion. Take a moment to read the assigned Scripture and then reflect or discuss the questions. Customize this outline to your situation. Here are some questions to ask from the Discovery Bible Method:

What are you thankful for today or this week?

What challenges are you facing?

Have 2 or 3 people read the scripture out loud.

Can you summarize this passage in your own words?

What did you discover about God from this passage?

What have you learned about people from this passage?

How are you going to obey this passage? (What is your “I will” statement?)

With whom are you going to share what you have learned?

Based on this passage, what can we pray about?

Day 1: Psalm 24.1-2

Day 2: Psalm 24.3-6

Day 3: Psalm 24.7-10

Day 4: Mark 16.1-8

Day 5: 1 Corinthians 15.1-11

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