Sermon Tone Analysis

Warfare & Worship

In the days of David, when one army was victorious over another army, they would parade into the city with a triumphal procession.

The triumphal procession was a celebration march accompanied with feasting and partying.

More often than not, the procession would include a display of one's captured enemies in chains.

But before feasting and partying, the procession would make its way to the holy place, or the sanctuary.

David’s practice was no different.

In Psalm 24, the setting is likely Israel returning victoriously from battle.

As Israel enters the city, they would head to the “Holy Place” which is where the Ark of the Covenant would be returned.

Since the Temple was not built in David’s lifetime, they would have gathered around the Tabernacle of David.

The Tabernacle of David was the precursor to the Temple.

As they marched toward the holy place, they would recite a temple entry Psalm like Psalm 24.

You can imagine the Ark of the Covenant leading the Israel’s army toward the sanctuary with the priests shouting, “Who is this King of Glory?” and the people responding, “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

The Lord of host is the King of Glory.”

The whole scene is meant to stir your heart with the reality that God is a King of Glory who fights for his people and deserves your worship.

When the temple was built, people would enter the temple reciting Psalms like this Psalm 24 to prepare their hearts to enter the sanctuary of God.

The psalm served as a means to stir their heart to gaze upon the glory of almighty God.

It should be no small thing to enter the presence of God.

Today is Reformation Day.

It is a significant day in the protestant church.

Five hundred and three years ago today, Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five thesis to the door of the Catholic Church of Wittenberg.

The ninety-five thesis was ninety-five protests that Luther had against the Catholic church.

Luther took issues with the sail of indulgences for salvation, justification (how one is made righteous before God), and the people not having access to God’s word.

Baptist are protestant because our ancestors protested the Catholic Church as well and even the Lutheran Church.

But one thing I have observed in the Catholic and Lutheran Church is their service has a high degree of reverence for God.

Many protestant churches in America appear to have distaste for liturgy.

In some churches, the worship set feels more like a concert and the sermon more like a motivational talk.

God is portrayed as an old wise grandpa or sage.

In my experience, somewhere down the road we’ve lost a sense of reverence for God.

Ask yourself this morning,

How did you prepare your heart to enter the presence of God?

How much time in prayer did you spend reciting the greatness of God to your heart?

What scriptures did you meditate on to inspire your heart to the holiness and greatness of God?

What songs did you sing this morning before church that made God the object of your worship?

I’m guilty of enter the sanctuary expecting the church to move me into God’s presence, while, I have done nothing to prepare my heart to see God, worship God, hear from God, and respond to God.

How often do you enter the sanctuary with God not being the object of your worship?

Psalm 24 is a Psalm that helps you set your heart right before God before you enter His presence.

The Psalm reveals three glories of God that serve as a reminder of whom you are about to worship.

Three Glories of the King that help you prepare your heart to worship.

The King’s Glorious Possession (Psalm 24:1-2)

God owns everything because God created everything

As David enters the sanctuary he reminds himself of God’s position as Creator King.

In the first verse he acknowledges that everything in this world belongs to God.

Moses asserted that same truth to Israel in

God owns the world because he created the world.

In verse 2, God is the one who sets the earth’s foundation on the seas and rivers.

The imagery of water should take you back to the very beginning of Genesis 1:1-2

Israel’s conception of creation believed the earth rested on the waters.

The psalmist says of the Lord,

When God commanded Israel not to create idols, he said

God created the earth and set it on firm foundations, like pillars sunk down into the depths of the sea.

To David’s readers, though, God’s power over creation would be seen in him being able to tame the water, like seas.

In ancient Near Eastern mythology, the sea represented untamable chaos.

The Old Testament says that Yahweh has the power to subdue the sea, showing the all the world that He is supreme.

Yahweh is truly the King of Glory who created everything, controls everything (even the chaotic seas), and therefore owns everything.

He possess the earth with such power, nothing can stop Him from doing what he desires to do.

There is no enemy who can come close to defeating him.

God is never frustrated.

He is always victorious.

He is the supreme God who possess all the stars in heaven and everything that fills the land and seas.

And this supreme God deserves to possess your heart, your loyalty, your love, your adoration.

The question for you is, does he possess your heart?

Pondering the King of Glory Possession Prioritizes Your Worship

If Yahweh truly is the supreme God who owns everything because he created everything and he rules over everything, even subduing the chaotic sea, then why do you act as though he has no right to rule your life?

Why do you let things capture the loyalty of your heart over Him?

In TTV we are teaching the children the Ten Commandments.

They’ve learned that idolatry is loving anything more than God.

It is prioritizing things or people or ideas above the Lord.

It;s allowing something else to posses your heart.

When you ponder the glory of the King’s possession of all the earth, including you, the King’s possession confronts your idolatry.

Preparing your heart to enter His sanctuary is a way of getting your heart to prioritize the King of Glory over anything that is competing fur worship.

Who is this King of Glory?

He is the one who possess all the earth, and the one who possesses my heart.

Once the the worshiper has set his heart straight about the King of Glory’s possession, that is, his ownership of everything, verse three asks an important question, “Who can come into the presence of the King of Glory?

The King’s Glorious Presence (Psalm 24:3-6)

The question posed in verse three is both rhetorical and reflective.

On the one hand, true worshipers of God know that God’s presence is special and very dangerous.

His holiness breaks out against sin.

On the other hand, the question forces you to ask yourself, “Am I able to come into the presence of the King of Glory?”

What is required of me to enter the King of Glory’s presence?

David answers the question in verse 3 with verse four, which says,

The Hebrew word for clean means innocent and the word for pure emphasizes moral purity.

Those who are innocent are those who are innocent of wrong doing.

They do not devise wicked schemes in their heart and carry them out against their neighbor.

The prophet Isaiah offers a contrast to one with clean hands with one whose hands are full of blood.

Of the one whose hands are defiled with evil, Yaweh says,

Guilty hands are covered with blood, injustice, extortion, and exploitation.

To such a defiled person, God will not allow them into his presence.

In order to have clean hands you must have a clean heart.

You must be morally pure.

A pure heart is a heart committed to the law of God.

Purity of heart is characterized by God’s law

according to

Purity of heart is how you receive God’s goodness.

The Psalmist also says that God is good to those who are pure

Purity of heart is the only way you can see God.

Jesus says

At the end of the day, to enter God’s presence, the desires of your heart and the actions of your hands must align with God’s holy standard.

You must be consistent on the inside and the outside.

Willem A. VanGemeren sums this up well when he says,

“Purity of “hands” and “heart” is the condition of living before God in accordance with his precepts and out of the desire of his heart.