Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Most of us get enthralled by an epic battle scene with a conquering king riding on a white horse with his armies trailing him.

We love to see the good guy win.

We love to see justice prevail and evil brought to nothing.

One of my favorite movie scenes of this is the scene in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where Aslan’s armies are on mountainside and they come ready to meet the White Witch’s armies.

It is incredible!

The only problem is that if you watch closely enough, you will see that there are some casualties in the good army.

But, friends, let me tell you that on the last day, when Jesus appears riding on a white horse with the armies of heaven, there will be no casualties and none will be lost.

In fact, there will not even be a sword drawn, for the sword will come from the mouth of Jesus, the Word of God with the sharp, two-edged sword.

He commands and it is so!

He has all authority and power and dominion.

He is the King of Glory!

This morning, we are going to be looking at a Psalm that celebrates the King of Glory.

Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 24.

While you are turning there, remember that today is Palm Sunday.

It is the day that Jesus entered into the city of Jerusalem riding a colt of a donkey.

The crowds shouted, “Hosannah!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord,” and they put their coats down on the ground and waved palm branches in their hands.

The Pharisees begged Jesus to stop them, but He said, if they do not praise Him, even the rocks will cry out (Luke 19:39-40)!

But, as Jesus entered the city, some of the people said, “Who is this?

(Matt.

21:10).

Well, this morning, I want to introduce you!

I want to show you the King of Glory!

Pray.

1.

The Acknowledgement (vv.1-2)

God is the owner of the earth and everything in it

God is the owner because He is the creator and originator of it all

It’s all his original content

2. The Question (vv.3-4)

Illustration:

Mountain climbers are a unique breed of people.

They have to have nerves of steel.

Have you ever seen that Apple Watch commercial where they are asking why you would need to track your oxygen when you sleep?

The camera then zooms out from this tent that is hanging off the side of a mountain.

Only elite athletes can climb mountains.

Fat boys like myself will never get up past the tree line.

Yet, there are mountain climbers and elite mountain climbers.

All are athletic.

All have grit.

But there is a group that stands out above the rest.

These climbers are the ones who have climbed the tallest mountain in the world and lived to tell the tale.

These are the ones who have scaled Mount Everest.

Did you know that there are bodies that lie along the way up to the top of Mt.

Everest?

In fact, these bodies are used as markers along the way.

They are the ones that never made it to the top and back down again.

You see, the danger is too great to try to recover their bodies, so they just lay there where they froze to death or ran out of oxygen.

Explanation:

I think that imagery could be translated to the metaphor that is used in Psalm 24 to describe the worshiper that is trying to climb the mountain towards God.

You see, the temple sat up on a mountain.

Picture of the temple mount

In order to go to the temple to worship, you had to climb the mountain.

Now, there were three feasts a year that required all of the males in Israel, usually with their families, to come to Jerusalem and worship.

So these worshipers would come from outside the city, and since the city sat on a mountain, they would have to ascend the hill of the Lord.

There is another image that is brought to mind by the Psalmist in v. 3. It is the second refrain of the Hebrew doublet that is often found in Hebrew poetry.

Doublets are a way of saying something once and then rephrasing it another way to say the same thing.

The Psalmist asks the question, “Who may stand in his holy place?”

What is the holy place that he is speaking of?

He is referring to standing before God in the temple.

The phrase is not specific enough to be identified solely with the Holy of Holies, the place behind the curtain in the Temple where the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy Seat is.

However the meaning is the same.

Who can stand before God, the Holy One of Israel?

The answer is given in v. 4 with three requirements.

He who has clean hands (actions)

He who has a pure heart (thoughts and inward man)

He who has pure worship (has not lifted up his soul to an idol)

Application:

Let me ask you this morning, do we think about this when we come up on this little hill in Condor, GA? Do we consider who is worthy to come and appear before God? Praise Jesus that He makes us worthy when we are not on our own!

Amen?

But may we never take liberties with God’s mercy and grace and think that our holiness doesn’t matter to God.

It matters so much that Jesus had to come to rescue us from our sins.

3. The Reward (vv.

5-6)

So what is the reward

He will receive a blessing from the Lord

He will receive righteousness from the Lord

He will have fellowship with God

To seek and find the face of God - no one could see God’s face and live, but we will in the end (Gen.

32:29-31)

Face to face is an idiom that represents blessing (Num.

6:24-26) and fellowship(1 Cor.

13:12) with God.

4. The Response (vv.

7-10)

The Response to the acknowledgement that God is holy and the Owner of the world, that He is worthy of our holiness, and that He is a rewarder of them who seek His face is a call/response type of worship.

I want to demonstrate this this morning with you.

I want you to stand up for just a moment.

I’m going to read vv.

7-10.

When I get to the question, “Who is this King of Glory, I want you to read the rest of the verse out loud with me.

It is in bold italics on the screen.

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!

You can be seated again.

So you get the idea of how this song was used.

This song is a battle cry.

It is a song that is a rallying cry of the people of God.