SPEAKER_00: For today, as we just read, we will be looking at Psalm 24 that he's just read.
SPEAKER_00: And again, full disclosure, I'll be honest, I have never spent so many hours looking at 10 verses.
SPEAKER_00: And when I say so many, 10 to 15 hours this week.
SPEAKER_00: But I am jealous that you could see at least a portion of what the Lord has done in my heart over the last week.
SPEAKER_00: So I invite you in to hear what the Lord has for us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna read one more time and then I'll pray.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna read the first five verses, because that's really where we'll camp out for the most part this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So starting in verse one of Psalm 24, 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.
SPEAKER_00: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place?
SPEAKER_00: He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up what is sold or what is false, and does not swear deceitfully, he will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray one more time.
SPEAKER_00: God again, we do I am I am thankful for this church this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, how how you use our people here just in encouraging and in so many ways.
SPEAKER_00: And then Father, as I read on this pulpit this morning, uh sir, we wish to see Jesus as we sing in John 12, 21.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I also pray that you must increase and that I must decrease in these next few minutes.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, help us to see Jesus this morning.
SPEAKER_00: That's my prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray these things confidently in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We will look at this chapter under three points this morning.
SPEAKER_00: That was a mandate from Steve before he left.
SPEAKER_00: Um, honestly, that's what he said.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: But but before we jump in, uh, for me, I will say this there's not a better passage, I think, for us to look at as a church as we do enter into this season of transition.
SPEAKER_00: We see here at the very beginning God's hand and control immediately in this passage.
SPEAKER_00: And I am thankful our hearts get to start here.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll share personally for me, like to let you know kind of where I was.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we all have those weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and Thursday for me was just not a good day.
SPEAKER_00: I'll be honest.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I was overwhelmed, I was frustrated, and honestly, I just was exhausted, right?
SPEAKER_00: But then at the end of the day, when I started to slow down and go through this passage again, I read Psalm 24 and it calmed me and it arrested me.
SPEAKER_00: And so, again, I'm excited to share a little bit about what the Lord has done in my heart this week with you guys.
SPEAKER_00: And so, the question I do want to answer today, when you look at the Psalm, look at verse 8, this is the question I want us to answer.
SPEAKER_00: Who is this king of glory?
SPEAKER_00: And our purpose statement for this morning is this God is sovereign over all creation.
SPEAKER_00: He invites his people into a relationship through Jesus Christ so that his name may be glorified.
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about that and expand on that a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: I do want to start off a psalm, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I think it's important to know the context of what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Why was this psalm written, right?
SPEAKER_00: I love the analogy, you know, when we talk about context, um, it's it's baseball season, and so I love the baseball scoreboard analogy of if you cut on the TV and there's no scoreboard in the corner that you normally see there, and the screen is just showing the child, the crowd cheering at the top of their lungs, right?
SPEAKER_00: You see that, and it points to this idea of something great is going on, right?
SPEAKER_00: But again, you don't have any idea what inning it is, you don't know what the score is, you don't know how many outs.
SPEAKER_00: It just shows the crowd going crazy, jumping up and down, making you assume something great has happened.
SPEAKER_00: You would be a little confused, right?
SPEAKER_00: Excited, but confused.
SPEAKER_00: However, if the scoreboard was up and it showed it's the bottom of the ninth, with the home team going up by one from the home run, that would explain why the fans are going crazy, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so, again, that's context as we jump into a psalm of what's really going on.
SPEAKER_00: So I do want to start here again.
SPEAKER_00: Why did David preach this psalm?
SPEAKER_00: So, what do we see here?
SPEAKER_00: This was written, um, they were bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: The Philistines had captured it in 1 Samuel 4, and then it was returned in 2 Samuel 6.
SPEAKER_00: And so David was establishing Jerusalem as its capital, and David wanted the ark, the dwelling place of God, brought back to the center of the nation.
SPEAKER_00: And um, and also scholars believe often this was read on Ascension Day, which was 40 days after Easter Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where Jesus ascended into heaven after defeating death and then returning to glory to establish his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So we see this picture of the Levites bringing the Ark of the Covenant, which was the dwelling place of the Lord, back to God's people.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to read that again so you can have some context here.
SPEAKER_00: In 2 Samuel 6, this is verses 12 through 15.
SPEAKER_00: Feel free to turn there if you would like.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Samuel 6, 12 through 15.
SPEAKER_00: And so David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obad Edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: And those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal, and David danced before the Lord with all his might.
SPEAKER_00: So David and all the house of Israel brought the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we see here?
SPEAKER_00: This was a joyful time.
SPEAKER_00: They were excited.
SPEAKER_00: The dwelling place of the Lord was finally back with God's people.
SPEAKER_00: And again, I also think there is a reverence here as well, along with joy.
SPEAKER_00: So again, some context of what's going on, and we're going to look at this under three parts now.
SPEAKER_00: The first one being God's ownership, the second part being God's requirement that we see in the Psalm and in God's provision.
SPEAKER_00: So, first, let's start with God's ownership.
SPEAKER_00: I want us to look at verses one and two here.
SPEAKER_00: I'll read it again.
SPEAKER_00: The earth is of the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.
SPEAKER_00: He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
SPEAKER_00: So see what we see here first in the Psalm.
SPEAKER_00: God is establishing the groundwork for who is in control.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's important.
SPEAKER_00: He's establishing the groundwork for who is in control.
SPEAKER_00: Kristen told me not to use any illustrations with our family, and here we're doing it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00: We went to the beach a few weeks ago, and me, as the controlling dad that I am sometimes, I laid out the expectations for my four-year-old and two-year-old as we got buckled in the car seat.
SPEAKER_00: We were not going to do any electronics until we got to Hattiesburg.
SPEAKER_00: We would then watch a show until we got to Timothy Maddox's favorite place called Bucky's there.
SPEAKER_00: You can ask him about that later.
SPEAKER_00: We would get out there, we would stretch our legs, we would get an Icy, we would wait 45 minutes in line to get out of the parking lot.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not kidding.
SPEAKER_00: And then the kids, what would happen after that?
SPEAKER_00: They would sleep for two hours until we got to Destiny.
SPEAKER_00: There would be no whining, there would be no fighting.
SPEAKER_00: That was my expectations, right?
SPEAKER_00: I thought I was in control of the car ride.
SPEAKER_00: This again, I was laying the groundwork of how I expected the day to go.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how do we think that actually went, those of us with kids?
SPEAKER_00: Do we think it went anything like that?
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely not.
SPEAKER_00: But in all seriousness, my goal was again to set the expectation in the framework of how the day was going to go.
SPEAKER_00: So when we look at this psalm, again, should we not start our thoughts and prayers like this every time?
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus calls us to when he models the Lord's Prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We are establishing that myself is not in control.
SPEAKER_00: How does the Lord's prayer start?
SPEAKER_00: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done.
SPEAKER_00: Your name is hallowed as acknowledgement and reverence of him.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this in this psalm here, and I think it's important.
SPEAKER_00: God is expressing himself through creation, pointing our minds back to Genesis 1, reminding that I am creator, I am sustainer, I speak, and it exists.
SPEAKER_00: I speak and the earth rotates.
SPEAKER_00: I speak and mountains are formed.
SPEAKER_00: I speak and your heart beats.
SPEAKER_00: Everything exists because of God.
SPEAKER_00: Period.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that may sound harsh to some of you, and to me it can sometimes, but praise God this is the case.
SPEAKER_00: Because I think, again, we all have our forms of admiring creation, we see here in this psalm.
SPEAKER_00: You know, whether it's the flowers, the sunsets, the sun rises, whether it's the ocean or a peaceful lake.
SPEAKER_00: And I confirmed with Scott on Friday that his view of seeing creation in the Lord is when he's sitting in a blind and a duck comes coming in over the pond.
SPEAKER_00: I don't get it, but that's him.
SPEAKER_00: That's how he sees creation, and I love it.
SPEAKER_00: We're all different.
SPEAKER_00: For me, it's the Rocky Mountains.
SPEAKER_00: I love when I get to the top and I look out and I see the peak, hopefully with some snow on it, and the sun rising above it.
SPEAKER_00: This is where I am stunned, and that's where I'm speechless, and I realize I'm not in control.
SPEAKER_00: Again, God's speaking through creation that we see here.
SPEAKER_00: And let's look humbled.
SPEAKER_00: And we see this.
SPEAKER_00: Submit yourselves therefore to God.
SPEAKER_00: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, how do we feel when we are humbled?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we may not like it in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: I think if we're honest, we walk away with a new perspective, right?
SPEAKER_00: My first, I mean, I remember getting humbled early on was um, I don't wish this on anybody, but an umpired coach pitch baseball as a senior in high school.
SPEAKER_00: And you want to get humbled really fast, go do that.
SPEAKER_00: Let a bunch of parents, when you're 17 years old, scream at you over balls and strikes.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you'll get humbled.
SPEAKER_00: But what did happen to me after that?
SPEAKER_00: I have a brand new perspective on umpires.
SPEAKER_00: And I sometimes I get mad at them, but most of the time I try not to because I've been there.
SPEAKER_00: I have a new perspective from being humbled in those moments.
SPEAKER_00: So we see that we're humbled.
SPEAKER_00: What also happens when we see the Lord here in creation, I think we're reoriented.
SPEAKER_00: Reoriented means to change direction, perspective, or focus, to redirect something toward a new goal or understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Reorientation carries a deeper significance.
SPEAKER_00: It refers to a fundamental realignment of one's values, priorities, allegiances toward God.
SPEAKER_00: When a person is reorganed, their entire framework of understanding life, what matters most, how they make decisions, what they pursue shifts from self-centeredness or worldly concerns to God's kingdom and purposes.
SPEAKER_00: But what's the problem we see here a lot?
SPEAKER_00: The problem is our minds easily drift from the goal.
SPEAKER_00: It's human nature for us to turn towards selfish ambitions, selfishly thinking we have control, right?
SPEAKER_00: We can do it ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need God right now.
SPEAKER_00: How often does this happen to us and we need to be reoriented?
SPEAKER_00: I know for me it happens a lot.
SPEAKER_00: And so, and again, this happens unfortunately when things are going easy.
SPEAKER_00: And these are the moments that we often drift because again, why do I need to focus?
SPEAKER_00: Everything is easy.
SPEAKER_00: An example of this for me is as an accounting major in college, I had to take accounting 201, right?
SPEAKER_00: The first class for accounting.
SPEAKER_00: And the first two tests I took, I made an easy A.
SPEAKER_00: I was proud of myself.
SPEAKER_00: Now I studied a lot, but I was proud of myself.
SPEAKER_00: I thought I had it.
SPEAKER_00: But then test three came around, and I didn't study quite as much.
SPEAKER_00: What do we think happened?
SPEAKER_00: I made my first C in college, and of course, because the firstborn child that I am, I cried for some reason in college because I made a C.
SPEAKER_00: And I can promise you it wasn't the last one that I made.
SPEAKER_00: But again, what did that do in the moment?
SPEAKER_00: I had to be reoriented.
SPEAKER_00: I had to be brought back to center, and I think we see this in this psalm.
SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: We worship in those moments in creation that we see God is in, is over all things.
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, I think after we're humbled and our minds are reoriented, I think our actions should lead to worship.
SPEAKER_00: Showing worth, as Steve says often, to the one who deserves it.
SPEAKER_00: God receives the glory, which is a big part of the psalm and what God wants.
SPEAKER_00: And it's the opening question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
SPEAKER_00: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're establishing the groundwork here.
SPEAKER_00: God's ownership, he is in control, and I am not.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at point two.
SPEAKER_00: I think it leads to this.
SPEAKER_00: We see this that there's a relationship here, God's requirement.
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so as you go through this psalm, we see, let's look at verses three through five.
SPEAKER_00: And it starts with this question here: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Who shall stand in his holy place?
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you here, please remember the temple language as we go through this section.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to let your brains be reminded of Leviticus.
SPEAKER_00: Steve jokingly said I was going to talk about Leviticus today.
SPEAKER_00: Well, here you go.
SPEAKER_00: We get to start here.
SPEAKER_00: All of the laws, when you go back to the Levitical law, that was required for his people to dwell with him.
SPEAKER_00: These were how the Levites were meant to be when entering the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Clean hands, pure heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so, again, the question here: who can enter God's presence?
SPEAKER_00: The psalmist poses a fundamental question: who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place?
SPEAKER_00: This inquiry isn't merely geographical.
SPEAKER_00: Hear me, it's not.
SPEAKER_00: It asks, who is worthy to dwell in God's presence?
SPEAKER_00: What constitutes true religion?
SPEAKER_00: What's required for acceptable worship?
SPEAKER_00: And what prepares someone for heaven?
SPEAKER_00: The question demands a response about spiritual fitness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, look at the answer.
SPEAKER_00: It's a two-part requirement we see in verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: The response addresses both outward behavior but then inward motivation.
SPEAKER_00: The person who qualifies, what do they have?
SPEAKER_00: They have clean hands and a pure heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see this groundwork that David is outlining for us, starting first that God is sovereign, right?
SPEAKER_00: Next, we see the passage flowing into this relationship that's apparent.
SPEAKER_00: However, the problem, the issue is the standard is not mostly good.
SPEAKER_00: The standard is perfection.
SPEAKER_00: The holistic understanding of righteousness, combining both inward devotion and outward honesty, characterizes those worthy to ascend God's holy mountain.
SPEAKER_00: And so we'll look at these four things real quick.
SPEAKER_00: Starting with clean hands.
SPEAKER_00: Clean hands symbolize uprightness, they represent the instruments through which we act.
SPEAKER_00: So having clean hands means living an upright life.
SPEAKER_00: Clean hands in Psalm 24 represent far more than physical cleanliness, they embody integrity and righteous conduct flowing from a transformed heart.
SPEAKER_00: Your hands, as we often know, respond to what your heart directs them to do.
SPEAKER_00: They're responders, they're not initiators.
SPEAKER_00: And practically for a minute, let's think about this.
SPEAKER_00: This can mean many different things for us, right?
SPEAKER_00: A couple examples are how do we talk about our enemies?
SPEAKER_00: Do we slander or do we pray?
SPEAKER_00: How do we treat our coworkers?
SPEAKER_00: Do we build up or do we talk down?
SPEAKER_00: How do we treat the vulnerable, the orphans, the widows, the trafficked?
SPEAKER_00: How do we serve our friends and neighbors?
SPEAKER_00: Do we serve our friends and neighbors?
SPEAKER_00: Or are we so selfish, I don't even think about our friends and neighbors sometimes?
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm guilty of this, right?
SPEAKER_00: So we see that clean hands, and then it leads to pure hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And look at this for a second.
SPEAKER_00: However, clean hands alone are insufficient without a pure heart.
SPEAKER_00: Since true religion, we know is heartwork, the inward parts matter more than the outward appearance.
SPEAKER_00: For the heart represents the very life of our being, transformation from within, calling us to a deeper cleansing and not just an outward action.
SPEAKER_00: So again, it's really getting down to what are our motives behind this.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this pursuit of a pure heart.
SPEAKER_00: We see in David's repentance, very famous Psalm, Psalm 51.10.
SPEAKER_00: Look what David cries out Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
SPEAKER_00: This prayer reveals someone who recognizes his internal corruption and desperately seeks God's transformative work, not making excuses, but asking God to reconstruct his innermost being.
SPEAKER_00: Go to the New Testament, for example, to give you an example there.
SPEAKER_00: We see it all the time in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: That's really what chapters 4 through 7 are about.
SPEAKER_00: It's going into the heart issue rather than the outward action that they were doing.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the Beatitude standard there, and it clarifies the connection between purity and divine encounter.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 5.8 declares, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
SPEAKER_00: Pure in heart means that not only our minds, but our feelings and our actions are concentrated on God.
SPEAKER_00: If our focus is merely intellectual, we are not pure in heart.
SPEAKER_00: This requires a radical cleanliness of heart, totally focused on God.
SPEAKER_00: I think a good example of this, if you've ever bought a house before, you've probably had a home inspection done, right?
SPEAKER_00: As a real estate broker, I've learned a lot that some of the most beautiful houses can often have some of the biggest problems, especially ones that have been flipped, so to speak.
SPEAKER_00: You walk in and you see quartz countertops, right?
SPEAKER_00: You see gold fixtures that are very popular now.
SPEAKER_00: You see fresh paint, and everything looks first class, as I like to call it.
SPEAKER_00: But when the home inspector gets in and they do their three-hour due diligence, they start digging a little deeper.
SPEAKER_00: They find a leaking pipe, they find some rotten wood, faulty wiring.
SPEAKER_00: The finishes may look impressive, right?
SPEAKER_00: But what really matters is what's underneath.
SPEAKER_00: Because really that's we know where the money comes in.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got to start fixing things underneath.
SPEAKER_00: And so we see this.
SPEAKER_00: God, hear me on this.
SPEAKER_00: God is not ultimately concerned with how polished we appear on the outside.
SPEAKER_00: He looks beneath the surface and he examines the heart.
SPEAKER_00: Because what matters most is not just clean hands before the people, but a pure heart before him.
SPEAKER_00: And church, if I needed to hear anything this week, that was it.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to see here uh an example, what happens when they didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Going back to the Psalm and going back to 2 Samuel, what happens when they didn't have clean hands and a pure heart?
SPEAKER_00: So, some context, put on your Old Testament hat for a second and go back to the story.
SPEAKER_00: I had to be reminded of it, to be honest.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't remember.
SPEAKER_00: This was the second time David had tried to bring the ark into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: This wasn't the first time.
SPEAKER_00: When David didn't let the Levites carry the ark, he let Uzzah try to do it.
SPEAKER_00: We see this traumatic story of an oxen stumbling in God, and then God strikes down one of his people because he wasn't able to be within the dwelling place of God.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: And so we see this story.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't have clean hands or a pure heart, he didn't let the Levites carry it, and then we see what the Lord did.
SPEAKER_00: So, clean hands, pure hearts, and then real quick, as we look at the next verse, it says, Does not lift up his soul to what is false.
SPEAKER_00: We talk about this a lot at redemption, at least we have over the years.
SPEAKER_00: This really starts digging into what the motives of the heart are.
SPEAKER_00: So, what is false in this story?
SPEAKER_00: It's just idols.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: A few examples we see your jobs, kids, status, money, put whatever you want in there for idols, right?
SPEAKER_00: Then we see what does it mean to lift up your soul?
SPEAKER_00: And you know, what I came up with is our eyes see it, and our hands want it, and then our hearts crave it.
SPEAKER_00: Our inner beings have to have it, and this is a danger that we can fall into.
SPEAKER_00: And then we see, lastly, it does not swear deceitfully.
SPEAKER_00: And really, going to the context of the verse, this really focuses on how we deal with others or our neighbors.
SPEAKER_00: And it has a deeper understanding of a merchant or business dealings exploiting others financially or relationally.
SPEAKER_00: So we see here, are we truly getting to know this person, or do we just see them as an asset to our business life?
SPEAKER_00: Talking about not swearing deceitfully, treating others right.
SPEAKER_00: So I know that's a lot, right?
SPEAKER_00: And I know what you're thinking, because this is what I was thinking, maybe.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not me.
SPEAKER_00: I can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: I would love to enjoy this fellowship with God, to receive his blessing and his righteousness as we.
SPEAKER_00: In the Psalm.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have clean hands.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have a pure heart.
SPEAKER_00: And I have often lifted up my soul to idols.
SPEAKER_00: I can promise you that.
SPEAKER_00: And I haven't always been honest.
SPEAKER_00: If that's the standard for acceptance into God's favor, I can only hang my head in shame and sorrow.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're honest with ourselves, that is what we should be thinking.
SPEAKER_00: I can't ascend that mountain, right?
SPEAKER_00: So finally, let's look at point three: God's provision.
SPEAKER_00: And I love this.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we see the Old Testament connected to the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: You're reading through Psalms and you're like, well, how does this connect?
SPEAKER_00: I don't get it, right?
SPEAKER_00: We'll see it here.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we see the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: How did God provide for us?
SPEAKER_00: How did He give us access to ascend the mountain?
SPEAKER_00: And I know we've heard this a thousand times, but it is the only way I knew how to explain it.
SPEAKER_00: So just go with me.
SPEAKER_00: How did he give us access to ascend the mountain?
SPEAKER_00: Through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: One, he lived the perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lived the sinless, perfect life here on earth.
SPEAKER_00: He had the clean hands and the pure heart.
SPEAKER_00: We see that in 1 John 3 5.
SPEAKER_00: You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
SPEAKER_00: So one perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: Then we see this big word here called propitiation.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: Real quick.
SPEAKER_00: All that means, to keep it simple, means that Jesus, by his sacrificial death on the cross, fully satisfied God's righteous wrath against sin and turned away the judgment that sinners deserved.
SPEAKER_00: Going back to Gospel 101, we see this.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to look at Romans 3.
SPEAKER_00: We'll start in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: None is righteous, no not one.
SPEAKER_00: No one understands.
SPEAKER_00: No one seeks for God.
SPEAKER_00: Jump on down a few verses to verse 21 in Romans 3.
SPEAKER_00: But now, the righteousness of God has been manifested, manifested apart from the law.
SPEAKER_00: The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom we'll end with this, whom God put forward as a perpetuation by his blood to be received by faith.
SPEAKER_00: This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he has passed over former sins.
SPEAKER_00: It is to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I know that's weighty, but it but I hope you can see this the simplicity there.
SPEAKER_00: And so think through this for a second, because man, I love this this week.
SPEAKER_00: It is amazing to think that all my sins of the past, all my sins of the present, and all my sins of the future have been fully and completely covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I do not have to work to excuse what I have done.
SPEAKER_00: I do not have to construe my conscience with rationalizations that I do way too much.
SPEAKER_00: I do not have to ease my guilt with arguments for my own righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I do not have to try to make myself feel better about what I have done by blaming someone else.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What can I do?
SPEAKER_00: I can stand before God just as I am, without fear, because in Christ Jesus I am fully forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: I now have clean hands and a pure heart through Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so we'll end with this conclusion.
SPEAKER_00: In conclusion, I want to bring it back full circle here.
SPEAKER_00: Again, what's the question we are trying to answer?
SPEAKER_00: It was in verse 8 of the Psalm.
SPEAKER_00: The question is: who is this king of glory?
SPEAKER_00: And three things, again, we see here this king, he's in control.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: We don't like it sometimes.
SPEAKER_00: I know it.
SPEAKER_00: I know I don't.
SPEAKER_00: But praise God, he's in control and we can start there.
SPEAKER_00: Two, he invites us into a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And then three, this king provides a way for us to have a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'll end with a few questions here to maybe ponder or you can take away today to think through this week.
SPEAKER_00: And the first one is do we trust, do we trust in this God who is sovereign over this earth in your life?
SPEAKER_00: It starts there.
SPEAKER_00: That's the foundation for every conversation and thought moving forward.
SPEAKER_00: Two, do we see our sin and how our hearts and hands are not pure and clean ultimately here?
SPEAKER_00: What do we need to repent of?
SPEAKER_00: What's going on in your life?
SPEAKER_00: What do you need to let go and let God handle?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: What do you need to get on our knees and pray about?
SPEAKER_00: So what do we need to repent from?
SPEAKER_00: And then three, as we looked at point three a minute ago, do we believe that Jesus lived the perfect life and died for our sins?
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, application at the end, and do we believe our purpose in life is to enjoy God and glorify him forever?
SPEAKER_00: Do we see that?
SPEAKER_00: And I love this Tim Keller quote he frequently talks about in his sermons.
SPEAKER_00: And it starts with this religion says, I obey, therefore I'm accepted.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: I obey, therefore I'm accepted.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not what the gospel says.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel says, I'm accepted in Christ, therefore I obey.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore there is joy.
SPEAKER_00: The king of glory is here.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I thank you again for this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for this psalm.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you how it is, um, it has changed my heart this week.
SPEAKER_00: Um, Father, that I have a new perspective and want to show you glory, want to show you worth.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that over our church this morning, Father, that they would see that.
SPEAKER_00: Um Father, that their life would be changed, even as just one degree, it's one degree closer to you and see you a little more this week as we go through the tough parts of the week.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I will I will use this time.
SPEAKER_00: I know there are multiple people in our church hurting right now.
SPEAKER_00: I know there's pain, there's struggle.
SPEAKER_00: And so, Father, I we lift that up to you right now, the families here that are struggling today.
SPEAKER_00: Father, if there's a way that we as a church you'd come around come around and love our families, love them well.
SPEAKER_00: Help them show the love of Christ to them this week, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Would you do that?
SPEAKER_00: And so again, Father, I thank you for this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and thank you for this church and how much they mean to me.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord, I pray all of these things in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.