The Nativity itself, as John prayed. And Psalm 24 is an example of that. Going back to Psalm 24 to try and wrap it up today. That not only does it present the king, the earthly king, approaching the temple, the people of God approaching the temple for worship, but also we know that it's figurative and prophetic of Christ in His ascension as John prayed, His enthronement and His session on behalf of His people. So it's wonderful to celebrate the whole Christ. I'm going to go ahead and read the entire psalm. I'm going to read from the back of the hymnal, which I believe is Do I recall that this is your version of the authorized version? It's the NID? Oh. The best. I've started reading through the Psalms again. I'm reading about four Psalms a day, and I'm using the NID this time. Sometimes it is just, it is really good. The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it. the world and all who live in it. For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Whom he ascend the hill of the Lord, whom he stand in his holy place. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God and Jacob. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, be lifted up, ye 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 ye gates, lift them up, ye ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is he, this King of Glory? The Lord Almighty. He is the King of Glory. I tried to review a bit this week. No, I need the entire text. I ran out of nowhere, I was such a fluttery mess. I got my stuff together last night. I was getting out the door this morning and couldn't find my papers. As I was revealing my notes, I was pointed to another cross-reference referring to the first couple verses of the psalm, and this is from Job 38. Kind of a cross-reference to the statement of David, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. God was speaking to Job this late in the book, and we read in verses 8-11 in Job, Who enclosed the sea with doors, when bursting forth it went out from the womb? When I made a cloud his garment, and thick darkness his swaddling band, and I placed boundaries on it, and set a bolt in doors, And I said, thus far shall you come, but no more. And here shall your proud ways stop. Reminding us of God's design and his sovereign rule over even the elements, the sky, the clouds, the seas, the oceans, and all that is in them. And has designed the earth as well, being founded upon the waters. And that's about as far as we got last week. We did touch briefly on who may ascend the hill of the Lord, who may stand in His holy place. Talking about the one who can ascend to the hill is the one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear to what is false. And I mentioned that Verse 4 talks about an inward and an outward cleanliness, clean hands, hands free of blood or deceit or harm to others. And yet, what drives the hands is the heart, the state of the heart. That's the motivation and what leads us to do the things we do. So that it's both a physical, personal, and spiritual. When David asked the question, who may stand in his only place, it is one who will enter the temple, whether it's the earthly temple or tabernacle. But it's also Mount Zion, which is figured by those earthly worship places, the heavenly throw room. And you not only stand, but you're able to be there and maintain your, if I'm not saying this right, maintain your position there. You're going to go in there and you can actually worship rightly. So it's not a mere physical standing, but it is where you are, the place of your worship when you get there. Think about Isaiah 6. It isn't a perfect example, but it is. I think it's a very good example where Isaiah went into the heavenly throw room, and he was before the presence of God, and he was well aware of his sin. And he said, I am undone. And yet he was allowed to stay there. He was kept there for God's purposes. Well, a person without a clean heart at least in a relative sense, is not going to be able to go before the throne of God and be in a worse position than Isaiah, who was greatly undone, but without that clean hands and pure heart. In verse 4 also, We read, he who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully. The English Standard Version says, has not lifted his heart onto idols. And several commentators mentioned that, at least two, mentioned that whether it's translated as falsehood or idols, the Hebrew is actually vanity or emptiness. And it almost becomes, when the translators do put those words in, a falsehood or idols, it's almost a euphemism. You don't know how to translate You're lifting your heart up to the air with nothing there. And it seems like good reason. If you're lifting up your heart to the air, even that becomes an idol. And if you're not lifting up your heart to the true God, you're lifting up to an idol. You're lifting up to falsehood. On one occasion, the writer said that I have not lifted up my soul to falsehood, suggesting a first-person identification. Again, there may be translation reasons for that, but it kind of drove home the point to me as I was reading and reviewing. These are things that we need to be aware of personally. We're not reading about third person them out there somewhere, especially not a long time ago, approaching the hill of the Lord, Mount Zion, and the tabernacle. But it's us. I also follow the phrase, who has not lifted up his soul? Interestingly, there were only four occasions of that wording in the Old Testament. They were all in the Book of Psalms. The other three were referred to the person, the individual lifting their soul to God himself in devotion. Just flip over the page a little, just one page over to Psalm 25, verse 1. And that opens. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Oh my God, in you I trust. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let my enemies exalt over me. But the beginning, and somewhat tellingly, I think, the contrast in Psalm 24 of the one who lifts his heart up to falsehood. And right away, David comes back with, to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. That devotion to God himself. Perhaps not every phrase that we run across in the book of Psalms is connected to something else, but I guess if I'm going, my working premise is this thing flows, this book flows. And the book as we have it, especially, is there by design. And they say these things for reasons. So I mentioned, I think it was Psalm 16 and Psalm 22, the comparison, the connection with the cup. Identifying, saying, the Lord is my cup and my portion. And then the contrast in the anguish of the psalmist in Psalm 22, wanting the cup to be taken away from him. The result, I guess, yeah, again, result, I think, of having a pure heart and clean hands is that the worshipper is blessed from the Lord and vindication, some versions read that as justification from God the Savior. We've mentioned a couple of times, we've talked a couple of times, I think, about how a psalm might come across as, or the psalmist, whether it's Dabler or somebody else, might come across as kind of self-righteous. Where, you know, he says, I've got a pure heart in the poor you got. And yet, he's also aware of his sin and his need. And that's kind of what happens here, I think, that the writer, David, and the worshipers think that they're aware that they can approach the temple of the Lord on the basis of clean hands and pure hearts. relativity to it, I guess. And that's not the final answer of the text. But what I'm trying to get to is to recognize that even the psalmist, whatever psalmist it was, and the people of Israel were well aware of their own sin. And yet they knew that coming with having having presented themselves to the Lord, trying to live the clean life before Him, confessing their sin. We don't see a lot of sacrifice, especially in this part of the sacrificial system, in this part of the book of Psalms. But I think that is part of the background to the nation Israel and on through the Psalms. So they're not coming saying, I'm OK. They're saying that I'm needy and you've provided the way and you show mercy to people who don't try to come in presumptuously, I guess. Have you guys tackled that? Have you guys kind of pondered that? Things like that in the songs or in particular? Well, even in Job, where God declares that Job is a righteous man. Okay. Even in Matthew, dealing with the Sermon on the Mount and stuff, you know, it almost seems like, you know, you've got to do all of these things, but what's the reality is again that is the sacrificial system was present and it was a foreshadow again looking forward to the reality in Christ so I mean you know even so there was for those of faith there was a true understanding that again there was something that This is the problem that we have. God said, way back to Abraham all the way through, I will be your God, you will be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. Well, what's the problem here? How can God, a holy, righteous, and just God dwell in the midst of sinful people? And so the ultimate answer is in Jesus. And again, the reality of that is actually foreshadowed through the sacrificial system. they realize that those of faith, just like Abraham, that he had a realization. He didn't understand every aspect of it or not, but he did understand that this is by God's grace that I can actually participate in that. And I think this is also part of the problem, those that were not of true faith, realizing, well, we've got to perform. And again, this is the whole aspect of the works righteousness that was predominant in the Pharisees and in Israel at the time. And so I don't know. It's so easy for us to see the performance requirement. Looking back at Psalm 24 here, who has clean hands and pure heart, and you start thinking, I got to do this, I got to do this. Or that's the basis for it, that God's going to reward me because I've got a clean heart. And this is what I struggle with in Matthew 24, or in Matthew 6, you know, the Sermon on the Mount. Again, it presents all this stuff and it's saying, okay, now we've got to... But the reality is, Jesus has accomplished this in our place. And it's by faith Again, at this point, they did have the sacrificial system, especially on the Day of Atonement. The significance of that, that those of faith knew that lamb is not doing anything, but when you combine by faith, what it foreshadows, you actually enter into the reality of that. In the Psalms, the sacrificial system seems so far in the background. Not that it's gone, not that it's not there, not that it's passed away, it's not in use anymore. And yet, he doesn't have Psalms talking about Maybe he does. Maybe I'm going to have to continue to keep reading deeper here. I've just started actually trying to read through the whole psalms instead of just studying one at a time for class preparation. But my goodness, there are such At least one of the three or four that I'm reading each day is just like, takes off the top of your head and makes you kind of pause. So yeah, I'll start looking for things soon. What comes through to me in this and in Job and in Matthew 6 is the focus on the heart and the relationship with God. and dependence on him, you know, really, you know, just really focused on the relationship with God. That's what I see. Rather than an emphasis on the actual deeds or fulfilling certain requirements, you know, like you're saying, the motivation of these deeds is from the heart. a pure heart toward God. Yeah. And it's so easy to go the other direction. And it does take a spiritual life, a life within us that really isn't ours. It's an alien righteousness, to use Martin Luther, that that heart to live before God is given to us. I just thought I'd get your brains a little bit, because sometimes I won't say I'm uncomfortable with the idea that David can say that he's got clean hands before God, and yet he knows that he's a sinner, but it's something certainly to probe a bit. But then Jesus can take the same words And it's true. That is true. That is true. And that's how we can sing these songs, knowing that, or pray these songs, knowing that there is one who can say it truly. My original outline, or my original notes, kind of hit this portion of clean hands and pure heart. Pretty hard. And actually, I started sounding to myself as if I were a revivalist preacher, knowing that shortcoming. And let me see. I'll read you a little bit. We're at a dilemma. The worshippers, and by extension we, have ascended the hill and approached the door of the tabernacle. We want to be let in. We're not fit. I left it there because we're going to... I hope I... Yeah, there it is. Actually, what I was looking for was a quote from Charles Spurgeon. It says, it's possible at this point that you're saying, I shall never enter into the heaven of God. For I have neither clean hands nor a pure heart. Look then to Christ, who has already climbed the holy hill. He has entered as a forerunner of those who trust him, following his footsteps and repose upon his merit. He rides triumphantly into heaven, And you shall ride there, too, if you trust Him. But how can I get the character described, say you? The Spirit of God will give you that. He will create in you a new heart and right spirit. Faith in Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit and has all virtues wrapped up in it." And that's kind of where we've talked this morning. Certainly, each one of us, many times, thinks, I can't climb that holy hill. I can't stand in that temple. And yet, we're always pointing to Christ, whether it's in the Psalms or through the rest of the gospel or redemptive history as it unfolds. So this is, again, the dilemma. Because the way we look, well Christ has not done the work yet. So how can that be applied back here? But the reality is, and this is what your heart is for, it's already being applied before the time. Because it's so certain in God's plan that it will be done. Abraham was saved by faith. ultimately in Christ before the time. And so it is interesting that, and again, this is why in Matthew 6, I wrestled with the fact, okay, he's speaking to the disciples, it sounds like, wow, I get this, all this requirements and stuff that you have to do and everything, and yet, I know Jesus came to do it, but he hasn't done it yet. But the reality is already, it has implications backward in time from all the way to Adam. And that's the interesting thing in that we discount the faith that Abraham, David had. They did not see what we did, but they had real, substantial faith in a reality. We maybe don't, we have much more because Jesus has come, he has completed the work, and we have the full revelation. But they had significant faith that entered into... I think there were... I didn't mean to jump in there just yet. I've thought that some of the Old Testament passages And actually, you read things like the Gospel narratives or the Book of Acts where you've got just a gem of a sermon or a parable, and we don't know the whole conversation that probably took more than the three seconds of what we read. The life of Israel, and especially in the temple and living out the law, there probably is much more there than a guy, in his wisdom, I'm not calling him up short to say that he could have told us more, of course he could have told us more, but in his wisdom he chose to tell us what he told us. But yeah, I think there was an awareness, things like the scapegoat, or the sacrificial, or the offering system that they had. There was an awareness of a good deal of that meaning. Well, not only that, but on the Day of Atonement, only the high priest with the blood was able to go through the veil into the Holy of Holies. Only one day of the year. And again, there's true significance and true reality in that foreshadowed. And again, this is possibly a dispensational kind of thing that has brought about a lack of understanding because they say, oh, no, you can't read Christ back into the Old Testament. That's eisegesis. You're right. You're reading this back in, but when you read Hebrews 11, what Abraham understood about the promised land that it was not the promised land that he was waiting for. He was a heavenly country that, you know, wow, there's real significant insight there to the man of faith that sees beyond the types or to the reality. I remember hearing that so many times. We were scolded for thinking that the New Testament shed light on the Old Testament. Whether it was in church or some Sunday school class or... I have one year of college, you know. Baptist Dispensational, Scofield Bible sort of place and I mean that was just, that was just, that was a foreign to them. But I don't know. Like if you go to Genesis 3.15 they said you cannot see Christ in this because he hasn't come yet. And that you're reading the New Testament back into the Old Testament, it was not there. And again they miss so much that way. I was raised dispensational, and that was not at all consistent. No, no. It didn't happen every Sunday. It was the opposite. In the dispensational group I was raised in, they were always reading New Testament truth into the Old Testament, always using types, all the time, to the extent that I didn't even get the historical background of the story. I guess maybe I fell in the middle somewhere. Because it didn't happen every Sunday, and it wasn't consistent. That's weird. One more little blurb from Spurgeon. Again, the king of glory is the answer to our dilemma. He is the great representative man who answered to the full character laid down. I submit to you, this is my parent that have gone both here and elsewhere in scripture, the full character that was laid down. Therefore, by his own right, he ascended to the holy hill of Zion. And again, me on our behalf. James Boyce, now if we- It's 25 till. 25 till? Well, I'll tell you what, I'm gonna stop there. I got a late start because of my papers. I'll wrap up very briefly and just simply that recognizing that the way is paid for us, We celebrate in verses 7 through 10. They're sort of a repetition of each other. It's not mere trivial repetition, but it is clearly a celebration. Lift up your heads, O gates. Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. That comes back to us a second time in verses 9 and 10. gates don't have heads and ancient doors, they probably didn't lift upward, they probably some sort of a hinge thing just like we have today. But think of the prophets where the fields of the hills will clap their hands, a metaphor for the joyous victory of salvation because the way has been paid for us and because we can enter the temple. Originally it was a celebration of the earthly king, and yet we're totally on board with, I think, realizing that the psalm does point us to Christ on through salvation and toward the end times, the heavenly kingdom, the heavenly temple, where we'll be with him. After all the anguish and lament of Psalm 22, which seems a while ago, we now have a psalm of ascension with Christ and our interceding King. So we have a firm foundation in knowing that we can approach God in His holy tabernacle and we sing with victory, the victorious tune of lifting our heads because the King of glory has drawn nigh. Our God and our Heavenly Father, what an honor to be for you and to praise you, to learn from your word, and to know the gracious acts and deeds that you have planned, purposed, accomplished, and applied. We give you our hearts and ask that you would apply your word to us. We think, too, of the worship service, the body coming together, in the hour ahead and ask that you would be honored in all that we say and do. We pray these things in Christ's name.