on multiple levels, it's an encouragement to be here today. And Stephen asked me several months ago, would I be willing to come? And I said, well, only if I can bring everybody. And so that's what we did. We're about 35, well, some of us are a lot more than 30, 35 minutes up the road, but most of us are kind of clustered in that 35 to 45 minutes up the road from here. Yeah, I'm looking this way. I know there's more of you that are going a little further, but we are glad to be in your midst this morning And today is a unique day for all of us. We are not only celebrating 10 years of GFBC, but in a way, it's kind of like having, you know, when you have kids that all have birthdays that are clustered together. Some of you know how to have that experience. You go, how do we have all of them kind of clustered in that same spot? GFBC Conroe celebrated six years last month, and West Stokes a month from today, or this next month, will be two years. So we have 10, 6, and 2, kind of siblings getting together for a birthday party. And I texted Josh this morning and I asked him, I said, well, GFBC Conroe was an intentional church plant. We were kind of several families laid hands on, we were sent out. Their circumstances were a little bit unusual, some very positive things that the Lord put together there. So I asked, what do you call it? And he said, well, we call it the church plant merger reconstitution. So that's what we're going with. It's hard to get that on a birthday cake, but we'll work on that. So, but it's right and it's good to give thanks to God on these kinds of occasions. And we come and we celebrate God's goodness, but there's something even more than that that we celebrate today. We celebrate as we do each and every Lord's Day, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is far more significant even than the fact that these local bodies have persevered together for 10, six, and two years. Far more significant is the fact that there was one who left the throne of heaven, took on human flesh, walked among us, and as we'll see this morning, climbed back up the holy mountain and ransomed us. That's far more significant even than what we celebrate today and what we celebrate is good and it's right. So we ask the question, is the planting of a church merely an earthly accomplishment? Is it merely a social or an organizational enterprise? And I hope we would all say that it's much more than that. If you've been around very long, you know the reality of the fact that the opposition is much more than an earthly opposition. It is much more than our own flesh, although that does wage war against us. But we fight and wrestle against even unseen powers, principalities, the scriptures tell us. And in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Holy Spirit, through the revelation of the scriptures, gives us military kind of imagery, martial pictures of what the church looks like and has always looked like as long as it has existed. Stephen asked me this morning to preach on a theme, the supremacy of Christ. That is our vision statement to proclaim the supremacy of Christ to every man or to all men with a view towards biblical conversion and comprehensive discipleship. And on the one hand, I would hope that every sermon I've preached has the theme of the supremacy of Christ, right? But as we think about this particular occasion, I wanted to go to a passage that would help us sort of wrestle with Some of the things that we might be experiencing, even as we sit here this morning, have you ever been invited to a birthday party or a baby shower or even a wedding or something like that? It's a celebration and you're sitting here going, I don't feel like celebrating today because I've brought baggage with me. I've brought stuff with me. I've brought hurts from this last week or month or year or my whole life that I carry with me and everyone around me is celebrating and saying rah, rah, rah. I don't feel it today. I know I have. And I want us to consider our celebration today in terms of the victory that has been purchased for us by our captain, by our older brother, by our king, by our lord. And our culture is increasingly marked by a hostility to what we do. And if we're not grasping this and reminding ourselves frequently that what we do is far more significant than coming together and having a hot dog supper, and that's good, and we should do it, but it's gotta be more than that if it's going to sustain us. And what we are doing is hostile. What we are doing this morning, if you haven't thought about it this way, is an act of war. To stand and come together as people who, frankly, on a day that's 75 degrees and sunny, there are really good golf courses and lakes full of fish and bike paths and all kinds of things that you could be doing today. Why are you coming into this place? And the answer better be more than just, well, we're celebrating a particular occasion. This is an act of war. It's a militant expression of the orders that we've been given to proclaim the supremacy of Christ. It's an act of violence against this world and we seek to expand the reach of the gospel in another part of Houston, or another part of the state of Texas, or a seminary in the heart of Africa, in Zambia, These are acts of war. And if we think anything less than that, we don't understand the dynamic in which we find ourselves. But, as it happens in just about any kind of warfare, we find ourselves asking questions sometimes, like, is it worth it? I mean, is this all there is? or why is this happening this way? Why is hardship coming upon us? We're in the midst of doing something really good, why are bad things happening? I mean, do you sometimes look at the headlines, saints, and just wanna crawl up under the covers? Do you wanna just lock the children in the house, pull the shades down and say, we're not leaving? Do you ever feel like your efforts in your home, or in your workplace, or even in our churches, just seem so small, just insignificant. Is it worth it? And in darker times, if we're honest, perhaps we wonder, does God even care? I mean, does he see? Does he understand what we're going through? Does he feel our sorrow? And I want you to think about this. God has given us the Psalms. We're gonna be turning in a moment to Psalm 24. But God has given us the Psalms, not because it contains information that we need. There's nothing, to my knowledge, that's in this book of the Psalms that isn't contained in information form somewhere else, in the law, or in the prophets, or in the gospels, or in the epistles of the New Testament. All the information about our faith is contained elsewhere. Why does God give us the Psalms? because God wants to be honest with us about what's going to happen in our lives. The kinds of experiences we're going to have, the kinds of raw emotions. You read through the Psalms and I promise you, you will find the full range of human emotion. From joy and exaltation to sorrow, even to despair. The Psalms are helpful for us to help us feel the realities of our faith. Not detached from our minds, but to understand the honesty of the faith to which we've been called. The Psalms give us pictures, word pictures, sometimes very vivid ones. What we're going to have this morning in Psalm 24 is a very vivid picture. It's a militaristic picture. It's a martial picture. And the Lord Jesus Christ has descended the heavenly mountain for the purpose of redeeming a people to return with him up this heavenly mountain. Now, in the Hebrew mind, this was, you'll see in your text, it's labeled a Psalm of David. BSV has titled it the King of Glory. That's not original, but the Psalm of David is. It's a psalm of David, and it probably, more than likely, we can't know for sure, was written on the occasion of the ark being returned to Jerusalem when the Philistines had captured it. Now, from the Hebrew mind, everything about Jerusalem was oriented upward. You went up to Jerusalem. Regardless of whether you came from north, south, east, or west, you always went up to Jerusalem. So when they were talking about the ark going up to Jerusalem, so that's the image originally, but it points to something far more significant. Far more significant. The title of the message this morning is Who Shall Climb the Holy Mountain? There are three stanzas here. The first one we'll consider the supremacy of Christ as creator. The supremacy of Christ demonstrated in his holiness and the supremacy of Christ as the conquering king. Let's turn our attention to God's word. 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. 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. 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. Amen. As we think about this, we first see that the psalmist proclaims, he starts from this vantage point, all of the earth belongs to God. All of it. Why? Because he made it. Now, that's really simplistic, but it's profound. God made it, therefore he owns it. She owns it by right of creation and the parallelism. The Hebrew poetry works a lot of times with parallels, where in Western poetry we look for rhymes, we look for a certain rhythm in the poetry, but in the Hebrew poetry it's going to use parallelism. And what will happen is sometimes it's synonyms, like we find here, where one statement sort of layers on top of the next and it brings out a fuller meaning for the purpose of both emphasis and further explanation. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Now the parallelism does two things here. One, it focuses our attention on what God has made, but then it draws like you're zooming in on the map to those who dwell therein. All of creation is pointing to something. If we go back and read the Genesis narrative, and days one, two, three, four, five, and then six, and then when chapter two comes along in Genesis, it goes back and it zooms in on that day six to the creation of man. God made him male and female, he created him. See, that's an act of war right there. Male and female, he created them. But God's relation to man is one of ownership. God not only owns the whole world, but as he created the world, he owns man in particular. In fact, there is a special relationship with man. Unlike any other beast of the field, God breathes his own breath into Adam. He says, that one's mine. He's in my image. John's gospel makes it very clear that it is right to speak of Jesus as the Creator. All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. The creation account points us to man as the crowning achievement in God's creation. God caused the seas to be gathered together and the dry land to appear. Then he created the plants and the animals on that dry land for what purpose? For the provision of man. Just think about that. Before God even made man, he had provided for man. Now keep that thought in mind because you'll need it later in the psalm. He provided for man before he even created man. God established a dwelling place for him even before he made Adam. He provided for him. And we get this on a limited basis. We get this with our children. We get to name them. We get to shape them. We get to train them. Or even in our legal system, in the idea of patent law, if you have an idea and you patent it, you own it. or if you have a trademark, you have intellectual property, you own that, or art, or literature, or writing, or a movie, we own that idea. But we need to understand the distinction too. Our authority is delegated and derived, it's not original. God's authority is original by virtue of the fact that he made it all, and especially you. He created you. He owns you. Why is this important to understand? A couple of reasons. One, because Jesus Christ is the Creator, He has given to us all things to be received with thanksgiving. Do you know that the Apostle Paul quotes this very text, Psalm 24, to the Corinthians? And he says, eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. Four, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. Twice he says, on the ground of conscience. Here's what you need to know. The earth is made by God, everything in it is God, therefore you're able to receive with thanksgiving anything offered to you in this world. Because it's God's. He owns it. This is why we can celebrate today in the midst of a war. This is why we can come together, we can pause what we might ordinarily do, and come and say, God, we want to give you thanks and praise. We want to celebrate the good gifts of having a beautiful building, to have comfortable seats. Asked one of the brothers earlier, can we turn the air up just a little bit? To have AC. And some, you know, kind of feel guilty. about the good gifts that God has given to you. Because you see others who have not, and you have, and you think, well, I should feel guilty for this. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and he will give because he is the creator and the owner. He will give to whom he will give. He causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God as creator, as sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ determines the gifts that we have. Therefore, we are free to give thanks to him and enjoy them. But there's another implication of the supremacy of Christ as creator. Another implication, Jesus Christ is creator. He has the supreme right to do to us and with us and for us what he pleases. Not only does he give good gifts that we may enjoy freely, but he has the right to do with us and for us and to us whatever he pleases. Why? Because he owns us. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. the earth and all who dwell therein. So not just his people that he has saved and ransomed and called by name, but every man, every woman, every child owes allegiance to Jesus Christ by virtue of his having been made them. And he not only made the whole world generally, but saints, he's made you particularly. He knows the hair on your head. He knows your thoughts before you think them. He knows you intimately. He knows your needs before you ask for them. He has made you. And he has a right to do with you whatever he wills. And for some, that makes you really nervous. Because sometimes, in our darkest days, we question God's goodness, not his power. We question his kindness toward us, not his ability. We need to understand he has made the earth to glorify him for the good of his saints, but to bring him glory. So all of your circumstances, all of your hindrances, whether in poverty or riches, whether in sickness or in health, all of those come from the hand of a good creator who made you, who owns you. Remember Job? Job, in all of his misery, in a mysterious way, God gives Satan permission to torment Job. First, he takes his family, all of his sons and his daughters. Then, Satan comes again and he's given permission to torment his flesh, to give him a horrific disease. And everybody around Job is telling Job, even his wife, curse God and die, Job. Job says, no. But Job in his heart is still questioning, why, why, why? But finally, in the 40th chapter, we find this. Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once and I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no further. I put my hand over my mouth. You are God and I am not. You are my creator. You own me. You have every right to do with me as you please. And we need to do likewise. Saints, we question God's providence, don't we? We question our circumstances. We question the things that happen to us. And we do this individually. We do this corporately as a church. We do this culturally. God, why is this happening out there? We do it politically. Why? These days, those questions are coming up a lot. Why? But bowing ourselves here, giving honor to God as our creator, and asking for his help and mercy in difficult days, that's a pleasing thing in the sight of God. That's a pleasing thing. We see this throughout the Psalms. The reality is the psalmist often wrestle with these things. God, why? Why do the wicked prosper? Why is their stuff growing like crazy and mine's dead? Why are enemies overtaking us? God, why are you sitting silent? Those are the questions raised throughout the Psalms. But again and again and again, the answer is because I'm God. And I have that right and I know what's best. I have my glory and your good in mind. So when we challenge his wisdom, even passively, it's a perilous practice. When we question his wisdom or when we question his kindness, his goodness. So to ask you, do you sanctify the Lord in your heart and mind as holy and supreme? Because he made you, the Lord Jesus Christ owns you. His supremacy in creation needs to be a part of our thinking. We must acknowledge God as our creator and sovereign over us, and we must accept humbly his hand in all things. But is this all that can be said about God's relation to man? No, it's not. And the psalmist takes us further. Look here at verse three. There's a question now. 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. See, the language of the psalmist here in verses three through four is language of distance. God is our creator. He made us, he owns us. Okay, we get that, but he's also far from us. There's a dilemma here. In verses three through four, who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? And the answer, he who has clean hands and a pure heart. So we might ask the question, what's the source? What's the root cause of this distance? Why are we distant from our creator? Well, one answer would be, obviously, we'll sin. And that's true, and it's correct, but it's not the first answer. Did you know that? It's not the first answer. Before Adam sinned, he was still distant from God. Even in his state of innocency, the distance between the creature and the creator was so great that God had to condescend to Adam. He had to come down to Adam. Man is distant from God as a consequence of the holiness of God. Man is distant from God even in his state of innocency as a consequence of God's holiness. Now, it's widened. The distance is widened by sin and rebellion. That fact is certain. But the distance, the gulf was already there. And unless God provides the means, man could not stand in his presence. So I hope you see the dilemma here in verse three. Who shall climb or ascend and who will stand? Psalm 24 invites us to meditate on the supremacy of Christ on the count of his holiness. the supremacy of Christ on account of his holiness. The Bible says clearly that our God is a consuming fire. We could not stand in his presence. We couldn't. If we stood unmediated before God, we would be gone, instance not even is too long. We'd be consumed. And even in his state of innocency in the garden before Adam sinned, God condescended. We see in Genesis chapter two, a covenant made with Adam. Do this and live, do that and you die. You may eat freely of all the trees of the garden, but do not eat of that one. And on the day you eat of it, you will die. He condescended and ministered to Adam. by means of a covenant. Our confession says it this way, the distance between God and the creature is so great that although reasonable creatures, that's us, believe it or not, that's us, do owe obedience to him as their creator, yet they could never have attained the reward of life but by some voluntary condescension on God's part which he hath been pleased to express by way of covenant. Why? Because God's holiness required that even a man in his innocency could not stand before him. In this covenant, first with Adam, then with Noah and Moses, the terms were established in which man might climb the holy mountain. How can man be holy that he might stand in the presence of God? The writer of Hebrews tells us, without holiness, no man will stand in the presence of God. I'll ask you, and I won't ask for volunteers, but who has clean hands and a pure heart? Anyone want to raise their hand this morning? Who? Remember, the focus of the first two verses, among those who dwell on the earth, those who dwell within, who meets the test? Who has clean hands and a pure heart? Obey my law and live, that's it. Fulfill my perfect righteousness and enter into my presence. That's exactly what our Lord taught. Remember the Sermon on the Mount. Do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Now to his hearers here, listening to him on that day when he said, your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, what they heard was, you've got to be more righteous than all the most righteous people you've ever known or heard of. They didn't have quite the negative image that we have in retrospect of the Pharisees and the scribes. They thought these were the most studiant, diligent, righteous people they could even imagine. Jesus said, got to exceed that. He affirms this in Mark chapter 10 when the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and says, teacher, what must I do to what? Inherit eternal life. What's he asking? How do I ascend the hill of the Lord? How do I stand in the holy place? That's the question. What did Jesus say? Do the law. All of it. Perfectly. Have pure heart and clean hands. That's what you need. And he went away sorrowful. claimed at first his righteousness. And Jesus says, this one thing you lack, sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Paul argues this in Romans, the law is good, the law is perfect, but we cannot meet its demands. Do you feel the dilemma? Do you feel the tension here? This is the beauty of poetry. It sets us here and it draws our hearts in and we think, how does this work? We ought to praise God that this psalm doesn't end at verse four. Psalm doesn't end at verse four. The psalmist here, look at verse five. 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. What the psalmist presents to us is that righteousness cannot be earned, holiness cannot be achieved, but it can be given. It can be given. It can be obtained by those who seek him. Consider in verse five, he will receive blessing from the Lord. Now here again, the parallelism, it's important that we connect these. He will receive blessing from the Lord in the parallel statement and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Hebrews 11.6 tells us, without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. Now, does that mean we go seeker sensitive? Does that mean we just assume everybody's seeking after God? No, if you know your Bibles, you know that isn't true. Man by nature does not seek after God, he's at enmity with God. He's in rebellion against God. So again, here's the dilemma. The Bible says whoever seeks after God, but we know no one seeks after God. What's the answer to the riddle? Verse six, such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. That's a significant term. Why is it significant? Because it's covenant language. Anytime you see the God of Jacob as a term, what he's referring to is a covenant expression of God's faithfulness. He could have said the God of Abraham, and that would have been a valid expression. He also could have said the God of Isaac, but what do we know about Jacob? Jacob is the son of Isaac, who was the son of promise. See, God gave sons to Abraham. One, by the will of Abraham. Sarah gave her servant, Hagar, to Abraham. Ishmael was born. God says, no, that's not the one. I promised you from your own loins, but not like that. Yes, the 90-year-old barren wife who laughed when I said she'd have a child, that one's going to give birth. That will be the son of promise. That was Isaac. Isaac has Jacob. And with both of those sons, God's covenant promises were renewed. So when you see the term God of Jacob, you need to think election. Because what do we know about Jacob from Romans 9? Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated. When? Before they were born. Before they had done either good or evil in their bodies. Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. Who seeks after God? The generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Those who have been called by God's redeeming grace, those for whom the light of the sun has shined upon them, have been effectually called by the Spirit of God, those are the sons of Jacob. The sons of Isaac, the sons of Abraham. When we see this phrase, two words should immediately come to mind, covenant promise. God of Jacob equals covenant promise. Just have that in your mind. Write it out in your margin if you're so inclined. That's what we need to think about, covenant promise. This is a reference to the God of Jacob points us to God's sovereign election. See, not all who were circumcised were true Israel. Not all who received the outward sign sought after the Lord. only those whom God had called. Ishmael was circumcised but not made righteous. Ishmael was circumcised but could not stand in the holy place. Esau was circumcised, could not ascend the hill of the Lord. See, every religion in the world is seeking to answer this question. The question posed by the psalmist, who can ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? And all of the other religions of the world stop at verse four. And they say if you do thus and so, this and that, you can climb, you can ascend, you can stand. And it isn't true. It isn't true. Christianity is unique in the answer. The Bible teaches that none can climb the mountain. There is none righteous, not even one. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Buddhism, all of them. To the question, who has clean hands and a pure heart? They said, well, you can. You can. And it's a lie. It's a lie. Remember, we're in a war. Our enemy wants us to stop right here. And don't think it's just all the other isms that teach this. There are strands of Christianity that stop at verse four and tell you, clean yourself up, climb the mountain, and God will bless you. And it's a lie as much as the others are. Christianity answers this question in a way completely different from the other religions. All other religions essentially stop here. But in this third section of the psalm, the psalmist paints for us a different picture. He paints for us a vivid picture of a conquering king, the supremacy of Christ as the conquering king. Christianity, true Christianity, the message of the Bible teaches us that God came down to man and he's carrying us back up the mountain. It's a different picture entirely. And it's a different gospel. As if, Paul said, there is another gospel. There's only one. Look here at verse seven. 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, for the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. So the question in verse three was who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who is this king of glory? He's the Lord. He's the one who owns the hill. He's the one who speaks not deceitfully. Why is that important? Because Jesus Christ has made promises to his people that are sure and certain. He does not swear deceitfully. He hasn't tricked you. When things are going badly from your vantage point, He hasn't tricked you. He hasn't told you one thing and meant another. He hasn't said, I will, and then He won't. He hasn't said, I have, but He hasn't. He is the Lord. strong in battle. The poetic picture in Psalm 24 is not only of a mountain that's impossible to climb, but even theoretically, if we could climb the mountain, and we cannot, but if we could climb the mountain, what would we find at the top? A walled city and a fortified gate. Not a gentle old man with a harp. A fortified city. Lift up your heads, O gates. Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. The gulf between God and man is so great that the son of the living God had to descend and then ascend with us. We must be carried up the holy mountain. That's exactly what the apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 4. Listen to this. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, What does it mean? But that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. Paul borrows this image. Who is the one who ascended? The one who first descended. The one who owns the hill. the one who has the authority to command that the gates be opened. But you know, it's not just those who dwell on the earth who are insufficient. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 5. What we find in Revelation chapter 5 is essentially the same question. Who may climb? Who may stand? This is the Apostle John, he's caught up in a vision and he's transported in this vision to the very throne room of God. And listen to what happens here. He's in this throne room, he's surrounded by angels crying out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Pretty spectacular scene. And in the midst of this scene, John says, then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. Now don't get complicated with the seals. Seven seals just means it was perfectly sealed up. It could not be opened. Except, except for one. The scroll represents the covenant promises of God. John said, it's sealed up. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? Well, saints, if it's a strong angel asking the question, we can presume the strong angel can't do it. Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And no one in heaven or earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look in it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals. Lift up the gates, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. And between, verse six, the throne and the four living creatures, and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. So your prayers haven't been lost, saints, they're right here. They're right here. saying worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked And I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever. And the four living creatures said amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. Who is this king of glory? It's the lamb that was slain. Psalm 24 paints for us a vivid picture of our conquering king returning victorious in the battle. It's a military procession coming up the hill. It is our older brother, the Lord Jesus Christ, the conqueror. What has he conquered? What has he won? Alexander McLaren says, sin, hell, death, the devil, law, fear, our own foolish hearts, all temptations that hover around us, they are all vanquished foes of a Lord that is mighty in battle. And as he overcame, so shall we if we will trust in him. So shall we if we trust in him. Saints, we need to remind ourselves again and again and again of the supremacy of Christ as our conquering king. And we need to ask these kinds of questions, reminding ourselves of the answers to these questions. Who is this king of glory? He is the one who clothed himself with human flesh and dwelt among us. Who is this king of glory? He is the one who is tempted in every point just as we and yet without sin. Who is this King of Glory? The one who perfectly and completely fulfilled all the demands of the law that we ourselves could never keep, we could never climb, we could never stand. Who is this King of Glory? He is the one who bound the strong man and has plundered his house. Who is this King of Glory? He is the one who has conquered sin, death, and the grave on our behalf. Who is this king of glory? He's the Lord. He is the one we worship. He is the reason we have gathered here this morning. He is the Lord. He is Yahweh. That's the name that the psalmist uses. It's God's coveted name. He is the Lord. He's the king of glory and he himself is hailing for the doors to be opened. to a kingdom that is sealed. He alone can open the doors. He alone has the authority to demand that those doors be opened. Who shall climb the holy mountain? The Lord Jesus has descended from heaven for the purpose of redeeming a people to return with him to this heavenly mountain. There's a picture here, a beautiful picture. Saints, meditate upon these things. Keep them in your hearts. Let this picture that God has given to us with words form an image in your mind. Not that you worship the image, but that you cling tightly to the one who can climb the mountain on your behalf. The one who will, if you will humble yourself, will carry you up. Supremacy of Christ as our creator. Supremacy of Christ demonstrated in his holiness, the only one who could climb, the only one who could stand. The supremacy of Christ as the conquering king. Notice the psalmist said, who is this king of glory? He is the Lord of hosts. Again, military imagery. The picture is he's got a long train behind him. Who is in this host? All those he has ransomed and delivered and conquered. That's who he's got with him. That's us if you're in Christ this morning. I'm gonna close with this in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19. The writer of Hebrews picks up on a very similar image. In Psalm 24 we have a picture of God's holy place being up on a hill. Now, once you got to the hill, the temple there, there was actually a holy place and a holy of holies where only the high priest and him only once a year got to go in. And at the death of Christ, the temple veil torn from top to bottom. And how do you know, how did they know when the high priest went in once a year and he made the sacrifice of atonement on behalf of all of the people, how did they know if God accepted the sacrifice? because the high priest came out alive. They tied a rope to him. How do we know that the sacrifice of our high priest was acceptable to God? Because he came out alive. Tomb was empty. God raised Him from the dead, exalted Him above every name, seated Him at His own right hand. Who is this King of glory? The one who has been exalted, the one who is sitting now at the right hand of God the Father, the one who makes intercession for you, the one who mediates on your behalf because you could not stand on your own. I could not stand on my own. Listen to Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, the holy hill that we couldn't climb, the holy hill in which we could not stand, now we have confidence to go to that very place. By the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. He doesn't swear deceitfully. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Saints, that's why we're here this morning, to give our praise and our adoration to the conquering king who has ransomed us. And because of that, we now have the privilege and the duty to encourage one another, to exhort one another in what things? In these things that we've heard this morning. Will you draw near to God this morning through his son? That's the question. Who can climb the mountain? Who can stand in His holy place? None of you, none of us apart from Christ. Will you humble yourself and admit that apart from Christ, your heart is not pure? That apart from Christ, your hands are not clean? In Christ, you have climbed the mountain. In Christ you are now seated, present tense, with Him in righteousness." Do you believe that? Now again, started this morning with, this is an act of war. This is an act of belligerent violence against a kingdom that is hostile to us. And we will face all kinds of discouragements, all kinds of attacks, all kinds of despair and sorrows. But we also have precious and very great promises on which we stand, given to us by one who does not swear deceitfully. Will we believe that? Will we rest upon those things? Will we take comfort in those things or will we refuse to be comforted by them? And to the unbeliever here this morning, To you who are trusting in your own righteousness, hear the word of God this morning to you. Christ has descended this day to speak to you. If you have heard the word of God preached in your presence, you have heard the voice of Christ. Not because of me, not because of this pulpit or this building, but because Christ's word has been declared to you. Will you refuse to hear? Will you harden your heart? God is the perfectly righteous and holy creator with whom you must be reconciled. And there is only one name given among men by which you must be saved. Cast yourself on the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a kind and benevolent and wonderful savior who is eager to show mercy to those who will seek him. You will not alone climb the mountain into his presence. You must be carried up. And the question is, will you humble yourself and admit that? Will you humble yourself and say, I can't do it. I'll never do it. Who can ascend the hill? Those only who are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Let's pray.