Psalm 24:1-10Christ, The Chief Shepherd (preached on 5/25/08)

WREFC 11/25/18

There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Two’s company; three’s a crowd.” That may be true when it comes to human relationships, but it doesn’t apply to the relationship of Psalms 22, 23 and 24.

When it comes to these three familiar psalms, two is company and three’s a complete package. Psalms 22, 23 and 24 present Christ as the Shepherd, each one emphasizing a different aspect of His shepherd-like qualities. Here’s how those Psalms complement one another:

In Psalm 22, Christ is the Good Shepherd. Jesus said that much in Jn.10:11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

In Psalm 23, Christ is the Great Shepherd. Heb.13:20-21 makes that clear: “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will…”Today, in Psalm 24, we’ll discover that Jesus Christ is the Chief Shepherd. The Apostle Peter makes that connection when he addressed church

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leaders in 1Pet.5:4: “and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away.”

Here’s a chart I found helpful in summarizing these three Psalms:

PSALM 22 PSALM 23 PSALM 24

Good Shepherd Great Shepherd Chief Shepherd

Past ministry Present ministry Future ministry

Died for us Lives for us Comes for us

Savior’s cross Shepherd’s crook Sovereign’s crown

Let’s get right to the exposition of Psalm 24:

Rd Psa.24:1

Vs. 1 acknowledges that Christ, The Lord Is The Sovereign Ruler Of The Entire World. And more than that, He governs all the vast empires of stellar space.

Astronomers tell us that there are a hundred million galaxies in the universe. They all belong to God. Within those countless galaxies is one galaxy—the Milky Way. The Milky Way contains one hundred billion stars in the form of a giant disc—600 million billion miles of stars, one hundred

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thousand light years from one end of the expanse to the other—all God’s.

Some 30 thousand light years from the center of the Milky Way is a moderate star. We call it the sun. Orbiting the sun is a group of planets—they’re all His. And one of those planets is called Earth.

God owns the earth and everything in it. Why is that? What gives God the right to rule this planet? Verse two explains:

Rd Psa.24:2

God, in Christ, Rules the Entire World Because He Created It.

On the third day of creation, God said this in Gen. 1:9-10: “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

The earth belongs to God because He created it. It doesn’t belong to Capitalists, or Socialists, or Communists, or Jihadists, or Globalists. There are so many “ists” that want to run the show. But “the earth is the Lord’s … the world and those who

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dwell therein.” Every nook and cranny belongs to Him.

Writer C. S. Lewis calls earth The Silent Planet. He pictures all the galaxies, the stars and the planets making music as they orbit the throne of God. All except one. One planet has no song. It’s Earth, the silent planet.

Earth may not sing, but it’s not silent. The silent planet might be better called the screaming planet. Earth is filled with shrieks and shouts of agony.

The Lord has chosen to pass over the millions of galaxies, and the billions of stars, and all the other planets to focus on earth—earth, the sobbing, sin-cursed, rebel planet. But why focus on earth? Why not Mars, or Saturn or Jupiter? God has His ninety and nine obedient satellites in space, why bother with the one that’s gone astray? The earth is just a microscopic speck of cosmic dust in terms of God’s infinite universe.

Earth is important to God because of what happened here. There was an invasion. God allowed Satan to invade this planet. Satan tempted Adam and Eve. They fell into sin. As a result, the human race was dragged into ruin. But help was on the way.

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There was a second invasion by the Son of God. He came to battle the Devil and rescue mankind. Victory was won at a place called Calvary.

As this planet spins through space, it still carries a human load of guilt. But Jesus Christ the infinite God/man died for our sins and rose again. As the song says:

Guilty vile and helpless we,Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement can it be?Hallelujah! What a Savior!

The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved—saved from what? Saved from sin, death, and hell. When you put your complete faith and trust in Jesus Christ who died to pay the penalty for your sins and rose again, He will give you eternal life and future home with God in heaven. In vv. 1-2, we looked at God, the Sovereign Ruler of His Created World. Now, the Psalmist wonders who could possibly come into the presence of such an awesome Creator.

What does it take to honor the Lord and to worship Him acceptably? In one word, “holiness.” In vv.3-6, the psalmist says Holiness Is The Requirement of True Worship. Verse 3 asks the question:

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Rd Psa.24:3

The word hill is a figure of speech. It refers to the sanctuary on top of the hill. The sanctuary is the place where God meets with His people.

As the second part of the verse says, this sanctuary on a hill is God’s “holy place”. That means nothing common, corrupted, or contaminated can enter His holy presence.

Who then is allowed to worship the Lord? The answer is found in the next two verses:

Rd Psa.24:4-5

“Clean hands” speak of righteous conduct. It looks at outward behavior that’s above reproach. A “pure heart” looks inward. It refers to righteous attitudes and sincere motives.

God brings the heart and hands together. We do what we do, because we are what we are. As Jesus said in Matthew 15:19: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” In other words, sinful hearts produce sinful behavior. But a pure heart produces righteous behavior.

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The psalmist mentions two more sins in v. 4— idolatry and deception. They represent the sinful expressions of soiled hands and polluted hearts.

People with wrong behavior and bad attitudes won’t ascend to the hill of God’s presence. In other words, True Worshipers Must Be Cleansed From Sinful Thoughts and Sinful Deeds.

If that’s the standard to meet with God, who measures up? Nobody can claim sinless perfection. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23).

But there is One who met those standards. His life on earth was the epitome of perfection. Jesus Christ is the sinless Son of God. As the perfect man, He’s the full expression of God’s glory. That means He’s the only One who qualified to be our Savior. He died for our sins, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. And there, at the right hand of God the Father, He represents His people. He ever lives to make intercession for them.

We cannot ascend to the hill of God’s presence on our own merits—good works and religious rituals won’t get us there. But we can enter the worshipful presence of God through the merits of Jesus Christ.

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When we trust Christ as Savior, we become new creatures in Christ. As Christians, we are accepted by God in Christ. We can enter the presence of God in the perfections of Christ our Savior.

But as believers in Christ, we can still soil our hands with sin. The longing of our hearts can be set on things below, not on things above. What then?

When we sin as Christians, our relationship with God stays intact. He will always be our heavenly Father. Regardless of my children’s behavior, they will always be my children by birth. Likewise, regardless of our behavior before our heavenly Father, we will always be His spiritual children because of the new birth. While our relationship with God stays intact, sin breaks fellowship with God. That means the intimacy, the closeness is no longer there. God seems distant. That’s what sin does.

But that broken fellowship with God can be mended. Fellowship with God can be restored when we confess our sins to God. When we acknowledge our transgressions, God will forgive us. When we admit we were wrong to think sin and do sin, God purifies us from all unrighteousness. We are once again blessed with the hilltop experience of God’s presence.

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In v. 6, the psalmist compared his generation of God-seeking worshipers to their ancestor Jacob:

Rd Psa.24:6

In Gen. 32, Jacob wrestled with God at night. It’s an unusual scene that requires more time to develop. But for our purposes, the passage teaches us that God allowed Himself to be overcome by Jacob.

God wanted to depart before daylight, lest Jacob see Him. Exodus 33 tells us that no one can see the face of God, this side of heaven and live. But Jacob held on by faith till God blessed him. Jacob wasn’t a perfect man. But the Lord saved Jacob. God is even called the God of Jacob. Jacob was a true worshiper because He pursued fellowship with God.

Like Jacob, True Worshipers Pursue Intimacy With God. The writer of Psalm 42 expressed an intense longing for God. In vv. 1-2, he compares his longing for God to a thirsty deer in the midst of a drought: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?”

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Of course, the meeting place with God in the O.T. was limited to the Wilderness Tabernacle and later, the Jerusalem Temple. Today, the Temple of God is not made of brick and mortar, it’s made of flesh and blood. Today, the Temple of God is the body of the believer. The Spirit of God indwells every Christian personally. And He inhabits the praises of His people corporately.

That means the worship of God is not limited to one location. Wherever we go, God is with us. He is in us and we can worship Him there. Does that mean I could be on a lake, in a boat and worship God amidst His creation? Yes and no.

It all depends on what your intense longing is. Is your intense longing to be on a lake in a boat amidst God’s creation? Or is your intense longing to be on a lake in a boat to worship the God of creation? If you’re like me, the former is more likely than the latter.

Besides if your thirst for God is genuine, it won’t be completely quenched until you bring your clean hands and pure heart to a worship service. I can worship God in the privacy of my home. But my hands more than likely won’t stay clean, nor will my heart stay pure if I forsake corporate worship.

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Someone noted the radical change in Sunday worship attendance and made this remark: “Our great-grandfathers called it the Holy Sabbath; our grandfathers; the Sabbath; our fathers, Sunday. But today we call it the weekend. And many think it’s getting weaker all the time.” (Flynn, Leslie, B. “Now A Word From Our Creator”, Victor Books, p.62)

Could it be that some have no hunger or thirst for God because they’re slaking their thirst from the wells of worldliness? That’s what happened to King Solomon. He drank from the shallow, stagnant ponds of forbidden pleasures. Consequently, he threw away a crown and divided a Kingdom. He set his affections on the world and lost everything.What are we living for? Where are our affections? Do we long for the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, or do we long for the world below?

A generation or two before us saw the world system as a battleground. We see it as a playground. They went out to engage the world as an enemy. We go out and embrace it as a friend.

We have the world’s entertainment piped into our homes. We’re seduced by its carnal charms. Consequently, our conscience gets seared. We gradually become desensitized to the things of the Spirit. Before long, as Heb.10:25 puts it, we “give up meeting together as some are in the habit of

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doing…” But true worshipers long for intimacy with God, whether it’s in the context of private or corporate worship.

So far, in Psalm 24, we’ve seen the worship of God Who created the world in which we live (1-2). We’ve seen that the worship of our creator God requires holiness of character and conduct (3-6). Now, we’re going to examine The Triumphant Return of Jesus Christ As The Glorious King. That brings us to vv.7-10:

Rd Psa.24:7-10The gates of the city are personified. They are being told to raise their heads to receive the King of glory.

Who is this King of glory? The King of glory is Jesus Christ. “Raise yourselves up to the highest level you gates! Jesus Christ is coming. He’s the King of glory—He shouldn’t have to stoop low to enter His sanctuary.”

Notice that the gates of Jerusalem are addressed twice. Once in v.7; once in v.9. At His First Advent, Christ went through the gates of the city on Palm Sunday. But the people didn’t receive Him and put Him on a throne. Instead they rejected Him and nailed Him to a cross. When Christ, the King of

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Glory, Entered Jerusalem The 1st Time, He Was Crucified As A Common Criminal.

But this same King of glory was mighty in battle. As mentioned earlier, Christ’s secured a great spiritual victory. His sacrificial death on the cross conquered sin, Satan, and death itself. He rose from the dead three days later.

His resurrection guarantees eternal life to every believer. His intercessory ministry in heaven means eternal security for all the saints. And Christ is coming back, just as He promised. Jesus said “... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, you may be also” (Jn.14:2b-3).

Now, between vv.8 & 9, of Psa.24, the long centuries of this present age of grace have come and gone. The church has been raptured. The seven years of Tribulation are done. At Armageddon, Jesus defeats the rebellious armies of the world. He delivers the inhabitants of Jerusalem from her enemies.

At the 2nd Coming of Jesus Christ, the remnant of Jews that survived the persecution of Antichrist, have a change of heart regarding Jesus Christ.

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Zech.12:9-10 made that prediction nearly 2,500 yrs ago:

“On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

In other words, at the 2nd Coming of Christ, Israel finally acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah. With deep contrition, they acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the One their forefathers pierced with nails—they crucified the King of glory, the Lord of hosts.

But their mourning turns to rejoicing. Forgiveness follows the grieving when all Israel believes in Christ. The apostle Paul wrote about Israel’s national repentance and conversion in Rom.11:26-27. Listen to his words:

“And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’”

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God made covenants with the Jewish people. He promised to save them. He promised them a messianic king from the royal line of David. He promised them a piece of real-estate in the Middle East. That’s why it’s called the Promised Land. God will keep His promises to the people He made those promises to—Israel, the literal descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Today, individual Jews are being saved, just like anybody else—by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Christ. But Paul and the O.T. prophets have national conversion in mind.

“All Israel shall be saved” means that the Jews living when the Redeemer returns will see Him, receive Him, and be saved by Him. There’s no reason to spiritualize these O.T. prophecies. The promises made to Israel have not been transferred to the N.T. church. God will keep His covenant with Israel. There’s a future for the Jews in the Promised Land.

When Jesus Christ returns to earth, He’ll sit on David’s throne. He’ll reign over His earthly kingdom for a thousand years. At that time, a redeemed and reconciled Israel will declare Jesus Christ as the King of glory, the Lord of hosts.

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When Christ entered Jerusalem the 1st time, He was crucified as a common criminal. But When Christ Enters Jerusalem A 2nd Time, He’ll Be Coronated as a Conquering King.

In theological terms, this is Premillennialism—Pre (before); millennial (one thousand). We believe that Christ will return before His 1,000 year reign on earth.

Next June, at the EFCA National meeting, delegates will vote on a motion to remove the word “premillennial” from the EFCA SOF. Sadly, we anticipate that the majority of delegates will vote in favor of removing the statement “premillennial return” and replacing it with “glorious return”. If that happens, our church will need to vote on whether we want to remain an Evangelical Free Church or not.

While replacing the word premillennial with glorious would not affect the gospel message, it does call into question God’s ability to fulfill the covenant promises He made with His chosen people, the Jews. In my opinion, God’s reputation is at stake here. Can He keep His promises or not?

The Elders will make the necessary recommendations at the proper time. In the meantime, much prayer and wisdom is needed.

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Psalm 24 ends with Selah—O.T. scholars suggest that Selah means pause for a moment; think about this for a little while. When you do, it will bless your heart.

Christ is the Sovereign Ruler of the Entire World. All creation belongs to Him; He’s in charge; He’s on His throne; He has a perfect plan for this planet and neither puny man nor a powerful Devil can alter that plan.

The Book of Revelation makes it clear that Christ has the title deed to earth. When He breaks the seals of that title deed, His wrath will fall on sin-hardened rebels for seven years. Then, He’ll return and reclaim what is rightfully His. Selah—pause and think about that!

Holiness is the Spiritual Requirement of True Worship—do I have clean hands and a pure heart? Does God find my worship acceptable? Selah—pause and think about that!

At the end of the Tribulation, Christ Will Return in Triumph as the Glorious King—He keeps His promises; He’s coming again; all Israel will be saved.

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But we are living in the church age. As believers, we will not experience the Tribulation wrath of God. The bible says that God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. The pre-tribulation rapture is God’s promise to the church. The rapture of the church is imminent.

As a believer in Christ are you ready for the any moment return of Christ? He’ll come in the clouds to take you to your heavenly home. If Christ should come today, would He find you with clean hands and a pure heart? Selah—pause and think about that!