Psalm 24

Psalm 24

Right Face—Right Place

I.                    Seeing God’s face puts us in our place; He alone is our Sovereign Creator who must be worshiped (Vv. 1-2)

a.       God alone is the One who spoke all things into existence. He set up the physical laws which govern all creation, and sets and maintains the limits on all things, including the seasons of humanity and their works. The strongest forces of nature and humanity must yield to Him in His sovereign creating and sustaining hand. God is who God is and God does what God does, and humanity ignores the reality of who He is at their own peril. Therefore, He’s the only One who is worthy of all worship and praise, at all times, from all people, and all creation. These first two verses would’ve been sung by the people in praise of God, and we must also worship the Sovereign Creator God, the King of Glory who is Lord of all. We must maintain the highest view of God as He reveals Himself to us, understand what that means for who we are, and for how we view the world and others. We as human beings are self-righteous and self-exalting, and tend to overvalue ourselves and our abilities, and worship ourselves and our abilities. Seeing God’s face puts us in our place, stirs our hearts to worship Him, and moves us to awe and faith in Him.           (Vv. 1-2; Gen. 1:9-10, 31; 14:19; Exod. 19:5-6; Job 40:1-4; 42:1-6; Isa. 42:5, 8; Acts 17:24-28; Rom. 1:18-21) 

II.                 Seeing God’s face puts us in our place; He alone is our Perfect Savior who must be trusted (Vv. 3-6)

a.       After the proclamation of the glory of the Sovereign Creator by the chorus of people, the leader of the service calls out a question. If God is as glorious, amazing, perfect, and powerful as He is, then who can have an audience with Him and who can stand before Him? The answer that comes back from the chorus is, the One who is righteous in conduct, the One who is pure in heart and free from sin, the One who’s never worshiped an idol, and the One who lives in complete integrity and has never deceived anyone. This is the Person who God will bless, save, and declare righteous. Coming face to face with who God is and His just requirements for anyone to have fellowship with Him, the people acknowledge the reality that in their sinful and fallen nature, they’ll never measure up. Like the imperfect, conniving, and deceiving one, Jacob, who also recognized his great need for salvation and clung tightly to God by faith until he received God’s blessing, they must trust God to satisfy His own holy, righteous, and just nature through the exercise of His own mercy, grace, and love. It was on the cross where all of those perfect characteristics of God met, and His own just and righteous requirements were willingly satisfied by the blood of His perfect Son. Truly knowing who God is, puts us in our place of desperate need, but also reveals God’s amazing nature as our Perfect Savior. None of us can scale the heights of God’s glory, we must trust faithfully in our Savior who scaled it for us! (Vv. 3-6; Ps. 15; Gen. 15:6; 32:24-32; 1 Sam. 6:20;          2 Sam. 6:9; Isa. 1:15-18; Rom. 3:21-26; 4:4-5; 6:23;       Matt. 5:8; 17-20; John 3:16; Phil. 2:5-8; Luke 18:9-14;   Heb. 4:14-16; 2 Cor. 5:17-21)

III.              Seeing God’s face puts us in our place; He alone is our triumphant King who must be exalted (Vv. 7-10)

a.       The hearts and minds of the people rejoice, and they call out to those at the gates and within the city to lift up their heads and spirits because the King of Glory has arrived! They ask, “Who is the King of Glory”, to which the response is given, the strong and mighty Lord who is mighty in battle. This is the grand picture of Jesus’ glorious triumph over our enemies of sin and death through His death and resurrection! On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly along the same path and through the same gate. He entered humbly on the back of a donkey, sacrificed Himself, and was resurrected to defeat our enemies of sin and death, that through faith in Him we can receive His righteousness and eternal life. The call to the gates and people to welcome the King of Glory a second time, Who commands all the angelic forces and defeats all His enemies, points forward to the reality that Jesus will again come down the same path and through the same gate, but the next time He’ll be riding a white horse and will win the final battle over all wickedness and will fully make all things new in Him! When we come to face to face with God in the Person and work of Jesus Christ and humble ourselves in repentant faith in Him, we’re exalted to a place we can never reach on our own, and from which we can never be removed in Him! We must worship Him as Sovereign Creator and Lord, we must trust faithfully in Him as Perfect Savior, and we must exalt Him as triumphant King. Seeing God’s face puts us in our place!     (Vv. 7-10; Matt. 21:1-11; Ps. 118:25; Zech. 9:9; 14:9;     John 3:17-21, 36; Acts 17:30-31; Rom. 8:31-39; Phil. 2:9-11; Rev. 19:11-21; 21:1-7)