King of Glory
Sermon by CH(CPT) Keith J. Andrews
All scripture marked ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Psalm 24: A Psalm of David. Reads:
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 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.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle!
9 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory! Selah (Ps 24:1-10, ESV)
Let us pray—
The Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines "glory" in five different ways.
1 a : praise, honor, or distinction extended by common consent
b : worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving
2 a : something that secures praise or renown
b : a distinguished quality or asset
3 a (1) : great beauty and splendor
(2) : something marked by beauty
b : the splendor and beatific happiness of heaven
4 a : a state of great gratification or exaltation
b : a height of prosperity or achievement
5 : a ring or spot of light
It is hard to capture the glory of God in a definition. In fact, it is hard to define the word Glory. It is also hard to understand what it means to give glory to our God.
The Psalm we are looking at this morning gives us a glimpse at what the Glory of God entails. The writer does this in three ways.
First, we see that
1. Glory of God is demonstrated in Creation
Psalm 24: 1-2 reads;
1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers. (Ps 24:1-2, ESV)
The Glory of God is demonstrated in his creation because it reflects his brilliance. He created that which is beautiful. It is amazing to me that sometimes people worship the creation rather than the creator.
The Earth so wonderfully made that we are in awe of the creation, but we ignore the creator! It is trendy to save the environment and, of course, I believe in good stewardship. But, we would be better off if we acknowledged the creator, first—then owned up to our responsibility to take care of the Earth not simply because of some theory about Global Warming, but because a Holy God created the Heavens and the Earth and gave us dominion over it. (Gen 1:26, ESV) We need to take care of the Earth because God said so, not because we worship the Earth.
Ignoring a creator happens in other areas as well.
Leonardo Da Vinci painted the masterpiece painting the "Mona Lisa", there are plenty of people that simply praise the painting it self as a work of art—as if it were a one time thing for Da Vinci and therefore truly a miracle.
Some, actually, don’t appreciate it at all—and that happens in creation as well.
But the correct response is to ultimately praise the painter—the creator of the painting. Learn his techniques, if you are a painter. And admire the other works of Da Vinci as well.
The same is true regard the Glory we give to God. He is the creator of heaven and earth. Every sunrise and sunset was painted with His eyes. Every star in the sky was placed by His will. Every mountain was sculpted by his hands. Every river was carved my His fingers.
It is all His creation. We need to bring him all of the Glory for his creations. "The Earth is the Lord’s" the psalmist says.
Modern science tries incredibly hard to disprove that God’s hand was in it all. I like to learn about astronomy. But it is hard to study astronomy books without getting past their godless suppositions and theories.
The Glory of God is revealed in creation. We need to give him glory for what he has done. Understanding is important, we need science but we must give him Glory for His creation.
In your prayer life, do you ignore the creation that is around you? That is one reason that it is good to walk outside to pray once and awhile. When you are praying outside, you can’t help to give God glory for His creation.
The second way the writer describes the Glory of God, is that he shows us that;
2. Glory of God is demonstrated in Righteousness
Psalm 24:3-6,says;
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 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.
5 He will receive blessing from the Lord
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah (Ps 24:3-6, ESV)
God is glorified through the righteous...because he is glorified through righteousness. God established a just law. It is just and it is right.
People seem to think that the laws are there for some reason to restrict us simply because God can.
In some ways, I will agree that when we become as the Pharisees—creating laws for our own piety and power—there is a problem. But the laws of scripture do more to protect us than restrict us.
Its laws about sex go to protect your innocence to provide you with a clean slate when you are finally married to a spouse to enjoy the journey of intimacy together.
Its laws about interpersonal relationships: telling the truth, honoring your commitments, or refraining from gossip—protect our relationships from being destroy by such drama.
Its laws about depending on him protect you, because if you depend on him he has the permission to protect you from the dangers that arise to affect your life.
It is all about being righteous before God. Righteousness brings Glory to God because doing what the Bible says shows that we do have faith and are willing to follow Him.
Jesus said—"If you love me, keep my commandments." (Jn 14:15)
This is demonstrated best in marriage. When we were married we gave each other wedding vows. To some, it seems these vows don’t mean much. But, they mean a lot to God.
We honor our spouse and show our love for our spouse by remaining faithful to our vows. We do what she or he asks. Through showing honor to our vows we also give honor to ourselves, when we honor our commitments.
We give Glory to God when we live righteously. Many times, this is misunderstood to be a salvation by works, meaning; "If I do enough, if I’m good enough, maybe one day I will go to heaven." This is not it at all. The Bible is very clear about salvation. You receive eternal life, heaven, by accepting Jesus as your Savior—which means he provided your sacrifice on the cross when he died. Christianity talks about what was done on the cross, not what we must do to get into heaven.
So, it is not a salvation thing—it is a faith thing—we show that we have faith because we do what the wants. James says;
"Faith without works is dead!" (Jm 2:20)
We demonstrate our faith by acting according to his will. Our salvation is paid for—it is a dead issue. You can take that monkey off your back as soon as you accept Jesus as the payment for your sin.
But, we are addressing here is demonstrating our faith and therefore demonstrating his Glory, by obeying his laws and living by the rules he has given us. It is that simple—if you are not living up to what you believe, do you really believe it? Or is it something that you keep close at night to scare the boogey-man out from under your bed. That is the purpose of righteousness—to bring Glory to God.
The third way the writer describes the Glory of God, is that he shows us that;
3. Glory of God is demonstrated in Power
Psalm 24:7-10 says reads;
7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle!
9 Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory! Selah (Ps 24:7-10, ESV)
We see the Glory of God demonstrated through His power. His power shows that he deserves all of Glory.
He is strong and mighty, verse 8, he is Mighty in Battle—he is the King of Glory. Ever played King of the Mountain or King of the Hill where the top guy pushes everybody else off?
God wins every time. He is the King and He is the ruler over the kingdom. That might now be the most politically correct way of putting it but it is true. God is the most powerful god in the universe. There have been and continue to be others. Satan tried to push his way into the kingdom, and lost. Man, through Adam and Eve, tried to push their way into the creation. God wins every time because He is God.
There are many good teams in the NFL, every one could be every other team not in the NFL, but the one that wins the Super Bowl demonstrates that they have the power to be the Champion. God has the right to receive Glory because He is all powerful. He controls all power.
To give Glory to God is to acknowledge this power and this right to receive glory.
In your prayer life do you take that into consideration? To you acknowledge his power? To acknowledge his power confirms that you know that He has it. When you pray, are you praying to a God whose hands are tied around His back, and can not change history in the making?
He absolutely can change history! Does he? I believe he does. Scripture surely teaches that He does.
But, we pray many times in doubt—God if you really want to can you just maybe answer my prayer. And then, when it doesn’t come true—we just limp off and say well, "It wasn’t God’s will." The Bible teaches us to;
“Ask,and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8, ESV)
Yes, the Bible tells us to pray "Thy will be done" but we are also to pray with confidence and understanding know that we are talking to a God who has power.
To acknowledge this power is to give Glory to God.
So we read,
"Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!"
We are to affirm God’s glory in our prayer life.
We see that the Glory of God is demonstrated in Creation, in Righteousness, and is demonstrated in Power.
This morning, I ask you if you know this king of Glory.
The Bible teaches that the way to the Father, God, is through His son, Jesus. That is because all of us are sinners. We have sinned against God. The Bible says that the punishment of sin is death and Jesus paid that penalty with his death on a cross.
All that we must do is accept this payment, to be our payment. When we do this, we give Glory to God as well because we accept His precious gift to us.
So this morning, as we go about our days—consider His glory demonstrated all around you. Give Him Glory in Your prayer life, Give Him Glory in Your Worship, and Give Him Glory in your work.
Let us pray.
