The King Of Glory And The Call To Holiness - Following Jesus Through The Clean Hands And Pure Heart Of Psalm 24 Series

The King of Glory and the Call to Holiness

Following Jesus Through the Clean Hands and Pure Heart of Psalm 24

Introduction: Holiness in an Unholy Age

We live in a century of contradiction.

We have more technology than ever, yet less stillness.

More connection, yet less communion.

More self-expression, yet less self-examination.

More tolerance for almost everything, yet less trembling before a holy God.

The modern world is comfortable with spirituality, but deeply uncomfortable with holiness. It likes inspiration, but not consecration. It welcomes a god who affirms, but not a God who searches the heart. It wants blessing without surrender, worship without repentance, heaven without the cross, and discipleship without holiness.

Yet Psalm 24 confronts us with a majestic question that every generation must answer:

“Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?

Who may stand in his holy place?” (Psalm 24:3, NLT)

That is not merely an ancient Hebrew question.

That is the question of every soul.

Who can come near to God?

Who can dwell in His presence?

Who can stand before the One who made heaven and earth?

Who can live as a true disciple in a polluted world?

Psalm 24 answers with both thunder and grace. It tells us that the Lord owns all things, demands holiness, and welcomes the King of glory. And in that movement, this psalm drives us directly to Jesus Christ.

Because if holiness is required, then we must confess: left to ourselves, we are not holy.

If clean hands are needed, ours are stained.

If a pure heart is demanded, ours has been divided.

If the King of glory must enter, then we need Him not only to come into Jerusalem, but into our lives.

So today, let us sit beneath the searching light of Psalm 24 and hear the voice of God calling His people to holiness.

The Reading of the Word: Psalm 24 (NLT)

A psalm of David.

1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.

The world and all its people belong to him.

2 For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas

and built it on the ocean depths.

3 Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?

Who may stand in his holy place?

4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,

who do not worship idols

and never tell lies.

5 They will receive the Lord’s blessing

and have a right relationship with God their saviour.

6 Such people may seek you

and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.

7 Open up, ancient gates!

Open up, ancient doors,

and let the King of glory enter.

8 Who is the King of glory?

The Lord, strong and mighty;

the Lord, invincible in battle.

9 Open up, ancient gates!

Open up, ancient doors,

and let the King of glory enter.

10 Who is the King of glory?

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies—

he is the King of glory.”

Amen.

I. Holiness Begins with Knowing Who Owns You

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it”

Psalm 24 begins, not with man, but with God.

That is where holiness must begin. Holiness does not start with rules. Holiness starts with revelation. Holiness begins when you realise that God is God, and you are not.

David opens with a declaration of divine ownership:

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.

The world and all its people belong to him.” (Psalm 24:1, NLT)

This is comprehensive.

Not some of the earth—all the earth.

Not some people—all people.

Not merely the religious world, but the secular world.

Not only the church building, but the office, the street, the screen, the university, the home, the private thought-life, the hidden motives of the soul.

Everything belongs to Him because He made it.

Verse 2 says:

“For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas

and built it on the ocean depths.” (Psalm 24:2, NLT)

In ancient thought, the seas symbolised instability and chaos. Yet David says God founded the earth even over the deep. In other words, what is unstable to us is not unstable to Him. He reigns where we panic. He establishes where we tremble.

Holiness begins when a disciple sees that life is not self-owned. You are not autonomous. You are not self-made. You are not your own master. You belong to the Lord.

This speaks directly to 21st-century culture. We are told, “My life, my truth, my body, my choice, my identity, my rules.” But Scripture says, “The earth is the Lord’s.” Holiness is the end of self-rule. It is the glad surrender of all that we are to all that He is.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NLT): “Don’t you realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body.”