Psalm 24

 

         

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.” God created the heavens and the earth. Jesus Christ is the King of kings, and therefore everything belongs to him. He is in control of everything. Colossians 1:16-17 says, “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Because He is in control of everything, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose.

 

The earth is the Lord’s and they that dwell therein. God created man and gave him life. Man sinned and rebelled against God. Because of this, God sent His only begotten Son. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Everything in this world belongs to Jesus because He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; the faithful Creator. Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul.” In the fullness of the earth there is nothing God values more than the soul of a man. What shall it profit a man if He gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

 

Because God is so powerful, because He is the Almighty, because everything belongs to Him, He has used his power to provide a way of salvation for men. Only an all-powerful, Almighty God could do such a thing. It is vital to understand and keep in mind that God is the Almighty because of the evil forces that will attack you and because of your own sinfulness. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

 

Psalms 24:3-5, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” Human effort cannot bring a man into a relationship with Christ. Salvation is by grace through faith and not of works. It is the gift of God. Jesus did all the effort when he came to the earth some 2000 years ago born of a virgin and lived a sinless life and then died on the cross and rose again the third day ascending into heaven. “Who shall ascend into the Hill of the LORD?” Or who shall stand in his holy place?” He who draws nigh to God by faith in Jesus Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Faith begins when a person receives God’s Word and the Holy Spirit touches their heart so that they understand the scripture and they repent of their sins and turn to Jesus.

 

John 6:26, “Jesus answered them and said Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” First Thessalonians 1:3, “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our LORD Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.”  This could be called the Work of Faith, or you could say the will to believe. The relationship between God and man should be 100% the will of God and 100% the will of man submitting unto the will of God. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The strength of your faith is partly determined by how much of your will is given towards believing God’s Word. It takes an effort sometimes to cling to the promises of God. God’s Word is true. How badly do you desire to believe those promises?

 

Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who shall stand in his holy place? Psalms 24:4 says, “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” This verse explains for us what repentance is. Repentance is not simply feeling guilty for what you have done. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart is a penitent person. Hands symbolize what we do and the heart symbolizes what we desire. If what you are doing is wrong, then change what you do and start doing what is right. This is repentance. If what you desire in your heart is wrong, then repent and start desiring the things of God in Christ Jesus.

 

For a person to be saved from their sins, they must repent of their sins and trust in Jesus. Make sure that when you repent, your repentance is sincere repentance. Don’t just say you repent and then continue on doing the same things. But give an effort to not make the same mistakes again. “who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” Oddly enough the word “lifted up” here is elsewhere in the Bible translated “forgiven.” Isaiah 33:24 says, “And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” Forgiveness comes through repentance. Man does the repenting, Christ does the forgiving. But sometimes even though Christ wants so badly to forgive men, they simply refuse to repent of their sins. It is important that you examine your own heart carefully and make sure that you are not deceiving yourself but that you have true repentance.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not every one that saith unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

 

Repentance is a change of mind. If you are repentant, then what you are doing is admitting what you do is wrong and that it should not be done, asking Christ to forgive you where you have failed, and trying to rely upon the promises of God with the intention of doing what is right in the future. It is possible to fail over and over again and make the same mistake 1000 times. The important thing is that you always return to the LORD with a heart of true repentance. The goal, of course, is to not sin in the first place. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Sometimes men fall into great wickedness. Sin is like quicksand. And it will slowly pull you in deeper and deeper until it seems impossible to escape. This is why Jesus said, “...Suffer the little children to come unto me...” (Mark 10:14). It is much easier for a young person to be saved than an adult, because years of unrepentance can be hard to escape from. However God can soften the hardest of hearts. The riches of the grace of God cannot be measured. But we can know the riches of his grace by turning to him for redemption and for forgiveness of our sins.

 

There is a difference between a lost person being saved out of great wickedness and a saved person who has fallen into great wickedness being renewed unto repentance. The difference has to do with how much truth a person has received into their mind and heart and then turned away from. It is much harder to repent, the harder your heart is and the more truth you have rejected. Hebrews 6:4-6 says, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

 

There is a difference between a saved person (someone who has trusted in Christ as their Savior but has become shipwrecked in the faith) and someone who is an unsaved person (one who has blasphemed the Holy Spirit, whose heart is so hardened that they have completely rejected any and all truth, and who is completely in opposition to the Gospel of Christ). It is better to be the saved person than the unsaved person because a saved person’s eternal destiny will be heaven instead of hell.  

 

Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you especially should consider carefully the consequences of turning away from the truth. First Timothy 1:18-20 says, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightiest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” Learn to repent of your sins and confess them to Christ as soon as your conscience pricks you. Psalms 24:5, “He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”

 

The result of repentance and forgiveness is salvation. The blessing is righteousness. To be forgiven of sin is the greatest blessing that anyone can receive. Sin causes suffering. Sin ruins relationships. Sin destroys opportunity. Sin brings shame. Sin causes destruction to society and to man’s flesh. Sin destroys the soul and separates man from God. In the end sin results in eternal damnation in the fires of hell. What a horrible fate it is to become like the rich man in Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus where one dies and is cast into hell and must suffer forever in a state of repentance without finding forgiveness. To be forgiven of sins is to be given salvation and eternal life and to be made clean and whole from spiritual disease. There is no greater blessing than to be forgiven of sins. So few people there are in this world who truly turn from their sins to Jesus and who do not “swear deceitfully”.

 

He that hath clean hands shall receive the blessing of the LORD. Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

Psalms 24:6 says, “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” Today is the day of salvation. Do not put off tomorrow what you can do today. In fact do not put off for one hour later what you can repent of right now. In every generation God always has some who have faith in him. The number may be few, but until the moment of the rapture when Christ takes His believers from the earth this will be the generation of them that seek him.

 

Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” (James 4:8) “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face.” To behold someone face to face is to stand close to them, to be in their presence, and in a fellowship that is very personal. True religion is a personal and an intimate relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. First John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” This is the reason that a relationship with Christ is based on grace through faith and “not of works lest any man should boast.” All our righteousness is as filthy rags.  But Christ is Holy. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. When Moses asked God if He could see His glory, God said to him in Exodus 33:20, “And Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”

 

Psalms 24:6 says, “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.” These are the last days. The day is coming when we will no longer walk by faith but by sight. In that day we shall see Him as he is; face to face. His presence will not only be with us everywhere we go, but we shall see Him as He is. Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

 

There is no greater blessing than to be forgiven of your sins, to have eternal life, and to have intimate fellowship with God. Just think of how wonderful it will be in heaven when we shall see Him as He is. If you have not turned from your sins and turned to Jesus, do so today. “This is the generation of them that seek him. Are you part of this generation?

 

 

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Copyright; 2012 by Charles F. (Rick) Creech
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