THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XXIV. Securing The Blessings Of A Sovereign, Holy God

(Psalm 24:1-10)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

We live in a world where corrupt attitudes, insincerity, godless acts, and irreverence are becoming common:

(1) Corrupt attitudes and insincerity abound: (a) "Progressives tell us it is a violation of 'democracy' to allow state legislators and governors elected by voters to decide how to regulate or criminalize abortion. 'Democracy' in this view requires such decisions to be made by nine unelected jurists." (Michael Barone, "Progressives vs. democracy," Republican-American, May 16, 2022, p. 8A) However, even liberal scholar "John Hart Ely in 1973 . . . wrote that [the] Roe [v. Wade decision] 'is not constitutional law' and 'gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be'' and also liberal Supreme Court judge "Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then a lower-court judge . . . wrote in 1985, 'The Court ventured too far in the change it ordered and presented an incomplete justification for its action.'" (Ibid.)

(b) "Progressives tell us 'democracy' requires 'content moderation' – censorship, in plain English – of all communications over prevalent social-media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook" when "(a)ctually, the most successful purveyors of 'misinformation' have been the progressives themselves. For the better part of three years, with the cooperation of Pulitzer Prize-awarded journalists, they advanced misinformation in the form of the Russia collusion hoax, concocted apparently by operatives of the 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, and nurtured by intelligence officials and a duplicitous FBI director, James B. Comey" besides suppressing "the Hunter Biden laptop information" in "2020" that has since "come undone in 2022," Ibid.

(2) Godless acts abound: "U. S. authorities . . . announced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel on Mexico's border" that "ran one-third of a mile to Tijuana" and was "4 feet in diameter and about six stories deep" to try to avoid detection. ("Drug smuggling tunned discovered from Mexico to U. S.," Ibid., May 17, 2022, p. 9A)

(3) Irreverence is now common: Ken Ham's article, "A Biblical Authority Ministry!" in the AnswersInsider, May, 2022, p. 2, stated that many reporters in the mainstream media seem to have a "standard paragraph" about the Answers in Genesis (AiG) ministry with its Ark Encounter and Creation Museum, and it reads "something like, 'These are the people who believe in a young earth, reject evolution, believe dinosaurs lived with people, believe that there was a global flood, and reject science.'" The Bible's literal teaching of pure creationism without the use of any evolutionary processes in Genesis 1-2 and the worldwide Noahic Flood in Genesis 6-8, the literal interpretations of both passages being affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6; 24:38-39, are treated is myths and evolution as true!

Need: So, we ask, "How can we be blessed if corrupt attitudes, insincerity, godless acts, and irreverence abound?!"

I. Referring to Genesis 1:2, 9-10, David acknowledged that the earth, its contents and people who dwelt on it belonged to the Sovereign God of Scripture, for He founded it by separating it from the seas that covered the globe at the beginning of creation, Psalm 24:1-2.

II. The setting of this psalm was possibly the returning of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 6, so David rhetorically asked who could ascend the holy mount and stand in the holy place of such a sovereign Lord's presence, Psalm 24:3. (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 812)

III. In answer, David listed four qualifications that are the OPPOSITE of what we noted in our introduction is common in today's world, Psalm 24:4; H. C. Leupold, An Exposition of the Psalms, 1969, p. 219:

A. He who has clean hands, pure outward deeds, can fellowship with the Sovereign Creator, Ibid.

B. He who has a pure heart, corresponding inward purity, can fellowship with the Sovereign Creator, Ibid.

C. He who is completely sincere can fellowship with the Sovereign Creator, Ibid.

D. He who is sincere in reverence for what is separate from sin can fellowship with the Sovereign Creator, Ibid.

IV. Such people will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation, and such are those who seek to follow and fellowship with the God of Jacob, Psalm 24:5-6.

V. The Psalm continued with a fanfare of praise to the Lord as the Sovereign Creator God, represented in His ark of the covenant, as it was brought into the city of Jerusalem, Psalm 24:7-10.

Lesson: Those who can fellowship with the Sovereign Creator God with resulting blessing in righteousness must have pure deeds, inward purity, be completely sincere with God and have a sincere reverence for what is holy, that is, for what is separate from sin.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) Then, may we rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit Who comes to indwell us when we believe in Christ (Romans 8:9b) for the power to live righteous lives (Galatians 5:16, 22-23) and (3) perform pure deeds, (3) maintain inward spiritual purity, (4) be completely sincere with God and other people and (5) be sincerely reverent in all things holy before the Lord.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

In relying on the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, we have directions from Scripture in personally overcoming the sins we noted in our sermon introduction (as follows):

(1) On the issue of knowing what to do about the issue of abortion since the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion, it is not up to nine Supreme Court judges nor state legislatures nor any other human entity to decide what is right or wrong on abortion, but up to the Sovereign Creator God of human life! That God declared in Genesis 9:5-6 that the murder of a human being requires the death penalty, and Exodus 21:22-23 reveals that the murder of a fetus at any trimester is the murder of a human being because it requires the death of the one who takes the fetus' life. Capital punishment is still to be enforced today according to Romans 13:1-4.

(2) On the issue of deciding what to do about censorship, (a) we are not to rely on the media or a government agency to screen our alleged "misinformation," for (i) 2 Timothy 3:13 predicted that men would go from bad to worse in the latter era of Church History, deceiving and being deceived and (ii) Romans 3:4 claims that every person has broken his word. Rather, (b) God calls us (i) to stick with what God has let us learn in the past, (ii) to be convinced was true in our past, (iii) recalling the quality people who taught us those truths, (iv) and above all, to heed Scripture that permanently equips us to perform every good work in this life until Christ returns, 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

(3) On the issue of godless acts of the smuggling of illegal drugs, Scripture teaches that instead of being controlled by drugs and alcohol wherein is excess, to be instead controlled by the indwelling Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5:18. Many people are involved in substance abuse as an escape from life's trials when all they need is salvation by faith in Christ where the Holy Spirit comes to indwell and equip them to live spiritually powerful lives, and then they can rely on the Holy Spirit to avoid using drugs and alcohol. The presence of powerful drug cartels with elaborate smuggling tunnels between Mexico and the United States is the product of many people in our nation not knowing Christ as their personal Savior and/or as believers in Christ who do not rely on the indwelling Holy Spirit.

(4) On the issue of the irreverence for the Bible's teaching on creation and the Noahic flood, the literal interpretation of Genesis 1-2 in the Bible states that God created the universe by pure creation within one solar week.

Yet, it is valuable to use illustrations from science [that creationists allegedly reject!] to support creationism. One comes from the article, "Galactic Confusion," Answers magazine, Jul.-Sep., 2021, p. 28 as follows: "Astronomers believe ALESS 073.1 to be young because this galaxy is very far away – 12.5 billion light years, which is thought to correspond to 12.5 billion years in the past. Since the big bang supposedly happened a billion years earlier than that, this galaxy is interpreted as being very young. Yet, ALESS 073.1 appears mature much sooner than the billions of years evolutionists expected. 'We were stunned to see this gas rotating in a similar way to more mature galaxies,' says astronomer Frederico Lelli. 'The main message is that galaxies can form extremely fast.' Biblical creationists aren't surprised to find evidence of a complete, mature, young universe. The Bible reveals the true history of the world: God created the universe, including the galaxies, only a few thousand years ago – not billions."

Another illustration comes from the article, "An Egg-straordinary Discovery," Ibid., p. 29 as follows: "An international team of scientists recently discovered a fossilized nest in the Nanxiong Formation of Ganzshou in South China" of "a medium-size adult oviraptor . . . crouching over two dozen eggs. At least seven of the eggs contain embryos and were on the brink of hatching before they were fossilized . . . This discovery is a great example of rapid fossilization, evidence for a sudden worldwide catastrophe – the flood."

A third illustration is from the article, "The Appendix Is Not An Evolutionary Leftover," Ibid., Jan.-Mar., 2022, p. 29 as follows: "For decades, scientists considered the appendix useless. In fact, Charles Darwin claimed that the appendix was a rudimentary, functionless structure – even dangerous. But French researchers at Inserm and the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle are now claiming that the appendix is associated with increased longevity, the first demonstration of a link between the appendix and life expectancy. Researchers discovered that the appendix reduces mortality from infectious diarrhea and encourages healthy bacterial growth in the host."

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life. May we then rely on the Holy Spirit to perform pure deeds, maintain inward spiritual purity, be fully sincere with God and others and be sincerely reverent in all holy things before the Lord for His blessing.