Psalm 24

“Are You . . . Worthy?”

            What are we doing here? Who do we think we are? ---- Think for a minute about Adam and Eve after they had sinned in the Garden. They wanted to hide from God. Think for a minute about Moses at the burning bush. He took his sandals off and hid his face. Think for a minute about the children of Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai when the cloud of God covered the top of the mountain. They trembled with fear. Think about the soldiers in the Garden of Gethsemane who fell backward at the sound of Jesus’ voice. The holiness of God is so great and the sin of man is so real that no human being can stand in the presence of God; no one can see God and live.

            And so I ask again. What are we doing here? Who do we think we are? We’re not worthy to be here in the presence of God, to be here in his house. We’re not worthy to sing his praises or to approach him in prayer or to listen to him speak to us in his Word. We’re not worthy to do any of those things. --- Or are we? Are we worthy to be here? Are we worthy to call ourselves Christians? Are we worthy to be a part of God’s family? Are we worthy to call upon God’s name? Are we worthy to lay claim to eternal life? --- No. We’re not worthy. We can’t be. Can we?

            That’s the question that God asks each of us this morning. Are you worthy? This morning, God in his Word is going to give us two answers to that question. The first answer to that question is an answer that we may not want to hear. For the first answer to that question God says to us 1.) See what my Law shows you. The second answer to that question is an answer that we can’t stand to live without. For the second answer to that question God says to us 2.) Believe what my Gospel tells you. The sermon text this morning, on Palm Sunday, is Psalm 24. King David writes:

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty—he is the King of glory.

We hear God ask that question – are you worthy? – in verse 3 of this psalm. “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” What human being is bold enough – and arrogant enough – to ascend to God and stand in his presence? Specifically in this psalm David is speaking about Jerusalem and about the holy place where he hoped to one day build the temple. In verse 4 David gives the answer to that question – who may ascend the hill of the Lord and who may stand in his holy place? In verse 4 David tells us who is worthy of doing those things: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.”

That’s not me. When I look at my life – when I look at my attitudes and my priorities in life – I know for certain that that’s not me. When I compare my life to what God demands in his holy Law I know for certain that that’s not me. I’m not worthy. A quick glance in the mirror of God’s Law will show you the same thing. The mirror that each one of us is holding this morning is a mirror that reveals four painfully obvious and convicting blemishes – blemishes which tell us that the only thing of which we are worthy is God’s eternal punishment. Our hands are not clean. Our hands are stained with the pain and hurt that we have caused others in their lives. Our hearts are not pure. Our hearts are filled with pride, worry, lust, greed and doubt. The idols in our lives are too numerous to count. Any time we place our spouse or our children or our careers or our possessions or our reputations or our free time on a plain higher than God we are lifting our souls to an idol and we are breaking God’s First Commandment. As far as swearing by what is false, I’d hate to count the number of lies that we have told our family and friends – not to mention our enemies.

God’s law shows me that I am not worthy. I’m no more worthy to stand in this pulpit than you are to sit in that pew. To think that we have the right to enter God’s house, to claim to be Christian or to claim a place in heaven is to ignore what we see in the mirror of God’s holy Law. We don’t often consider the significance of what David said in the opening verse of this psalm. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.” The God who created all things is the God whom we dare to approach in worship! And yet, how many times haven’t we walked through those double doors in the back of church without even a thought about where we were or about what we would soon be doing? We are not worthy.

I suppose we all should just hang our heads in shame. We all should just stand up, walk out of here and head on home. After all, we’re not worthy to be here. We realize that we are worthy only of God’s wrath. But in this psalm that’s not what David tells us to do. That’s not what God tells us to do. He tells us to lift up our heads. He tells us, yes, to see our sin, but he also tells us to see our Savior. He tells us to see our King. “Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in . . . Who is this King of glory? The Lord Almighty – he is the King of glory.” God’s law shows us that we are not worthy – it shows us that nothing good lives in us, that is, in our sinful nature. But the King of glory, the Lord Almighty is going to show us something different. This King of glory, Jesus Christ, who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey a week before his death, is going to tell us something different. This King of glory is going to tell us the Gospel. This King of glory is the Gospel.

Let’s read verse 3 again. “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?” God knows who we are. He knows we are sinners. He knows that we are not worthy. But he wants us to ascend that hill. To make that possible, he had his own Son ascend an entirely different hill. Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” Jesus left the city of Jerusalem (on his way out to Calvary’s hill) just five days later to shouts of “Crucify him! Save yourself – if you are the Son of God.” The Son of God he is. He had no need to save himself. He had every need to save us. And save us he did . . . because he is worthy – “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!”

The Sunday before Passover – the day we now call Palm Sunday – was selection day for the Old Testament Jew. The Sunday before Passover was the day that Jewish families were to pick out their Passover lamb – a one year old male without blemish or defect. It is no coincidence that as these Jewish families of Jesus’ day were selecting their Passover lambs that THE Passover Lamb rode into Jerusalem. This Lamb, sitting on a donkey, was God’s selection. This was the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. This Lamb was worthy because he had no blemish or defect, no sin to condemn him – his death would be innocent; his death would be ours.

It is because of his death that we, verse 5, “will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior.” A better translation for the word “vindication” is “righteousness.” We receive righteousness from God our Savior. We receive the righteousness of God that enables us to come into his presence. This righteousness – a free gift of God through faith in Christ – makes us worthy. What God requires, he supplies. Look again at verses 3 and 4. “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He was has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.” That is you! That is me! We are worthy! We do have clean hands. We do have pure hearts . . . in Christ. God keeps no record of our wrongs. Our wrongs, our sins, have been erased from his memory and replaced with the perfect obedience of Jesus. His perfect obedience is now our perfect obedience through faith in Christ. In Christ, God sees us as clean – we are clean! In Christ, God sees us as pure – we are pure! In Christ, God sees us as worthy – we are worthy!