Alright, the sermon text has already been announced, and so I would invite you to turn in your Bible to Psalm 24. Psalm 24. Alright Psalm 24, so let me first read the psalm. So this is a psalm of David, beginning in verse 1. He says: “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters. Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 

Now this is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face. Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall 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 up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.”

Alright Psalm 23, which we looked at last week, was probably one of the most familiar of the Psalms. Psalm 24 is probably not that familiar. So that is the psalm that we want to look at this morning. As we look at this psalm, the first thing to notice is that there is a question raised alright. And the question is this in verse 3: Now who may ascend into the hill of the LORD or who may stand in His holy place? Now that is the title of our sermon this morning: “Who May Ascend Into His Holy Hill?”. Now, this is a question that has been asked actually again and again in the Bible.

You see that the same question is asked in Psalm 15- in Psalm 15, where again here the psalm of David in verse 1 saying: “LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?”. Now it seems that there is this question that is pressing upon the people, wondering as it were who is qualified to draw near to God? Who is qualified to stand in the holy place of God? Now this question is probably phrased differently in the New Testament, but it is still a question that has been asked again and again.

It is a question asked by the Philippian jailer, which is: How can I be saved? Or that question asked by the rich young man in Luke 18: What must I do to inherit eternal life? Or the question asked by Nicodemus alright. Although the question is not explicit there, but it is an assumed question that he was asking: What must I do to enter the kingdom of God? Now you see, this is a question I say asked again and again in the Bible because this is in a sense the ultimate question- in a sense the ultimate question. How can we put it in other words, go to heaven? How can we go to the place where God is? 

Now that is really what this question is about, what this psalm is about because when the psalmist asked here in Psalm 24 who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And what the psalmist has in mind is that the hill probably here is referring to Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where the temple of God is and where the people (the Israelites in the Old Testament) know that that symbolises- that is a symbol of God’s dwelling place. And that’s why in Psalm 15 it says: Who may dwell in this tabernacle, in the dwelling place of God? Now that is the meaning here. Who among us may go to where God is? As I say, ultimately this question or this psalm is pointing to heaven. Who may ascend to that holy place of God?

Now that is the question, and I say that is the question of utmost importance. And therefore that is the question we must have answers. Now that’s a question we must have answers: Who can go to where God is? And this psalm helps us understand as it were- answers that question. And in answering that question, there are three important truths that we need to grasp. And the first is this: Who may ascend into His holy hill, and the psalmist says the first thing we need to grasp is the truth about God. The truth about God.

And so we see this is how Psalm 24 begins: “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness”. In other words, who is God? You see in order to answer this question we must have some idea, some understanding of who God is. Have you ever asked yourself who is God? Now turn with me for a while to the book of Isaiah chapter 6. The book of Isaiah chapter 6, and let me read beginning in verse 1 where the prophet Isaiah writes here: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the LORD sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. And above it stood seraphim; one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 

And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because. Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.””.

You see, what the prophet Isaiah is saying this is something that we need to grasp if we were to have the answer to that question “Who may dwell in His holy place?”, it is to have a glimpse of who God truly is. And here in Isaiah 6, we see the prophet Isaiah has a glimpse of the glory of God. And he described God as holy, holy, holy, and the earth is full of His glory. Now that is a problem with people today that the God that we understand, the God that we know, the God that we are told is a God that is so small. A God that we can command, a God that we can tell and demand to do our biddings.

Give me this and give me that, and if He doesn’t give me this and that I have the right to be angry with Him. That kind of attitude reveals that you have no idea of who God really is. The God that we should know is the God revealed in the Bible as a God who is full of glory. Or is expressed in a hymn that we are all familiar with speaking of God as “Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.”.

Every time we come and we sing praises to God, the thing we must remember is that we are approaching this glorious, almighty, inaccessible God, that we are so blessed and so privileged to be able to come near Him. This is the sense of we coming to God each time as we come in worship, having the sense of awe that we are coming to such God, a great God, an almighty God. Now that is what the psalmist is saying here in Psalm 24, say the first thing you need to grasp is to have a realisation of who God truly is.

And until you see Him as He is revealed in the Scripture, you don’t understand this question. You think that you can anyhow and any time as it were ever come to Him and approach Him. No! When Moses approached Him, He said: “Stand back, for you are standing on holy ground”. When Joshua approached Him, he was told to stand back, for you are standing on holy ground. And every time as we come to God, we must remember that, that we are standing on holy ground. That is God. Now back to Psalm 24, and that is how David begins here. And he tells us a few things in the two verses here.

Number one, he says that we must begin with the understanding of who God is. And God, he says, firstly owns everything. God owns everything. Verse 1: “The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness”. The earth is the LORD’s and all its fullness. Now let’s think about this. You see, we people like to boast of our possession. I have more possession than you.

We like to boast of our possessions, and therefore we divide this earth into countries. It’s my country; that’s your country. And then we divide the country into states. It’s my state and your state. And then we divide the state into cities. This is your city and my city. And then we divide the cities into housing estates. And then we divide the housing estate into houses. This is my house and we have a title deed to prove it. And then we fence it up. My house, don’t come so near. It’s mine. We boast of our possession, but the Bible says here the earth is the LORD’s. Everything belongs not to you but to God.

And then he says in the second part here: “and its fullness”. And all its fullness. Now, this is not vain repetition. What the psalmist is trying to do is to impress upon us this important and this great truth that everything belongs to God. The earth is the LORD’s and everything in its fullness and all its fullness, the world and all that dwell therein. Fullness as I say means everything. I say it’s an emphasis. It is to impress upon us who are so used to think that things belong to us. This is my money, my possession. We are so used to think of us, and the psalmist is saying no they don’t belong to you. They all belong to God in its fullness- all its fullness. The world, everything. And then he says: “and those who dwell therein”. 

In other words, the psalmist you say it’s not just the material things in this world that belong to God. It’s not just the food that you eat and waters that you drink, not just the minerals in the soil and the oil in the sea. Not just these things. Yes, all these things belong to the LORD, but it says: “and those who dwell therein”. That is it includes people. Not just things belong to the Lord, we all belong to the Lord. Your family belongs to the Lord. It is given to you as a steward. You take care of your family. Your children belong to the Lord.

Now we all parents, we realise that they are gifts from God, given to us stewards. We are to answer to God for all these blessings one day because it belongs to the Lord. Family belongs to the Lord, friends belong to the Lord, children belong to the Lord, grandchildren belong to the Lord. Now that is what the psalmist is saying. Everything. Let us get this right. God is sovereign and He is a sovereign owner of everything in this world. Therefore never take anything for granted- never take anything for granted or think that it is our right to have these things.

No, it’s given to you by grace even though you do not deserve any of the blessings. None of us deserve any of these things. Yes God owns everything, but why? Why does He own everything? Well, the psalmist continued in verse 2. The reason, it is because: “For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters.”. This is kind of alluding to Genesis, how God first created the world alright and everything in it. It speaks of God who first created the sea, and then He said: “Let the dry land appear”. So He created the sea, He created the land, He created the animals. He created everything. 

Why does God own everything? Because He created everything. He is the Creator of the universe. He’s the One who made us. That is what people refuse to believe. We think that we come from some monkeys. No! We are the creation of God, the crown of God’s creation. And therefore we belong to God, and therefore God has complete right over every one of us. The Bible says that He is the Potter and we are the clay, and He has absolute right over the clay to mould us anyhow He wants. And therefore it is His right- it is God’s right.

If you understand what the psalmist is saying, He is the owner. He created everything. And therefore it is His right to demand that we do His biddings. It is God’s right that we obey Him. It is God’s right that we love Him with our whole being. That’s why the first and great commandment is to love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your might, with all your soul. It is God’s right that we love Him. And if we are not loving Him with all our being, we are sinning against Him. If we are not obeying His commandments, we are sinning against Him.

That’s why John defines sin as the transgression or the breaking of the Law of God because it is His right to demand. Because He made us for Himself, it is His right that He demands that we glorify Him. That is the reason why He created us and everything: For His own glory. We ought to be God-centred in our thinking, not man-centred, not me-centred. The world does not revolve around us; the world revolves around God. Why? Because He is a sovereign Lord, He made everything. Without Him, you wouldn’t even have come into existence. He is the one who gives you existence. He is the one who gives you life.

And so what is our sin? What is the sin of man in this world? It is this, turn with me to Daniel chapter 5. Daniel 5:23. Now listen to what Daniel says here to that king- the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar. Daniel 5:23, he says: “But you his son, Belshazzar, you have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this things.” (Mistakenly mentioned “5:23”, supposedly “5:22”). You knew the truth about God, but you don’t humble yourself before Him. 

And then He said in verse 23: “And you have lifted yourself up against the LORD of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your Lords, and your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, and bronze and iron, and wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know”. You’re worshipping idols. You’re worshipping things. “But the God who holds your breath in His hand, who owns all your ways, you have not glorified.”. That is your sin. That is your sin. The true and the living God, the God who created everything and who created you, who gives you life and breath and health that you have today, you have not glorified.

Now that is the problem alright. The people, they do not know God or they don’t know the God reveal in the Scripture. And they do not understand. They do not understand who God is. Instead like Belshazzar here, we spurn Him. We fight against God. We ignore His demands upon us. We don’t care about His Word. We don’t care about His commandment. We don’t care how He wants us to live our life. We live it our way.

You know what? We are very brave to do so. Humans are very brave to live their life the way that we are living. Aren’t we? We dare to ignore God and we dared to ignore His Word. We dare to ignore the worship of the true and living God. We are very brave. Why? Because we do not know the God described the Bible and because we do not know that we are just small flies. We think that we are significant, we are important, we are big. We don’t understand that we are just small flies, insignificant creatures in this universe of God. 

That day I was in Elder Kian Ming’s house. I was having a chat with him, and then suddenly a creature appeared- a cockroach. And you know for many people that is big issue alright, running for help. But the good thing was Lay Kuan was there alright because she’s not afraid of cockroaches and she loves alright. And she approached the cockroach, put it down on the floor, and smack. Pitiful cockroach alright, all the intestines all came out alright. Now some of us like these cockroaches, we are big, we are strong, we are powerful and then someone comes and smack! You’re gone. Finished. Now everyday people just disappear from this earth, vanished. Struck by one disease or another, stuck by that virus and we are dead. We are so vulnerable. We are so weak. 

You see, our life is like hanging on the thread. And we dare to boast and we dare to think that we are great and we dare- we dare to fight against God because we have no concept of who He is. And that’s why the psalmist is saying once you have some idea, some understanding of who God is, then you understand this question: Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Such a great and almighty God.

We dare not even simply step into Istana because we know who lives there. And you’re in Washington, you won’t dare simply just walk into the White House because you know who lives there. Don’t you know who lives here? The tabernacle of God, the holy hills is the dwelling place of the almighty, sovereign God, who is the Creator of the universe. That’s the first thing we need to understand. 

And this leads us to the second thing. The second thing we must grasp is this, again the question: Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD, the psalmist asked? He repeats that and says: Who may stand in His holy place? Now you see for the psalmist to ask this question, it is asked with a certain tone. Tone of perhaps amazement? It’s an exclamation. It’s asking who? Do we have answers? And then he answers the question. Verse 4: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol (or to false gods), nor sworn deceitfully.”. 

Now that is our problem. That is our problem because the psalmist says you know what? Who may approach God? Who may ascend into His holy hills? And He says: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, and who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, and who has not sworn deceitfully.”. We are in trouble. What is our problem? Our problem is this: Psalm 14 (1 4). Psalm 14, look at verses 2 and 3. Psalm 14, now the psalmist says here: “The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. No, they have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, no, not one.”. 

That is our problem. If a person who may ascend into His holy hills and to go to where God is as described in verse 4, then we are finished. We don’t qualify, for we as the prophet Isaiah said, “I’m a man of unclean lips”. Of course here in verse 4, the psalmist is basically saying this. He’s saying that we are people who don’t fit this description. Here he is describing a perfect man, a man who lived a perfect life, where clean hands refer to the fact that he has never done anything wrong; where pure heart means that he has never had any evil motive or intention. Both his actions and his motives are pure aright.

Now where he says he has not lifted up his souls to falsehood or to an idol means that he’s totally devoted to God. There’s no idols in his life, no other gods before him. And who has not sworn deceitfully means he has not said anything untrue. He has always been honest. He always speaks the truth. But as we have read from Psalm 14, there is none who does good. No, not one. Now none of us fit, and therefore we are in trouble. That is our problem.

We need to be aware of it that we on our own- every human in this world, every man and woman, boy and girl, we all may not go to heaven because we may not ascend into His holy place where God is. We may not because none of us is perfect, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And that means what? So we don’t have clean hands, then verse 5: “But He shall receive blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”. The only way we can have this blessing is to receive it. He shall receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness. And some translations say “and vindication”, and the picture that is being made right with God. We shall receive righteousness from God, from the God of his salvation. 

And this is Jacob in this translation. Now some of the translations is missing there, but the idea is that this is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him. And then the psalmist speaks of Jacob as representative of people who belong to God. The people. Now, what about Jacob? What about Jacob and his generation and people who belong, who are like him? Well, you see as far as Jacob is concerned, we know that he was not without sin. And we know the character of Jacob. He’s a rascal, a deceiver. He’s not without sin. But there’s something about Jacob that he realised that he had no spiritual blessing, that from birth till death he was seeking after the blessing of God. 

You see that even before birth alright he is chasing. He’s looking for that blessing. He stole his brother’s birthright, and then towards the end alright where he thought that he was to be killed by his brother Esau in Genesis 33 that he met with the angel of God and he wrestled and he said: “I will not let you go until you bless me”. He is a man who seeks after the blessing of God. And that is how alright- that is how we may ascend into the hills of the LORD alright- ascend the hill of the LORD, to seek it as a blessing from God like Jacob, for no one can enter into heaven on our own because we have no righteousness of our own. But there is righteousness revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Now that leads us to the third thing we must grasp in this psalm here. We need to grasp the truth about God. We need to grasp the truth about men that we are undeserving sinners unfit to enter heaven. And thirdly, we must grasp the truth about Jesus Christ. Verse 7: “Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.”. You see, the picture now is that of a city- the city of God, the city of Jerusalem. And it is shut. There is a gate preventing the enemies (those who shouldn’t be in) from coming in. And then there is a shout.

We are all not fit to enter the city of God. This is a picture of heaven, the new Jerusalem. We are all not fit to come in. But there is one who is fit. So who may ascend into the holy hill of the LORD? Who may enter into that dwelling place of God? You see, the holy hill I say is a picture of Zion, speaking of Zion and the temple in Zion, in Jerusalem. But it is shut. But it’s an allusion again to Genesis 3, where the Garden of Eden was shut that God placed at the east of the garden the cherubim to prevent those who should not be there from coming in. No one is fit to come in.

And suddenly there is a shout: “Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!” because someone who is fit is coming in. “The King of glory shall come in.”. Then the people ask: Who is this King? Verse 8: “Who is this King of glory?” Who is this King of glory? Now you might remember on Palm Sunday when Jesus was entering Jerusalem on the donkey and the people were putting things on the floor and palm leaves. And then as Jesus was entering Jerusalem, someone shouted: Who is this?

Now that is the echo of this psalm. Who is this who is now coming in? And here we have the answer. Verse 8: “He is the LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Yes, Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.”.  Then the echo, this is kind of a chorus alright. This is a song remember, a hymn. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory. Who? None other than the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Why He is fit to come in? Because He is the King of glory and He is the LORD strong and mighty. The picture here is Jesus who came to this world. He came as a fighter to defeat His enemies. He came to defeat His enemies. Look at Colossians chapter 1- Colossians chapter 1 in the New Testament, and see what Paul writes there about the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. Colossians chapter 1, first look at verses 12 and 13. And Paul writes here. He says: “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”. God has qualified us to be partakers of the blessing of the inheritance.

Then he says in verse 13 how? For “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of His Son, of the Son of His love”. Now you see that is a picture. Christ came and He has conquered His enemies. He has defeated His enemies and has defeated death through His resurrection. And He has won us, won the blessing for us. Chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, beginning in verse 13.

And Paul writes: “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way and having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”. 

So this is a picture of warfare. Jesus came to this world and He fought and He is victorious. And He is victorious. He has won it for us, His people. And so the psalm in Psalm 24 ends in verse 10: “Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.”. The picture is that an allusion to Genesis 14 when Abraham went and fought to rescue his nephew, Lot. And when he was victorious, he came back with those he saved- Lot and the other spoils alright. He came back.

And that is a picture here. Jesus is returning with those He has saved. That is the only way. Are you part of the captives that Jesus has rescued? The only way to know is if you have cried out to Him for help. Cry out to Him for mercy and look to Him as your Saviour. Who may ascend into the hills of the LORD? Who may stand in His holy place? It’s only Jesus alone is qualified and those who belong to Him. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we want to thank You again for this precious passage of Scripture to remind us once again of who You are and how we ought to relate to You and to humble ourselves before You. And Lord, we want to thank You that although You are the great and almighty God and we are sinful being and yet You have not left us to our doom but You have sent Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to fight that victorious battle and deliver us and save us from our enemies. And so we give You thanks, for we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.