We turn to God's holy words. First to Acts chapter 2, and then to Psalm 24. Will you stand with me for the reading of God's word? Acts chapter 2, this is Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. Now draw your attention to the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ and even his ascension to the right hand of the Father that we see in this text. Acts 2, 29. Men and brethren, let me speak to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses, therefore being exalted to the right hand of the Father. And having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And now to Psalm 24. A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's in 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. 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. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God abides forever. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for your word, your word that is quick and powerful, living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and able to pierce asunder the joints and marrow, the soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Lord, we pray for the quickening living power of your Holy Spirit to take your word and to drive it deep, deeply into our hearts. We pray for the conviction that you alone can bring, showing us our sinfulness, showing us our need, showing us again our great dependence upon you, and also showing to us afresh the beauty of our King, the King of glory, our Savior Jesus Christ. Oh God, we pray that your son would be magnified tonight, that we would again, with living faith, taste and see that you are good, that we would confess again that your word is sweeter than honey in the honeycomb to our taste, that we would take of it, that we would embrace your promises, that we would tremble at your warnings, and that we would delight to obey your commands. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. We turn to Psalm 24 for our evening meditation in the preaching of the Word. This psalm, particularly a psalm of the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, a victorious and risen King. I want to begin with asking you a simple question, maybe one that you've thought about, maybe one that you haven't. Why do our worship services begin with a call to worship? Why do we begin each service with a call to worship? Maybe a question you've given some thought to, maybe you haven't. Is this just a tradition that we have in the Reformed church? No, as we saw this morning, we are to be free of man-made traditions that are not based in Scripture, which have no precedent, no divine imperative in the Holy Word of God, not to introduce anything into worship that the Scriptures do not expressly and explicitly teach. No, a call to worship is Found all through the scriptures, even in the book of Psalms, the call that we use this evening, Psalm 103, to bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, to bless His holy name. You might think of Psalm 29, that call to give unto the Lord the glory due to His name, to come into the presence of the Lord, to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. But I would submit to you that Psalm 24 makes explicit what those other Psalms all assume or implicitly set before you as they call you to give God the glory due to His name, to worship Him, to fear His name, to honor Him, to bless Him, and to sing His praises. In fact, Psalm 24 sets before you the basis of all of these things, that you and I belong to God, that the earth is the Lord's in all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein, that you and I have an obligation, yes, a joyful obligation in Christ to worship, but an obligation nonetheless, because the earth is the Lord's in all that is therein. even the inhabitants of the world. You and I belong to Jehovah, and we're called to worship Him. And this psalm presses on our consciences, presses on our hearts, the great and joyful duty that we have of worship. And this is a psalm that speaks to us of God's universal ownership of all things, His universal kingdom. A kingdom that leaves not one square inch outside, accepted, outside the bounds of that kingdom. A psalm that also sets before us the requirements of what true citizens in that kingdom look like, of what the true worshipers, as it were, whom the Father seeks, of what their lives are to look like. And then finally, the psalm draws, as I said at the very beginning, the psalm draws our gaze to the only one who meets those requirements, our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory. So we're going to meditate upon this psalm very simply, thinking of this kingdom, a universal kingdom first, and then what true citizens in this kingdom look like, how their lives are to be patterned, the worship that God requires of them. And then last, as we really have to confess that none of us are worthy, none of us meet these requirements, we look to the true King of glory, the Lord of hosts, strong and mighty in battle, the only worthy one, our Lord Jesus Christ. the one who has ascended into God's holy hill, who now sits at the Father's right hand, we could even say is our great high priest who stands in the holy place. Let's study and meditate upon this, the blessed words of Psalm 24 together. First, that the universal kingdom the Lord the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness but you need to understand something of the of the place that this Psalm has in the entire Psalter it occupies a Certain position it flows with the the Psalms that come immediately before it Psalms 20 to 24 are known as kingship Psalms Psalms 20 and 21 set before us God's choice of David the man after his own heart the true king of Israel and Judah as you've been hearing in the preaching of the word from 1st Samuel and 2nd Samuel this is the man after God's own heart that the man that the king of God's choosing for his people Israel not Saul of Benjamin the people's choice but David God's choice, God's King over His people, and the one who points us to the better, the true King, our Savior Christ. And then as we move into Psalms 22, 23, and 24, we see something more. Some writers have called this a trilogy of Psalms. Psalm 22 setting before us so clearly, even here in the shadows of the Old Testament, the suffering of our Savior Jesus Christ, the King on the cross, the one who cried in verse 1, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me and from the words of my groaning? Pointing us ahead to the sufferings and the unspeakable anguish and the terrors of of soul that came upon our Savior as He hung naked, bleeding, bearing the wrath of God against our sin, the King who suffered. But don't miss, even in Psalm 22, toward the end of the psalm, the royal notes of the victory of this King, of God's King. Jesus Christ, verse 27 of that Psalm, all the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nation shall worship before you for the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations. The one, the king who has suffered as a victorious king, victorious even in his sufferings. And then as we turn the page to Psalm 23, We see something of the King who shepherds us, the King who suffered in Psalm 22 unspeakable agonies to bring us to Himself as the same King. who shepherds our souls, who is gentle with his people, even whose rod and staff comforts us, and who promises to bring us, and this is important at the end of that psalm, into the house of the Lord forever. The king who suffered, the king who shepherds, and now, Psalm 24, the king triumphant, the king with a crown. the King who rises victorious in all of His sufferings, the King who at the same time gently shepherds His people, and who now enters into His glory victorious over all of His enemies, triumphant in all that the Father has sent Him to do. Psalm 24 is a psalm of our Savior Jesus Christ, of His endless victory and triumph. And, as we'll see in a few moments, our share, participation by faith in that triumph. So think of this, Christian, the King who suffered and the King who shepherds you is the King who will bring you to his throne in glory. And this is the King, our Lord Jesus Christ, who explicitly rules and reigns over all things even now. When you read verse 1 of Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's and all its fullness. The world and those who dwell therein, your mind should run to the full light and glory of the new covenant and who our Lord Jesus Christ is, who it is that holds the world under his scepter and under his sway, in his rule. the earth, the kingdom that belongs to Christ. Jesus Christ is exalted, even tonight, at the right hand of the Father. You could say that the earth belongs to King Jesus, even now. Remember those words of Psalm 2, verse 6, the decree of the father from eternity past that he would set his son on his holy hill of Zion. Or Psalm 110, verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Our Savior Christ rules and reigns over all things. This is a universal kingdom. Nothing is outside of it. Every square inch of this universe, of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, belongs now to Jesus Christ, who is head over all things, particularly to the church. but even head over the cosmos, all things under His dominion and sway, the mediatorial kingdom of our Savior Jesus Christ. The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein and there's As David contemplates and thinks about the rule of Jehovah in history and that coming rule of our Savior Jesus Christ, he thinks particularly of you and I, of the inhabitants of the earth who are participants in that kingdom, who are subjects in that kingdom, not one of us outside of that kingdom. The earth is the Lord's in its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein, that you and I belong to God, the simple truth, the one that's yet so profound. The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein, all who dwell, people out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, all of us. under the rule and the reign of Jehovah, even under His Son, Jesus Christ. Why? Why do we belong to God in this way? Very simply, again, He has created all things. He's made us. Verse 2, He has founded the earth upon the seas and established it upon the waters. He spoke at the dawn of time in Genesis 1 and created all things, the heaven and the earth and the dry land and the waters above and the sky and the atmosphere, the waters beneath. He filled that cosmos with creatures teeming full, every kind of creature. And then He made us, again, those who dwell in this land, this inhabitable part of His creation. made us in his image, and he made us for worship. This is a universal kingdom, nothing outside of it, and this brings us to our great obligation of worship. There are many, in fact many, implications of this great truth, as we pause for a moment, that the earth is the Lord's in all its fullness. The first, again, is very simple, that you and I do not belong to ourselves, but we belong to God. This means that we are accountable to Him, all of us. He holds the rights to your body, He holds the rights to your soul, to your money, to your heart, to your time, even here on the Lord's Day, as we close out the day in His house under His rule and reign. All of us, all of us belong to the Lord, not to ourselves. There's no such thing as human autonomy. There's no such thing truly as completely independent self-rule. We're under the rule and the reign of God. And you and I deny this truth, this simple yet profound truth that we belong to God. We deny it to our own grave danger. Adam and Eve denied this truth, didn't they? And it did not end well. It ended in sin and death. It did not end well for Cain. It proved dangerous for him to deny, to seek to suppress this truth. It was dangerous for the wicked multitudes in Noah's day. And it's always dangerous. It was dangerous for the multitudes of Israel who wandered and complained and refused something of Jehovah's ownership over them in the wilderness. And it remains dangerous today to seek to suppress this truth that you and I belong to God because He's our Creator and our Lord. You and I have the obligation to worship Him. He's made us. We are not our own. We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. This brings us to the simple, clear obligation of worship. And if you're here tonight outside of Jesus Christ, you're not a believer in Christ, you've not bowed the knee to the King, I call on you to bow, to resist this temptation, to run your own life, to have it your way. That only ends in death, that only ends in destruction. I call upon you to bow the knee to Jesus Christ. This, ultimately, is what conversion is, where Christ, by His Word and Spirit, subdues us to Himself, where He delivers us from our tendency and our insane, sinful desire to rule ourselves, where He opens our eyes to the insanity of that sin, the desperate wickedness of it, and where He brings us as willing subjects into His kingdom. But there are even more implications of this truth that the earth is the Lord's in all its fullness, that even we, as we belong to Him, we submit to His rule. This also means that God has given us all created gifts for our good and His glory. The earth is the Lord's in all its fullness. This is a happy truth, in fact. for the Christian. Remember how Paul uses this truth in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, even as he deals with that complicated and thorny pastoral matter of meat offered to idols. Remember how Paul uses this same reality. He tells the believers there that for conscience sake, if you're buying meat sold in the meat market or even sitting down to dinner, with an unbelieving household that you're free to eat. Without additional information, you're free to eat, to partake of that good gift, because the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Now, of course, things would become more complicated if this was meat that had been offered to idols, and there's a whole discussion there in 1 Corinthians 10, but the point remains is that God in His abundant goodness and generosity has given us All created things, food and drink you think of, or shelter, even gifts like money, these natural gifts to use for His glory ultimately and for the good of His people. This is a comforting truth for you as a Christian, that this world is created for your good, for the glory of God. God put Adam in the garden to cultivate it and attend the garden to use the goodness of creation for the glory of God. We are obligated to use it well. to use it for God's glory and not for ourselves. But for a Christian, someone who knows Jesus Christ and who embraces the promise of salvation in him, this is a most happy truth, that you can enjoy the things that God has placed in this world for his great glory, according to his word, motivated by hearts of faith and love for Christ. And then one last implication before we keep moving through the text. Again, deeply comforting for you as Christians, that the earth is the Lord's in all its fullness. The earth in all of its fullness does not belong to the wicked. It does not belong to Satan. This is the kingdom of our God Triune. It belongs to Him. And there's coming a day, even as we heard Him preaching from Psalm 104 in recent weeks, that the wicked will be consumed from the earth and sinners will be no more. A most sobering reality, again, if you're outside of Christ tonight, But for all those who know Him and submit to the King, this world belongs to God. He will win. Christ's kingdom is an unshakable kingdom. And even in the midst of the darkness that we see around us, the opposition to the spiritual kingdom of Christ and the preaching of His Word and the advance of His church as there's a battle and spiritual warfare, this gives us great hope that the earth is yet the Lord's and the fullness thereof. and Christ truly will reap the harvest that he has sown. This kingdom is a universal kingdom. You and I created to bring God worship. What are the requirements? What does a true citizen of this kingdom look like? Who are we? What kind of citizens in this kingdom are we to be? In fact, what kind of worshipers are we to be? We find this in the next section in the text, beginning at verse three. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? From the cosmos, the earth in all of its fullness, our attention now is drawn to the temple of God, the place of worship, the place where God has set His name. David, perhaps, is reflecting on the return of the ark to the tabernacle, that place of worship. We read of this early on in 2 Samuel, the ark that's been lost to the Philistines for a generation, and now it's returned to the place of worship in the tabernacle. As David contemplates the holiness of God, he thinks on and asks these questions, What kind of worshipers are we to be? What does it look like to be a citizen of this universal kingdom under the Lord's rule? Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord and 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. Clean hands and pure hearts. A heart devoted to God, no idolatry, honesty in every aspect of your heart and life. These are the kinds of worshipers who can ascend into God's holy hill, who may stand in his holy place. And if we're honest tonight, if you're honest with yourself, you know something of your sinfulness and your unworthiness, you know that you fall far short of these requirements, that you are not worthy, you are not able to ascend into the hill of the Lord, you are not able to stand in His holy place. Adam could. In fact, our first father, Adam, created in knowledge, righteousness and holiness. He was one with initially clean hands and a pure heart set toward communion with God, walking with God in the cool of the day. In fact, in that place that we could call a holy place there in the garden long ago, enjoying face to face communion with God. But as he sinned, again, with his hands, and those hands that operated on the sinful desire of his heart, and he took the fruit and plunged us into sin and misery, his hands no longer were clean, his heart was no longer pure, he had lifted up his soul to an idol, and he swore deceitfully. And in him, You and I all have impure hearts, unclean hands, hands that are full of violence and sin and depravity. In fact, this verse 4, you could think of it as a summary statement of the entire law, the comprehensive law of God, the law that searches both external actions, clean hands, and also the thoughts and motives of our hearts, pure hearts, clean hands and pure hearts. The people of God have always been those who were commanded by the Lord to have lives externally ordered according to his covenant, according to his standard of righteousness, but also hearts that are pure. We see the intensity of this in the Sermon on the Mount as our Savior preaches, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. There's a searching, comprehensive nature of the law. We even see at least more than a hint, I think, in verse 4 of both tables of the law of God, that first table of our duty to God, the duty of worship. Who is the one who can ascend into the hill of the Lord, who can stand in His holy place, the one who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, the one whose heart and life is free from idolatry, whose heart is devoted to the one living and true God, cleaves to the Lord with heart, soul, mind, and strength. He loves the Lord as God. And also that second table of the law, a life that's loving toward his neighbor, the one who has not sworn deceitfully, the one who is truthful in his relationships. We could say that verse 4 is shorthand for the entire law of God, the searching, comprehensive law that leaves us exposed, that leaves us condemned in Adam in our sin. We are not able to ascend to the hill of the Lord. we are not able by nature to stand in His holy place. Isn't this the point of the ceremonial laws? You read through the books of Exodus, you read through the books of Leviticus, and you see that time and again the people are outside that most holy place, the holy of holies, the place of the mercy seat and the ark of the covenant, the place of that Shekinah glory, the glory cloud that would fill the tabernacle, and then the temple. But the people were held back from that holiest of all. In fact, only the high priest, only on one day of the year, and only after an elaborate pattern, elaborate system of preparation and washing, could come into that most holy place. And the refrain that comes to us constantly in the Old Testament Scriptures is that we're not able to ascend to the hill of the Lord or stand. in His holy place. We are condemned in our sin. We have indeed lifted up our souls to idols. We've sworn deceitfully. We are not worthy of the covenant blessing that comes from the Lord, righteousness from the God of our salvation. We, in fact, are not those who seek the Lord. In fact, as we read in the book of Romans, Chapter 3, we read the full depth of our depravity, of our unclean hands and our impure hearts. We read you the sentence of judgment and condemnation over us by nature. Unhappy news. Well, you need to understand this if you would understand what it is to worship the triune God and what it is Christ has done for us. Romans 3 v. 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes, eyes and speech and hearts. Every organ of our body corrupt before the Lord's. No, no clean hands. no pure hearts with us, not able to come in, not able to meet the requirements for true worshipers in this kingdom, not able to enter in. This is why Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire before the Lord and were destroyed as the Lord proclaimed, I must be regarded as as the holy one. This is why Isaiah, as he sees the glory of God triune in the temple long ago in chapter 6 of his prophecy, why he would say, woe is me, for I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. I'm unclean. I'm not able to enter into communion and fellowship in the presence, the joyful, favorable presence of God. I'm condemned in my sin. As you read throughout the Scriptures, whenever people encounter God, whenever they see something of the glory of Jesus Christ, what do they do? They fall on their face, loathing their sinfulness and their unworthiness. This is why, as an aside, We are right to question those who perhaps have suggested that they've ascended into heaven and then come back in some sort of extra-biblical experience and relate something of what they saw. When people see the Lord in Scripture, there's immediate wonder and awe and reverence and a sense of God's resplendent majesty and holiness. and our unworthiness, inability to draw near, our sinfulness, dirty hands, and impure hearts. This is the verdict over our lives. In Adam, our first father, condemned, not able to draw near, the curtain of the tabernacle and then the temple with those fiery cherubim proclaimed that throughout the history of God's people, Israel. not able to come in, not able to ascend into the hell of the Lord or stand in His holy place. And this is the tension that brings us to the last section of the psalm. Undone, unworthy, unholy, not able to ascend into the hell of the Lord or stand in His holy place. This is the inflection point in the psalm created for us. as we see our unworthiness, that we can't enter in, we can't draw near, we can't by nature enjoy communion and fellowship with God. except for one, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our need of a true king. This is the glory, the king of kings and Lord of lords, the king of glory, our savior, Jesus Christ, the one who provides at last the answer to these questions, who may ascend into the hill of the Lord and who may stand in his holy place. Praise God that the psalm doesn't end at verse six, doesn't end in our great dilemma, this dilemma that leaves us exposed and empty, condemned in our sin, but there's a Savior. And this, I think, explains something of the abrupt nature in the psalm, the shifts from describing the character of what true worshipers look like, this abrupt shift to then lifting our eyes to the King of glory, the only one who himself is worthy. Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. The one who can ascend into the hill of the Lord, who can stand in His holy place, is the Lord Jesus Christ. The last Adam, the one who has clean hands and a pure heart, the one who did not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully. This is the king of glory whom God provided, the one who is able to ascend into the hill of the Lord. the One who brings us into the presence of the Lord. And think of, as you hear this chorus, even a heavenly chorus singing in resplendent worship, lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. And then the question comes, perhaps a single voice, who is this King of glory? And the answer comes back, the Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. Our thoughts immediately run to our Lord Jesus Christ and the full light and glory of His accomplishment in the Gospels. The One who was not born in Adam, but the One who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The virgin birth matters. One who was born by extraordinary generation. One who was born with clean hands and a pure heart. And you think of Him, children, you even think of Him. as a five-year-old or as a 10-year-old, as a 15-year-old, one who honored his father, who honored his mother in Joseph, one whose will was always inclined to his heavenly father, to delight in his ways, one whom, as we read through the Temptation account in particular, we see clean hands that refuse to reach out and turn the stones bread to feed himself we see a pure heart that refused to make a show of himself for Jerusalem to see by casting himself down from the pinnacle of the temple but one who one who whose every desire whose heart was inclined to the word and the way of God who said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God one who who told the tempter, even as Satan offered him there, that the counterfeit promise of all the nations of the world as his inheritance, the one who said, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve. He refused to lift up his soul to an idol. The one who did not swear deceitfully, but who even swore to his own hurt by praying, Father, let this cup pass from me, but, not My will, but Your will be done." Who submitted Himself in His frail humanity to the will of His Heavenly Father. of the Father to accomplish salvation, to bring life and redemption to us. One who went through the agonies of Calvary, who suffered those unspeakable agonies to bring us to Himself. Who purchased our forgiveness and our redemption. The one who, even as we saw in Colossians chapter 2 this morning, the one who even in His cross work, disarmed the principalities and powers, who is triumphant over death and over Satan, over hell, over sin, in his once for all victory at the cross of Calvary. The one who is indeed strong and mighty, mighty in battle. The one who destroyed the works of the devil. The one who led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. A perfect life of obedience. A once for all atonement for our sins. A resurrection raised by the power of the Father to endless life. And one who has ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on High. This is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is the last Adam, our only hope in life and in death, the one who has ascended victorious to the right hand of the Father and who brings us into the presence of God. And now those ancient doors and everlasting gates of glory, think of it, swing open as our Savior rises triumphant, entering the one perfect human life. A life lived in every way in resplendent holiness to the honor of God. The God-man clothed in our flesh, crucified, buried, risen, ascended to the right hand of the Father. And they're seated in majesty over all things. And because He's ascended, and even there tonight, because He's ascended to the right hand of the Father, we have a sure pledge, a sure promise all those who know Jesus Christ, that we'll make it there ourselves. That one day we will ascend to that holy place. That we will stand before the Lord, not dressed in our own righteousness, our own filthy rags and our hands that are unclean and our impure hearts, but dressed in the perfect righteousness of our Savior Jesus Christ. His blood washing away all of our sins. brought through the One who is the way, the truth, and the life, the new and living way into access, into heaven, there to enjoy endless communion and fellowship with God triune. In Christ, the last Adam, the King of glory, the Lord strong and mighty in battle, we have more. far more than Adam lost. In Him, through His cross work, through His, again, perfect obedience, through His cross work, His victorious resurrection and His ascension, we have more than Adam lost. We have unlosable life and access to the Father, access to God triune and endless worship. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. Our only hope in life and in death. The one who has granted us his spirit so that we might have clean hands and pure hearts. Christian, how does this truth benefit you? How does it help you? I'd like to, as we close and think about how this glorious truth of the ascension of Christ, the King of Glory, how it comforts and helps us, I want to point us to the words of the Heidelberg Catechism. How does Christ's ascension to heaven benefit us? There are three particular benefits that I want you to meditate on. as we close. First, He is our advocate in heaven and the presence of His Father. He intercedes for us. He prays for us. He is a perfect priest who has entered in the new and living way. Remember that the veil of the temple was torn in two as our Savior cried, it is finished, and breathed His last, signifying that the way to the Father is open. through the work of our Savior Christ, and he's there. Even as we worship him here now, as you sit under his word, he's there at the right hand of the Father. He prays for you, Christian, as he prayed for Peter, that your faith doesn't fail. He's your advocate, and he promises to bring you there. Second benefit, second way in which the Christ's ascension benefits us, we have our own flesh in heaven. has a sure pledge that Christ will bring us, even His members, up to Himself. That because He's there, in union with Him, we'll make it there. All those who belong to Him in saving faith. That in the midst of the corruption of your own heart, and the ways in which you see that your hands remain unclean as you battle sin, and you see the mixed motives, the impure motives of your heart, and you battle that incipient idolatry, and you endeavor to not swear deceitfully in your relationships with others, as you see that remaining corruption and you feel the war within, You look above and see Him there, the One who, because His flesh is at the right hand of the Father, the One who will bring you safely there. And then third, the third comfort of the ascension of Christ, that He sends His Spirit to us. as a sure pledge, a corresponding pledge of his presence with us. That between now and then, that day when our Savior Christ splits the clouds from glory and brings us in resurrection to himself, that between now and then, he's given us his presence, he's given us his Holy Spirit, assisting us as if he reached out his very hand from heaven. This is how to think about the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is how the Ascension comforts you. Think much of your Savior. Yes, in his sinless life, perfect life of obedience, his cross work, and once for all sacrifice for your sins, his powerful resurrection. But then don't neglect to worship the King of glory, the Lord mighty, strong in battle, who's ascended to the right hand of the Father. and who will bring you there one day by the grace of his spirit, so that you may ascend into the hill of the Lord, and that you may stand in his holy place, the good shepherd who promises us that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let us pray. Blessed God, how thankful we are for your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory and the Lord strong and mighty in battle. Lord Jesus, we give you thanks for your ascension and the way in which you as our advocate stand at the right hand of the Father, in which you promised one day to bring us there to heaven, to the holy hill, the holy place of your presence and the way in which you've granted us your Holy Spirit to work in us, cleansing us from all of our sin, forgiving us and working, transforming us more and more into your holy image. Forgive our sins. Deliver us from distraction. Enable us to be true worshipers and loyal subjects in your kingdom. And may you receive all the glory. You, Lord Jesus, as the king of glory and the Lord strong and mighty in battle. In your holy name we pray. Amen. And go into the week with the blessing of God triune. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.