We turn in the Word of God to first Hebrews chapter one, and then Psalm 24. Hebrews chapter one, and then Psalm 24, and we'll stand together for the reading of the Word. Hebrews chapter one, Psalm 24, and we read the Word together. Psalm 24 is a Psalm about the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we read of the glory of that exaltation, particularly the phrase here that's important that shows up again and again throughout the New Testament. It's Christ's sitting down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Hear the word of the Lord. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds. Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. having become so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. We turn now to the Old Testament, 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, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord, it endures forever. And we pray together. Let us pray. Lord God, we pray that you would help us receive your word again tonight. Your word tells us that your testimonies are wonderful and therefore our soul keeps them. That the entrance of your word gives light and it gives understanding to the simple. We pray that you would so direct our steps by your word. and let no iniquity have dominion over us, that you would redeem us from the oppression of men, that we would keep your precepts for your glory. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. We turn to Psalm 24. Psalm 24, a psalm which we shall see, is about the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in particular, his entrance into glory. But before we look at the psalm properly, I thought it would be helpful to have somewhat of an image in your mind, would help you think about the structure of the psalm. This summer, I had the privilege of attending our General Assembly, the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, which was held in Seattle, Washington. And I came in a bit early in that afternoon. The day before, I was on a ferry across, I think it's Puget Sound, from the Olympic Peninsula, coming into Seattle. And I noticed something quite striking. If you've ever been to Seattle, if you've ever seen Seattle from this vantage point, across the water we could see the entirety of the inhabited city. and then towering above it in the background was Mount Rainier. Now, I have had the privilege of seeing many mountains and mountain ranges, but Mount Rainier is striking in that it is one of those mountains that appears to stand alone. When you see it on the horizon at 14,410 feet, it dominates the horizon. You see the city, these inhabitations of men, and behind it, this great mighty mountain that stands over it all. The bustling lives of men, the mountain that overlooks it all. That picture, if you can keep that in mind, will help you understand to some degree the structure of Psalm 24. Psalm 24, we could divide into three scenes. Three scenes. Really two places. and in the second place, or location, a general description and then a great event. So you could say scene one, scene two, and the great event in scene two. And these scenes in the illustration I just gave you, if you were to hold that in your mind, would roughly correspond to the world of men the mountain of God, and then the great question, how is it that someone could move from the world of men to the mountain of God? And that really is the great question in Psalm 24, but it's not just a question raised. The question is raised and answered by Psalm 24. How could someone from the world of men ascend the mountain of God and enter into His holy presence. And so we're gonna follow those scenes with that question in our mind and see what this psalm teaches us ultimately about the ascension, the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ and His entrance into heavenly glory. So the first scene. The first scene is a very broad picture. It is comprised in the first two verses of the psalm. The second scene is verses three through six, and then the great event in the second scene is verses seven through 10. But the first scene is just the first two verses. These words are probably familiar to you, and they capture a biblical worldview of the Bible. in language that is found across the scriptures again and again. And the language we read in the text is, the earth is the Lord and in all its fullness the world and those who dwell therein. That there is a world that it belongs to God and that it is under his dominion. The Lord, It's in his holy temple we read in Psalm 11, his throne is in heaven, and his eyes behold his eyelids test the children of the sons of men. And you have the picture there of heaven and the Lord in heaven, and then men and women and boys and girls on earth. And this combination of heaven above and the earth below of God's throne and then the world beneath his throne and all humanity under the rule of God is all through the scriptures. This basic worldview is the way the Bible describes reality. Heaven above God's throne, and he has total ownership and rule over all things. He's the creator king. He is the one whose dwelling place is on his mountain, Mount Zion. And these basic elements are behind Psalm 24. They also remind us that the Bible is filled with similar imagery. The first creation had the Garden of Eden, which if you read the text and imagery carefully in Genesis chapter 2, seems to be on a mountain, as the rivers flow from it and water the whole earth, the mountain of God. Genesis 22 is a place where Abraham meets the Lord on a mountain, and it's significant. We have Sinai, where Israel gathers around a mountain and the Lord reveals his presence, particularly to the mediator on the mountain, but Israel is gathered around the mountain. And Sinai teaches something else about this imagery, that it was not possible for Israel, as a sinful people, to ascend to the top of that mountain. If they even touched the mountain, the writer of the Hebrews reminds us of this, they would die. That there is this mountain imagery that in the garden, it was a place of communion, and now after the fall into sin, there's a distance, a breach, a great gulf between heaven and earth. In Christ's ministry, we have similar pictures. It's not inconsequential that He delivers something called the Sermon on the Mount, that there's the Mount of Transfiguration, that the cross is at Mount Zion, that the Great Commission was given on a mountain, that there are pictures that remind us that the very even shape of creation, even the reminder in Seattle looking at Mount Rainier that as my eyes or your eyes were to be lifted to a lofty mountain peak that you are to think about not only physical but spiritual realities that they're tied together by the word. And this also is connected surely to the desire for people to climb mountains and to get to the top and have what we call in another way a mountaintop experience. There's something built into the very fabric of the physical created world which reflects something of these grand biblical themes. And when we see these things, we should think the higher things. Now, look at the elements of that picture in Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord in all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. We have first the plain or the people gathered, as it were, around the mountain of God. Think of Sinai. But here, It's all humanity. And they are described as being in the earth, which belongs to the Lord. A couple things from the text. The earth is the Lord's. There's a single owner of this earth. And the word here is Eretz, the great wide plain under heaven. And all of its fullness, everything that belongs to it, the whole of this globe belongs to God. It's under Him. It belongs to Him. More than that, verse 1 tells us, the world and those who dwell in it. Tebel is the word in Hebrew here, and it means every inhabited place and all of the inhabitants. So not just the bare sphere, but all of humanity, the world, the globe. The earth belongs to the Lord. It's fullness, everything in it, and especially and particularly with a focus on humanity under God, belonging to God. It is the Lord's. He has total ownership. Every island, every tree, every animal with a special focus, every human being made in His image, under His dominion, without exception. It's his. Why? For, verse two, he made it. He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Why is God's name on the deed of the earth and your life? It's because he made you. He made the world and he made everything in it. By virtue of his act of creation, he is the creator king, the sole owner, the title holder, to the world, everything in it, and every single human being who has ever lived. Because, or for, He founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. And the language of creation brings us back to thoughts of Eden. that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, that He made man. He made man after His image. And the language of His dominion and ownership is found all through the Psalms, through the Psalter. It is common language to speak of heaven and earth and earth belonging to God. I can give you an example here from Psalm 89. The heavens are yours. The earth is also yours. The world in all its fullness. Why? You have founded them. God in the space of six days by the word of his power and all very good made this whole world and everything in it the whole of the universe It belongs to him David when he prays in first Chronicles 29 and they're gathering the offerings for the temple He says that everything belongs to you and everything that we have only came from you Lord David here is confessing God as creator and owner of the globe, its fullness, and all of its people. Full stop. It belongs to God. The whole thing is made by His hands. It's His. And here's a very grand view of God. A very grand view of his creative work, and it's one that we should share with David. When we see what God has made, we should acknowledge that it belongs to him. We should give him glory. We should say, Lord, the earth is yours in all of its fullness. It's reason to praise him, for he made it, he created it. It's the work of his fingers. He owns it, created it. This is what the Lord used to challenge Job. Concerning his majesty, where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? That this fundamental principle of God's creative power and ownership is one of the great poles that lies at the heart of our worship. This should remind you of what you owe to God your whole life. You just imagine if somebody forgave you a debt or gave you a great gift in this life. Sometimes you wonder how could I ever say thank you? But how about this, God made your life, He keeps your heart beating, and He made the piece of land on which your home sits, and the trees that give you shade, and the sun that shines, and the crops that grow. There's nothing in your entirety of your experience that supports your life. Your life itself did not come from Him, and you belong to Him as Creator. And you owe Him your life, because He made your life. The ownership of all things, the earth, is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and all those who dwell in it. But now we get to the second part or the second scene in the Psalm verse three. We've laid the foundation of all humanity under God as creator king with his indisputable title of ownership and you owing your allegiance to him. Scene two presents a pressing problem. And the problem is a breach between heaven and earth. So you have this world where God rules, but he's in heaven, we're on earth, though we owe him allegiance, we are not fit for his presence. Here's the problem. Though we owe him allegiance, we are not fit for his presence. A scene shift. We go from the earth below to the mountain that towers over The hill of the Lord, verse three. The holy place of God. We've gone from the world below to the mountain above. The word for hill here is a Hebrew word that is rightly translated mountain. Not just hill, but mountain. This mountain also has a single owner, the hill of the Lord, or the mountain of the Lord, it belongs to him. It's the same owner, the Lord, Yahweh. I am who I am, the Lord God of the scriptures, the God of the covenant, the God who revealed himself to Moses, the God of Israel. He owns the earth. He owns heaven. He owns the city of this world and He sits enthroned in heaven above. The peak of this mountain is called His holy place. The holy place of God. It's a description of heaven. The hill of the Lord. The holy place of God. If you are thinking about reading the Psalms in their context, it's also what David longs for at the end of Psalm 23, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It's also called the house of God, the dwelling place of God. It is the place where angels and the spirits of just men made perfect, right now, can see the unveiled, unmitigated glory of the triune God. It's where that glory dwells. It's the place where God says, heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. It's the place from which He presently reigns. But the problem is, who can ascend the mountain? Mount Rainier, I did a little bit of reading about it this week. I have the mountain in a picture on a screensaver at home, and I was looking at it over the last days, and I wondered, how tall is that? I just said a moment ago, 14,410 feet. To climb that mountain, it's a lot of work. It's an icy, dangerous mountain. You need to hire a guide, a certified guide. Unless you're good at climbing mountains, I'm not. And you have to hike 10 miles one way and climb 9,000 feet in the ice. And for someone like me, it's something I would love to do and something I'm pretty sure I can't do. I'd have to work on that. There's a barrier. There's a sense of I can see that peak, but I am not capable of reaching it. That's just a tiny and even, Insignificance the wrong word. I'm looking for the illustration fails not just by degree but by Fundamental ability and definition the problem that's in the text is that there's this mountain of God And it is not possible For a sinful man to ascend it who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord who shall stand in his holy place? It's a spiritual question which asks this, what is the way from earth to heaven? What is the way? From the plain to the mountain peak, from the seashore to Everest, but it's a spiritual Everest, a holy place. And the two questions is not what is the way, it's who may ascend, who may stand. Who has the privileges to enter in? Who has the rights? For whom is this place home? The background of the question, if you recall the creation language in verses one and two, the earth is the Lord's for he has founded it, it helps us go back to Eden. The garden in the center of God's world, the place of communion between God and man. What happens after man's moral rebellion? The cherubim guard the way to the tree of life and there's not a way back to God. It's barred, flaming sword. There's not a road back to Eden. After the flood, it appears that Eden is wiped off the face of the earth. There is no more. Remnant, the original creation in many ways gone under the waters of the flood. Heaven, now in a sense even further away. And if you were an Israelite and you understood what Mount Zion was and what the temple was, you'd be reminded all the time of this question. because you could not enter the Holy of Holies. If you did, you would die. You did not have rights to enter God's holy place. It wasn't just a matter of whether or not you knew where it was. It was that you were morally unfit You were unholy. You were unable. You could not even touch Mount Sinai. You couldn't enter the Holy of Holies. When Nadab and Abihu tried to do so of their own will, they were struck by the Lord. There's the problem of the loss of communion with God because of moral rebellion. And the great question then, what is the way back to God? For an Israelite, that temple curtain was impenetrable by any natural human means, and salvation was the longing to go beyond and to see the face of God again. And if you look at the Scriptures, you'll see that not only in Psalm 23, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, but that there is this longing. To enter in, Lord, I have loved the habitation of your house, the place where your glory dwells. That's Psalm 26, Psalm 27. One thing I have desired of the Lord that I will seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple that there is a longing to see the face of God, to return to him. That's the longing of the believer. But the question is the barrier, who may? who may ascend, who may stand. The reason why we cannot is our sinful natural condition. And the answer here is highlighted by an extended description of the one who may enter in. The answer is moral. He who has clean hands and a pure heart If the reason for exile was moral failure, and you think of the exile from the garden or Israel's exile from the land, if the reason is moral failure, it's not surprising that the qualifications to enter would be moral purity. Look at the language. Who may enter? Who may ascend? Who may stand before the Lord? He who has clean hands. That's language indicative of a holy life. He who has a pure heart. The inward, hidden life of the soul, perfectly acceptable to God. Pure, clean hands. No stain of sin on your life and your actions. Pure heart, no stain of sin to the depths of your inner life. A faithful worshiper has never lifted up his soul to an idol. An honest man of integrity has never sworn deceitfully, who has control over his tongue, control over his heart, and he has control over where he goes, what he does, and he offers his life wholly and acceptably to God. The faithful worshiper. The expectation of this one is that he shall enter in, verse five, he shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of salvation. The scepter of God's favor will be extended to this one. He will enter in. But the tension builds. Because David asked the question, he answers, the one of perfect moral purity inwardly and outwardly, a worshiper, will receive the extended scepter of God's favor, be welcomed into the holy presence of God on the mountain of God, has privileges to ascend and stand in the courts of God. The tension builds because we are unqualified. The qualities are qualities we are missing. There's a sense where this picture of tension brings us all the way to the end of the scriptures. Brings us to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 5. where there's a sense of a similar tension. As John, in the vision of heaven, sees the right hand of him, saw the right hand of him who sat on the throne and a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. He's in heaven looking at the Father, the Ancient of Days on the throne. I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals. And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or even to look at it, so I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or look at it. This question of someone worthy and able to enter in and to do the will of God and to be a true servant of God, no one was found. And that's where Psalm 24 leaves us if we're honest with ourselves. Who has the right to ascend or to stand? With that background, verses 7 through 10 should surprise us. Verses 7 through 10 tell us of one who has rights that are unparalleled in glory and power. If you were to ask the question, was anyone found? Is anyone whole? Perhaps you know the song, able to break the seal and open the scroll. Does anyone have rights to stand, to go through the gates, to live in the presence? Verse seven brings an explosion of glory. For the moral qualifications in verses four through six are described. Verses seven through nine bring us the person who possesses the qualifications. We are now witnesses in heaven itself, verse 7. A command rings out. Lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors. It's a surprising command when you think about heaven. I thought about this little phrase, I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of righteousness. It came to mind as I was meditating on this psalm, imagining and perhaps sanctified imagination, the doorkeepers of heaven to their stations at the command, lift the gates. When you think about the moral culpability in the state of humanity and our state of our own hearts, You need to have this in your mind to be surprised by the command. Is anyone worthy? None. Anyone have clean hands and a pure heart? None. Is there any who seeks after God? No, not one. Why? Open the gates. Why? And a lone figure emerges from the clouds to the gate, and the command is, the King of glory shall come in. There's a question. Who is this King of Glory? And you could imagine all of heaven asking this question. Who could this be? Who could this be? Perhaps a sense of heavenly surprise. There's someone here for whom the Father has said, open the gates. There's someone here The Father describes as the King of glory. There's someone here who the command from the throne is to lift up your heads so gates be lifted up, your everlasting door, to throw all the doors of heaven open. And this should be a surprise because for four millennia until the coming of Jesus Christ, there was no one worthy, no one with rights to ascend, no one with rights to enter in. No one who in and of himself have merit. Who is it? It's a very interesting answer. Who is this King of Glory? Look at verse 8. The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Now this has to arrest you because the Lord is the King over creation. The Lord is the one who owns the holy hill. The Lord is the one who issues the command to open the gates and the everlasting doors. And the Lord is the one who comes in. Glory. The glory of God. The Lord's strong and mighty, not just the Lord in general. But the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, the Lord triumphant. Strong, mighty, and having just triumphed. It's the victorious warrior king returning to heaven. Verse nine, now the command is repeated to the gatekeepers and the gates themselves. Lift up your heads, O gates, lift up all you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. There's a sense of the first command, the question, the answer, the command repeated, open. Yes, really, open. Open those gates now. The command, the question is asked one more time, who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory. The Lord of the armies of heaven is now the king of heaven. He belongs here. He has ascended. He has rights to stand, even sit in my presence. This is a prophecy of the ascension of Jesus Christ. There's already hints of this in the book of the Psalms. It's the Psalm of David. David is the great figurehead of the Psalter in a sense. It's about the Davidic kingship. It's all about a king who would come. It's a king who David knew would come. Psalm 110, later David in the Psalter would write, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make all your enemies a footstool for your feet. And Jesus said that David knew that this would be his Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. that when David was penning these Psalms with all the pomp and pageantry and imagery of Zion and David himself as a king, he already knew that there was someone greater coming, the Lord Jesus Christ. He already knew. And secondly, it's in a series of Psalms about Jesus Christ. Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? There's the cross. Then the exaltation of Christ in Psalm 22. And then the declaration of Jesus, I am the good shepherd in Psalm 23. And now the exaltation of Jesus Christ as he enters the gates of heaven triumphant. The line of prophecy runs across these three psalms to give us the king who suffered for us, the king who is our shepherd, and the king who is Christus' victor. The psalm is signaled already in the ministry of Jesus Christ in picture form in the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where the gates of Jerusalem were opened up and the crowds lined, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. But far better than that, it is the exaltation of Jesus Christ actually prophesied. The real thing, the particular moment here is the ascension. You remember Acts chapter one. Jesus gave his last commands. And then the apostles relate that they watched him ascend into heaven until a cloud received him out of their sight. They asked the, the angels were watching. And they came to ask the disciples, why do you stand there gazing up into heaven? And then they explained this same Jesus, Jesus has gone into heaven, this same Jesus will come back one day. He is going to be crowned. He's going to the place where the gates will lift up their heads, the everlasting doors will be opened up. He's going to the throne. And it's not, you have to understand the magnitude of what is being declared here. It's not simply spiritual. It's historical, physical, the God-man, the Lord, the God who became flesh and dwelt among us, the one who first descended from heaven as the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God who said, here I am, Father, send me. I will live a life of pure hands and a clean heart. I will conquer the devil and all your enemies. I will go to the cross. I will rise again. I will secure the salvation of my people. I will ascend into glory as you have told me I will do. I am the one who first descended and will ascend." He says it already in John chapter 3. He knew that this was his destiny. And on account of his obedience, his perfect moral perfection in every way, Signaled at the beginning of his ministry by his victory over the devil all the way through the cross and then Because he was obedient to death even the death of the cross He was highly exalted Given a name which is above every name the name of Jesus And you need to know that as a man with all the emotions of the God-man with a body of the God-man with eyesight and hearing and a voice of the God-man, that it was him for whom gates of heaven were opened, the everlasting doors, because he had the rights, the privilege, the merits, the victory, the righteousness and the glory required to enter in and take his place in heaven. And this is the ascension of Jesus Christ. After his suffering, he was laid in the grave, Then he rose again and he ascended into heaven and entered. And that's where he is right now. This psalm describes one of the most staggering events that has ever happened in the cosmos. There's a sense in which the ascension and the entry of Jesus Christ is a moment of indescribable glory and power. that we should think more about. It helps us understand the resurrection, the glory of the cross. It points us to the second coming of the Lord Jesus. It's tied to His present reign and rule over all things. Lift up your heads. O you gates, the cry goes through heaven. Be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty. The Lord mighty in battle. The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. We turn back to the Apostle John. No one was found worthy. And the rest of the story we read, I wept actually. Verse 4, I wept much because no one was found worthy. He's in tears. He's watching. There's no one who has rights to the throne. There's no king. There's no executor of the eternal will of the Father, at least that he can see. And do you remember what happens? One of the elders said to me, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll into lucid seven seals. And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne are the four living creatures. In the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain. And it came and took the scroll of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And then heaven erupts in glory. You are worthy. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Blessed is the one who sits on the throne. Blessing and honor and glory be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever. This is the eruption of heaven. And I want you to think about this, go all the way back, at the entry of the mediator, the God-man into glory. At the historical entrance of our flesh into heaven on the throne forever. The one man qualified to enter it. Conquered evil in the grave and lived a pure life offered to God. The Lord who left heaven and returns to heaven is the King of glory. It's a cosmic earthquake of unimaginable, indescribable proportions. Satan cast from heaven, Christ on the throne. A prophetic description of Jesus' exaltation. Some ways to meditate on the significance of this. What does this entrance of Jesus into glory teach us? Let me give you some things. First of all, it signals the perfection and completion of all that he came to accomplish on earth. When that call goes out through heaven, Let the gates be lifted up and the everlasting doors be unsealed. That is the Father declaring, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He has finished his mission. His place is on the throne. All that I sent him to do he has accomplished. He has come here to sit down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. because he has offered himself once as sacrifice for sins. Hebrews chapter one. Think of the angelic hosts, the spirits of just men made perfect, that eruption of heaven, the explosion of glory. Christ is king is what the ascension declares to all the earth. The earth is the Lord's in all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it because he made it, but because the King of glory has secured it as his inheritance by finishing his work. Second thing. It was good that he went for you and for me. It was necessary. Second thing to learn, because by this we have been given the Holy Spirit. You remember in John chapter 16, Jesus was trying to explain to his disciples that were often so slow of heart to believe, he was trying to comfort them. He had to say, let not your heart be troubled after he had been explaining to them his passion and death and then departure. Don't be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house are many mansions. If I were not so, I would have told you. I'd go to prepare a place for you. He knew where he was going. He knew he was going to heaven. But he also did this for a reason. In John chapter 16, we read this. He says, it is to your advantage, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, because if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when Peter preached at Pentecost, he says, this Jesus, who you with lawless hands have crucified, God has raised him from the dead, he has ascended into heaven, and he has poured out this which you now see and hear, the Holy Spirit. 1. The ascension signals the finished work of Jesus Christ. 2. The ascension was necessary for the giving of the Spirit, the Spirit who is the promise of the Father and proceeds from the Father and the Son. 3. Christ's entrance secures your own privilege and place of entrance into heaven. In Hebrews chapter 10, there's some beautiful language, language that describes our Savior. The writer of the Hebrews is concerned that the listeners or the readers of the letter would not wander away from Christ. And the way he encourages them is with these words. He says in Hebrews chapter 10, therefore brethren, having boldness to enter the holiness by the holiest place, heaven. I want you to hear that language. Psalm 24 says, who shall ascend, who may stand? By virtue of the new covenant, the sacrifice and blood of Jesus Christ, the writer of the Hebrews uses very different language. Now I'm not language against the Old Testament, but the fullness of New Covenant glory is here. Having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh. Having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with true heart and full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. When Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life, you remember there was a dream that Jacob had long ago. What was the dream? There was a ladder between heaven and earth, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There was a way opened. Jesus said, I am Jacob's ladder. Later, he would say, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. The writer of the Hebrews says, he's the new and living way. How? The gates open, he enters in. and we united to Him by faith, Ephesians 2 and verse 6, are already seated in the heavenlies in Him. We have the privileges by faith in Jesus Christ. That means if you believe in Him, the answer to the question, who may ascend and who shall stand, As you can say, the writer of Hebrews says, with boldness, Lord, you've given me the righteousness and the holiness I need. Heaven is now my home. Christ has secured your privilege, your entry, and your place in heaven by his own ascension. Fourth, it guarantees the victory of the kingdom of God over the kingdom of darkness. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, and I will make all your enemies a footstool for your feet. That's Psalm 110. Psalm 24, together with Psalm 110. In Ephesians 1 and verse 20, which uses the language of ascension and entry into heaven. Speaking of God working in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but that which is to come, and He put all things under His feet, gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. That language is packed and dense, but it says this, that by virtue of the ascension and the seating of Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father, there is not one power of hell, not one demon, not the whole kingdom of darkness, not this whole world that is able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, because the King of glory sits on the throne and he rules over all things. Now, there's a lot of unrest in the world and a lot of people terrified about what might happen tomorrow. Why would you be? Why? Why? There's also a lot of very, and I can't get into it tonight or I'll go way too long, but especially online, the whole idea of the kingdom of God and a Christian nation and a fascination with the things of this present passing age. is disturbing actually. There is a groundswell right now happening and particularly young men are drawn to it. Let me just say something to you young men who are hoping for some sort of restoration of an earthly kingdom because you don't see politics going in the right direction. You begin with this, He is ascended, Christ is King, He's ruling, and He's ruling for your good whether or not you can see the end of His plan at this moment. And the success, glory, and power of the Kingdom of Heaven is not tied to the success, glory, and power of the kingdoms of this present world. Christ is ruling now. It also means, number five, that you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Someone who pleads for you and your case as you pray. And then directly back to Psalm 24. It teaches you the importance of holiness. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord or who may stand in His holy place? Did you know that you need to be perfectly holy to go to heaven? perfect. As a matter of fact, John writes very plainly in the Revelation that anything abominable, not perfectly holy, has no place in heaven. Did you know that you need clean hands and a pure heart and pure worship to be in heaven? But there shall by no means enter anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." No abominations, no unholiness, only perfection in heaven. There's no other way. The gates will not open. There's no other path. And this is why we glory in Jesus Christ. What has He come to do? Wash your sins away and make you clean. But you need to understand He doesn't stop there. He's come to make you a different person, to make you holy, to sanctify you, to change you. This is why the writer of the Hebrews says when he thinks about the ascension of Jesus going all the way to the right hand of the Father, he says, I'm following Him to heaven. I better lay aside every sin that so easily entangles, every weight that slows me down. I understand that without holiness no one will see the Lord. I'm aiming for heaven. I'm following Christ. I need clean hands and a pure heart. Lord Jesus, please forgive my sins. Lord Jesus, please change my character. Lord Jesus, please change my life. And I trust and I know that because of your finished work, all that is yet undone, when I die, you will fix in the great grace of glorification. But if you understand what heaven is, you will be motivated to leave sin behind. It teaches us the importance of holiness. And we are thankful for Christ who makes us holy. Finally, it guarantees a second coming. Heaven, from which we eagerly await a Savior, Jesus Christ. He's coming again, you'll see him. In all the glory. Of that day when the gates were lifted up and the angels sang and the spirits of just men made perfect erupted and the elders, 24 elders, sang, will be visible to you when he comes to bring you to the place in his Father's house where you will see the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit forever. This was secured by the ascension of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we pray that you would come quickly. We pray that you would help us to set our sights on heaven. That you would help us to lay aside every weight that so easily entangles us. Lord, we thank you for our Savior, the King of glory and his victory and triumph and righteousness and power. And we pray, oh God, that we would, again, set our mind on things above where Christ is, to think on Him, our advocate, to bless you for your spirit. to praise you for your protective and glorious reign, to wait for you from heaven. So we pray, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen. Look up now and receive the blessing of the Lord. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.