Life in His Presence | In His Presence He Cleanses Us: Psalms 24

Lemanuel Williams: Yeah. Kids can be dismissed. Okay, guys, it's ⁓ pleasure to be with you ⁓ this morning. ⁓ man, I remember over a year and a half ago, Jonathan and I were together, and this was just ⁓ like he said, it was a vision, it was a dream. we're talking about our churches, and now you guys are nine months in, we're three months in, time has flown by, and the Lord ⁓ is powerfully at work among us. I'm grateful to be here, be partnering with you guys ⁓ in the gospel in the same county, ⁓ Edge County. County and you guys in a different city, but we are we are tight together in the same work, co-laboring in the gospel. I'm not going to do a long introduction because my brother did a good introduction. We're just going to get straight to the text in Psalm 24. If you would please stand for the reading of God's word. Psalm chapter 24, verse 1 through 6. And the scriptures say these words. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas, he has established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, and who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah. Truth of the text that I want us to see this morning. You don't see anything else, is this. In his presence, he cleanses us. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. I don't know if you ever witnessed this, ⁓ but there was a time, ⁓ and there's always times, where you buy your kid ⁓ a toy ⁓ that they want really bad. Maybe they don't deserve it, maybe ⁓ they haven't worked for it, they haven't earned it, but you just buy it for them anyways, and you give them that toy, you gift them with that toy. They play with that toy all but 24 hours. Until it's sitting inside of a corner somewhere collecting dust. You probably are familiar with something like this. But let alone you let another kid touch that toy. He can be collecting dust for months. And ⁓ they they're willing to go to their death to get that toy. Those words, I don't know if they're sacred or are they ⁓ or if they're actually curse words in kids' vernacular, but they'll say, that's mine, right? That's mine. ⁓ and and we know that everything that belongs inside of the house we purchase as the parents. It actually belongs to us. It doesn't belong to them. We gifted it to them, right? Here's the problem we have on our hands. They don't own the toy. They were given the toy. And actually, everything inside the house, as I said, it belongs to us, the parents inside of the house. But they are convinced that they have the right to hoard the toy as if they own the toy, even to the detriment of others. And what all this boils down to is this, my friends. It's a skewed view of ownership. It's what Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian, once said. He said, this is the universal right of common use. I'm not going to get too heady on you or too intellectual on you. This is what this simply means. Things you don't own, you only have the right to use. Things you don't own, you only have the right to use. You do not have the right to act like they belong to you. This is not only true of toys, it's true of numerous things. So think about a house if you're leasing it, if you're renting it, right? You're using a space to live in. Now you can go ahead and invest a lot of money in that space. You can put paint up there. You can pave a driveway in. At the end of the day. That house don't belong to you. It belongs to the owner, right? ⁓ you can do a car if you're leasing that car, you're using a vehicle for transport. But if it i it it doesn't matter what you do, you can put a new stereo inside of it, you can put new rims on it, you can invest a lot of money in it, but if you're leasing it and renting it, it doesn't belong to you, right? Simply put, if you don't own the thing, whatever it is, you only have the right to use the thing. So here's the question. Here's the question. What belongs to you? What belongs to you? What do you think you own? Here's what the psalmist says in Psalm twenty four one. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And the world and all those who dwell within. The psalmist is saying whatever you think belongs to you, it doesn't. It belongs to the Lord. I love how the psalmist doesn't just make a general statement, he's making a comprehensive statement. He's saying the Lord doesn't just own the earth, but everything in the earth and the fullness thereof. And if you think he's just talking about the land and the seas and the skies and the trees, no, no, he adds on. He says, All that dwell within. From the fish that stuh that swim to the birds that fly to every cattle that actually grazes from the grass to every human being that's living and dead. The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof, and all that dwell within. What does that mean for us? That means nothing belongs to you. Not a thing. Everything belongs to the Lord. You just get to use what He's given to you. You don't own your house. Say, Pastor, I I signed the papers. I got the deed of trust. It's mine. Psalmist says, no, no. It belongs to the Lord. Your car. Pastor, I signed the title. It's in my hand. It belongs to me. It's mine. No, no. The psalmist says it belongs to the Lord. Your career. Pastor, I've worked hard to get this degree. I worked hard to establish this career. It's mine. No, no. Psalmist says it belongs to the Lord. Your money. Pastor, I worked hard to make these wages. I made wise investments. I made a lot of money. I make my money work for me. I got a retirement fund that's been growing for me so I can retire cover early. Or on the flip side of that, I hardly got any money left. It's mine. No, no. The psalmist says it belongs to the Lord. Your children. ⁓ Pastor, that came from my loins. I carried these children for nine months inside of my belly. I raised these children. I've fed them. I've nurtured them. I've invested countless hours and effort into my children. And for some of us, hey man, my child is the only thing I even got to live for. It's mine. Salmon says, No, no, it belongs to the Lord. Your life. I've worked hard to build a life for myself. I mean, it's mine to live. I can do whatever I want. It belongs to me. It's mine. Salama says, no, no. It belongs to the Lord. Your secrets. I I've worked hard to be sure the truth about this thing is never exposed. It's mine. Psalmist says, no, no, it belongs to the Lord. The psalmist is saying, everything you have does not belong to you. It has been given to you and entrusted to you. It belongs to the Lord. You don't own anything. Not your house, your career, your bank account, your body, your life. Everything has been given to you. And everything you have can be taken from you. Because ultimately it does not belong to you. Spiritually speaking, when we finally admit this, we begin to live out this truth, and we it it becomes deep into our bones. We actually are when we're stripped of everything, the scriptures say that we are naked before the Lord. So when the Bible teaches that Adam and Eve were naked, it doesn't mean that they were, ⁓ that they weren't just wearing clothes. It's theologically, it's teaching the state of being that they were in. They were in a vulnerable state where they didn't have anything to hide. They were naked and unashamed. It was meant to be a beautiful picture of what marriage was intended to be, actually. A relationship where there is no secrets. But your spouse can know the worst things about you and yet still love you. Another way of putting this is that to be naked meant you don't have to cover up who you are, but you can unashamedly reveal who you are. What does that mean for us? Well, we try to cover up who we are with what we have. But to be naked before God means that when every garment of possession is stripped away, when every garment of a title or position or prestige or honor is stripped away, when every garment of accomplishment is stripped away, when every garment of relationships are laid aside, there is nothing left to hide. You're simply you standing before God. And and and that's one of the most frightening realities I think we have inside of the human heart. Because So much of our identity is wrapped up in what we possess. Man, I'm successful. I'm a provider. I'm a homeowner. I'm a parent. I'm a businesswoman. I'm a I'm an athlete. I'm an addict. I'm a victim. I'm one I'm one everybody depends on. We wear those things like clothing. But what happens when God begins taking off the clothing? What happens when he removes the very things you've been using to define yourself? Who are you then? Who are you when the job is gone? Who are you when the money runs out? Who are you when your children move away? Who are you when your health begins to fail? Who are you when there's no one there to applaud you anymore? Who are you when every earthly identity has actually been stripped away and all that's left standing before the Lord is you naked before him? Who are you then? Because that's where Psalm 24 is taking us. Not merely asking, what do you own, but to ask, Who are you when you own nothing? Because until you stand before God with empty hands, you'll never discover whether your confidence has been in him or in the gifts that he's actually placed inside of your hands. There's no one in scripture, perhaps, that has understood this better than Job. Job, you know the story. He was a blameless and an upright man, the scriptures say. He feared God. The Lord had given him and entrusted to him large family, enormous wealth, thriving business, servants, and influence. Scripture says that he was the greatest man in his region, the greatest man in the east. But in one day, everything changed. Messengers, imagine this, burst into his door of his beautiful home. One messenger after another. One couldn't even finish speaking before another one came in. The first messenger comes in and says, Hey man, the Sabians have attacked Job. They stole your oxen, your donkeys, they killed your servants. I alone have escaped to tell you. While he's still speaking, another messenger comes in. Hey, Joe, the fire of God fell from heaven and it burned up your sheep and your servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you. While he's still speaking, another person burst inside of there. The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties, Joe. They stole your camels, they killed your servants. I alone have escaped to tell you. And then, even while he's speaking, the final messenger comes in. He says, Joe, your sons and your daughters. They were eating and drinking together in your older brothers and their oldest brother's house, and suddenly a great wind, this tornado came across in the wilderness and hit the four corners of the house, and the house collapsed on them, Job. They're dead. I alone have escaped to tell you. In a single day, Job loses his livestock, his servants, his wealth. He lost his business, his livelihood that he spent years building. And then Job receives this news that no parent wants to receive. All ten of his children are dead. Everything Job had was stripped away from him. And what does the scriptures say that Job did? He said he tore his robe, he shaved his head, and he fell to the ground, flat on his face. Not to curse God, but to worship God. He says these words. Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. How could a man worship in a moment like that? Because long before his circumstances made him naked before the world, he had already learned how to walk naked before God. Job understood something many of us spend our entire lives resisting. Nothing belonged to him. Not his wealth, not his reputation. Not his children. Everything had been given to him and entrusted in him. His faith did not, that faith did not keep Job from grieving. No, he's gonna grieve for the entire rest of the book. Even after he gets, we know the story at the end, he gets more back. And getting more children doesn't make you stop grieving the children that you lost. He's gonna grieve the entire way. His faith did not stop him from grieving, but his grief did not cause him to forget who had given him what he had actually lost. Job could worship when everything was gone because Job had never mistaken stewardship for ownership. The Lord gave. It was all a gift. And the Lord has taken away. It was always the Lord's. Blessed be the name of the Lord. The Bible says about Job, and all this, everything that happened to him, Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. So when it was taken away, Job grieved deeply. But he did not accuse God of theft. And until you and I understand that everything belongs to God deep in our bones in that way, every loss will feel like theft. But when you understand that the Lord owns it all, you can grieve deeply, yes, without accusing God of stealing what was never truly yours to begin with. The Lord gave. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And that's why Jove teaches us something we desperately need to hear. Your circumstances don't create who you are. They reveal who you are. When everything is stripped away, who are you? Who are you? Where do you actually run whenever that happens? Are you like Adam and Eve when things are about to be stripped away? You run from the presence of God? Are you like Job when things are stripped away? You run towards the presence of God. Because if we're going to dwell in God's presence, We must strip away all the things that try to hide who we are and learn to stand naked before God and be honest with who we are. And that leads us to what the psalmist asked. This question that he asked, and we must answer this morning in verse 3. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? The psalmist does something remarkable here. He he zooms out and he says, The earth is the Lord in the fullness thereof. And then immediately he zooms in. Yes, God owns the whole earth, and his presence is everywhere on earth. But get here, the psalmist makes clear his presence is not made manifest in the same in every place in every person. But he has chosen to make his presence known in a particular place with a particular people. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? I want you to picture this with me. This is how, this is what they're talking about. This is the context of this. The people of God would gather at the foot of Mount Zion, and the priests would begin leading the way up. The temple mount, Mount Zion, up towards the temple. Songs of praise would fill the air. And slowly, as they make their way up there, step by step, they would climb towards that mountain. And what would come out of their mouth and echo through the crowd are these two questions. Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in this holy place? In other words, who is fit to be inside of the presence of God? I I I remember ⁓ Sarah and I, ⁓ my that's my wife, we went to Gatlinburg for our first anniversary trip. And ⁓ one afternoon ⁓ we went to go to a hike inside of the mountains, and ⁓ we got to the ⁓ the head of that mountain trail, and I'll never forget, man, I saw this sign that said, Do not feed the bears. Stay five feet away from the bears. Now, what caught my attention wasn't that people were crazy enough to actually feed bears. I'm a pastor, I know where people are crazy, do crazy things all the time. ⁓ but but but but what stifled me was not the warning. It was the assumption behind the warning. The sign assumed you're gonna see a bear. Immediately I started, you know, examining myself in a moment. Am I really the kind of person who wants to keep walking up this mountain? My wife, she's my testimony. I looked at her, I said, Baby, we're going back to the car. I didn't come here to meet no bears. One warning sign, one healthy fear, and I knew. I am not the one to ascend that mountain. Church, Psalm 24 is God's warning sign. Because at the top of the mountain that he's talking about, you ain't facing no bear. You're going to come face to face with the one that bears fear, that the oceans fear. That mountains tremble before, that demons fear, that even as the scriptures say, death fears itself. So before you start talking about wanting to practice his presence or being inside of his presence, the psalmist stops and asks, Have you examined yourself? Because this isn't just something that you can dabble in. You don't just get to stroll into the presence of the Holy One. That's exactly what Moses learned. 40 years he's on the backside of the wilderness. You know the story. He sees this bush that's burning, but it's not consumed. And naturally he starts to gr draw closer to it. And he says, Man, I'm gonna turn aside to actually see this great sight. He was curious. And as he approaches, God calls out to him, Moses! Moses! He's calling them in. But very quickly he says, Don't come a step closer, Moses. I want you to miss this. The God who invited Moses also set the terms for him approaching him. He says to him, Take off your sandals. For the place where you're standing is holy ground, Moses. A moment earlier, it was ordinary dirt. What made it holy wasn't the ground, it was the presence of God. And then the Lord revealed himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And suddenly the man who wanted to get closer and see more, he began to cover his face. Scripture says, because he was afraid of God. Why? Because he realized that he wasn't examining just the fire anymore. The God in the fire was actually beginning to examine him. And that's what happens in God's presence. You can come thinking you're going to just look at God, then you discover God is looking at you. You come curious, but then there comes a moment where your curiosity isn't enough. You have to come with reverence. You have to come humble. You have to come on his terms, which is exactly why Psalmist says this in verse 3: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in this holy place? The word stand here. In its original language. It doesn't mean simply mean just to stand upright. It means like to stand fast, like in a fight. Stand your ground. You remain standing. To hold your ground in the presence of God. This is what the psalmist is trying to get to us. The question is: who can actually do that? The one who made the holy ground is the very one who can bring every man to his knees on that ground. The scripture warns: let everyone who thinks he stands Take heed lest he fall. So the natural posture of sinful humanity before a holy God isn't to stand, it's to bow. It's to fall on your face. It's to cry as Isaiah said, Woe is me, right? Inside of the presence of God. But don't miss it. This is where the psalmist actually takes an astonishing turn right now. The psalmist isn't merely saying who can come into the presence of God. He isn't saying who can come and bow down before him. He asks something far more shocking. Who can walk into the presence of the living God and still be standing? Who can hold his ground before the Holy One? And instead of answering no one, listen to what he says. The psalmist doesn't say that. He says, he says something stunning. He actually gives an answer. He tells us the type of person that can actually ascend God in his mountain that could stand fast in his presence. Look at verse 4. He says, Who he who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. The psalmist tells us who can ascend God's mountain. Person with clean hands, pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false or swear deceitfully. He has to have clean hands. Clean hands are easy to see. It's also to see dirty hands, easy to see dirty hands, right? I could see ⁓ if your hands are full of car oil or whatever. I can. I can see if your hands have food on them. I can I can see if they have dirt on them. Because clean hands are easy to see. Dirty hands are as well. Clean hands here are symbolic of your outward actions and your conduct towards other. So it's easy to see if you're treating people rightly. And it's also easy to see if you're treating people dirty. Right. He says he has to have a pure heart. A pure heart is hard to see. And it's just as hard to see a heart that is dirty. I could see what you did, but I can't see why you did it. I can guess. I could see you give, but I can't see whether you gave out of love or to be applauded. I I can see you serve, but I can't see whether you serve to bless others or to feel important. I can hear you apologize, but I can't see whether you truly repentant or you just want to end the conversation. Your hands reveal what you do, your heart reveals why you do it. Pure heart means your outward actions and your inward motives, they actually agree. You're not doing the right thing for the wrong reason. But the psalmist even goes deeper. He says, He who does not lift up his soul to what is false. What your soul is lifted up to is hard to see as well. It's just as hard to see what your soul is tied to. Because, you know, we get real religious. We try to cover it up and make it appear like this is us doing something for God and for the love of God. I could see you working long hours, but I can't see whether it is. Faithfulness to your calling, or you work because you see it as a source of your worth and your identity and glory. I could see you carefully managing your money, but I can't see whether you're practicing wisdom or placing your security in what you possess. I could see you investing in your children, but I can't see whether you want to glorify God or to fulfill your dreams through them. I I could see I can see you serving the church, but I can't see whether your soul is lifted up towards God or toward the recognition that you want to receive. See your hands reveal what you do. Your heart reveals why you do it. Your soul reveals what you ultimately love, trust, and worship. But then the psalmist goes a step even deeper. He says, He who does not swear deceitfully. Deceitful speech can be hard to see because a lie does not always sound like a lie. Sometimes we use true words to create a false impression. I could hear you say, I'm fine, but I can't see everything you're hiding behind those words. I can hear you say, I'm sorry, but I can't see whether you truly repented or you're just trying to escape the consequences. I can hear you make a promise, but I can't see whether you've ever intended to keep it. I can hear you tell one side of the story, but I can't see what deliberately left you out from make ⁓ what you deliberately left out or what or what you did to try to make yourself look innocent. Your hands reveal what you do, your heart reveals why you do it, your soul reveals what you worship. Your words reveal whether you walk in the truth. He who has clean hands, a pure heart, does not lift his soul to what's false, does not swear deceitfully, is one whose hands, heart, soul, and words are true before God. Notice I said true and not perfect before God. The Hebrew term here, pure heart, is bar lavav. It does not mean sinless perfection. It means an undivided heart. A heart that is sincere before God, naked before God, as we talked about earlier. It does not present one thing on the outside while secretly worshiping something else on the inside. It is one that confesses who they are in the presence of God and does not try to hide who they are in the presence of God. Because trying to hide in his presence is not only unacceptable, it's impossible. I want you to look at Cain really quick. Imagine with me. Can you imagine Adam and Eve sitting down with their sons? Cain and Abel, telling them the stories of the garden. And we used to walk with God, y'all. Cool of the day. We heard his voice. There was a time, guys, where we stood in the presence of God. We were naked and under shame. But then we reached out to what didn't belong to us as if it belonged to us. And our eyes were open. We tried to cover ourselves and we hid in the trees. Cain and Abel grew up learning about that. ⁓ remembering probably moreover ⁓ that story of their parent shame and running away from the presence of God and trying to hide. Then one day, both of those brothers they come into the presence of the Lord. You know the story. Picture Cain and Abel there, but Cain walks up towards the altar. His hands are full of fruit. From the outside, he looks like a true worshiper. Everything appears to be in order. But while his hands are full of what looks like true worship, his heart is empty with vain worship. The Lord accepts Abel's offering, but not Cain's. And perhaps God rejects Cain's offering because although his hands were filled and lifted up towards God, his heart and his soul were lifted up towards something else. It's an inference the text doesn't make explicitly, but Cain's response soon reveals it. Don't miss this, guys. Look what God does next inside of that story. If you know the story. God doesn't cast Cain away immediately. He comes after him. He says, Cain, why are you angry? Why is your face fallen? Well, this is what we do, by the way. Our face falls whenever we're ashamed of something. You see what kids, if they're ashamed, they've done something wrong, they're caught, they try to hide their face. Why is your face fallen? He's ashamed. More than likely it's revealing, ⁓ his shame is revealing ⁓ that he was exposed in that moment. He can't lift up his face towards God because God has seen through the offering in his hands and uncovered what was hidden inside of his heart. God wasn't asking because he didn't know what came and why Cain was angry or why his face had fallen. He was inviting Cain to become naked before him. Cain, don't just bring me your offering. Bring me your heart, Cain. Bring me your anger, bring me your jealousy. Bring me what you're trying to hide, Cain. But Cain refuses to do that. And instead of uncovering his heart before God, he carries his hidden heart into a field with his brother. And you know the story. Picture it. Abel and Cain walking beside one another inside of that field. Abel's completely unaware of what's been going on inside of his brother's heart. They're away from the altar, they're away from the appearance of worship. And Cain's hidden heart finally reaches his hand. He murders his brother out of jealousy inside of his heart. Then God comes again to Cain. Cain, where's Abel? And again, God isn't gathering information. He's inviting him to confession. But Cain hides once more. I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper? His hands are covered with blood, friends. He pretends that they're clean, his lips are filled with deceit, but he pretends he's telling the truth. He was a man with bloody hands, an impure heart, one whose soul was lifted up to jealousy, and one who spoke deceitfully. Cain's tragedy, my friends, is not that he merely sinned. It was that every time God invited him into the light of his presence, he chose to remain in the darkness and refuse to go into his presence. The scripture says Cain lowered his face before God, and eventually he left the presence of the Lord. Instead of allowing God to uncover his shame through confession, Cain covered his nakedness with anger and stained his hands with his brother's blood. But anger could not cover him from God and what he saw inside of his heart. He could hear his brother's blood crying from the ground. He knew what Cain had done. And Cain confessed the judgment that he that had been brought upon himself. We know the scripture as it says, You've driven me away today from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. And the text goes on to say. Cain went away from the presence of the Lord. Cain refused to stand naked before the Lord, to be fully seen, to be exposed and brought to repentance, my friends. So he is driven from the ground, he's hidden from God's face, he's removed from the place of God's favorable presence. The man who would not uncover himself before God became a man hidden from God's face. The man who refused to lift his fallen face towards God became the man. Who went away from seeking the face of God. What Cain teaches us is that if we're not willing to be naked in his presence, then we're actually not seeking his presence. You'll want away from his presence. Because the one who has clean hands, a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, who does not swear deceitfully, is the one whose hands and heart and soul and words are true before God. They're not perfect before God. They are true before God. So, how do we practice this? Just really quickly, give you some practical steps of just practicing the presence of God with your hand, your heart, your soul, your words, and be true before God. We stop hiding like Cain. Here it is. One, we start practicing confession and prayer. Confession is simply agreeing with God what what he already sees inside of you. And confession can happen in two parts one, searching. And two, naming. Searching is God's part, naming is our part. So the first thing we can do when we're practicing this in prayer is we can be still before the Lord as Psalms tells us to do. Be still, silent before the Lord. Align your heart, your mind, your body, your soul with Him, and begin to pray something like David's prayer. Search me, O God. Know my heart. Test me, know my anxieties and thoughts in Psalm 139. But notice what David says there in Psalm 99 Psalm 139. He doesn't begin with searching himself. He asks God to search him. Because God knows us better than we know ourselves. He's our Father. And He's not looking to search you to shame you. He's looking to search you to heal you. He's searching you to reveal you, reveal you places in your heart you you probably learned to ignore, and blemishes in your heart everyone else may see, but you've grown blind to. That's the first part, search. Second part inside of your prayer life. Then then then name it. Once God has revealed something to you, name it. Don't try to defend the thing. Don't try to excuse it. Don't try to minimize it. Bring it into the light. Father, I was proud. Father, I was jealous. Father, I was bitter. Father, I trusted money more than you. Father, I I wanted ⁓ people's approval more than yours. I I like how one author says it here. He says, When we name it, we bring it to light, which weakens. The power of sin and calls on the power of grace for healing and freedom. Tyler Stedden, in one of his books, he says this about ⁓ confession. Most people go to the grave without ever confronting the false self, the deep patterns of dysfunction that govern their thoughts and feelings and behaviors. Therefore, most people go to the grave never having felt the freedom of living as their true selves. To live apart from confession is an absolute tragedy. And to discover confession, an unspeakable gift. Confession, my friends, it is an unspeakable gift that God gives us in his presence. Name what he's revealed to you, and he'll bring healing and freedom to you. And finally, confess. Confessing is not just only something you do in private prayer, but in his presence, you do it with brothers and sisters in Christ. In James 5, 16, verse 16, he says, Confess your sins of one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. So we should develop the habit of a routine confession. With our brothers and sisters in Christ, but let me put a pastoral caveat on this, with mature and trusted brothers and sisters in Christ, you should be confessing with. Why? Here's what the Apostle John says in first John one, six through nine, as I ⁓ rush to close. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie, we do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sins. If we say we have no sins, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Spare me a moment as I rush to close. Confession in his presence cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Confession in his presence cleans our hands. Confession in his presence, it purifies and heals our hearts. Confession in his presence lifts our souls to the one who can truly satisfy our souls. Confession in his presence touches our tongue to speak truth from the one who is the truth. But I don't want you to make a mistake. Confession is not the causal factor of your cleansing. You can confess all your mess, but you cannot be cleansed duly, just just duly to confession. You can confess all your sins. To the world, but you cannot that that cannot save you. You can confess your darkest sin to your pastor and those close to you, but that will not absolve you. Confession cannot cleanse you, it cannot save you, it cannot absolve you. Confession alone will only embarrass you and bring shame to you. But confession, when it is made through the one who Hebrews said, He endured the cross and he despised the shame for you. When confession is made through Jesus. We can ask the question: who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Jesus ascended Calvary's Hill, so you could ascend God's hill. Who can stand in his holy presence? Jesus fell beneath the judgment in the Father's presence, so you can stand firm inside of the judgment, inside of the judgment in his presence. Who has clean hands? He his clean hands were pierced to cleanse your guilty hands. Who has a pure heart? His pure heart was peer was pierced to purify your sinful heart. Who has not lifted up his soul to what is false? Jesus never gave his soul to what is false. He lifted up, he was lifted up on the cross, drawing those who are wandering souls to what was false. Who has sworn deceitfully? No deceit was found in his mouth. Yet he died for every lie that is found inside of our mouth. Isn't that the truth? Amen. So, friends, because Jesus has sent Calvary's Hill. You can ascend the Lord's heel, but you don't have to come into God's presence pretending that your hands are clean. You can come confessing that they are dirty. You don't have to come pretending your heart is pure. You can come confessing that it is divided. You don't have to come pretending your soul has never chased false things. You can come confessing that you have loved the gifts more than the giver. You can you don't have to pretend that your mouth is always spoken truth. You can come confessing your lies to the one who is the truth. And when you come naked before the Lord without hiding, without pretending, without covering, the blood of Jesus cleanses you. The righteousness of Jesus covers you. The resurrection of Jesus raises you so that through him you can ascend the hill and stand in the presence of the Lord. So the question of Psalm 24 isn't ultimately, can you stand? The question is, who are you standing in? Tell you who I'm standing in. In Christ. Standing in his grace. That him goes, Grace, grace. God's grace. Grace that partens and cleanses within. Grace, grace. God's grace. Grace that is greater than all of our sins. That same grace is why I can confess, like John Newton said. I'm not who I want to be. I am not who I ought to be. I'm not one day what I will be, but I am not what I was. By the grace of God, I am what I am. Save by the grace of God, being able to confess in the presence of God, I am what I am. Naked before Him. Let us pray. Heavenly Father. By your grace, Lord, gathered here this morning, able to hear from your word. Often we can walk inside of your presence and take for granted that you want to speak to us. Not only do you want to speak to us, Lord, you want us to s search our hearts. See what is in there. And your word begins to do that, like a two-edged sword that pierces between bone and joint and marrow and knows the intentions of our hearts. Lord, search us through your word this morning. See if we have been trying to hide back what rightfully belongs to you. I just pray, Lord, cause us to be a people that We'll be able to be sons and daughters that walk boldly into your presence, naked before you, not trying to hide anything, but growing in deep intimacy with you in everything. We trust in you, Lord. Continue to work powerfully in this congregation. Use them to be a people that walk in your light. As you are in the light, and Father, that the rest of this community would see there are people that do walk in the light, naked and unashamed before God, to be a testimony to you, that you would draw them into yourself through them. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Psalms 24:1–6