Psalm 24 Devotional [9]

A Psalm of David.

  1. The earth is the Lord’s, and all that therein is; the world, and they that dwell in it.
  2. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
  3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place?
  4. Even he that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
  5. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
  6. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
  7. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
  8. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
  9. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
  10. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

We saw previously the nature and cause of the believer’s sincerity, even the free gift of God and the bestowal of a righteous nature through the gift of the Spirit. For we are not holy of ourselves, neither do we have clean hands of ourselves, but our holiness cometh from God and we are not washed from our filth and pollution except we be pardoned and sanctified. Therefore do we bless and praise the most high God for His wonderful work of salvation.

We see also in the next verse that our religion is strictly covenantal, as God said to Abraham, “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” And again it is written in the prophets, “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.” Again, “And did he not make one? Yet had he abundance of spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed.”

So the Psalmist here does not hurry to a conclusion and say this is the people who seek him, but the generation. For in order to be born again, we must first be born, and God has so ordered the natural world that a person cannot be born without the coming together of man and wife, which holy union, the Lord in the garden blessed, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” This shows not only that God commands fruitfulness, but has put His blessing and favor upon it.

Moreover, that the “godly seed” or (zera Elohim) spoken of in Mal. 2 is indeed the singular blessing of God, inasmuch as we find countless examples of ungodly children being born to godly parents. Was their neglect and lack of oversight instrumental? Yes. At the same time, each one of us is commanded to perform his duty in his family to the advance of true religion.

Therefore, those who are pure of heart and have clean hands are here called “the generation that seek Him,” as it is written, “Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.” And again, “Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.” This shows clearly the character of those who seek after God, that their hands are clean and their hearts are pure.

John Calvin

This is the generation. I have just now observed that by the demonstrative pronoun this, the Psalmist erases from the catalogue of the servants of God all counterfeit Israelites, who, trusting only to their circumcision and the sacrifices of beasts, have no concern about offering themselves to God; and yet, at the same time, they rashly thrust themselves into the church. Such persons may pretend to have delight in the service of God by often coming to his temple, but they have no other design than to withdraw themselves from him as far as they can.

Now, as nothing was more common in the mouths of each of them than to say they all belonged to the holy seed, the Psalmist has limited the name of holy generation to the true observers of the law; as if he had said, “All who have sprung from Abraham, according to the flesh, are not, on that account, his legitimate children.”

It is, no doubt, truly said in many other places, as we shall see in Psalms 27, that those sought the face of God who, to testify their godliness, exercised themselves in the ceremonies before the ark of the covenant; that is to say, if they were brought thither by a pure and holy affection. But as hypocrites seek God externally in a certain way, as well as true saints, while yet they shun him by their windings and false pretences, David here declares that God is not sought in truth unless there goes before a zealous cultivation of holiness and righteousness.

To give the sentence greater emphasis, he repeats it, using the second person and addressing his discourse to God. It is as if he summoned before the judgment-seat of God hypocrites, who account it nothing falsely to use the name of God before the world; and he thus teaches us that whatever they may say in their empty talk among men, the judgment of God will be a very different matter.

He adds the word Jacob for the confirmation of the same doctrine, putting it for those who were descended from Jacob; as if he had said, “Although circumcision distinguishes all the seed of Jacob according to the flesh from the Gentiles, yet we can only distinguish the chosen people by the fear and reverence of God,” as Christ said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!”

Matthew Poole

The generation: the true progeny which God regards; whereby he reflects upon those who boasted and trusted in their carnal generation or descent from Jacob.

That seek him, to wit, God, mentioned in the end of Psalms 24:5, or his face, as it is more fully expressed in the next clause; i.e. that make it their care and study to know him, and his mind and will, and to please and serve him, as this phrase is usually understood.

Opening Prayer

Lesson 16.

The enemies of the Church Smitten with the Word of God. Pt. 2

Matt. 4:4, 7, 10; Isa. 8:19, 20; Eph. 6:16, 17; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 19:15; Ps. 149:6, 7; 2 Cor. 10:4, 5; Rom. 8:13.

Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing, which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary.

Intro. John Owen, Mortification of Sin.

The foundation of the whole ensuing discourse is laid in Rom. viii. 13 — The words of the apostle opened — The certain connection between true mortification and salvation — Mortification the work of believers — The Spirit the principal efficient cause of it — What is meant by “the body” in the words of the apostle — What by “the deeds of the body” — Life, in what sense promised to this duty.

That what I have of direction to contribute to the carrying on of the work of mortification in believers may receive order and perspicuity. I shall lay the foundation of it in those words of the apostle, Rom. viii. 13, “If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live;” and reduce the whole to an improvement of the great evangelical truth and mystery contained in them.

  1. The first thing occurring in the words as they lie in the entire proposition is the conditional note, Εἰ δὲ, “But if.” Conditionals in such propositions may denote two things:
    1. The uncertainty of the event or thing promised, in respect of them to whom the duty is prescribed. This cannot be the intent of the conditional expression in this place. Of the persons to whom these words are spoken, it is said, verse 1 of the same chapter, “There is no condemnation to them.”
    2. The certainty of the coherence and connection that is between the things spoken of; as we say to a sick man, “If you will take such a potion, or use such a remedy, you will be well.” The thing we intend to express is the certainty of the connection between the potion or remedy and health. The use of it here is to show the certain connection that is between the mortifying of the deeds of the body and living: if you use this means, you shall obtain that end; if you do mortify, you shall live. This is the main motive unto and enforcement of the duty prescribed.
  2. The next thing we meet withal in the words is the persons to whom this duty is prescribed, and that is expressed in the word “Ye,” in the original included in the verb, θανατοῦτε “if ye mortify;” — that is, ye believers; ye to whom “there is no condemnation,” verse 1; ye that are “not in the flesh, but in the Spirit,” verse 9; who are “quickened by the Spirit of Christ,” verses 10, 11; to you is this duty prescribed.
  3. The principal efficient cause of the performance of this duty is the Spirit: Εἰ δὲ Πνεύματι — “If by the Spirit.” The Spirit here is the Spirit mentioned verse 11, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, that “dwells in us,” verse 9, that “quickens us,” verse 11; “the Holy Ghost,” verse 14; the “Spirit of adoption,” verse 15; the Spirit “that maketh intercession for us,” verse 26. All other ways of mortification are vain; all helps leave us helpless; it must be done by the Spirit.
  4. The duty itself, “Mortify the deeds of the body,” is next to be remarked. Three things are here to be inquired into:
    1. What is meant by the body. The body in the close of the verse is the same with the flesh in the beginning: “If ye live after the flesh ye shall die; but if ye … mortify the deeds of the body,” — that is, of the flesh. It is that which the apostle has all along discoursed of under the name of the flesh.
    2. The deeds of the body. The word is πράξεις, which denotes the outward actions chiefly, “the works of the flesh,” as they are called, τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός, Gal. v. 19; which are there said to be “manifest,” and are enumerated. The “axe is to be laid to the root of the tree” — the deeds of the flesh are to be mortified in their causes, from whence they spring.
    3. To mortify. Εἰ θανατοῦτε — “If ye put to death;” a metaphorical expression, taken from the putting of any living thing to death. Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called “the old man,” with his faculties, and properties, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength; this must be killed, put to death, mortified — that is, have its power, life, vigour, and strength taken away by the Spirit.
  5. The promise unto this duty is life: “Ye shall live.” The life promised is opposed to the death threatened in the clause foregoing, “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die;” which the same apostle expresseth, “Ye shall of the flesh reap corruption,” Gal. vi. 8, or destruction from God.

Lesson.

Pt. 1. The world Smitten.

Rev. 19:15; Ps. 149:6-9

  1. God reveals Himself to His church and not the world. Ps. 147:19-20
  2. Their judgment foretold. Ps. 9:17
  3. The ways of iniquity condemned. Rev. 22:14-15

Pt. 2. The flesh Smitten.

Heb. 4:12

  1. The lust of the flesh. Gal. 5:16-17, 1 Pet. 2:11, Rom. 13:14, 1 Cor. 6:18-20
  2. The lust of the eyes. Matt. 5:28-29, Ps. 119:37
  3. The pride of life. Jer. 9:23-24, Luke 16:15, 18:14
  4. The mortification of the deeds of the body. Rom. 8:13, Col. 3:5, Matt. 16:24, Gal. 5:24, Ps. 119:11

Conclusion.

Youtube Audio: https://youtu.be/AowlWdSWOFQ

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