Ascent

Intro 

A word was spoken to me recently about our church. The word was this “We are learning how to ascend into the hill of The Lord in worship”. My mind immediately went to Psalms 24.3 which says this:

“Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?” Ps 24.3

As I looked into this passage I realized that there are some things I needed to do in order to ascend this hill. The chapter goes on to say in verse four and five:

“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,

Nor sworn deceitfully. 5He shall receive blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from

the God of his salvation.” Ps 24.4-5

Here is one thing we need to get straight before we move on. I am going to say a lot of things in this post. One thing I am not saying is that we need to do all these things in order to get to Heaven. If your goal is just to get to Heaven you might want to stop reading this now. 

This is an invitation for those who want to see Jesus here and now! This is for those to whom it is not enough to simply go to church and be a good person, but who burn with passion to see Him. Who want more out of this life than a ticket to Heaven, they want to see Heaven here on this Earth! 

For the next few moments we will talk about what it will take for you and I to ascend the hill of The Lord. I pray The Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you into all wisdom and revelation. I pray that as we explore this invitation, you will be convicted to make this one thing your life goal. 

Chapter 1 - The Invitation 

My grandparents met on a small Island in the middle of Lake Erie. Yes, you heard me right. If you’re not from the midwest it might be weird to hear but our Great Lake has islands. My grandmother was selling hotdogs on the island of Put-In-Bay when my grandfather saw her for the first time. I’m pretty sure he never bought so many hot dogs in his life. 

Long story short they fell in love and the rest is history! 

Now each summer our entire family goes back to Put-In-Bay to celebrate their love. This past year there were about thirty of us that went with them. It’s a small island with not too much to do so we usually do the same things each year. We grab food, ice cream and coffee (yes, it has to be in that order). Then we visit Perry’s Cave, swim, grab some grape juice at a winery and eat dinner. After all of this, we catch the last ferry home and do it all again next year. 

We always go to a specific spot to swim. The water is deep, about twenty feet or so, and the cliff walls of the shoreline are riddled with underwater caves and worst of all, snakes! To the right, when you first get in the water, about fifty yards down the shoreline is a massive rock that stands about fifteen feet straight out of the water just begging for someone to jump off of it! But the rock is slippery, jagged and vertical making it a tough climb.

Out of the thirty or so people that came that day, only fifteen of us jumped in the water. Out of the fifteen that jumped in only about eight of us made it to the top of the rock. The rest couldn’t or didn’t want to ascend. 

The same is true for this invitation. The truth is, this life isn’t for everyone. There are some people out there that just won’t jump in. They will never accept a relationship with Jesus. Then, there are some that do. They jump in, they even make the swim, but when they see what it costs to ascend the hill, they don’t want it. They just want to live a good christian life and go to Heaven one day. But then there are people like you. You have kept reading this because you want more out of life than just going to Heaven or being a good Christian. You want Him. You want to know Him, you want to see Him. No matter the cost, you will pay it if it means you get to see Him in the land of the living! 

Here is the invitation. 

God is inviting you to live a life completely devoted to Him. To dwell in His presence and serve His heart. 

Chapter 2 - The Hill 

Psalms 24.3 - “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?”

Unlike a rock in the middle of Lake Erie, the hill of The Lord is very significant. 

In Jerusalem the temple sat on a small mountain or hill about two thousand feet in elevation. The jewish people would literally ascend this hill in order to worship God in His temple. Though there was no temple present when David penned these words (Solomon built it after David passed) the presence of the Lord resided there. The hill of the Lord speaks to His person or presence. It means more than just a temple or a place to worship, it is where the Ark of the Covenant rested. The Holy of Holies is where God dwelt. His presence tangibly rested with the Jewish people. 

This is what the Hill means, the person or presence of God!  

All throughout scripture we see this picture of people “coming up” to meet with God. In Exodus, we see God invite Moses to come to the top of a mountain to meet with Him and Moses receives the Ten Commandments. At the other end of the Bible, in the book of Revelation, we see God call John and tell him to “come up here” to show him things to come. 

To ascend the hill of The Lord means to live a life in His presence. It means to live an intimate life with Jesus, walking and talking with Him. 

Chapter 3 - Clean Hands

Psalms 24.4 -“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.”

Although I’m sure God cares about our hygiene, I think it is safe to say, that is not what we are dealing with here. God doesn’t see men and women as we see them, “The Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sa 16:7). In this passage David is reminding us that we serve a Holy God, “who loves righteousness and hates wickedness” (Ps 45:7). 

Modern Christianity would like to downplay this truth. We live in a society that separates love from correction, one that says love should tolerate my sin. Yes, God does loves us even in our sin, but God is holy, and He wants us to be holy as well (Leviticus 11.44 & 1 Peter 1.16)

Isaiah 1.16-17 says this:

 16“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.”

I know what you might be thinking. “Dom, this is the Old Testament before Jesus, it doesn’t count. Jesus changed all that, now it’s all about grace and mercy!” 

Yes Jesus is all about grace and mercy! But He is also about righteousness and truth. This is the same Jesus who, after defending and justifying the adulteress woman tells her to “go, sin no more.” (John 8.11) or tells the lame man He just heals to “sin no more unless something worse happen” (John 5.14). This idea that sin is okay to entertain in our life is simply not true!

Here is the the unfortunate truth in Christian culture. The western church has been paralyzed by consumerism. We cater our messages and worship services to give people what they “like” to hear. We have watered down harsher truths, and avoid talking about things that might be too challenging, in fear that our people will leave and find a new church down the road. So we no longer tell people that their sin is a problem, we in fact tell them that it’s okay to have sin in your life because His grace will cover it up for you. 

Now hear my heart on this. I understand we all make mistakes, I am sure I make as many if not more than you! I am not saying that we must be perfect to ascend the hill of The Lord, I am saying that when we fall down, we must get back up. It is not okay to stay down, the righteous do not stay down, they get up! This idea that we can ascend into His presence indulging in pornography, or a lying tongue, or a hateful heart is just simply not true. At some point we have to let the Holy Spirit in our lives and allow Him to deliver us from our sin and mess! Remember the goal isn’t just to get into Heaven, it is to see Him now and isn’t He worth it? He is worth laying down the sin that so easily ensnares us (Hebrews 12.1), so we can run this race to find Him! 

So if you are reading this, struggling or holding on to sin in your life, there is freedom for you today! Lay it down, allow the Holy Spirit to give you clean hands before Him so that you can ascend into the hill of The Lord and see His face.

Chapter 4 - Pure Heart 

Psalms 24.4 -“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.”

If you are anything like me, when you hear the word “purity” you mind goes straight to youth group days, with leaders begging you not to have sex! I remember one time getting in trouble and told I was no longer pure because I was holding a girls hand, true story. 

Purity has been reduced to only mean abstaining from sexual sin. Although I do agree with being pure sexually, the meaning of “a pure heart” reaches much further than our sexuality. It speaks to the entirety of us as people, all of who we are must be pure. 

To gain a bit more understanding of this phrase we should go to the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter five verse eight. 

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

The word Jesus used for “pure” was the Greek word “katharos”. Another word, or way of translating “katharos” is “unmixed”. When we learn this we can see how Jesus wasn’t exclusively speaking of sexual sin but of anything that would compete for the throne of our heart. Being “pure” means to only have one love, one desire, one motivation, to see Him. 

David was known as “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam 13.14) and he is known for saying “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I 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.” (Ps 27.4). He was singular in his desire and motivation, his heart was after the Lord and Him alone. 

If we want to ascend the hill of The Lord we must be unmixed in our hearts! 

Peter was someone who had a lot going on in his heart to say the least. It seemed like he was constantly messing up or confused or some combination of the two. 

There is a story in the Bible where Jesus begins to wash the disciple’s feet and when He gets to Peter, Peter says “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus responds, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”. Then Peter says to Jesus, “ Not just my feet but my hands and head as well!” (John 13). Come on Peter, make up your mind! 

Another time Peter sees Jesus walking on the water and asks Jesus to allow him to come to Him. Jesus calls him and we see Peter take his first steps on the water, only to allow fear and worry to cause him to sink (Matt 14). When your heart is mixed with faith and fear, the outcome is never good. 

You weren’t designed to have multiple, opposing things rule your heart. Living life allowing anxiety, depression, fear, sin, material desires or anything else that is not Jesus, will lead you down a path that you do not want to go. 

So what then? Can we never be afraid? Is it sin to have worries or doubt? No way! I am not saying that you can never have these feelings. I’m saying that the moment you allow these feelings or thoughts to compete with your faith or dictate your actions is the moment we become mixed. 

Let me tell you a story that will help us understand. 

My daughter and I went to the park one day when she was around three years old. She was climbing the rock wall at the park and fell down. It was only about a foot drop but to a three year old you would’ve thought she lost a limb! She was crying and just wanted to go home. I’m  not sure if what comes next makes me a good father or a terrible one, but we didn’t go home. Before we left I told her she had to climb the wall again. With tears in her eyes and her father behind her, my three year old daughter conquered her fears and climbed the wall she just fell off of a few moments earlier. After she reached the top, we got back into our wagon and went home. 

The lesson I want my kids to learn is this. It’s okay to be afraid, it’s not okay to let fear dictate what you do or don’t do. 

Having emotions, desires, goals or ambitions are a normal part of life and shouldn’t be demonized. But they become dangerous when they control us. The moment they compete for the throne of our heart is the moment we become mixed and no longer have a pure heart. 

Chapter 5 - To Nurse an Appetite

Psalms 24.4 -“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.”

When is the last time you have witnessed someone worshiping a statue or some other constructed idol? The answer is probably never. We have culturally moved away from bowing down to statues made of wood or gold and most of us no longer worship the sun and moon like people did long ago. Idols in our context are a little more discrete. We don’t go to temples worshiping false gods, instead we go to shopping malls fulfilling our unhealthy “need” for more things. 

Modern day idols are anything that is more important than God. Whether we make an idol out of traveling, money, success, family or even religion, if it’s anything other than Him its wrong! 

This phrase has an interesting alternative translation, these words in the Hebrew mean “to nurse an appetite”. The Psalmist is telling us, if we want to ascend the hill of The Lord we can have no other appetite in our lives. He must be our number one desire! Our single motivation and the object of our pursuit! 

This idea of nursing an appetite reminds me of a story in the Bible of a young man torn between the cares of this world and his desire to follow Jesus. In Matthew nineteen we see an interaction between Jesus and a rich young ruler. This young man asks Jesus how he can have eternal life and Jesus tells him to follow the commandments. He tells Jesus that he has done that all his life, indicating that simply following the rules was not enough for this young man. He had a genuine desire for more of Jesus. We pick up this story in verse twenty-one 

21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. 23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

This young man had an alternative appetite eating away at his desire for more of Jesus. He had nursed this desire in his life for wealth and position and the moment Jesus showed up to lead him into eternal life, this young man realized there was no room for Him in his heart. 

Imagine with me for a second. This story is no longer about a rich young ruler in Jesus’ day thousands of years ago, but the setting is now, and the subject is you. What would be the reason you walked away from Jesus? Maybe it would be the love of money, the fear of being unsuccessful? Would it say you walked away because you don’t want to give up living with one foot in the world and the other in church? Maybe it’s even a simple hobby or pastime that takes up more of your time than your walk with Him? 

Now here’s a follow up question. Is it worth it? If you gained all the money and power in the world but never knew Jesus, is it worth it? If you traveled the globe and saw everything this world has to offer but never saw His face, is it worth it? If you started a multi-million dollar company and changed the world with your innovation but missed Jesus, is it worth it? What appetite is worth nursing at the expense of our relationship with Him? Short answer, nothing! Nothing in this life is worth missing Him!

David said this “ One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I 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.” Psalms 27.4

See the difference? One man walked away from Jesus sad, knowing that he was unwilling to cut off this other appetite and David declared that there is nothing else competing for his desire to see Him. 

So is my golf hobby evil? Do I need to stop going to work and chasing my goals? No, I believe that God made life to be enjoyed! Often times His plans for your life are wrapped up in a career or other life goals you have. In the same way wood and gold are not inherently bad, these desires we have in life are not bad either. But they become evil when you construct an idol out of them. 

You cannot ascend the hill of The Lord and nurse another appetite.

Chapter 6 - Swear Deceitfully 

Psalms 24.4 -“He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, Nor sworn deceitfully.”

I was walking in my neighborhood praying and asking God how I have sworn deceitfully. To be honest I was trying to find my last point for this message and had hit a block with this one. I understood the theological interpretation of having integrity and being an honest person but I felt The Lord was going deeper here. 

While I was a few yards away from my driveway, The Lord said to me, “Dominic, you swear deceitfully to Me all the time.”. I immediately knew what He meant. So many times I’ve made promises to Him in an emotionally charged atmosphere or out of good intentions, and when it was time to make good on those promises I bailed. We honor the Holy Spirit with our words, but our actions tell a different story. In Matthew 15.7-9 Jesus says it best. 

7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

If you have been in church for any amount of time you are probably fluent in “christianese”. When you come through the door and the greeter says “How are you?” , you respond with “I am blessed and highly favored!” knowing full well you just had the worst week of your life. We know when to say “amen” during the message to make sure everyone around us knows that the pastor is not talking about us. We know how to talk the talk. We sing songs of surrendering it all to Jesus and asking for His refining fire and when He asks us to surrender we pretend we didn’t hear Him. The cold truth is, we are those hypocrites Jesus was talking about! 

We know how to honor God with our lips on Sunday but Monday - Saturday our lives do not show Him honor. How can we expect to ascend the hill of The Lord when we swear deceitfully to Him? 

It’s time to be real, to hold ourselves accountable to what we say. Let us learn to be honest with God and one another. Let us learn how to count the cost and be prepared to pay it before we make promises to Him. Let us celebrate a life lived out in faith on Monday more than we celebrate a good message that we shared on social but otherwise will have no fruit in our lives. 

Recently I have been praying this prayer, “Father search me and show me the wickedness inside of me.” I know we will never be perfect, but I don’t want to just be a Christ follower in my speech, I want my life to be witness of my allegiance to Him. I want to encourage you to make this your goal as well, honoring Him with your actions not just your words. 

Chapter 7 - Our Great Reward

Psalms 24.5 - He shall receive blessing from the Lord, And righteousness from the God

of his salvation.

So we finally make it up the hill, what’s this blessing we will receive? There better be a good 

prize for all the stuff we had to go through to get to the top! Trust me, there is a great prize!

Unfortunately no, it’s not a car or a new job or that spouse you’ve been praying for. It is even 

better, the prize is Him. He is the reward, He is the prize! The blessing is not more stuff we don’t

need, the blessing is His presence, being with Him! 

There is a story in Genesis chapter fourteen and fifteen that sums this idea up. In Genesis 

fourteen a man named Abram wins a war and returns the spoils the enemy stole to the rightful 

king. The king tell Abram to keep all the wealth, just return the people that were taken captive.

Abram refuses, telling the king that he will return everything to him. Abram doesn’t want the king 

to be able to say “I have made Abram rich”

After Abram tell the king this and returns all the spoils of war, The Lord comes to him in chapter 

fifteen, verse one and says this:

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

Abram turned down a huge payday, gave all the wealth back to the king and got a reward much more costly, The Lord! 

So often we make this life about things, or even being good christians. We make the goal to have more knowledge or a sinless life. We make the goal to have a big successful ministry with lots of people filling our seats. But this christian life isn’t about any of those things. Its not even about revival! I know, hear me out. I love miracles and revival as much as the next pastor, but there is an epidemic in our church today. We value the miraculous more than the miracle worker! We value the gift more than the gift giver! All of these things are great, but they all come second to Him. Just Him. 

Did you know that everyone that Jesus healed is now dead? Everyone that He fed was hungry again the next day. The miracles are not the prize. 

There is a story in the Bible of the centurion solder(Matthew 8). He asks Jesus to heal his servant who was at his house paralyzed. Jesus is ready to come to heal the man when the centurion tells Jesus not to come, but just speak the word. We celebrate this as an incredible act of faith and even Jesus does too. But there is a great injustice done here in this story. The servant experienced the power of Jesus but never saw His face. 

This is the state of the church now. A bride obsessed with what the groom can do for them but not obsessed with the groom. I couldn’t imagine my wife celebrating all that I provide for her more than she celebrates me. 

Jesus is the prize, He is the reward! It is only when we begin living our lives like He is more than just a means to an end, that we will truly find the satisfaction of just being with Him. 

My encouragement to you is simple. Stop using Jesus. Stop using Him to get to what you really want. Learn to see Him as the great reward. If He doesn’t do another thing for you, be satisfied with just being with Him. He is what you will find at the top of this hill, and I promise you, He is so worth it! 

Chapter 8 - Conclusion

Who can ascend? 

You can. 

I know this might have seemed heavy at times, maybe a little overwhelming. Maybe you are thinking “ Man, I can’t do all that stuff.”. The good news is, you can! It doesn’t matter where you came from or what you’ve done, anyone can ascend into Him presence. Through the blood of Jesus, we all can live a life completely devoted to Him. Living this life doesn’t require you to be perfect, it requires a heart after God. It requires a man or woman who wants nothing more in this life than to see Jesus! 

Like I said at the beginning, not everyone will accept this invitation, but I believe that there are some of you out there who will create a life centered around dwelling with Him. I believe there are some of you who want more than just a good christian life, you want Him. 

If religion has failed you, it’s time to ascend. If society has failed you, it’s time to ascend. If the world and its lusts have failed you, it’s time to ascend. Being with Him is the only thing that will truly satisfy you! 

Pray this with me. Jesus, teach us how to ascend into your presence. Help us to live a life completely devoted to You. Clean our hands, purity our hearts, restore our souls and forgive us for dishonoring you. We love you! 

Live right, love everybody and pray hard!