In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of seeking God's face and being jealous for His glory. He refers to the psalm that speaks about ascending into the hill of the Lord and standing in His holy place as the key to authority and power in God. The preacher highlights the need for clean hands and pure hearts in order to open the gates for the King of Glory to come in. He also expresses his jealousy for the Muslims' theocratic view of life and their desire for God's glory. The sermon concludes with the reminder that it is not through force or power, but through a disposition of heart and spirit that the King of Glory can enter and flood the earth with His light.

...in our heart this morning. This morning my mood is not to bring something instructional, but something devotional. We need to have our hearts enlarged more than our heads. And I don't feel personally ready myself to speak about this. I need this work of God in my own heart. So I pray that the Lord is going to work in me, even as he works through me for you. I want to continue speaking out of Psalm 24. It's the point that the Lord gave us as a beginning. The earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it. For he has founded upon the seas and established it upon the waters. That's as far as we went in the day of our beginning with this psalm. We just needed to be reminded who really owns the world and the nations thereof. The world is the Lord's and man is God's. He created it and he purchased it with his blood. But there's another presence that is illegal, that is binding the nations of men. So something needs to be won for the Lord, won back for his true possession. And this is our task, the task of the church. This is where we need to have our vision extended and to see as the Lord sees. In Revelation it says all nations shall walk in the light of the heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. If you will understand me, I will say this morning, I am jealous of the Muslims. You say, why do you say that? Because they have a theocratic view of life. In Islam, they are not content with the kind of arrangement that we are satisfied with. We are content with our Sunday services. And then we let the world have all the rest. So that the world establishes the themes and it absorbs the energies of all mankind. But the Muslims are not satisfied with that. However erroneous a view they have of God, this they believe. That the religious view should dominate all of life. That there is not to be a distinction between the sacred and the secular. But the sacred is to permeate the secular. And the whole of life is to be under the sovereignty and the rule of God himself. This should be our view. For the earth is the Lord's and the nations thereof. The earth and the nations are the Lord's and the world is the Lord's. And the day will come when the Lord will finally rule the world. And the people will be able to live in the light of his new Jerusalem. How about cities walking in the light of the heavenly Jerusalem? How about districts and prefectures and neighborhoods? Coming under the influence and sovereignty of God himself. The powers of darkness being broken over neighborhoods. Revival not being a phenomenon to be experienced in the church alone, but spilling out into the neighborhoods. We need to have our expectancy enlarged. But we have allowed the world to define the boundaries of the church. And we're so satisfied with the small courtesies that it allows us. Yes, you can have your Sunday services. You can have your missionary visas. So long as you're nicely and safely contained within a narrow religious perspective. But don't challenge the powers that be. Don't set the captives free that are bound in the spirit of the world. Don't have a view by which you believe that all of the earth is the Lord's. And needs to be brought under the authority which is rightfully his. For he holds the keys of death and of hell and has made an open spoil of the enemy. And the triumph that was won on the cross needs to be made manifest in the places where we are. The king is at the gate, ready to come in. That's what it says in the same psalm from verse 7 on. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. The king is at the gate, ready to come in. Ready to present himself to men and to nations. Not some small expression of his life, but the king of glory may come in. I am continually amazed how little sense of the glory of God most Christians have. This is the first prerequisite of priestliness. That the word glory has for us an actual meaning. This is not some abstract reference. It's true that we cannot define it in a few words. But our spirit needs to apprehend it. We need to be jealous for the glory of God. There is something that should be continually grieving our priestly hearts. Something that will not allow us to be satisfied with good meetings. Something that will not allow us to be satisfied with increase of enrollment in Sunday school. Statistics don't impress us. We cannot measure numerically. We are not statisticians, we are priests. And we are jealous for the glory of God. We are continually divinely discontent. Something is missing. Some vital dimension. Something that God intended as normative for all mankind. For the want of which mankind is disturbed and distorted and perverted. It has to express its longing in drugs or sex or some other kind of need. Because God has made man to dwell in the presence of his glory. Heaven on earth. Thy kingdom come on earth. As it is in heaven. It's something more than a comfortable standard of living. Something more than the absence of conflict and strife. It's a dimension of heavenliness. The very presence of the glory of God. That missing ingredient. That changes everything. That brings men down on their faces. That melts the hardest heart. That enables us to rise above our cultures. He's the king of glory. And he's at the gates. Waiting to come in. The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. May come in? What hinders him? If he's strong and mighty, what hinders him from coming in? Can't he push open any gate? That's not his way. The gates need to be lifted up and opened. The issue is not the issue of force or power. It's got to be opened from the inside. There's a bolt that needs to be pushed out of the way. But not anybody can do it. What is the key to this mystery? That the king of glory may come in. Then Japan will not require an explanation. Then my Jewish people will not require an explanation. Two thousand years of prejudiced misunderstanding about Christ will not have to be explained. His glory is its own explanation. It's beyond words and beyond concepts. You just understand. When you see that glory, you just say, Woe is me, I'm undone. All be jealous for the glory of God. The earth is the Lord's. And the king is at the gate, ready to come in. But who can slip the bolt that will open the gate for his entry? That's what the psalm speaks about from the third verse. Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in his holy place? The hill of the Lord is Mount Zion. It's the place of authority with God. The holy place is the place in the sanctuary of God. It's the key to authority and power in God. It's the place where that bolt is that needs to be moved away. Who may ascend and who may stand? He who has clean hands and a pure heart. Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and is not sworn deceitfully. And this is where I am at an impasse, an end of myself. What does that mean? What is God after with us? Aren't our hands sufficiently clean? Aren't our hearts sufficiently pure? Are we involved in blatant and corrupt sin? God is after something deeper. This is more than just moral cleanliness. This is more than just the avoidance of sin. This is a deeper quality of purity. And this is the key to the opening of the gate. Purity of such a kind that I cannot define it. It's not just being outwardly correct. It's something that is through and through the whole personality. It is a transparency before God. It is motive that does not have any taint of self. It's not doing for God and doing for ourselves at the same time. It is a quality of selflessness in the service of the Lord. That has no regard for one's own self. It doesn't matter if you are seen. It doesn't matter if men acknowledge you. It doesn't matter if you see the visible result of your service or your obedience. It doesn't matter if you are applauded for your good work. It doesn't matter if men recognize your virtue and your good qualities. It doesn't even matter if you are falsely accused. It doesn't matter if you suffer their reproaches. It is such a place in God. That so few of us attain. Because we are satisfied with less. If we impress men, that is sufficient for us. If there is nothing for which we can be faulted, that suffices us. But God is looking for a pure heart. And I don't know that any of us have attained it yet. There is only one motivation that can bring us to it. A jealousy for God's glory. Not that our program shall be successful. That we shall see the result of our activity. That it was worth all of the investment. No, it's a higher level of motivation. Beyond our success and the success of our programs. That the king of glory may come in. The condition of the church is the key to Japan. As the priest, so also the people. The nation shall not exceed the condition of the church. This is beyond the issue of morality. This is beyond ethics. This is beyond Christian respectability. This is beyond courtesy. This is another realm of being altogether. That when the church on the inside of the gate is of the same heart as the king who is outside the gate, the gate opens. There is a bolt that is fixed in place. It requires certain hands, different hands to open it. Clean hands. Men who have not lifted up their souls to falsehood. Men who have not lied to themselves. Who have not persuaded and deceived themselves. Who have not justified themselves. And who have not made excuses for themselves. The Lord told me that. The Lord is having me to do this. This is for the Lord. I am amazed at the ability that we have so easily to invoke the Lord's name for our activities. Even though we say it is for the Lord's sake, we are deceiving ourselves. I have been in a state of agitation myself in these days. Am I myself in the Lord's will for being in Japan at this time? Or was it just a good thing to do? I had the ability, the time and the invitation so I could come. But is this enough? There is a dimension in God beyond that which is good. It is that which is perfect. It is not a question of being perfect. It is a question of whether you are truly perfect. Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Be pure as your Heavenly Father is pure. Is there a solution to such a serious acceptance? It is a good thing, but I don't think it is realistic. There is a difference between simply being a good thing and being perfect. So rather than seeking perfection, I am satisfied with being a good thing. But in such a state, there is no gate to put in the glory of the Lord. We need to wait for the Lord. I sang that song earlier. Do we ignore it? What are we doing for the Lord? Is there any question more intimidating for Christians than that? I guess I should be doing something. What are they doing in the other YWAM bases? What is happening with the charismatic movement in America? How is Yankee Cho doing in Korea? I guess we should be doing something. Like that. That may be perfect for them, but is it perfect for us? Do you understand what I am trying to say, children? There is a terrible presumption that mars all of our Christian activity. A presumption of things that are self-initiated in the name of the Lord. How dare we trifle with the name of the Lord? In the moment that we do, our hands are no longer clean, nor are our hearts pure. If we do not have a fear of the Lord, what shall we expect in the world? If we will undertake things that are questionable and are perhaps not given of God, and do it in His name, what then does His name mean? The children of light, the children of darkness are sometimes brighter than the children of the day. I picked up a magazine, Time and Newsweek, on an airplane, and I read this statement written by an unbelieving economist. His article summarized the enormous complexity that has come into the economic world. And he made this statement. Anything that happens anywhere affects everything everywhere. Anything that happens anywhere affects everything everywhere. And that's true of the secular world that has grown that complicated and that interdependent. A small war takes place in the Middle East, or somebody sneezes on Wall Street, and the world is affected. If that's true of the kingdom of darkness, what shall we say about the kingdom of God? If that's true of the kingdom of darkness, what shall we say about the kingdom of God? There too, anything that happens anywhere affects everything everywhere. I remember a few years ago that a leading missionary to the Jews took a full page in the New York Times to print a statement for the Jewish community of New York City. It was quite a clever thing to do. Because you can't get into these Jewish homes in New York City, two and a half million Jews, as many Jews in New York as in all Israel, but you can't get in. So it was quite a clever thing to do. But it was expensive. It cost $6,000 for one page. One day. And I said to this clever brother, did the Lord show you to do that? He was quite surprised by the question. No, he said, we had the money, and I thought it was a good idea, so we did it. He doesn't have clean hands or a pure heart. You say, but brother, didn't he mean well? Yes, but there are subtleties of human ambition that are mixed in. There is something more important than human cleverness or financial ability. It is the will of a God who is holy. Who has his own way and his own time. Which is revealed to those who wait upon the Lord. I can see the way you're looking at me that you're hearing something for the first time. Like you almost want to put your hand over your mouth. I didn't know this. I wasn't told this. I thought that anything that we would do for the Lord would be applauded and approved of him. I thought there was a great need to do things. I was glad that I could think something clever up. But I see now that I didn't have the respect for God that I ought. I didn't sufficiently acknowledge his holiness. I am guilty of presuming upon God. It is not for me to employ the phrase, in the name of the Lord, to justify everything that I want to do. The name of the Lord is not to be stamped on every product like, made in Japan. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The whole earth is waiting to shout, Hosanna to him who comes in the name of the Lord. There's a bolt fixed that is waiting to be opened. For the King of Glory is waiting to come in. It's a gate to Japan and to Asia. But it cannot be opened by any man's hands. But he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted his soul up to vanity, then the King can come in. Then the glorious word that releases the captives. Then sight for the blind. Then the opening of the prison doors. The fifth verse, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord. This one who has clean hands and a pure heart, he shall receive the blessing. And righteousness from the God of his salvation. He shall receive. That's the word, the key word. It's not something that one takes, it's something that one receives. For the one who has clean hands and a pure heart is also without anything in himself. He is helpless in himself. He has no strength nor ability in himself. He continually says with Paul, who is sufficient for these things? To such a one God gives a blessing. To that one who can receive righteousness from the Lord. Who recognizes that he doesn't have it in himself. Lord, I cannot of myself maintain a pure heart. My righteousness is as filthy rags. My morality is only outward and superficial. You know my secret heart. You know the vile things of which I am capable. Without you I can do nothing. Without you I am nothing. It's true that the worst sinners make the greatest saints. It is true. Because they know more than any man that they have no righteousness in themselves. They must receive it from the Lord. How subtle is our conceit and our egotism. That we think we are outstanding saints. How everything needs to be lifted toward heaven. Our view of God's purposes for the entire earth. So much higher than our evangelism. Our sense of the king of glory. So much more than successful programs. The righteousness of the God of our salvation. So much more than our little technical and brittle morality. That's why it ends in the sixth verse. This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek thy face, even Jacob. Who has the clean hand that can open the bolt that lets the king of glory come in? That kind who seeks him and seeks his face. Moses said to God, show me now thy glory. The Lord said, I will hide you in the cleft of the rock and I will let my glory go before you, but you shall not see my face. There is a picture here that God wants us to see. This is a key, not just to Japan, but to all the earth. We are at the very end of the age when mere programs are not enough. Only the king in his glory coming in. Open up, oh ancient gates. Be lifted up, you ancient doors. That the king of glory may come in and flood the earth with the light of his glory. By those who can open the bolt with clean hands. Who seek the Lord's face. Who are jealous for his glory. Who are suspicious of their own motivations. Who are wary of their own humanity. Pure hearts, clean hands. A generation that seeks his face. This is more than methods. This is a certain disposition of heart and spirit. And the king of glory is waiting to come in. For the earth is the Lord's. And all it contains. The world and those who dwell in it. I want to pray for the church of Jesus Christ in Japan. It's not enough just to be right. It's not enough just to be correct. It's not enough just to be well-meaning and have good intentions. To hope that we have the mind of the Lord and to hope that something will work. He is holy, holy, holy. Waiting for people who tremble at the fear of the Lord. Who will not initiate anything of themselves or for themselves. Who have such an utterness toward God. Such a total yieldedness toward God. In which there is no thought of themselves or for themselves. To be seen or not to be seen. To be heard or not to be heard. To succeed or not to succeed. Only to please God. Only to delight His heart. Lord, what would you have for me to do? I should not be in Japan at this time? Good messages are not enough? I'll get on a plane this day and go back. Holy is the Lord. Blessed are all they that wait upon Him. That seek His face. Are jealous for His glory. They shall open the ancient gates. That the King of Glory might come in. The King with power. The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory. May God give us a new knowledge of Him. A new respect for Him. A new seriousness toward Him. May we examine our hands. What have we touched? What have we allowed ourselves to play with and to become involved with? May we examine our hearts. And pray that He would give us, create in us, a clean heart. And a right spirit. That the King of Glory might come in. Nothing less will be the answer for this hour. Let's pray for this. Let's ask the Lord's forgiveness. That we have been so casual and glib and easy with regard to Him. That we have been guilty of taking the Lord's name in vain. We have stamped it upon everything that we have done as if it were made in Japan. We have been too impatient to wait upon Him. More jealous for our own success than for His glory. Our eyes greedy to see results. Satisfied with mere numbers rather than His glory. What we have lived for, what we have gathered for, what we have been saved for. Break your heart before the Lord. Humble yourself before Him. Let Him purify the priests, the sons of Levi. Let Him have a holy church in the land. A true people. Let's pray. And let's pray that the Lord will really remove this gate. And that the King of Glory will come to our church. And let me begin to deal with this. And today, I will begin to deal with it.