In the beloved Psalm 23, recited all over the world by the faithful, King David describes the Lord as a shepherd. But in the very next Psalm 24, he exalts Him as the King of Glory.

The famous preacher of yesteryears, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, analysed this psalm as:

Vs. 1,2 : Glorifying the true God in His universal dominion.

Vs. 3-6 : Description of the true Israel who are able to commune with Him.

Vs. 7-10 : Ascent of the Redeemer who opens the gates of heaven to all believers.

The first and the third sections are, what theologians call, objective truths – truths that take our thoughts away from ourselves, lifting them up to the true God in His sovereignty.

Objective truth is very necessary and may be very pleasant. But wedged between these two statements are the solemn verses which describe the true Israel.

It is very easy to forget the second part of the Psalm in dwelling on the first and the third. Our souls delight in the great doctrines of God: The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.

Our souls find great delight in considering the ascended Christ. But between the two there are solemn questions concerning the true Israel.

Not all Israel is true Israel, as not all professing Christians are true Christians. “Not every one that says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father… “

David wrote in v.3: Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? And in v.4, he answers his own question: He who has clean hands and a pure heart.

? Clean Hands.

That is the Bible way of speaking of righteous conduct, for our hands represent what we do and what we hold.

For those with clean hands, the work is faithful, the business is honest, the pay is honourable. Clean hands handle clean books, not unclean novels, keep exact accounts, return borrowed things.

The hand is the symbol of work, of earning, of paying, of giving. This challenges everyone.

Prophet Isaiah spoke of his unclean lips and of dwelling in the midst of people with unclean lips. And we may well pray to be delivered from unclean hands, dwelling in the midst of people with unclean hands.

Never was there such theft and graft as there is today, and we need to pray to be delivered from it.

Apostle James wrote in the New Testament: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded (James 4:8)

This is something we must do for ourselves. It is not a thing to only pray about. If there is a debt to be paid, then we have to cleanse our hands by paying it.

If a cheque ought to be sent to income tax authorities, it is not a matter for prayer but for cleansing our hands by sending it.

If a tool or a book has been borrowed and ought to have been returned, it is not a matter for prayer but of returning these.

And if a letter of apology needs to be written, the only way to cleanse the hands is to write the letter.

Spurgeon says of this Psalm: What monarch would have servants with filthy hands at his table? God’s Word comes home to us that our hands are stained somehow with some sin.

? A pure heart.

Holiness goes deeper than outward conduct. Theologians used to speak of true Christianity being heart-work. It touches: All the regions deep within/Thought, and wish, and senses keeping/Now and every instant clean.

Clean hands – that concerns our outward conduct. A pure heart – that concerns our inward motive.

How God sometimes searches us regarding our motives! How God searches His preachers regarding their motives in service for God!

How petty, how utterly unrighteous our schemes for self-advancement, when five minutes after we die nothing we have achieved for self will be worth anything at all.

A pure heart. It means we have no controversy with God. It means we give a hearty response to His word and in the light that we are set to obey Him at whatever cost.

The pure heart is not consciously adulterated with selfish intentions. It is not that a man with a pure heart never sins, but he never wants to sin, he loathes sin, he condemns sin, and he shrinks from sin.

It is a costly business. It costs much to pray every day, “Search me O God.” But it costs more not to pray it.

There is, in some quarters, an attempt to escape from the claims of real holiness by pressing for an almost exclusive preaching of objective truth.

I would be the last to say that we should always be conducting post-mortems on our spiritual life. But if this pressure for objective truth – truth about God outside ourselves – means that we are never to examine ourselves reverently and thoroughly, we can only reply to such brethren that their position is unscriptural.

If it were true, then the book of Romans would end at the close of chapter 11. The epistle to the Ephesians would end at the close of chapter three.

The Bible calls believers to the most thorough-going searching of themselves in God’s presence.

A preacher friend told me the other day that he is almost coming to dread his annual holidays, for every August the Lord draws near to him and deals drastically with him. But the effectiveness of his ministry is continually growing.

This principle is confirmed in the history of every revival, that when the Lord is about to make bare His holy arm in the sight of the nation, He first reveals to His people the exceeding sinfulness of sin.

Choruses for revival should be sung softly and those who pray for revival should pray gently. For who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully.

Narayan Mitra is the pastor of the Merritt’s Baptist Church.