Security guards at the gate are an indicator of a neighborhood’s or country club’s sense of insecurity or exclusivity. If it’s a sprawling neighborhood with mansions and a golf course it’s a little bit of both. Because of their wealth and possessions the members feel insecure with their own personal security alarm systems and prefer the added layer of security provided by a gate and a guard. It also indicates a tacit or blatant sense of superiority. Non-members aren’t wanted and are seen as intrusions on the exclusivity of a members and guests only society.

But we don’t need to live in a gated and guarded community to be insecure or exclusive.

As noted in yesterday’s introduction to Psalm 24, God has an exclusive community (the church) but it doesn’t have a security guard at the gate keeping people out. Rather it has the Lord standing at the door begging insecure and exclusive people to fire their own personal security guard, their dishonest and deceitful heart, and join Him. Insecurity and exclusivity resides in every human heart and has to be surrendered to God to enter His society. And that is the core of all our Sunday’s Struggles.

After learning only the clean, pure, and honest heart can enter God’s Heavenly home (Psalm 24:3-4) we can give up knowing that ain’t us (Luke 5:8), or arrogantly pretend it is and try to enter, only to find God Himself denying entry if we refused His offer of entrance (Matthew 7:23). Psalm 24 gives hope to those who know their own sinfulness. Verses 5 & 6 declare the good heart will “receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek Your face.”

One of the most despicable lies told today is the doctrine of once saved always saved. It shuts people outside the gate to God’s home because they are convinced they can be His even while living with unclean hands and an impure heart. They think they can lie, cheat, and steal, or sleep around, to their deceitful hearts content because sometime in the distant past they confessed or with their dying breath profess Jesus as Lord. Yet their whole life was spent seeking their own pleasures instead of God’s face. God is locked out of those hearts by the security guard they hired – their own sinful desires and their true master, Satan (John 8:44). The sinner must fire his or her current security guard and seek God’s face to get into His house! Will you?