Psalm - 15

Psalm 15

Introduction

- Queen Elizabeth visit to US. Woman in impoverished LA neighborhood answered door and hugged her. Scandalous. Not know protocols for approaching a royal.

- Psalm 15 is a festal psalm, one that would have been recited by worshipers as they traveled to Jerusalem for four annual festivals. Possibly even recited when entering the gate of the tabernacle court.

- Simple outline with questions, requirements, and conclusion.

1. The Searching Questions (v. 1)

- Hebrew parallelism all throughout Psalm 15

o Sojourn and dwell – not saying same thing

§ Sojourn is verb for temporary stay, as an outsider

§ Dwell is verb for permanent residence

o Tent and hill – clear reference to the Tabernacle, housed in Jerusalem (later event in David’s life after he moved Ark to Jerusalem).

§ Tabernacle – housed God’s presence in Ark of Covenant before Temple was built by Solomon. The place to worship and sacrifice. Ark/mercy seat between cherubim/glory.

§ Holy hill – Jerusalem built on high hill (Mt. Zion). Holy hill…not because anything special about the city, but because God dwelt there.

o Who gets to come into God’s presence and stay? Who does God welcome? What is the kind of person that God approves?

- Critical question to ask. Based on God’s characteristics, we must ask this question.

o God is holy…chief characteristic…holy, holy, holy (absolute holiness)

§ Isaiah 6 – woe is me; I am undone.

§ Revelation 1:17 – John falls at Jesus’ feet as though dead

o What business do we sinners have in the presence of a holy God? None. The only conclusion we could possibly draw is that no one is worthy. We are only with God by his mercy.

§ Worship is a summons from God to examine your soul.

2. The Spiritual Requirements (v. 2-5a)

- These verses lay out a series of characteristics of those that God welcomes to Himself. This is not an exhaustive list. They are representative of broad categories.

o Psalm 24:3-6

o Isaiah 33:13-16

- Some debate how many requirements are listed here. A few scholars get all excited thinking there are 10 of them so they can try to link them to the 10 Commandments. This is where we really see the Hebrew parallelism at play. There are 12 total requirements that are presented in parallel pairs, creating 6 categories.

(1) Holy Conduct (v. 2a)

- Walks – daily lifestyle/pattern

o Blamelessly – without blame…negative way to state it. Word means sound or wholehearted

o Related to NT word for Elders of above reproach. Literally translates as without handles. Nothing to grab onto.

- Does right – as the first one is the negative side, this is the positive. This is not just about avoidance of sin. This is an actively living out right things.

§ Matthew 25:34-39

§ James 2:14-17

o Right – speaks to conformity to some standard…set by God (each setting their own would be anarchy)

o Very high standard

§ Matthew 5:48 – be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect

§ Hebrews 12:14 – pursue holiness, without which you will not see God

- Walks/does (and speaks) are all substantival participles, meaning these things form the substance of the person. These are not one-time actions, but ongoing characteristics.

- These two statements are not set in contrast, but show both sides of what holy lifestyle actually looks like. It is defined by what you don’t do and by what you do.

§ James 1:22-25

(2) Holy Conversation (v. 2b-3a)

- Speaks truth – speak is also a substantival participle…ongoing characteristic.

o Truth has the connotation of trustworthy. What they speak can be trusted because it is true.

§ John 17:3 – true God

§ John 14:6 – Jesus is way, truth, life

§ John 14:17 – Spirit of truth

§ John 17:17 – your word is truth

o Not people who flatter or manipulate/persuade.

- From heart – not just an outward show of saying right things so you’ll like them or respect them. It is genuine.

o Matthew 12:34-35- out of overflow of the heart the mouth speaks

o Lips and heart match

§ Isaiah 29:13/Matthew 15:8 – draw near to me with mouth but heart is far from me

- Does not slander with tongue – slandermeans to go around to spy out or spread around

o Along with gossip, these are chief sins among God’s people.

§ True v. gossip/slander

§ Slander is spreading gossip to detriment of another

o ‘characteristic’ perfect tense…ongoing nature of the person

§ Devil is a slanderer.

§ James 3:1-12

(3) Holy Contacts (v. 3b)

- Does no evil to his neighbor – refers to anything that may cause harm or pain

- Nor take up reproach against his friend – a reproachis a taunt, a disgrace, a shaming

o God’s people don’t do this against their friends. They support, defend, encourage, confront lovingly.

o Secondary interpretation…does not agree with slander about his friend. Does not take up the reproach, as in, believe it.

§ This would mean that God’s people believe the best and assume the best about motives and action. They don’t live in the realm of doubt and suspicion. They trust, even though it could hurt them.

o Either way…the point remains that God’s people treat others in a distinctly Christian manner.

§ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

(4) Holy Company (v. 4a)

- Vile person is despised – vile is a word that translates as rejected, worthless. This is not to be understood as being judgy, or mean, or cruel. This is simply acknowledging facts and realities about some people. While hope is never lost that anyone could be saved, nor do we ever stop praying for them, there are those who have distanced themselves from God and are not to be viewed as helpful to your life as a Christian.

o To despise means to treat lightly. To recognize that their life, their counsel, carries no weight in your life.

o This really is a rejecting of ungodly and unbiblical influence. This forces us to re-evaluate our media consumption, our friends, social media.

- Honors those who fear the Lord – honor is the Hebrew root word chabod. It is the same word translated as glory. It means weight. So just as you are to treat lightly the counsel and life of ungodly people, you are to view other believer’s lives and counsel as carrying weight.

o This means that you affirm and associate with holy people. They make you better. They further you along in your walk with Christ.

o Show me your friends and I will show you your future.

§ Romans 12:10

- A few years ago a study was conducted in Canada showing that the younger generations had no heroes. It chronicles the devastating effects of what happens when you have no one to look up to in your life.

o For many, they grew up with a dad for a hero…so many now cannot do that. Their dad is their greatest enemy who has hurt them the most.

o Others grew up with Mighty Mouse (here he comes to save the day!) or comic book superheroes. Today’s shows and movies (with exception of superhero movies) are pretty dark and dystopian.

§ The only thing worse than having no heroes is having the wrong ones. This point asks…who do you look up to? Who are your models? Why?

§ Too many look to the rich and famous while ignoring the simple and faithful.

(5) Holy Commitment (v. 4b)

- Who swears to his own hurt – can be a confusing phrase. To swear is to make an oath, a promise. Someone who keeps their vow no matter what happens.

o We expect this for marriage vows and for commitments in church involvements, in the workplace. God expects this.

o We are to keep our word…even when it hurts. Even when doing so brings tremendous pain and inconvenience. Even when it would be so easy to back out. Why? Because this is who God is.

§ James 1:17 – in him there is no variation

- Who does not change – consistently keeps word, consistently lives out godly values.

o To do this we must be ruled by God’s work in our lives, not by our emotions. We all know those people who are so all over the place with their emotions, you never know which version of them you are dealing with.

o Again…why do we do this? Because this is who God is. This is the doctrine of God’s immutability. He is unchanging.

§ Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

(6) Holy Commerce (v. 5a)

- Does not put money out at interest – would be great advice for banks! This isn’t about financial gain, per se. This is about trading on someone else’s misfortune. This isn’t talking about mortgages and car loans and credit cards. This is talking about one person finding themselves in a tough situation and you helping them out. Don’t help with one eye on how you can personally benefit from it.

- Not take bribe – again, this is about putting people over money. We don’t prioritize our greed over the people we are called to care for. This is someone who cannot be bought by the world.

TS – those are some pretty heavy requirements for the worshiper. Burdensome. Yet, look at the result.

3. The Strong Assurance (v. 5b)

- Shall never be moved – moved means shaken. This is one of the themes of the Psalms. Those who are with God cannot be shaken. Though the world shakes, we are not shaken. God is our rock, he is our fortress. We are safe with him.

o Psalm 1:3 – tree planted; Matthew 7:24-27 – house built on rock

o And this then becomes the ultimate promise of those who come to God. Who can come into his presence? These kinds of people. And these kinds of people will never be moved. From where? From God’s presence.

o Not only are they welcomed by God, they are invited to stay.

Conclusion

- I don’t imagine you look at this list and think, Wow, I am so amazing! This list is an accurate description of my life all the time. So what do we do with that? Are we then uninvited from God’s presence? Are we rejected by Him? No. Let’s talk about a doctrine called Imputed Righteousness, which oddly enough we will talk about on Sunday too.

- A couple weeks ago in a sermon I talked about how God is wildly unfair in his dealings with us. Grace is always unfair. And that is true. It’s just not the whole picture. God is still a God of justice. His justice must be met.

o This is the other side of that coin. We are sinners who fully deserve God’s wrath and an eternity in Hell. So when God shows grace to us and forgives us in Christ, does he just set his justice aside? That would make God unjust. Unrighteous. No, his justice is fully met at the cross.

o The full penalty of sin…wrath, condemnation, death…that we all deserve, was placed on Jesus on the cross. He welcomed that, so that we would not have to endure it. This is the doctrine of propitiation. God’s wrath was diverted away from us and onto Christ.

- Romans 3:21-26

o God is both just…and the justifier of sinners. He fully satisfied the condemnation for sin in Christ so that he could declare us innocent (even though we are guilty).

o Where does that leave us? We are still sinners who do not deserve to be invited into God’s presence. This is the other side of salvation.

- Not only is our sin placed onto Christ in salvation, his righteousness is placed onto us. This is imputed righteousness. This is why Jesus had to be sinless. His perfect obedience to God’s will and God’s law fills in the gap of our disobedience.

o So when God looks at us he doesn’t just see one who is forgiven, but he sees the righteousness of Jesus – Be of sin the double cure, save from wrath make pure.

o Justified – just as if I’d never sinned; just as if I’d always obeyed.

§ 2 Corinthians 5:21

Takeaways – do an inventory. Does my life look like this? Why not?

- Anchor in Scripture. ILL – mom visits son in college with scandalous posters on wall. She has Psalm 15:1-2 framed for him. Slowly the other posters got thrown away. Progressive sanctification.