Who Shall Dwell on Your Holy Hill? (Psalm 15)

Announcements

Friday, January 21st, join us for a free screening of American Gospel: Christ Alone at 7pm in the Auditorium. Free admittance, popcorn, and drinks.

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Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Sermon

Introduction

Our psalm for this evening is a rather short psalm, it’s only five verses, but the message behind the psalm is powerful and thought-provoking—it really speaks of the need for a Savior who makes the believer righteous. David wrote this psalm, but in this case, we don’t have a clue how it was supposed to be utilized. Of course, like all the psalms, it would’ve been utilized for musical worship, but beyond this, we don’t know how it was to be sang or even for what part of musical worship it was to be utilized. Psalm 15 doesn’t give us a time period or a rough estimate all we know is that David is reflecting on the tabernacle, but not because he wants to think about the tabernacle itself, but rather because he’s thinking about who resides in the tent. He’s thinking about the idea of dwelling with God.

That idea of dwelling with God causes David to reflect on something in particular—that to dwell with God there are certain requirements. You cannot flippantly come into his presence, you can’t come into his presence in any way that you want; you must come into the presence of God according to how God has told us to come to him. We see that in the various requirements that the Israelites had to meet in order to make the tabernacle and in order to prepare a place for the LORD to come and dwell.

And I think it would be beneficial for us to reflect just briefly before we jump into the text on the requirements that the Israelites had to follow to make a place for the LORD to dwell in. The requirements for the tabernacle begin in Exodus 26, but remember that by the time Moses gives these requirements to the Israelites, he had already spent chapter 25 explaining the details of the items within the tabernacle—the Ark of the Covenant was to be made of acacia wood. It was to be two cubits and a half by a cubit and a half, and a cubit and a half. It would be overlayed with gold. The details are so strenuous that even the feet of the ark are described and the poles utilized by the Israelites to carry the ark are defined. We read about the mercy seat that sat upon the Ark of the Covenant—it’s material, measurements, and even the decorative carving that was to be placed on and near it.

Before we even get to the tabernacle itself, we still have the table for bread and the golden lampstand. By the time that we get to the tabernacle in Exodus 26, it’s very clear that there are very specific details that must be kept. The tabernacle itself had very specific materials, measurements, and decorations—they couldn’t make the tabernacle just however they wanted to; it had to be made according to God’s specifications. We see this level of specificity with the clothing for the priests, who can serve as priests, and the different rituals that the priests would perform while in the tabernacle.

Only very specific people could enter into the tabernacle during very specific days for very specific purposes. It’s important to remember this because this is the mindset that David has as he writes Psalm 15. That God is a God that wants to dwell with his people, but there’s a specific way in which a person is to come to the LORD. Keep this in mind as we read Psalm 15 together.

Psalm 15 ESV

A Psalm of David. 1 O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

As we study this passage, we’re going to break it into two parts and it’s going to seem a little different than usual because the two sections are a little different—it’s a question and answer type of psalm, but there’s only one question and it’s found in the first section: (1) The Question: Who May Abide? (1). The first section of our text this evening is made up of the first verse and it’s summed up with that question “who may abide?” David poses the question that sets the stage for the remaining four verses of the text. The second section: (2) The Answer: The Righteous (2-5). David answer the question that he poses and the answer can be summed up in two words, the righteous. The righteous may abide. Our message for this evening is going to remind us of our inability to be in God’s presence apart from the work of God through Jesus Christ. It should cause us to rely completely on Jesus and praise him for what he has done.

Prayer for Illumination

The Question: Who May Abide? (1)

David starts Psalm fifteen by posing the same question in two different ways, “O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” There are a number of details that I’d like for us to see in Psalm 15:1 starting with the relationship aspect of this verse.

David says, “O LORD.” Remember that LORD when in all capital letters in the Bible refers to the personal name of God, Yahweh and anytime it is utilized in a context like this, it’s meant to remind the reader of the personal relationship between the person and God.

Which sort of colors this whole psalm for us—even in knowing that he has a personal relationship with the Father, David still poses the questions at hand.

And it’s actually a useful spiritual exercise for us to do the same—it is good and useful to remind ourselves of who we are without Jesus because it draws us and pushes us to greater praise of his name.

David addresses God by emphasizing the personal relationship that he has with the Father and then again, he asks the same question posed two different ways: “Who shall sojourn in your tent?” and “Who shall dwell on your holy hill?”

This question is a spiritual question: who can draw near to God; who can worship in God’s dwelling place?

Remember that as David reflects on this, he has everything that we spoke about in the introduction in mind. He knows that God is very specific concerning who can come into his presence, he knows that God is very particular about the worship that he is owed, David knows what God’s Word has said concerning the requirements of genuine worship.

Which means that he knows that to come into the presence of God is not something to be taken lightly, it isn’t something that can be taken flippantly; it’s something that needs to be taken utterly seriously and it has to be done in such a way that pleases God.

In our modern vernacular, we might say that it needs to be on God’s terms, not ours. We don’t choose how we come to God, we come to God the way that he wants us to come to him—to think otherwise is foolish and dangerous.

Now there are some details that are of note in vs. 1 that help us see what precisely David means in the meanings of the words themselves:

The first phrase, “who shall sojourn in your tent?” shows us the nature of how we are to come into God’s home or house— sojourn is a word that we don’t utilize often anymore, but the idea is that the sojourner isn’t the master of the tent. He is the dependent in the tent. Again, this emphasizes the fact that God doesn’t allow us to come into his presence our way, it has to be his way. It’s also a reminder that this figurative tent is God’s home and that we are guests within his home.

The second phrase, “who shall dwell on your holy hill?” emphasizes the fact that his is God’s place that we are being invited to—dwell carries the idea of not just visiting, but residing on God’s Holy Hill. It’s more than just a weekend visit, it’s the idea of living in the presence of God.

Taken together, what David is doing is that he’s thinking on or pondering the question of “who can dwell” in the presence of God. The term tent is often utilized to speak of the tabernacle and the holy hill refers to Zion or the city of Jerusalem.

Allen Ross, “The question is concerned with who was eligible to be a ‘guest’ of the Lord and live in the place where His presence rested. It was a spiritual question: who can draw near to God and worship in His dwelling place?”

Considering all that David knows about God, it is a good question to ponder. Think of everything that David knows of God, of Yahweh.

Including all of what we discussed concerning the tabernacle in the introduction—David knows that there are specific requirements for being able to worship Yahweh.

He knows the ceremonial laws, he knows the governmental laws, he knows the moral laws. He knows all about the history of the Israelites in regard to their relationship with God.

He also knows about God from a deeply personal level—remember, this is the same David who through God’s power slew Goliath. The same David who had seen God work through his life in many different ways to bring him to where he was.

If this was written later in life (remember, we don’t know the precise date of authorship), this is the same David who committed terrible sins and God still forgave him. This is the same David who saw his son betray him and yet, still retained the crown of Israel as God’s chosen king.

David knew this God and this God knew him.

But not only does David know who God is and what God has done in his life and the live’s of the Israelites, but David knows God’s character. We know this because David as an Israelite would be familiar with the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy).

So really, David’s question is that of who can go into the presence of such a good God, a righteous God, a just God? Who can come into the presence of this God who had done all these amazing things for Israel and for David himself? Who can be in the presence of the God who has such strict laws concerning sin—so strict, that as he says in Psalm 14, there is none righteous, no not one?

He knew how God had revealed himself and he knows God to be a good God. He knows God is righteous and just; he knows that God’s law demands perfection and no human can possibly reach the standard that God has for us—he knows as Paul says in Romans, “all have fallen short of the glory of God.” And it’s those concepts that lead us to the next section of the passage as David answers his question. Read with me vss. 2-5:

The Answer: The Righteous (2-5)

Psalm 15:2–5 ESV

2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

The answer to David’s question as he reflects is simple in word, but difficult in deed. The only person that can sojourn in God’s tent and who can dwell on God’s holy hill are those who are righteous. David doesn’t actually utilize the word righteous, but he describes a righteous person through vss. 2-5. Let’s look at those verses individually:

Vs 2, “He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart;”

When the Bible utilizes the word walk, it has in mind the concept of how you are to live your life. A person who is acceptable to come into God’s presence and dwell with him is one who lives life in a blameless way.

Paul utilizes the same terminology in his letters to Titus and Timothy to talk about the requirements for both elders and deacons, that they live life in such a way that that if they were accused of sin, it simply wouldn’t stick because their reputation was that of living blameless lives. David teaches us that all who want to dwell with God ought to live in the same way.

David says that the person who is acceptable “does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.” He is a person who seeks to only do right and not evil; he doesn’t seek his own fulfilment and happiness, but he cares for what is true, sure, and trustworthy.

This really speaks of his character itself—he’s genuine. What he says he is, he genuinely is.

Vs. 3, “Who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend;”

Slandering is the idea of going around behind people’s back to spread rumors that smear other people. It’s a step further than just gossip, which is also listed as sin throughout Scripture in that slander implies maliciousness. There is an intent to harm.

The Bible says that the person who is acceptable “does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend.” A neighbor would be anyone who he comes in contact with, we see that when Jesus is asked who his neighbor is.

This would include really anyone that you would bump into, maybe, we’d consider these acquaintances. What David says is that an acceptable person would do no evil to those who might not be friends, but are still in contact with them. A blameless person or an acceptable person would do no harm and will not seek to destroy their neighbors.

The “takes up a reproach against his friend” is simply the idea of speaking evil against their friends. And we all know what this is like, because we all know someone who does this—you can’t quite trust them because you know they’ll tell other people what you said later. The Bible says that the acceptable person isn’t like this.

Vs. 4, “In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; who swears to his own hurt and does not change;”

The acceptable or righteous person despises evil and they don’t prefer being in the company of those who do vile things.

Those that would rather be in the company of people who live in licentiousness probably don’t fit the idea of a righteous or acceptable person in the sight of God because they choose to be in the presence of sin.

Now that doesn’t mean that there should be a complete abstinence against those who are unbelievers, but it does mean that those who are acceptable would have a preference of being with other like-minded believers over unbelievers that prefer to remain in sin. Their desire would be to be with others who think and believe similarly to them.

That phrase “who swears to his own hurt and does not change” is a little unusual—what it means is that if a righteous or acceptable person takes an oath (marriage, a contract, or really anything that he promises to do), he will keep his word even when it hurts.

Vs. 5, “who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.”

The last verse speaks about the the person’s use of money—that he will not take advantage of one who must borrow money—this reflects Exodus 22:25 and Leviticus 25:36).

That he will not take bribes against the innocent, in fact, a righteous or acceptable person in God’s sight would be the champion of the innocent and the needy—he would care for them.

And David concludes this psalm by stating that one who lives like this, “will never be moved.” He can expect blessing and security as he dwells in God’s presence.

What David has described here is someone who lives a certain way, but before you determine in your heart that these are attainable attributes, let me stop you from thinking that way.

This is not meant to be a list in which you go through and check off which ones you fulfill and which ones you don’t—this is meant to be a list in which you realize that each one of these things are struggles for you—some more than others.

Much like the Torah in which we find the Ten Commandments and the various other ceremonial, moral, and governmental Laws of the Lord, the point that’s being made is that this is completely unattainable on our own.

The acceptable person in the sight of God is blameless and righteous.

The acceptable person does not slander, he speaks truth and he does no evil.

The acceptable person despises the wicked and honors those that fear God.

The acceptable person is trustworthy at all times and generous in all times.

Many of us struggle with these sins on almost a daily basis

It doesn’t take much to realize that the idea of being blameless and righteous isn’t just improbable, it’s utterly impossible apart from God working within us to make us so.

So, first and foremost, a passage like Psalm 15 ought to remind us that we absolutely, utterly require a Savior.

And that’s part of the reflection that David is having as he’s thinking through this—he’s thinking about God, about God’s character, and about God’s actions.

He’s realizing that God demands certain things to be true about those who follow him and it can really be summed up with the idea or word righteous.

As he reflects on this, he understands that the only way that he can fulfill these attributes is through the working of God in his life.

Apart from God, there is none righteous. No not one. To think otherwise is to reject biblical truth.

There’s one last detail that’s of note, though it’s one that is more for your own edification than a necessity to know to determine the purpose or truth at hand. This detail is mentioned by a few scholars and it does prove to us the fact that David is reflecting on God’s Word as he does this exercise of worship.

Some commentators draw out a parallel between the Ten Commandments and the attributes listed in Psalm 15, though they do admit that the two lists are not identical and they don’t correspond in every item, but since they do share some similarities, I think it’d be beneficial to read them side-by-side.

Exodus 20:3-17 “3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.””

Psalm 15:2-5 “2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.”

I think you can see the similarities and even the differences. There is a significant emphasis on how we are to treat one another, but there’s also an emphasis concerning living in such a way that we resemble God. We know that Jesus himself quotes from the Ten Commandments and he utilizes the Ten Commandments to not just restate them, but to enhance them. Not only is it a sin to commit these types of sins, but Jesus than amplifies them.

The point in both passages isn’t for the passages to become checklists, however, the point is to show us the standards of God and to compare and contrast ourselves to them.

Now, the question is, how exactly do we apply a passage like this to our own lives today? Knowing that they aren’t exactly checklists and knowing that we can’t possibly achieve these things on our own; how do we apply this? And I think you can tell because of the question and answer format of this psalm, that we can’t really divide up the text for application, we really have to take the full text in one unit. So, how do we apply this passage?

Application

Since we know that this text is not meant to be a checklist, we can’t go through this list asking ourselves if we achieved each section of the list. That’s not entirely what it’s meant for, however, we can look through this text and start at the beginning with the realization that this text describes a person that’s righteous in the sight of God.

And just a cursory look through the text, I’m sure we can all see something that we fail in.

Perhaps you struggle with always doing what’s right, maybe you aren’t always as authentic or genuine as you should be.

Maybe you’re guilty of slandering those around you or doing evil things to your neighbor.

Maybe you’re guilty of breaking an oath or taking advantage of other people.

It can be any number of sins and let’s be honest, we all struggle with some sin or another. Perhaps the sin that you struggle with the most isn’t even in Psalm 15.

And yet, you know it is sinful and you do feel guilt for that sin.

You might have even struggled with the sin before you came to church this evening.

All this does is prove that it is impossible for us to be righteous, to be acceptable in God’s sight on our own. David starts this psalm by posing the question “who shall sojourn in your tent Who shall dwell on your holy hill?”

And he answers that question with a description of someone who lives blamelessly and does what is right.

We all fail in this, that’s why the Bible can makes the statements that there are none righteous, no not one and that we all fall short of the glory of God.

We can’t do it on our own and to think otherwise is to reject biblical teaching.

So, we can’t live blamelessly and we can’t do only what’s right, which means that we can’t dwell in God’s tent, we can’t sojourn with him, we’re not worthy of being a “guest” of the Lord. So, what do we do about this?

Passages like this in which it is abundantly clear that we cannot meet the standard of God ought to drive us to repentance. If you read a passage like this and you don’t feel any compulsion to repent from sins, you’re not taking it seriously.

What this means for people that have yet to believe in Jesus Christ is that passages like this are meant to call you to repentance for the first time.

The standard of God is righteousness and you do not meet that standard, but God because of his great love for you sent his Son, Jesus Christ to be born of a virgin, to live a perfect, sinless life, and to die as a substitutionary atonement for your sins.

Through his death, burial, and resurrection he offers salvation to all who would believe despite the fact that we cannot meet his standards.

And the Bible clearly teaches us that all we must do to obtain this salvation is repent from our lives of sin, call on the name of the LORD, and believe in Him.

Passages like Psalm 15 and even Exodus 20 are meant to call you to repent.

So, please consider Jesus, and repent. Only then will you be made righteous in the sight of God and only then will you be able to sojourn in God’s tent and dwell in his holy hill. Only when Jesus gives you his righteousness through your salvation will you be privileged to dwell in his presence.

My application for unbelievers listening to us work through Psalm 15 is simple, this is God’s standard for righteousness and you cannot meet it apart from him, so repent and believe in Jesus; and he will make you righteous in his sight.

What this passage means for people that do believe in Jesus is two-fold. You already know that you cannot meet God’s standard apart from Jesus, which is why you first repented, called on his name, and believed in him.

It takes an acknowledgment of sin and a realization of our complete inability to save ourselves for someone to repent and to call on the name of Jesus.

So, if you’ve already done this then you acknowledge that you can’t meet the standards of a righteous or acceptable person in Psalm 15 apart from Jesus’ working within you.

And it is right for you to realize that it isn’t just improbably for you to live this way, it is impossible for you to live this way apart from Jesus through the Holy Spirit working within you.

Which leads me to my first application for those that do believe, reflect on your inability to achieve salvation on your own; and praise Jesus for doing what you couldn’t do for you.

That’s precisely what David is doing in Psalm 15, he’s reflecting on God, on his character, and on what he has done. He acknowledging that he couldn’t come into the presence of God apart from God calling David to himself.

And he’s praising God for doing what he couldn’t do on his own. This is a psalm in which David praises God for saving him, making him righteous, and allowing him to dwell with God.

Likewise, your salvation through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection places Jesus’ righteousness on you and it allows you to enter into the presence of God.

The author of Hebrews says it like this, Hebrews 10:19-25 “19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Since Jesus has made it possible for us to come into the presence of God through his blood, let’s actually draw near to God, let’s stand firm on our faith, and let’s encourage one another.

Hebrews 10 and Psalm 15 give us proper responses to what Jesus has done for us—praise him, draw near to God, stand firm on your faith, and encourage one another.

The first application for those that do believe from Psalm 15 is to praise Jesus for the salvation that he gives you.

Now that brings us to our second application for believers and it stems from a question that you might have, “how do I praise Jesus for the salvation that he gives me?”

Part of the answer is to do just what David does—reflect on who God is, remember from where you were and where you are now, and simply give thanks.

The other part of that comes from vss. 2-5. Now, you’ve heard me say numerous times that it is impossible to do these things on our own. It’s impossible to be someone who is sincere, righteous, honest, without slander, without doing wrong, without reproaching, distinguishing between good and evil, keeps his oath and doesn’t take advantage of others apart from what God does for you.

However, James teaches us that genuine belief in Jesus produces good fruit and good works and with that in mind, we can look at lists like this throughout the Bible and do a spiritual spot test—we can compare and contrast ourselves to lists like these to see where we have grown and where we need to continue growing.

So, of course, when you come to a list like this, you need to pause and give thanks for all that Jesus has done for you,

But then take a closer look at the list and ask yourself where you fit in the list:

Do I walk blamelessly? Do I do what is right? Am I authentic and genuine?

Do I slander? Do I do evil things to my neighbors? Do I speak evil of my friends?

Who do I hang out with? Are they primarily people who indulge in sin or are they primarily people who believe and are seeking to live like genuine believers live?

Do I take advantage of other people?

And in any of the instances where you find myself responding the opposite of how Scripture tells us we should, you need to continuously repent and pray that God will help you to grow in these areas.

Use passages such as this to gauge your own spiritual growth—repent when necessary and pray for continued growth in the areas that you struggle with.

Put simply, what Psalm 15 reminds us of is our complete inability to dwell with God apart from salvation through Jesus Christ. That reminder should (1) compel unbelievers to believe, (2) it should cause believers to rejoice, and (3) it should cause those same believers to see where they’re deficient in their righteous living, to repent, and pray for continued growth.

What we see in Psalm 15 is that only the righteous can be in the presence of God, but we cannot earn righteousness. To dwell in God’s presence, you must be righteous, but to obtain righteousness you need to be saved by Jesus Christ. Righteous living doesn’t earn salvation, it’s evidence of your salvation. Thus be thankful for your salvation and seek to live righteously.

Prayer Requests

This is this week’s prayer list:

Caleb Miller - Medical Issues

Alan Wisor - Medical Issues

Deane Herbst is home from the hospital. He’s still recovering from the affects of COVID, so please continue to pray for him.

Pray for the remaining renovation work—we’re currently $4,800 short of completing all the projects. Continue praying for the LORD’s provision for these projects. I recently heard from a church that might help us with the remaining cost, but they don’t know for sure that they can yet.