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Psalm 15
The revelation which God gives in Psalm 14 spurs us on to ask God another question in Psalm 15:1: “O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” This great question is the occasion for the writing of the 15th Psalm. David laid the groundwork for Psalm 15 back in Psalm 5:7: “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.”
Remember, God does not choose us because we are good; but rather, God chooses us because God is good. Don’t forget the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. This is all very important because Psalm 15 begins with the piercing question: “Who can enter into the presence of God?”
In order to enter into the presence of the Almighty we must be morally pure. Psalm 14 says that we are NOT morally pure. Now we are faced with this great conundrum of seeming contradictory truths… the same God who pronounces that all human beings are corrupt, then says that if we are to enter into His presence we must be uncorrupted.
Let us consider the nature of Old Testament righteousness and salvation in order that we may enter into the presence of our God! In Psalm 11:3, we find the foundations being destroyed; but in Psalm 15 David tells us how the foundations can be restored!
As David describes the kind of person who may enter God’s presence in Psalm 15, let us take note of the “Big Picture” God is painting for us in salvation history throughout both Old and New Testaments.
- Entering God’s Presence Requires Obedience to the Law
- Hearkens to the Decalogue. There are 11 verbs in 5 verses which summarize the 613 commandments found in the Pentateuch (1st five books of the Bible).
- Descriptive not Prescriptive.
- The Blood of the Lamb. Exodus 20:1.
- The Parting of the Red Sea. Exodus 14.
- Beware of legalism and antinomianism. The law is not done away with but rather fulfilled.
- Entering God’s Presence Requires Ethical Purity in verses 2-5
- The Answer: Entering into God’s presence requires God’s presence
- Qualities not Qualifications. Psalm 15 is NOT directions for how to live the Christian Life but a description of how the Christian Life is lived.
- Interpretation
- The Law Giver is also the Law Keeper. Romans 8:4
- What does it look like when we are in God’s Presence?
- Heaven and Earth Converge: An otherworldly life
- Living Consistent with our Profession
- Love thy neighbor
- Internal not External: God demands life service not lip service
- We are the Temple: I Cor. 6:19
If this was the standard to which God held His people in the OT, then how much more are we held to an exceedingly higher standard in the NT having a much fuller revelation of truth than what these saints were given? Let us go forth living our lives out in the Temple of God, loving God and loving our neighbor, and putting them above ourselves! When the foundations are being destroyed all around us, Psalm 15 is a telling reminder of how we can restore the those foundations.
