PSALMS 15 OUTLINE

  1. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
  2. He that walketh uprightly, speaketh the truth in his heart.
  3. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.
  4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned: but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
  5. He that putteth not out his money to usury nor taketh reward against the innocent? He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

I. The question (v. 1)

The question is, who shall be permitted to reside with God in his tabernacle?

II. The answer, v. 2-5)

A. The man who is upright, just, honest, truthful, (v.2)

B. The man who treats his neighbor properly;

  1. Who does not slander or reproach him: (v. 3)
  2. Who does not readily listen to calumnious reports in regard to him. (v. 3)

C. The man who regards the righteous and the wicked

as they should be regarded. (v. 4)

  1. Who looks with proper disapprobation on all who are “vile” in their character? (v. 4)
  2. With true respect on all who fear the Lord. (V.4)

D. The man who is faithful to an engagement, though

it proves to be against his own interest. V. 4.

E. The man who does not take advantage of the

necessities of others.

  1. Who does not put out his money “to usury”
  2. Who, if a magistrate, does not take a bribe to induce him to condemn the innocent. (V. 5)

THE HEAVENLY – CITIZEN HE MUST BE

Hands full page 103

I. Upright in his walk (v.2) (Comp I John 2:6)

II. Truthful in his heart (v. 2)

III. Charitable to his neighbor. (v. 3)

IV. Careful to his company (v. 4)

V. Faithful to his promise (v.4) (Comp. Judges 11:35; Heb. 12:2)

VI. Merciful in his dealings. (v. 5) (CF Num. 22:18)

VII. Established in his character. (V. 5)

QUALIFICATIONS FOR A GUEST IN GOD’S HOUSE

I. The pilgrim’s questions (V.1)

II. The priests answer (15:2-5a b)

III. The divine reward. (15:5-6)

A GUEST IN GOD’S HOUSE

(ETP VOL. 1 PHILLIPS PAGE 114)

I. David’s worship 15:1

A.A Pilgrim worshiper

B.A Permanent worshiper

II. David’s walk 15:2-4

A. His works 15:2a

B. His words 15:2b-4

1.His secret words 15:2b

2.His spoken words 15:3-4.

a. His secret words. 15:2b

b. His spoken words. 15:3-4

1.Restrain 15:3a

2.Righteous 15:3b

3.Respectful 15:4a

4.Reliable 15:4b

  1. David’s ways 15:5
  1. They were fair 15:5a
  2. They were fixed 15:5b

COMPARE THE OLD AND THE NEW

Verse 1

  1. Comparison of the church to the tabernacle
  1. God’s presence man infested
  2. Sacrifice offered
  3. Vessels of grace preserved in it.
  4. Mean externally glorious within
  1. Comparison of its double position of that of the tabernacle
  1. Moving in the wilderness
  2. Fixed on the hill
  1. Inquire into qualification for admittance
  1. Into the church
  2. Into the tabernacle
  3. Parallel with the priests.

HE THAT WALKETH UPRIGHTLY

Verse 2

  1. What he must be
  1. He must be upright in right

(A man himself bent double cannot walk uprightly

  1. How he must act
  1. He must neither from impulse
  2. Ambition
  3. Gain
  4. Fear
  5. Flattery
  6. He must not be warped in any direction, but stand perpendicularly.
  1. What he must expect
  1. Snares to trap him
  2. For name to kill him
  1. Where he must walk
  1. Path of duty
  2. The one in which he can walk uprightly
  1. Where he must look
  1. Up, right up
  2. Then he will be up right.

NOTES

David realizes the 613 lives of God which was given at Sinai to 11 here. (Isa 38:15, Mik., 6 points 6:8, 3 points, Amos 5:4, Heb. 2:4 to 1 point) (CF Ecc 5:4-5)

When we start to take a look at ourselves we must first look at Jesus Christ, as the Psalms did when he first look at the Lord.

True Citizens of Zion

The righteous, truthful, just, honest. Thomas Jefferson called this Psalm the picture of a true Gentleman.

PSALM 15 WHO WILL GO TO HEAVEN?

David wrote this Psalm after he had taken the ark into the Mount Zion area and set the tabernacle up there before the temple was built. You can see the dating of it in verse 1. The question he ask here ‘Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?’ David is simply saying ‘God who’s going to heaven?’ God who’s going to make it into heaven, who’s going to be there, tell me their names. Lord show me what they’re like. ‘God, who is going to dwell in thy tabernacle?’ Man what a thought. Who shall dwell in the holy hill? After asking this question in verse 1, David reaches out and answers that question on the character of the people that will be dwelling in God’s holy hill. We know today that the Lord Jesus Christ has come, He was crucified, was buried, risen again. He said ‘no man comes to the father but through him.’ Nobody can be saved except through Jesus Christ. Nobody can go to heaven except through Jesus Christ. Nobody can pray and get a pray into the presence of God Almighty unless they pray through Jesus Christ. Jesus said ‘no man come to the father but through me.’ No one else has claimed to be the Son of God. No one else was crucified, buried and arose three days later. No one else has ascended unto glory and sat down at the right hand of God except Jesus Christ. So we know what it takes to bring salvation unto the soul of an individual. Who is going to sit in the holy hill of God or who is going to abide in the tabernacle of God? But those that have received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. Now you say there’s a lot of people that say that they know Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. Psalm 15 is a character check. It is a Psalm that is going to check the character of those people that will sit in the hill of Zion. So we know how to get there, we’ve got to get to the tabernacle of God to sit on the hill of God through Jesus Christ. Now what’s the character of these people? What are we going to see in these people that we hear use the name of Christian, use the name of born again believer? What kind of character are they going to have? He’s going to answer that in the next four verses. Look at verse 2, “He that walketh uprightly,” the one that walk uprightly, one that is sincere in his service for the Lord. He is going to walk uprightly for all the world to see, in a way that every single person will know that Jesus Christ means something to him in his heart. There are a lot of people that are sincere in religion, as sincere as can be. They fall down and face Mecca in the Moslem faith and pray three or four times a day. Hindus do all kinds of rituals and everything but they are not walking the walk that God said they had to walk in order to get into the presence of the Lord God Almighty. Jesus Christ is the only way you can do that. And a person that has Jesus Christ in their heart is going to be sincere in their service to the Lord. It’s not going to be something to try to advance themselves in the church, something that’s going to try to get them a higher position in the church, it’s not going to be a service to try to get them a bigger pay check. It’s going to be something that’s going to advance the kingdom of God. And people are going to see that kind of loving service and loving dedication in their heart and in their life. It goes on in verse 2 to say, “He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness.” He that worketh righteousness, he’s honestly in all of his dealings. I mean he’s a man that you can trust no matter what he says or what he does. You can rest assured that the honestly of God is going to come through that individual. You will to be able to look at his life today and check it out five years down the road, check it out ten years down the road, twenty years down the road, thirty years down the road and see that he is still as straight as a gun barrel. People say, oh now wait a minute, I think a lot of people start out for God, they start out for Jesus Christ, they start out walking the right path, like Jim Jones, I’ve heard people say that when he started out up in Indiana, man he was really on fire for Jesus Christ. He was one that was really burning hot for Jesus Christ. No wait a minute, something bad wrong, if you can start out for Jesus and end up for self, I want you to know that satan is stronger than Jesus Christ. Folks I don’t believe that, I don’t believe the Bible teaches that. I believe that people that started for Jesus Christ is going to end up for Jesus Christ. And people that started out for self in the name of Jesus and using the image of Jesus Christ, they started out for themselves then they are going to end up for themselves and the end is going to be shame, destruction, hurt and heartache. But David said ‘who is going to dwell in the tabernacle of the Lord and who is going to dwell in the holy hill? He that walketh upright-ly and him that worketh righteousness.’ He’s the one that is honest in everything he does. There is something wrong in the lives and hearts of people whenever men that call themselves ministers of gospel of Jesus Christ, Deacons, and Sunday School teachers and they stand in the churches of American and they lift up and exalt and say one thing, and then when something goes wrong in the home and things go down hill and things are not what they ought to be. What’s wrong? I want you to know that there is a flaw somewhere because they are not standing, walking, and working uprightness in the eyes of God Almighty. And God is going to bring every person down and show what their feet are really made of. God will not share his glory with anyone. God is a holy God, a just and right God and he will not, he never has and he never will, share his holiness or glory with anyone. So a person that’s going to dwell in the tabernacle of God and abide in the holy hill of Zion is a person that is going to exalt Jesus Christ. They are going to exalt Jesus, lift up Jesus, point others to Jesus, let others know Jesus is first and foremost in their heart and life to every person they come in contact with. He goes on to say in verse 2 ‘he that walketh uprightly, worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart.’ He speaks the truth in his heart, he’s real all the time, he knows it and everybody around him knows it. He knows what he stands for and what he is doing is right. He knows what he’s saying is right; he knows where he is coming from. He knows the Lord Jesus Christ lives and dwells in his heart and everybody around will know that the Lord Jesus Christ is real in his life. He’s not a person that’s going to go out here and stand up and brag or say one thing in public and then go out and do something else in private. He knows that his private life, his public life, his service for the Lord, his working for mankind, everything he does is honest and above reproach and is reaching out to touch people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He knows good and well that that’s the kind of life he is living. And everybody around him will know that because he speaks the truth in his heart. The old adage is that nobody is smart enough to be a liar. Because every time you tell a lie you have to tell ten more to back it up and then you’ve got to try to remember all of that. The truth just kind of flows. It just flows natural out of a persons mouth and eventually a liar is going to be twisted and turned around and mess himself up. But a person that is honest and upright and speaks the truth every time he opens his mouth he doesn’t to have to worry about which way he’s going or where he’s coming from. David gives us three more characteristics of the person that is going to be abiding in the tabernacle of God and dwelling in the holy hill of Zion. In verse 3 he says ‘He that backbiteth not with his tongue,’ he’s a person that has his tongue bridled, his tongue is under control. In the book of James he talks about the tongue, and God has put these little fire hydrants around the tongue spraying, we call them saliva glands, and he sprays the water on that old fiery tongue. We have some folks in the church, some people that call themselves Christians but they don’t love the Lord and they don’t serve the Lord, sat in the living room and lick the frying pan clean in the kitchen their tongue is so long, they never get off of the couch, always trying to find something to talk about somebody, something to spread about somebody else, and something to say about somebody else. David said those that abide in the tabernacle of God and dwell in the holy hill of God are those that backbiteth not, those that are not will to say something and run somebody down, not willing to talk about people, not willing to have people come to them and talk to them about people and spread rumors and gossip about other people. The problem is when you start listening to gossip what you hear when you spread it you want people to think you are knowledgeable so you increase that a little bit more and the first thing you know it’s just blown completely out of hand. My friend, I want you to know that there is nothing in this world that can do more damage to somebody than a long tongued lying individual. Somebody that wants to go out and start rumors about people, start rumors and is willing to do that, first of all they are not Christians. They are not going to dwell in the tabernacle of God; they are not going to set in His holy hill. You say, listen preacher you are judging. The Bible says judge not that you be not judged. I’ve read Matthew 7:1 and following, I know what it says, ‘by their fruits you will know them.’ Don’t judge anybody in a way that you are not willing to be judged by yourself. My friend I want you to know that when you start going out here and listening to a bunch of gossip and a bunch of rotten stuff and a bunch of wicked stuff about people so you can tell somebody else about this wickedness in a way to hurt them, then you are not walking where you ought to with God. David said ‘he that backbiteth with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor.’ He’ll not hurt his neighbor in any way. He’s one that is going to look out for his neighbor. He is going to try his best to see his neighbor advance, his neighbor do the right thing and have the right thing every time. He’s not going to hurt his neighbor in any way, shape or form. He’s not going to listen to a bunch of gossip about his neighbor and he’s not going to do anything at all to try to hurt him. Well you say, who is my neighbor? That is the same thing they ask Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ said your neighbor is everybody that is alive on the face of the earth while you are here. Anybody and everybody that you can get to and talk to is your neighbor. He goes on to say in verse 3 ‘nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor.’ He will not listen to nor will he tell anything about his neighbor. He’s not about to listen to some wicked thing or unrighteous thing about the neighbor. You know the best way to handle that. When somebody comes to you and says, ‘Hey do you hear what old so and so said, did you hear what old so and so did.’ Say No I didn’t, are you going to tell me. Let’s go over to old so and so and let’s say it right in front of so and so, right to their face, so that they can hear and they can get the story right. Oh no I don’t want them to know that I said that, I don’t want them to know that.… My friend if a person is not willing to say what they are saying to you to the face of the individual they are talking about, mark it down, they are a gossiper. They’re a long tongue gossiper. If you are not willing to say to the face of the individual you are talking about, what you are saying to someone else about that individual you are a gossiper as well. Don’t say something about somebody behind their back that you are not willing to say to their face.

David goes on and gives us three more characteristics in verse 4 ‘In whose eyes a vile person is contemned:’ He looks upon vile people, wicked people, dirty people, liars, murderers, thieves, unsaved individuals, he looks upon them as described in the Bible, like he is looking through the eyes of God, the spirit of God that indwells him, he takes his knowledge of the word of God, what the Bible says, and looks upon the individual, the way the individual acts, the way the vile person acts, and the evil that they do and he judges that according to the word of God, in the same way that he is willing to be judged of himself. David never cast judgment upon anybody. David said at one time, ‘God kill my enemies, destroy my enemies, put them down, wipe them off the face of the earth, they don’t deserve to live.’ My friend that is the same kind of judgment that David brought upon him self when he said ‘search me Lord, try me and see if there is any wicked thing in me.’ David was willing to lay him self upon the altar before God Almighty. A person that will dwells in the tabernacle of God, the holy hill of God is a person that is going to look at people as the Lord Jesus Christ looks at them. He goes on to say in verse 4, ‘but he honoreth them that fear the Lord.’ David says I know and I honor God’s people. You can tell God’s people by the way they act, by the things they do. He goes on in verse 4 to say, ‘He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.’ He’s one that is willing to loose everything that he has. He takes an oath and he swears by that oath and he is not willing to back away from the oath that he takes because he is going to stand for what is right every time by ever fiber of his being, to his own hurt. He swears to his own hurt. I take an oath. There are some preachers that ought to listen to that. There are some deacons that ought to listen to what he is saying. There are some Sunday School Teachers that ought to listen. There are some ordained men of the gospel of Jesus Christ that ought to hear what David is saying right there. ‘He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not.’ I don’t care what the church does; I don’t care what an individual does. When you take an oath, the Bible says you are better off not to take one than to take an oath and not live up to it and not adhere to it. There are people today that have taken marriage vows and they have thrown them out the window and forgot all about them. I want you to know that David said that is not the kind of person that is going to inhabit the tabernacle of God or his holy hill. He goes on and gives us three more characteristics in verse 5, ‘He that putteth not out his money to usury,’ he’s not willing to advance his own estate for one single solitary dime that would be unjust or hurtful toward somebody else. He says ‘nor taketh reward against the innocent.’ He’s not willing to do anything at all to hurt anybody at all to make advancement for his self. He is willing to see himself put down, himself undercut, himself go broke, to loose everything he has before he does one thing wrong or hurtful thing to anyone else. Then he closes it out when he says, ‘He that doeth these things shall never be moved.’ He closes the Psalm out by showing us the character of the citizens of Zion. He is like the hill of Zion its self, which can never be moved. He is going to be there forever. Are you going to be there? Are you going to be with Jesus Christ forever? Have you got those characteristics? You can have them today by saying Lord Jesus I recognize that I fall short, I’m sorry for my sins. Lord Jesus come into my heart and save my soul. Forgive me of my sins, I believe you and receive you as my Lord and Saviour and I surrender my character and my will to you. The very moment you are willing to let Jesus come in, Jesus Christ will come into your heart. I pray that you will do that today. God bless you.