Notes on Psalm 15

(Psa 15:1) A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
(Psa 15:2) He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

Who abides with God? Those that walks upright, works righteousness and speaks truth.

Isa 41:26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

Rom 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

According to the bible, there is none righteous. So none can abide with God for there are none in the whole earth that is righteous except one:

Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ came in the flesh. He came from God and was the only man who ever was able to live on earth his entire lifetime without sin. Jesus was God in the flesh or God with us.

So if Jesus was the only righteous one, how can we make it to heaven? We have to be righteous and speak truth to get to heaven. We can't backbite, gossip or do any sin. What are we to do?

That is why God sent Jesus. He sent Jesus to make the way for us to be able to abide with God. When we realize that we are not righteous and cannot save ourselves, we cannot do good works and we cannot get rid of our own sin, we can then see that we need a savior. Jesus Christ is that savior. He lived without sin and he gave his life as a payment for that sin.

Sin causes death eternally. Sin is a crime that deserves punishment. There has to be a sacrifice to pay for the sin in order for the sinner to be free from sin. Jesus shed His blood and paid that price so that all who repent or turn from sin and receive Him as savior can then receive pardon from sin. He or she can then have God's Spirit living within them. We are then partakers of the holiness of Jesus Christ and become His righteousness. Now we have a power within us to overcome sin and not backbite, gossip and sin in the flesh as mentioned in this Psalm. Now we have the power in us to live holy.

We can sin after receiving Christ but we don't have to. God never takes away our freedom to choose. We must repent at once though. Sin will destroy our effectiveness to witness and be an example before the world. If we allow the sin back into our lives that Jesus died to free us from, it would literally be like crucifying Him all over again.

(Psa 15:3) He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.

Lev 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

If we would love our neighbor as ourselves, we would not do these things to them.

(Psa 15:4) In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

A righteous person will late evil but honor those that fear the Lord. He will keep his promises even though it make cause himself a loss.

(Psa 15:5) He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

Usury is collecting interest for money we lend to others. We have to use our own conscience here. Banks lead money and charge interest and whether or not they are right to do so, is debatable. Israel was allowed to charge interest to strangers but not their own people.

As believers in Jesus Christ, I think any fellow believer would be a brother or sister in Christ and we should not charge interest. I would even venture to say that unless we are in the banking business, we should not charge interest at all.

Another thing mentioned here is taking bribes to make bad judgments against someone who is innocent of the crime he or she is accused. That is very wrong to bear false witness and breaks one of the ten commandments.

As a sinner before Christ we had no power to stop doing these things that causes us to live unholy lives. After Christ there is power but we must yield to that power.

Why?

Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Christ gave us the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can live in holiness without which, we will not abide with God.

David writes about who will dwell with God. David points out the character of a righteous person. He is right about that character. If we are not righteous, we will not abide with God or inherit eternal life. The scriptures declare that there is no one that is righteous and without holiness we shall never see God.

Jesus Christ came to take away our sins and give us eternal life. Now through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can live like David describes here; before we could not.

We can try to live holy and keep the commandments without Christ, but sooner or later, we would sin unless of course, we died in infancy. If we did not believe in Jesus to take away that sin, we would die in that state sooner or later and be lost forever. Jesus is the only way of salvation, for His death on the cross paid for our sins. He paid for the sins of all who would believe.

Before Christ - Impossible to keep from sinning and keep all the commandments, including, "Love your neighbor as yourself."
After Christ - Forgiven for all past sins and power to keep the commandments and love your neighbor as yourself. (We still have the power to choose though, and can refuse to keep these commandments but the power is given to us to keep them.)

Before Christ - unrighteous
After Christ - covered by His righteousness

Before Christ - In sin, facing eternal death (hell), and separation from God.
After Christ - Free from sin and facing eternal life with God.

Act 3:18 But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Act 3:20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:
Act 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Act 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.
Act 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Act 3:24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.
Act 3:25 Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
Act 3:26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

Jesus Christ is that prophet mentioned by Moses fulfilling Acts 3:22.

Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
Deu 18:19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

God sent His own Son, Jesus to turn us from our iniquities and give us eternal life.

Psalm 16