Psalms 15

Psalms 15:1

Psalm 15: The Man God Chooses15:1 The individual God chooses as His companion is the subject of Psalm 15. Although it does not say so in this Psalm, the basic qualification for entrance into God’s kingdom is to be born again. Apart from the new birth, no one can see or enter the kingdom. This birth from above is experienced by grace, through faith, and takes place completely apart from any meritorious works on man’s part. Taken by itself, the Psalm seems to imply that salvation is somehow connected with a man’s righteous character or noble deeds. But taken with the rest of Scripture, it can only mean that the kind of faith that saves is the same kind of faith that results in a life of holiness. Like James in his Epistle, David is here saying that genuine faith in the Lord results in the kind of good works described in this Psalm. Incidentally, the Psalm does not profess to give a complete catalog of the virtues of the citizen of Zion. The portrait is suggestive but certainly not exhaustive. 15:2 First of all, the citizen of Zion walks with integrity. The man of integrity is a man of moral soundness. He is complete, well-rounded, and balanced. Second, the citizen of Zion does what is right. He is careful to maintain a conscience that is void of offense. He would rather go to heaven with a good conscience than stay on earth with a bad one. You can depend on this man to tell the truth from his heart. He would rather die than lie. His word is his bond. His yes means yes and his no means no. 15:3 He . . . does not backbite with his tongue. You won’t find him gossiping about others. Slander and mud-slinging never get past his lips. He disciplines his tongue to edify instead of assassinate! He does no evil to his neighbor. His whole desire is to help, to encourage and to instruct. When he hears some juicy tidbit of scandal about his friend, he lets it die right there. Depend on him not to repeat it to anyone. 15:4 Moral distinctions are not blurred in his vision. He discerns between sin and righteousness, darkness and light, evil and good. He despises a vile person in the sense that he outspokenly witnesses against his ungodliness. On the other hand, he identifies himself in open approval with everyone in the household of faith. Once he has made a promise, he stands by it, even if it results in financial loss. A believer, for example, might agree to sell his house for $85,000. But before the papers are signed, he finds he could have sold the house to a large development company for $90,000. But he has given his word to the first buyerand he keeps his contract. 15:5 The friend of God does not put out his money at interest, that is, to another member of God’s family. Under the law of Moses, an Israelite could lend to Gentiles at interest (Deu_23:19-20) but was forbidden to do so to a fellow Jew (Exo_22:25; Lev_25:35-37). If Jews living under law were guided by this principle, how much more so should Christians living under grace! Finally, the righteous man does not take a bribe against the innocent. He hates the perversion of justice, and disproves the old saying that “everybody has his price.” This then is the type of person who lives for God in time and for eternity. Come to think of it, no one else would be comfortable in God’s presence!