Getting into the presence of God is a miracle, but Psalm 15 outlines the qualities of those who can approach Him. The sermon begins by referencing 1 Chronicles 15, where David prepares to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, emphasizing the need for Levites to carry it and the importance of doing so according to God's prescribed order. Psalm 15 then poses the question, "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?" The answer is one who walks uprightly, works righteousness, speaks truth, avoids slander, shows contempt for evil, honors commitments, and refuses to profit from the needy or the innocent. Ultimately, the sermon concludes that while the Old Testament required strict adherence to law, Jesus Christ has made a way for all who believe to enter God's presence, offering joy, peace, and power.
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This is a background for a little sound that I want to preach from this morning. Let's begin at the first verse of chapter fifteen of first chronicles. And David made him houses in the city of David and prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched for it a tent. Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites. For them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God and to minister unto him forever.
And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord unto his place which he had prepared for it. Now go to verse Twelve, please. Having gathered the men together, he said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel.
And the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves they are on as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be singers with instruments of music, solteries and harp. and symbols sounding by lifting up the voice with joy. Now turn, please, to Psalm number fifteen. Psalm number fifteen. A very short Psalm. Verse one, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Now think of the picture. The Levites have brought the ark, and there has been prepared a place for it. And this is the place to which they are to come, when they want to sense and to feel and take joy in the presence of God. Who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy hill. He that worketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteeth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is contempt, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord.
He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. He that puteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. I want to talk about the miracle of being able to get into the presence of God. It is a miracle, you know. God is so great, so lofty, so powerful, so pure. He's not called the Almighty God for nothing.
It isn't surprising if someone asks, how could one possibly get into the presence of a God like that? I want to talk about man and the presence of God. Now, when did it all begin? It began in the garden of Eden when God made man in his own image, gave him a wife, and then put him to tend the garden. And God came down to walk with Adam and Eve in the cool of every evening. Yes, it started in Eden. Where will it end? It will end in heaven. Now, that word end is not a good word there because it will really go on forever.
But that will be the final introduction and forever to the presence of God. The Scotsman in the High Church has a shorter Catholicism that he recites every Lord's Day. I don't know the whole Catechism. If this is a shorter one and I don't know it, I don't know what I do with the longer one, or even if they have a longer one. But a shorter Catholicism says, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
God and men are meant to enjoy one another. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him. Now our little Psalm here is worth looking through. I'm not going word by word, but I want you to think about three things. First of all, as we read this very short Psalm, there is an underlying assumption here that it is possible to get into the presence of God. The second is this, there is an unsettling question.
Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Now the Israelites knew the sanctity of the tabernacle, and they knew the sternness of God, who would not tolerate sin, and they knew that it was an awesome thing to come into God's presence and they did it fearfully the underlying assumption then is that it is possible to get into the presence of God the Psalm would make no sense if that were not true listen Lord who shall abide in thy tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy hill, he that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh a truth in his heart, and so on?
Yes, it's possible to get into the presence of God. Now in the Old Testament, in the days of God's people, Israel, it was a very frightening thing to come into these holy places. because they always spoke of God's power and holiness and men were also always conscious of their shortcomings and their sin we live in New Testament times and beyond New Testament times but we know that God has made a way back to himself that is not fearful very very solemn very, very remarkable, very, very wonderful, but also necessary.
We don't have a tabernacle and we don't have an altar, but we have a way to God of which we can take advantage at any moment of any hour of any day. And that is through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has become our gateway to God. Now mark this, that even though there is a way and only one way, and that's through the Lord Jesus, because he went to the cross and he paid the price for sin and he washes away the sins of those who come to him and trust him and receive him into their hearts and lives, there are many, many, many people in this whole world who have no access to God at all.
It is possible. to get into the presence of God, but not for them unless they are willing to come the same way that I came and that you came if you're a saved person, if you're born again. We came acknowledging our sin to God. We came telling him how much we knew about the horrors of hell when we came to him and said, that we know our sins can keep us out of heaven. But we know too that when Jesus died upon the cross, he died for our sin.
He died for my sin. When I receive it into my heart, my sins are once and for all washed away. What can wash away my stain, nothing but the blood of Jesus? Now, there are some people who will tell you that you can trust the Lord Jesus once, and then if you backslide, you can do it again. You can have a third experience, and it goes on. Adnorcium is the last part of that.
You can only be saved once. You can backslide. You can grieve God. But once you have in Christ laid hold of God's salvation, your sins have been forgiven and hell has been put away out of your future. Heaven is a certainty when you have Jesus in your heart and you are born again. the assumption that underlies this sum that to get into God's presence is possible is a very appropriate one because never like these days has the way into God's presence been simpler been easier but it's never been more costly but you don't pay the price Jesus paid the price.
We don't just have to assume then that it's possible to get into the presence of the living and almighty God. It is possible. Tell you something else, to get into the presence of God is desirable. It's a very sad people when they could come to God, but they never do. It's a very, very desirous thing to come into the presence of God. You know, Job cried out in the twenty-third chapter and verse three, Oh that I knew where I might find him.
That was the cry from Job's heart. You know where you find Him? At the foot of the cross. And once you've found the Lord Jesus as your Savior, once you've gotten into the presence of God, if you will enjoy it, and if you will avail yourself of it, your life can become a life of joy, a life of peace, a life of power, a life of wonder. You can get into God's presence. And if you let God have his way, you live a life that you've never lived up until this moment. But you've got to be sold out to God.
You've got to be prepared to lay your all on the altar. It's not enough to receive Jesus into the heart just so that you're saved and saved from hell. When you receive Jesus into your heart, you open a wide basket of God's of all the other blessings that God has promised to give you if you'll allow him, if you'll let him, if you'll yield your life to him, if by faith you will lay hold of these blessings one after the other. We used to sing in my home, years before my mother ever got converted, she loved the hymns, count your blessings, Name them one by one.
And remember, as time went by, we used to sing, count your blessings, name them one by one, count your blessings, name them two by two, count your blessings, name them by the score. And it will surprise you, there are millions more. But all of them come to us through the Lord Jesus and the experience of conversion. Now, you know, man's heart hunger is an indication of the need to get into God's presence. There are many, many empty hearts around us. I don't know if there's anyone here that doesn't have Jesus as Savior.
Yours is an empty heart. You haven't yet learned to live. Your sins still must weigh heavy upon you because God gave you a conscience to make them do that so that they would drive you to Him. through the person of his son. Man's heart hunger is a proof of the fact that it's desirable to get God into God's presence. His safety also. Until you're in a condition where you can get into God's presence, your life's in danger. And more than that, your soul's in danger. You need Christ. You need him as your very own personal savior, not only to fill your heart and to assuage its hunger, but to but because your safety is at stake.
You have to get saved if you're going to escape the cabins of the damned. It's a very desirable thing to get into God's presence. Man's satisfaction is totally dependent upon it. You can't have a happy, a real happy day if you don't have the Lord Jesus in your heart. The Bible, you know, a psalm a little later after this one, talks about the fullness of joy. At his right hand there are pleasures forevermore, the word of God says. The fullness of joy. Man's satisfaction depends upon being able to get into the presence of God.
And then man's stability to become a stable... joyous, useful person. You've got to have Jesus in your heart. You've got to be able to get into the presence of God because then God can make all of these wonderful, take care of all of these things very wonderfully. Yes, there's an underlying assumption here that to get into God's presence is possible and that to get into God's presence is desirable. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?
Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? That's an unsettling question. My second thought here. There is an unsettling question. Who? That means some will and some won't. Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? The tabernacle was in a tent in the wilderness. And it was for Israel on their journeys. They could pull down the tent and they could move on. That's the reason why the word here, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, in the margin of your Bible says, Sojourn, Sojourn.
It's for the traveling man. But then it says, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? The tabernacle was a tent in the wilderness. The hill was that which stayed there. When you read these words, he that walketh uprightly, leaving trying to say, I don't think I do, and worketh righteousness. I don't think I do.
And speak of the truth in his heart. You say again, I don't think I do. You know, here the inquiry was an informed one. The writer, the psalmist, knew because he had an inborn conviction that the who was the man whose sin was not a problem. Now, you don't have to be a big sinner to be a sinner, you know. One sin makes a man a sinner, and you and I have many more sins than one to our discredit.
That's the reason why every one of us here needs or needed a Savior. The psalmist knew what he was talking about. His inquiry was an informed one. He knew the score. And then the message was an intuitive one. The psalmist had in his heart a conscience and a realization that these things needed to be taken care of. He's speaking to his own heart when he says, Lord, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle, who shall dwell in your holy hill, he that walketh uprightly.
Pang of conscience. And worketh righteousness. Another Pang of conscience. And speak of the truth in his heart. This man who wrote this was a man. He was a man who was a sinner. Like all of the rest of us, he was a wonderful man. When God got a hold of him, think of these beautiful Psalms that he wrote one after the other. Because he was himself informed and it became intuitive because his conscience and his whole being constantly emphasized for him his need for God. And then the motive was an instructive one.
The psalmist has put this down so that having learned these things, he might pass them on to others. My congregation this morning included. He wanted others to know. The reason why this platform is occupied morning and evening every Sunday, Thursday nights too, is because none of us know everything. All of us need to be taught. All of us need to be learned. The first thing we need to learn is that we need Christ as a personal Saviour. We have to invite them into our hearts. Then that becomes the beginning of a string of learnings, one after the other.
Because after this unsettling question, who comes an uncompromising conclusion? Now, these words are very clear. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. We have three things here. His walk and his work and his word. If you look at verse two, you'll find there a threefold positive.
He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. Now in verse three you'll find three negatives. He that backbiteeth not with his tongue nor doeth evil to his neighbor nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. Now you come to verse four you have again three positives. in whose eyes a vile person is contented, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord, and he that sweareth to his own heart hurt and changeth not. His walk and his work and his word must be of sincerity.
He must sincerely walk. He must righteously work and he must truthfully speak. This is what is demanded before a man can really enjoy the presence of God into which he can come. What is your walk? Now, you're walking, I remember there used to be a chart, two ways. Anybody see that chart? Way down through the ages, the chart of two ways. One was the right way, one was the wrong way, and you can't be on both at the same time.
Here, you need to ask yourself some questions about the road you're walking on, because it either leads to heaven or it leads to hell. If you're a sinner outside of Christ, hell is at the end. If you're born again, heaven is at the end. God expects a man's work to be sincere. His walk to be sincere and his work to be righteous and his word to be truth. These are very simple things and they're all here in the psalm. Now the next thing that we are told here is the man who's going to be able to go into the presence of God and enjoy the presence of God.
He must be able to say no. Listen to this verse. It says here... He doesn't vent spite, he doesn't cause sorrow, and he doesn't encourage slander. Now I put that into modern language because I think sometimes words like this grip us and they cause us to think. God is saying of this man he has to be able to say no. If he's going to be able to enter into the presence of God and enjoy the presence of God, he has to be able to say no. He mustn't vent spite. Is there anything spiteful about you?
My mother used to talk about being spiteful. They don't use that word very much over here, do they? We used to use it a lot in England. I suppose we had more spiteful people there. I don't know. But here's a man, and God says he must have nothing to do with spite. When you're spiteful, you have to vent your spite, or else you blow up. He says, no, no. Mustn't cause sorrow. It's a sad thing to have to suffer sorrow, but to be the cause of it to somebody else is a much sadder thing. And then he must say no to slander. Little juicy bits that come into your hearing In your unsafe days you used to roll them like a sweet morsel under your tongue, you know.
Or you couldn't wait to pass them on. Somebody was being slandered. And you did it very quietly, of course, passed it on. God said, no. If you can't say well of somebody, don't say anything at all. His walk and his work and his word. These three things, spite, sorrow and slander. All of them have to be faced. It's the sorrow of another. And it is being spiteful to another. Listening to and encouraging the slander of another.
That's very, very... I'm groping for a word. I'm always groping for words these days. But that is very specific... and it's very powerful because we all of us come into contact with these things now the question is how do we react to them spite another sorrow and slander for another's name it's in the psalm here say no so the man who's going to get into the presence of God and enjoy it he's going to have to be able to say no And then he must show contempt for evil.
Here it is. In whose eye the vile person is contempt. It doesn't say condemned. He says he must have contempt for evil. He must want to keep it not only at harm's length. He must want to turn to his heels and run away from it. It says also he must put confidence in spiritual men. Where do you share your confidences? It's right here in Psalm. He honoreth them that fear the Lord, the wise man. The man who pleases God is the man who puts confidence in spiritual men and who honors the contracts that even bring about his own hurt.
His word must be his bond. This is coming very close to home as far as I'm concerned. Don't you feel that is true too? He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. That is, he makes a contract, he regrets it. But because his word there and his signature is there, he's got to carry it out. He must, conscience, carry it out. It's all part of this uncompromising conclusion that brings the psalm to an end. He must show contempt for evils. He must put confidence in spiritual men, and he must honor a contract that bears his signature, even though it brings about his loss and his hurt.
Finally, the the psalmist says he must refuse to profit from two things, borrowing by the needy and bribery against the innocent. I'm glad I don't have time to talk about those two things. Let me mention them. Borrowing by the needy. Somebody who's in need comes to you and you help them. You don't hold that over his head. That's simply what the psalm is saying. You don't hold it over his head. Or you have a chance to come by something, money or something else. But the person who's going to suffer through this is the innocent one.
You have nothing to do with that, the psalmist says. He that puteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. And the psalm finishes. He that doeth these things shall never be moved. Such a short psalm. So very full. If you want a man who can stand, you've got to be a man. who will never be moved and psalm fifteen is the psalm to read you to read when you want to be reminded of it isn't the word of god practical it really is let's pray together our father we thank you so much for your word we do not read it as often as we should we do not study it as intensely as we ought We do not revere it as you intended it should be revered.
But Lord, we pray that this little part out of your word might have been by the Spirit of God, an illumination to us, causing us this morning to go away and ask ourselves questions. Do I know the Lord Jesus as my Savior? Are my sins washed away? Have I been born again? If the answer, Lord, in our hearts to that is yes, then we pray that you will impress upon us the godly life that's described here, that is expected of us, that we cannot live in our own strength.
Help us to lean hard upon the Lord Jesus that our lives might be glorifying to thee. We ask in His name. Amen.