A Psalm of David.
1O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
2He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
3who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5who does not put out his money at interest
and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things shall never be moved.
Earlier today I listened to a talk on this Psalm by Mike Reeves. He had some very encouraging and interesting things to say!
We can never live up to these standards, we can never get our way into heaven through works. So praise God that we have a great high priest who enters the sanctuary and dwells on God's holy hill, and makes it possible for us to too!
The world likes to think of Christianity about doing good to get in to heaven. But, much to our shame, we deny the gospel all to often too when our attitudes and actions show we think exactly the same. We think we are earning favour with God by doing good. 'I've had a good day today - I've managed to sin less, I've had a quiet time'. We cheapen the cross!
Instead of trying to add to our salvation and earn more merit, we should instead lean wholly on the cross, knowing that our relationship with God rests fully on that sacrifice. We are loved and cherished children of God, firmly and eternally secure in that, however much we mess up. Let this knowledge lead us to love to please him, and stop trying to earn his favour and earn the grace that is free!
1 comment:
Hey bro - hope you're doing well in Hartlepool. We're missing ya in Manchester.
Regarding Psalm 15, isn't it great to recognize Christ in the Psalms?! All too often, I thought that all of the holiness requirements in the Psalms were things that I, as a Christian, still needed to accomplish. It's so comforting to understand that even they were fulfilled on our behalf by Christ, our Great High Priest!
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