Mon, 19 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 69:1-3

¹ Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
² I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
³ I am weary with my crying out;
my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
with waiting for my God.

---

Psalm 69:34-35

³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵ For God will save Zion
and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
³⁶ the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

This Psalm begins in the depths of despair, as David pours out his cry to God. As it progresses, we see David describing his situation in terms that clearly point us to the coming Messiah. And at the end, we see that God has worked so in David’s life that despite the desperateness of his situation at the beginning of the Psalm, David can call for all to join him in praising God.

What do we learn from this?

God works through our prayers. But often, what God does is not to change the circumstances but to change our attitude within the circumstances. As we read through Psalm 69, it isn’t clear that David’s circumstances have changed between the beginning and the end, but clearly David’s attitude has been changed from despair to confidence. David has moved from debilitating self-introspection to focusing on God and praising Him.

Here we see David living out Philippians 4:6-7 where we are commanded to bring our cares and concerns to God in prayer, and God has promised to give us peace.

Where is Christ in this passage?

David is prefiguring Christ in this Psalm. John tells us that verse 9 explicitly refers to Jesus cleansing the temple:

Psalm 69:9

⁹ For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

---

John 2:13-17

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵ And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

One other obvious Messianic allusion:

Psalm 69:21

²¹ They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

Thu, 15 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 62:5-7

⁵ For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
⁷ On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.

This is another Psalm of David. We don’t know the circumstances that led David to write this Psalm, but we see that someone is again lying about him. ³ How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? ⁴ They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse.

David is very distraught about this attack, and so he brings his complaint before God.

What do we learn from this?

It is interesting that our Family 1 reading for today is David’s sin with Bathsheba. But in this, our Secret 2 reading, we see why David was called a man after God’s own heart. Despite all his failings, and they were tremendous failings, David continued to throw himself upon God as his only hope and refuge. Whenever he faced difficult times, David fled to God. And as David came to God in silent expectation, trusting only in God, he found salvation and peace with God.

When he had peace with God, how could he be shaken in the circumstances? And thus David could write such a Psalm.

Where is Christ in this passage?

When we flee to God for refuge, when we come to Him as our only hope, when we seek Him for salvation, we are coming to Him through Jesus Christ. It is only because of the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, as He died for the sins of all those who come to Him in faith, and because of His perfect life that is credited to them, that anyone can find refuge, hope and salvation in God.

David came to God by trusting in the substitute God had provided for his salvation. David came to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Sun, 11 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 55:1-14

¹ Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
² Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
³ because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
⁷ yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.”

⁹ Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹ ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud do not depart from its marketplace.

¹² For it is not an enemy who taunts me–
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me–
then I could hide from him.
¹³ But it is you, a man, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.
¹⁴ We used to take sweet counsel together;
within God’s house we walked in the throng.

In today’s Psalm, David is facing an attack, but this time the attack is not coming from an openly declared enemy. The attack is coming from someone who had been a close friend, and so the attack is that much more devastating to David.

What do we learn from this?

David is in the depths of despair, to the extent that he tells us he wants to run away to escape. I know I find it encouraging to see that people in the scriptures have these feelings also. It is natural to want to run away, and it isn’t a sign of spiritual immaturity to want to be released from the troubles.

We also see that sometimes we are betrayed by friends, and the pain of this betrayal is worse than that which we receive from an enemy. We might not face this ourselves, but this Psalm help us to deal with others who have. And it can also encourages us to be true to our friends and not abandon them.

And finally, although we didn’t include the end of the Psalm in our quote above, we see that David ends the Psalm with the appropriate response to such betrayal: ²² Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Where is Christ in this passage?

David, in decrying the betrayal of his close friend, prefigures Jesus Christ, as He was betrayed by Judas. David’s description perfectly fits Judas: ¹³ But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. ¹⁴ We used to take sweet counsel together….

Wed, 7 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 49:5-15

⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
⁶ those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
⁷ Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life,
⁸ for the ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
⁹ that he should live on forever
and never see the pit.

¹⁰ For he sees that even the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish
and leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their graves are their homes forever,
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they called lands by their own names.
¹² Man in his pomp will not remain;
he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
yet after them people approve of their boasts. Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
Death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
¹⁵ But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will receive me. Selah

The Psalmist asks a question: Why should you be afraid when evil people prosper? When you look around you see people who violate God’s law and are not at all concerned about it. Yet these people are the ones who get the power and the riches. It doesn’t seem right or fair, and these people have the ability to cause much trouble. Although it is natural to fear them and the harm they can inflict, the Psalmist takes another view and asks why be afraid of them at all?

You see, these people might have wealth and power, but it will do them no good in the end. Their money can’t buy them a pass when it comes time for them to die. It doesn’t matter how big their homes were in life, all have the same final home: the grave. Even if they were so influential that countries are named after them, they still end up in the same place. They will die, and so will you.

So why fear them? What’s the worst they can do? Send you to the grave. But even with all their wealth and power, they will also be there soon.

What do we learn from this?

Confidence in our possessions is misplaced. It doesn’t matter how many things we have, or how much power we accumulate. These things can do nothing for us when we die, and we can not take them with us. (There’s a Don Henley song with the line: “You don’t seen no hearses with luggage racks.”) The rich cannot buy themselves right with God, and death levels all to the same status.

So what hope do we have? If we are rich and powerful, it does us no good. And if we are poor and weak, we just get taken advantage of by the rich and powerful. But in the end, we all die, and our possessions and power (or relative lack thereof) do us on good.

The Psalmist doesn’t leave us in this state of hopelessness. The hope comes in verse 15. But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Since I can’t ransom myself no matter how much money or power I have, God must ransom me. I can’t do it, and He has done it for me.

If I am trusting in anything I do or anything I have to purchase my redemption and to make myself right with God, I have no hope at all. It is a foolish confidence, and my end will be to be consumed in Sheol [the place of the dead], with no place to dwell. Hell awaits those who think that they can buy God off by having more good deeds than bad deeds, or by having given enough money to charity, or by having joined the right church. You can never pay God the price of your life, and no payment you can make can ever suffice.

My only hope is to trust in the ransom for my soul that God has provided. Only by this can I be rescued from the power of Sheol.

Where is Christ in this passage?

⁷ Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life…. ¹⁵But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.

Jesus Christ is fully man and fully God. Thus He is able to represent us before God and be our federal head. He is the second Adam who perfectly obeyed God’s commands. And He is God. So He can pay the price for our salvation. He is the one who paid the ransom for the souls of all who come to Him in faith. He died on the cross to pay the price for the sins of all His people, and He gives them His perfect righteousness, so that His people are acceptable before God.

Thus it is because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ that the power of Sheol is broken and God will receive His people.

Sat, 3 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 44:17-22

¹⁷ All this has come upon us,
though we have not forgotten you,
and we have not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way;
¹⁹ yet you have broken us in the place of jackals
and covered us with the shadow of death.
²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
²¹ would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.
²² Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

In verses 1-8, the Psalmist reviews how God has fought for His people in the past and won for them glorious victories. These are attributable not to the strength and the sword of Israel, but to God Himself. God is the one who saves His people from their distress and the success they have seen in the past came directly from Him.

But then, the Psalmist describes the current position they found themselves in as a nation. In verses 9-16, he shares the sense of how they have been abandoned by God and left desolate and vulnerable to their enemies. It is a dramatic turn of events as the Psalmist calls to mind the glorious past and then relates the current distress. If their success in the past was due to God’s work on their behalf, then their current lack of success must be due to God having left them.

In verses 17 to the end, the Psalmist then seeks for a reason why God has abandoned them so. As a nation, they have been faithful to Him and are not engaged in idolatry and rebellion against Him as they have been at other times. If they had been in flagrant sin against Him, their situation would be understandable. But why are they facing their current distress? The Psalmist asks and answers his own question. It is for your sake we are killed all the day long. In this case, it isn’t the sins of Israel that causes the distress, but it is God’s own sovereign purpose that they go through this hard time.

What do we learn from this?

Not all the bad that happens to us is directly due to our sin. Here we see that God’s people were faithfully serving Him, but for some reason, God has not chosen to bless them with the same victories and success as He had blessed His people in the past.

For His own purposes, God chooses that His church should sometimes go through times of rich blessing and at other times dryness and famine. For His own purposes, God will allow His church to labor faithfully with little or no visible growth. Why do we see some churches faithfully preach the Gospel to dwindling congregations while down the street churches that water down the Gospel and entertain the people are growing by leaps and bounds? Why? For His glory and our good.

The lack of apparent blessing in a person’s life or in the life of a church is not necessarily an indication of God’s disfavor. Rather God, for His own purposes, chooses sometimes to allow His people to suffer. But their suffering is always under His great promise of His working it all out for His glory and their own good. That is why Paul can quote this very Psalm when he wants to make the point this very point.

Romans 8:31-39

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When God calls His people to suffer, He is actually conquering the circumstances through us.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Paul tells us in the Romans passage where he quotes Psalm 44 that Jesus Christ as the basis for our confidence that God works out our sufferings for good. It is because of what Jesus Christ has done that we can be confident that although we might have to go through times of difficulty, if we are in Jesus Christ, nothing will separate us from His love for us.

Tue, 30 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 38:1-8

¹ O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath!
² For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.

³ There is no soundness in my flesh
because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
because of my sin.
⁴ For my iniquities have gone over my head;
like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵ My wounds stink and fester
because of my foolishness,
⁶ I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
all the day I go about mourning.
⁷ For my sides are filled with burning,
and there is no soundness in my flesh.
⁸ I am feeble and crushed;
I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

In today’s Psalm, we again don’t know the exact circumstances David was facing. He describes it in physical terms: no soundness in my flesh, no health in my bones (v3), my wounds stink and fester (v5), I am feeble and crushed (v8), etc.

David also describes his situation in terms of an enemy attempting to snare and harm him (v12).

But David is clear about one thing: regardless of whether the terrible experience was physical or emotional, the cause is his sin. David is clear that his problem is that God’s hand is against him because of sin in his life.

What do we learn from this?

David sees this particular difficulty in his life as the direct result of his own personal sin. Notice that he doesn’t question God as to why this is happening to him. Instead, David considers his own guilt before God, confesses his sin, and throws himself upon God’s mercy.

There is a lesson for us here. Not everything bad that happens to us is due directly to sin in our lives for which we need to repent. Nevertheless, whenever anything bad happens to us, it should be a time for us to consider our own lives. Is there anything in our lives for which we should repent? Is there anything we should confess to God? Our times of difficulty are good times for us to again throw ourselves upon God’s mercy.

Where is Christ in this passage?

It is interesting that David refers to the result of his sin as wounds that he bears. But ultimately, David did not bear the full wounding due upon his sin, and neither does anyone who is trusting upon God’s grace found in Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 53:4-6

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

Friday, 26 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 34:15-22

¹⁵ The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
¹⁶ The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
¹⁷ When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
¹⁸ The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
²⁰ He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
²¹ Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
²² The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

David wrote this Psalm when he went to the Philistine city of Gath to hide from Saul. When the people of Gath recognized him, David pretended to be insane in order to keep the Philistines from revenging themselves upon him. (Remember, Goliath was from Gath, so the people of Gath had no love for David.)

David writes this Psalm as a song of praise to God for his deliverance from the Philistines. David sings of God’s protection for the righteous and His vengeance upon the wicked.

What do we learn from this?

David is not claiming that he is righteous before God based upon his faultless obedience to the law. David is only righteous before God based upon God’s provision of an atonement for his sin. But as David is trusting God and relying upon the substitute God has provided for his sin, David understands that he is under God’s protection.

David is expressing his trust in the Lord that God will deliver him out of his difficulties. David expects to face many afflictions. But he knows that ultimately, God will preserve him through the afflictions and he will not be condemned.

This is not to say that we won’t face many severe hardships, pains, and even ultimately death. God does not give His children a free pass from all difficulties. But He will preserve His children through the difficulties, and most importantly, He will not condemn His people when they stand before Him on judgment day.

Is this because they were righteous enough to earn God’s protection and favor? No. It is because Jesus Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to them by grace through faith, and thus they are reconciled to God and adopted into His family. Thus, none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Where is Christ in this passage?

John tells us that this passage ultimately points to Jesus Christ:

John 19:32-37

³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. ³⁵ He who saw it has borne witness–his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth–that you also may believe. ³⁶ For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” ³⁷ And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Monday, 22 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 30

¹ I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up
and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
² O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
³ O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

⁴ Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints,
and give thanks to his holy name.
⁵ For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

⁶ As for me, I said in my prosperity,
“I shall never be moved.”
⁷ By your favor, O LORD,
you made my mountain stand strong;
you hid your face;
I was dismayed.

⁸ To you, O LORD, I cry,
and to the Lord I plead for mercy:
⁹ “What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me!
O LORD, be my helper!”

¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness,
¹² that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

In this Psalm, David is recalling what God has done for him. Whatever David is thinking of, the specifics of the incident are not clear. Something had happened, something so dramatically awful that he compares it to dying, and he called out to God. God saved him from this situation, and as a result, David calls for people to praise God and thank Him for what He has done.

So we see this progression: David is in some distress, he calls out to God, God acts to preserve him, and as a result, David praises God.

What do we learn from this?

David is not unusual. God has acted the same way in our lives as well. We’ve been in some distress, and we called out to God. God acted to bring us through our difficulty. But, do we then do our part? Do we follow through as we should? Do we praise God for what He has done?

If you’re like me, you probably have often forgotten to thank God for what He has done. It is so easy to forget about our problems after they are resolved. When we look back, they don’t seem as disturbing as they seemed at the time, and knowing how it worked out, we don’t think about how we pleaded with God for a resolution. We’ve usually moved on to the next problem and have neglected to properly thank God for what He has done in our lives.

But David reminds us in this Psalm to remember what God has done in our lives and to praise and thank God for how He has answered our prayers in the past. David tells us why God acts in our lives to preserve and protect us: that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.

And so we should, like David, give thanks to you forever!

Where is Christ in this passage?

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
you have loosed my sackcloth
and clothed me with gladness….

For all those who have repented of their sins and come to God in faith for salvation, they have gone through conviction for their sins. They have realized the depths of their sin, and the punishment that is due to them because of their very great sin. They have mourned for their sin, and come to God truly sorrowing that they have grieved Him and violated His law.

It is in this mourning that there is comfort. It is in repentance that there is salvation. As we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven, and our mourning is turned to dancing. Our sackcloth is turned to gladness.

Thursday, 18 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 24

¹ The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
² for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.

³ Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.
⁵ He will receive blessing from the LORD
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

⁷ Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle!
⁹ Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory! Selah

There are a lot of similarities between this Psalm and Psalm 15. Both ask the question of who can approach God, and both give the answer that a person must be blameless in their words and deeds.

What do we learn from this?

This Psalm certainly is a challenge to us as we seek to be pleasing to God. We desire to have clean hands and a pure heart. We seek after truth and try to avoid what is false. We set a guard over our mouths to not swear deceitfully.

But just as in Psalm 15, we find that we fall short of this standard of perfection and are driven to Christ in repentance for our sins of missing the mark of perfect obedience in our words, thoughts and deeds.

Where is Christ in this passage?

The encouraging thing in this Psalm is how it clearly tells us who the one with clean hands and a pure heart is: The LORD Jesus Christ. As the rest of Scripture tells us, we are acceptable to God because the righteousness of Jesus Christ is credited to His people. Since we are clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ, we are just as acceptable to the Father as Jesus Christ the Son.

We can see this as a Psalm of the incarnation, as Jesus Christ came to the earthly temple in Jerusalem, and the gates and doors are called to honor Him at His appearing there.

Also, we can see this as a Psalm of the ascension, as Jesus Christ returned to heaven, the true temple, of which the temple in Jerusalem was just a shadow and copy.

In either case, we see that Jesus Christ is honored as both the perfect Man and as God. He is acceptable and can stand in the presence of God the Father. And we can also stand before God the Father as the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ is credited to us by faith.

Friday, 12 August, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

Psalm 15

¹ O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?

² He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
³ who 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;
⁵ who 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.

Do you want to sojourn in God’s tent? Do you want to dwell with Him in His holy hill? Do you want to go to heaven and spend eternity with God? Well, Psalm 15 gives us a checklist of what you need to do.

Be blameless. Always do what is right. Tell the truth, even in your heart. Never say anything evil or do anything evil. Be offended by those who do wrong, and honor those who do right. Always keep your word. Don’t take advantage of anyone. Never use your position for your own advantage.

That’s it! Simple, isn’t it.

What do we learn from this?

I can’t do this! This is an impossibly high standard. My walk isn’t blameless. My speech isn’t always faultless. I’ve done wrong, and I continue to do wrong, and just telling me that I need to go out and try harder doesn’t help me reach this level of perfection required in Psalm 15. In fact, if that is what I have to do, it drives me to despair as I look at my own life. Despite my desire to be perfect and to please God, I keep sinning.

Where is Christ in this passage?

This is the good news. There is one who walked blamelessly, and always spoke what was right. He never said or did anything that was evil. He was offended at those who did wrong, and honored those who did right. He always kept His word and never took advantage of anyone. He never used His position to His own advantage, but used His position to do good for others.

This Man was perfectly righteous. He earned the right to sojourn in God’s tent and to dwell in God’s holy hill. And the good news for those of us who have failed to achieve the standard of perfection is that this Man is our representative. He lived His perfect life in our place. He offers us the righteousness that He earned by living the perfect life, and He bears the penalty for our sins by dying on a cross. This Man is the substitute for all who come to Him in faith, trusting in Him alone for salvation.

This Man is Jesus Christ.

And because of the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ, everyone who is in Christ can sojourn in God’s tent and dwell in God’s holy hill. All who are in Christ have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. They can enter God’s presence, not based upon their own imperfect righteousness that doesn’t reach the standard listed in Psalm 15, but based upon the perfect righteousness of Christ credited to them by God’s grace through faith.