Psalms 15:1-2 - Homiletics

A standard of integrity.

"Lord, who shall abide," etc.? We may truly call this brief psalm a flawless gem of religious ethics, unmatched in all the treasures of heathen literature. It is a sufficient proof that the moral failures which surprise and distress us in many of the Old Testament saints were due to human infirmity—the imperfect character of the men and of the times, not to deficient revelation of truth and duty. Then, as now, men knew more than they practised. What the New Testament has done for morality is, firstly, to give us a model of holiness—a pattern life, which human imagination could never have framed, in the Person and life of Jesus our Lord; secondly, to supply motives to holiness only given in his gospel. But no higher standard of spotless integrity can be set forth than this psalm contains. The best commentaries on it are St. John's First Epistle and St. James's Epistle.

I. THE QUESTION . Who is the guest of God ? "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?" etc. In David's time there were two tabernacles—the ancient one, where the brazen altar remained, at Gibeon; and the new one, to which the ark had been removed, on Mount Moriah, which thenceforth became the "holy hill" ( 1 Chronicles 15:1 ; 1 Chronicles 16:1 ; 2 Chronicles 1:3-6 ). But here is no question of priestly ritual or office, but of personal character before God; therefore under the image drawn from the actual tabernacle, the real thought is of spiritual communion with God (cf. Psalms 23:6 ; Psalms 27:4 ). Who is he who shall commune with God as a child with his father—to whom Christ's great promise shall be fulfilled ( John 14:23 )?

II. THE ANSWER . (Verse 2.) The portrait is here drawn in three strokes. The rest of the psalm is the shading and colouring of the picture.

1. " Walketh uprightly. " Our walk in Scripture means our conduct, especially as regards ourselves, and as in God's sight—the inward, even more than the outward, life (Luke h 6; Acts 9:31 ; Genesis 5:24 ).

2 . " Worketh righteousness. " Deals justly, fairly, honestly, with others. This is the outward side, of which Christ says, "Let your light shine" ( Matthew 5:16 ).

3 . "Speaketh truth in his heart. " The correspondence of the inward and outward life. People sometimes speak truth with the lips —what is literally true, but with a different meaning in the heart. Transparent integrity is indicated—speech, the clear mirror of the hidden soul. No need to draw any strong line of distinction between these three— walk , work , speech. Like the sides of a triangle, each implies the other two. If we walk with God , we must needs deal justly with our fellows, and shall account our speech one of the most responsible parts of conduct towards God and towards man.

This is no impossible picture of ideal perfection—simply a description of wholehearted obedience. Our Lord and Saviour expects no less. Strange if less were expected in a "disciple indeed' than in "an Israelite indeed" ( John 1:47 ; John 8:31 ). Fellowship with our Father and our Saviour implies "walking in the light" ( 1 John 1:5-7 ; John 15:1-5 ). This fellowship is the earnest of and preparation for that of which the earthly "tabernacle" and "holy hill" were the faint, vanishing shadows ( Revelation 7:15 ; Revelation 21:3 , Revelation 21:27 ; Revelation 22:3 , Revelation 22:4 ).