Psalms that Pspeak – Psalm 15 – Consecration Welcome to our series called “Psalms that speak.” Today we look at Psalm 15. Psalm 15:1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. 3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. 4 Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever. This Psalm starts with a great question. Psalm 15:1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Who may go into Yahweh’s special place, Yahweh’s sanctuary, Yahweh’s holy place to worship? As a side note, we are all worshiping here today because worship is what we give our life to and what we serve and what we declare as the great worth of life. Can anyone go to this special place? Every religion is trying to answer these questions – the question that if God exists then what is the expected of me and how can I be in right standing with him? Some say we just have to try harder. Some say you can’t even know if you’re right with him. If we do enough good things maybe we could please the deity, we call God. Or there are certain things I need to do. Or certain kinds of prayers that I need to offer. Or certain amounts of money or sacrifices. Or maybe make a pilgrimage somewhere. Every religion has its rules, and lists, and demands and requirements and yet you still don’t know if you are good enough. Psalm 15:1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Even we who follow Jesus struggle with this thought of how we can be acceptable before God. Have you ever taken communion or been in a communion service where it was actually scary to take communion? Where verses from Corinthians were read about who can take communion? 1 Corinthians 11:27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That sounds rather ominous. Here is one of the central teachings of the Bible about how God makes people right. I want to take you to a progression of Bible passages that talk about how God alone by his own actions, declares us right. Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory. In this passage something makes us right in God’s sight. Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. We had been made right by the blood of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. Hebrews 10:19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. So, to answer the question; Psalm 15:1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who have been declared righteous. Those who have been declared acquitted of their sin. And God has done this. Here is the exclamation point to all of this… Colossians 1:21 you were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. So, who can be in his presence? The holy and blameless and faultless people. And how do you get holy and blameless and faultless? Through Jesus. So, once we have been declared righteous what are we to do? Once again, the apostle Paul punctuates the life that we are to live with these words. 2 Corinthians 7:1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God. God has cleansed us from the sins that wreaked havoc upon our lives. And now we are told we need to be part of a process where we are cleansing ourselves from anything and everything that is defiling our body and spirit. Psalm 15 gives us five categories that we need to be diligent about as followers of Jesus. Psalm 15:1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? 2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. 3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. 4 Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever. Category 1. Consecrate my character. Psalm 15:2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right… 4 …and keep their promises even when it hurts. Category 2. Consecrate my inner life and motives. Psalm 15:2 …speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Category 3. Consecrate my mouth. Psalm 15:3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Category 4. Consecrate my relationships. Psalm 15:4 Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord… Category 5. Consecrate my integrity. Psalm 15:4 …and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Final prayer. Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Let’s see what GOD can do! Pastor Brian Harrell