Consider these words again. In the second stanza of open my eyes that I may see, we say open my ears that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear. And while the scriptures fall on my ear, everything false will disappear. And I will pray at this time that that will be the case, that God will speak through his word clearly and anything that happens to be false will simply fade away. And the truth of his word we trust will linger in our hearts as we go away today. Let's pray and ask his blessing. Father, this is your word, your communication to us that we look at today at this time. And I pray, Father, that you would help me to think and to speak clearly that I might share accurately the message that you would have us hear from your word. I pray, Father, that your spirit would work in my heart, in my mind, and in my life and that he would do the same for all who are here today, that we might be conformed more toward the image of Christ, that we would be more like the kind of people you have designed for us to be, that we might walk more closely in fellowship with you and reflect your grace and glory to others who do not yet know you. This is our desire, and so, Father, we know we need the blessing of your spirit. There is nothing in me or in us They can guarantee success as we go to your word today, but we need the blessing of your spirit who inspired this word. that we might understand it, and that we might see how it intersects with our lives today. I pray that you would also work among our children this morning as they're in Children's Church, as they are also taught your word at a level that we trust they will understand. I pray, Father, that you would speak to their hearts and their minds as well, that they might fall more in love with you, that they might know you better, trust you more, and obey you with their lives. We pray these things all in Christ's name, amen. Well, today I am looking at actually three passages. And so if you thought that the scripture reading was a little odd, that we had two different passages and you had a hard time seeing the connection, hopefully the connection will become clear. And those are part of what we're looking at today. three passages, Psalm 15, you have not yet seen today, will be in Psalm 15, Psalm 24, and Isaiah 33. And so if you can find three fingers to hold places there, we will be kind of looking back and forth and comparing those passages. So you may want to prepare yourself by looking at those, Psalm 15, Psalm 24, and Isaiah 33. And in the meantime, Answer this for me, please. Is the Old Testament of the Bible relevant for us today? Good. I'm glad to hear so many yeses out there. Very good. You know that there are those of various theological persuasions who feel like the Old Testament isn't really relevant for us today. Well, there are various views. One of them is that the Old Testament isn't really the inspired Word of God, but it merely contains the Word of God. and and so on there are others who believe yes the Old Testament is entirely for us today as much as it ever was and because they believe that the church has replaced Israel and they call the church the new Israel we disagree with with that position because we believe God keeps his promises and when he made promises to Abraham about what would happen through his seed we trust he's going to fulfill those things and there are some of things that are not yet fulfilled and so the Old Testament yes is very much for the children of Israel and yet there is much there for us today God caused it to be transmitted to us for good reason and so we are looking at some passages today that are in the Psalms and in Isaiah, and they often have a lot to do with Israel and the relationship that God had with them originally, and we'll see some allusions to that. And yet, I think we can see very clearly that there are principles there that are universal, that are timeless, that are meant for us to understand today. and to apply to our lives. And so I hope to draw those out today and particularly what I want to talk to you about is what I can see in these three passages is really a type of formula for fellowship with God. It's a formula that was given to people in the Old Testament and these principles carry across today as to how we can have a relationship with God. And I'm not talking strictly about having salvation. I'm talking about an ongoing relationship with God, a closeness, a fellowship with God. We'll look at and compare these three passages in order to get a better possible, the best possible understanding of their common meaning. I think we have some parallels here. And I think we'll see that these principles are very important. We begin with a question. Let's look first in Psalm 15. And let me read that for you since you haven't had that yet this morning. Psalm 15 says, O Lord, who shall sojourn or dwell in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart. Who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend. 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. 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. Well, first we have this question that's posed in each one of these. And if you'll look with me to these three passages, we see, first of all, here in the first verse of Psalm 15, O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? And in the Old Testament, when we see a reference to your tent, particularly we see it in the Psalms, it is a reference to the tabernacle. The tent was the original, the meeting place, the tabernacle was the portable worship center for the children of Israel as they traveled through the wilderness. And so those were considered God's holy tents, the tabernacle. And so it's a reference to that place of worship there. And then when it refers to who shall dwell on your holy hill, that is a reference to the temple itself, the permanent structure, which was built up on a mount, on Mount Zion. And so it was referred to as God's holy hill, oftentimes. And so this is a reference to being in the place of worship, which to the Israelites was equivalent to being in the presence of God. For them, the worship and the presence of God had a very tangible sort of physical sense to it. Because God established that early on as they traveled through the wilderness. They had this tabernacle and he would actually make himself visible as a cloud of smoke that would come and rest on the mercy seat on the lid of that Ark of the Covenant. in the Holy of Holies in that holy temple, that holy tent rather, the tabernacle. He would be visible in that way. They would know that God's presence was there. And then when he would raise that column of smoke, they knew, oh, God is removing himself from the tabernacle. It's time to pack up and follow him to somewhere else. And so to the Israelite mind back in this time in the Old Testament, being in the presence of God is different from the way we think of it today. We know God is omnipresent, right? He's everywhere. There's nowhere we can go to be out of his presence. And David even understood that in the Old Testament. He said, where can I go to flee from your spirit? So he understood that. But they had a very strong sense of physicality, of presence with God in the tabernacle, in the temple. And so the question is posed here, who is qualified? Who can dwell, who can spend time in the presence of God? There seems to be a question as to what it takes to be qualified to do that. Let's look at this parallel in Psalm 24. We see it in verse 3. Psalm 24, verse 3, here's the question. Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? So now we have approaching God and staying in the presence of God, ascending and standing. Who can do this? Look at Isaiah 33 with me, please. Isaiah 33, verse 14. Here we see it coming from kind of a negative angle. It says, the sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless. And then this is what they say. This is a quote of the godless, the sinners. Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? This is their view of the presence of God. In their sense of guilt before a holy God, they felt estranged and distanced. They thought, who can bear it? Who can be, who can stand in God's temple? Because they felt the burning guilt of their sin. Well, so that's the question. Who is qualified to be in fellowship with God? Who can stand His presence? Who can enjoy His presence? There must be something to it, because the question is posed in all three of these passages here. Now, let's understand a little bit more about the idea of this presence of God, because it is expanded upon in Psalm 2, verse 6. Do you have another finger? Do you have another finger for roaming? Because I've got some other passages to look at. Psalm chapter two, we're going to understand something about the forward-looking aspect of the temple and the presence of God. So it wasn't just for the Israelites back there and then. This is the way they understood it, the presence of God in the temple, and yet there's something very relevant for us here. Psalm chapter two, read with me and ask yourself when this is talking about. Why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, O kings, be wise, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Now first of all, when do you suppose this is referring to in the scale of history? I'm actually inviting you to interact with me. It's the way I like to do things. From your theological studies, and I know many of you have done some, What time would this be referring to when Christ's enemies will be made his footstool and he will be given possession of all the ends of the earth? It's the end times, isn't it? This is the millennial kingdom when Christ takes up physical rule on this earth. So it's a forward looking, isn't it? And it says that in verse six, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. This is God speaking as though it's as good as done. It's something to happen in the future, but in his mind, it's done. It will be, there's no question about it. And look at the warnings here for those who would reject the son or who would anger the son. It describes his burning wrath. It said, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice even in trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry. Look at verse five, or verse four and five. Those who will rebel against him, and this may be referring to the battle of Armageddon when all the nations, all the kings and rulers of the earth gather their armies together to try to stand against God's anointed, against Jesus, and they're going to throw off the rule of God. Verse four, he who sits in the heavens laughs. Who do they think they are? Honestly, you think you can come up against me? He holds them in derision. And then he gets serious, verse five. He will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. Jesus Christ will rule and will reign. Do you sense the awesomeness of the presence of God on his holy hill here? And it's still something to be looked forward to. We are oftentimes, I think, far too casual in our view of God. We think of him, we've accepted what much of society has done to make light of God, the man upstairs. God is viewed, I think, sometimes as just a benevolent grandfather up in the sky. We call upon him when we have wishes, when we have concerns, and the rest of the time we ignore him. We flagrantly disobey him in many ways. We indulge in our own pleasure rather than considering his view of evil. We see in Isaiah 33, these sinful people have actually a better concept of God perhaps than we do when they say, who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? And we see that description in Psalm 2 of his fury and his wrath. So this is a serious question, isn't it? Who can dwell, who can spend time in the presence of God? Look at Hebrews chapter 12. You can leave the Psalm 2 passage. Let that one go and turn to Hebrews chapter 12, please, and verse 22. Hebrews right before James, near the back. Hebrews chapter 12 verse 22 says, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels and festal gatherings. So here we also have a future on the Mount of Zion with the presence of God, don't we? Let me just read to you Revelation 14, one. This is the Apostle John speaking of the vision that he was given. He says, then I looked and behold on Mount Zion stood the Lamb. And with him 144,000 who had his name and his father's name written on their foreheads. So the Mount of God, Zion, is something that we have a future with. It is important to us to ask this question. Who of us can have fellowship with God? The spiritual life of every Israelite revolved around the temple. Daily sacrifices were given there. Prayer and praise services were held there. There was scriptural instruction that took place there. They had annual feasts. All the men of Israel had to be there at least three times a year for particular feasts and celebrations. All these things took place in the temple. Being in the temple was synonymous with being in God's presence. and every Israelite understood that they had to be ceremonially cleansed through the offering of bloody sacrifices in order to enter God's presence so the next part of this is the answer who can dwell Sojourn in your tent who can dwell in your holy hill verse 2 of Psalm 15 He who walks blamelessly does what is right and speaks truth in his heart And then it goes on to expand and we'll talk about this in just a moment but first of all There's the sense of needing to be qualified and needing to be clean and we today in the New Testament era also have to be spiritually cleansed to enter God's presence and this is this does have to do with our salvation and There was a sacrifice that was made regularly, day after day, morning and evening, and then annually on the Day of Atonement, there were sacrifices made, animals spilled to cover people's blood, to atone for their sin, but it was not a permanent solution. This was part of life for them. They knew because of the tabernacle structure and because of these sacrifices that they had to do every day, they knew that it was not a light thing for a sinful person to come in the presence of a holy God. The very structure of the tabernacle sent that message. You have a person coming from the outside would first come to the outer court of the tabernacle. And in order to even enter, they would have to come with a sacrifice. They would have to come with a perfect little lamb, male lamb or goat or calf. And they couldn't get past just the entrance without first putting their hand on the head of that sacrificial animal to indicate that they are transferring their sin and their guilt to that animal. And as their hand was on the head of the animal, the priest would come and cut its throat and kill it, signifying this thing is taking my place. Its blood is being shed, it's dying because of the guilt that I bear for my sin. What a horrible, vivid reminder day after day for the people of Israel of the seriousness of their sin. Beyond that altar, where that sacrifice was burnt, there was the laver, the big bronze laver, a big wash basin. And only priests can go this far now, and Levites, and they would have to ceremonially wash themselves to go into the holy place. They would have to offer the sacrifice for atonement. They would have to wash themselves. properly, and then they could go in to the holy place. But then when they come to the holy place, they find that there's incense being burned in front of this curtain. And this curtain separated them yet again at another level from the presence of God. And only the high priest on the day of atonement after being properly prepared and with the proper sacrifice could go through that curtain into the holiest place, the holy of holies and offer a sacrifice. And because they were so fearful of the holiness and presence of God and understood that if a man happened to enter that not properly qualified, not properly cleansed and pure, that he may drop dead in the presence of God. And so they were instructed, God gave instructions for the priestly robes for there to be bells sewn on to the bottom, the hem of the robe, so they could hear the priest walking around in there. And they know if they keep hearing the bells, he's still alive. But they also tied a cord around his ankle and kept a hold of one end as he went through the curtain there. Because if he dropped dead in the presence of Holy God, no one could go get him. No one else was qualified to enter, and they would have to drag him out by the cord. To the Israelites, this is a very serious question. Who can be in the presence of God? Qualification is important. It was very vivid to them to understand that this is a holy, holy, holy God, and we are sinful, not holy people. Do we ever grasp that for ourselves? You know, He's the same God today. And the reality is, without proper cleansing, without proper cover for sin, no one can approach God. But the good news is, Those sacrifices that were carried out on the temple back then, they were temporary. That was just a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice because the scripture tells us that didn't even really take away anybody's sins. It was just a temporary solution. And in Romans chapter three, verses 21 through 26, we have this beautiful description of the fact that that was just a way that God could temporarily overlook our sin. Until there would be a final proper complete qualified sacrifice that was made and he describes Jesus Christ as that one as he hung on the tree He was the propitiation which means the satisfaction He was the one who appeased who assuaged God's wrath For our sin and it was God's invention so that he could be both, the scripture says in Romans 3, so that he could be both just, he could be a just God, he carried out his judgment properly on sin because it needs to be judged or he wouldn't be a righteous God. You wouldn't like him if he wasn't righteous and if he wasn't just. But he loved us so much that he found a way that he could be just and judge sin and still be the justifier, still be one who could extend to us forgiveness. And so we have this benefit today. We have the sacrifice that has been given once for all that gives us access to God. You've been in Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 10. Why don't you look there with me, please? So I've got a few verses, it'll be worth going there. Hebrews chapter 10. starting in verse 10, we see, first of all, that there has been a sacrifice made for the covering of our guilt and for our cleansing, and yet we will also see there is still an expectation for us in the way that we approach God, that we are meant to live in a clean fashion. So, Hebrews chapter 10, verses 10 through 14, first of all, and by that we will have been sanctified through the offering of the blood of Jesus Christ once for all, hallelujah. No more daily sacrifices are necessary. Christ did it once for all. But he's writing in a time when there were still priests functioning in the temple. They hadn't all gotten, they hadn't all accepted that reality that Jesus was the final sacrifice. And so they're still carrying on their tradition of offering up sacrifices. And so he speaks in the present tense because when he wrote it, it was still a very real and present thing. He says in verse 11, and every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, which indicated the work is complete. He's done his job, now he's retiring from that work. He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. Does that echo back to Psalm 2 that we just read a little while ago? for by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, and that's us, and it is a present ongoing sense there. He offered once for all his sacrifice, that part is done, but it continues to have the benefit of sanctifying us today. Yes, we have salvation guaranteed, and yet there is this ongoing sanctifying making us more holy work. that takes place as a result of what he did. So we are still being daily qualified for fellowship with God. Though we are once for all qualified for heaven, for our ultimate fellowship with him, there is a daily sanctification that allows us to have sweet communion with him. Let's jump down to verse 19, Hebrews 10, verses 19 through 22. Says, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places, that's a change, isn't it? Rather than the priests and only those qualified, only those properly qualified and cleansed and after sacrifices and everything could go into the holy place and then only one into the holiest of holies. But now he says, we all have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. That's the sacrifice that does it for us. By the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. And since we have a great high priest over the house of God, referencing Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. This is a new status for us because of what Jesus Christ did for those who will appropriate it for themselves. It's not automatic. You must place your faith in Christ and what he did and accept this for yourself. So even in Old Testament times, David understood that God's real desire was for true character in our lives. It wasn't just ceremonial. It wasn't just judicial guilt removal. And that's why he asked this rhetorical question and why the answer is important for us today. Who may abide? Who may ascend? Who may stand? Who may dwell in his holy presence? In other words, who can have true fellowship with God? Well, then the answer is given to us in Psalm 15. Let's go back there first. Psalm 15, verse two. Here's the beginning of the answer. It's a summary of the answer in verse two. Who can sojourn, who can dwell in your holy tent and your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart. So these are expectations of God for his people. To walk blamelessly, to do right, and to speak truth in the heart. Look at Psalm 20, keep your finger there, Psalm 24, verse four. Here's the answer in this text. Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy presence? Verse four, 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. Sounds familiar. Look at Isaiah 33, look at verse 15. The question here, who can stand to be in the presence of the consuming fire, the everlasting burnings of a holy God? Verse 15, he who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppression, who shakes his hands lest they hold a bride. Now we're going to see how these three are all parallels, they're all saying the same thing. It's talking about a person who is characterized by number one, integrity. Number two, righteousness. And number three, truth. This is what God looks for in the lives of his people that they might have closeness and fellowship with him. It was true back then and it's true for us today. So let's talk about these three things here. Now, there's an interesting structure here in this, particularly it's very clear in Psalm 15. The Hebrew writers, the authors were every bit as brilliant and maybe more so in many cases as we are today. Sometimes I think we think of the old writings as being kind of simple and plain, but the reality was these were very clever men. And on top of that, of course, they had the inspiration of the Holy Spirit guiding them. And so there are actual writing devices that were used in their time and in their culture that God made use of through these men as they wrote. Well, for one thing, we're looking at something in Psalm 15 that is Hebrew poetry. And there are certain rules to how Hebrew poetry was written back then. And so they're usually parallels of ideas. And that's why we have stated twice in verse one, O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell in your holy hill? They're both saying essentially the same thing, just with a little bit of a twist of the second time around. And that was common practice for, that's the way they wrote poetry in the Hebrew culture and language. They didn't rhyme like us. They didn't have the little meter and rhythm and things like we have. They use these other devices. Well now, here we have in this psalm another device that they used which is very clever. It's called a chiasm. Anybody ever heard of a chiasm before? All right, a couple of you have. A chiasm is the way they would structure ideas. So for instance, if you think of what they want to say is talking about three things, then the first point would be point A, and they would make a statement that's a point A statement. The second part of what they want to say is point B. The third part of what they want to make is point C. And then they revisit each one of those and reverse it. And they say something else about, point C, and then something else about point B, and something else about point A. And so you have this kind of a V structure if you were to outline it, and that's called a chiasm. So a chiastic structure, sometimes you would have one, two, three, it can be one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, it can be any number of points that are made, and then you see them reflected like a mirror. after that coming back out in reverse order to each one of these things. And if it's an uneven number, you can observe this even in your English text as you read the Bible and as you read the Psalms, this is a great thing to look for. It doesn't happen in every Psalm, but it's something to keep your eye out for. It's a way to really understand what the point of a passage is because if you, the middle of that, the crux of that V of that structure is usually the heart, the kernel, the key the big point that's meant to be made in that passage. Well, there are right ways to interpret Scripture, and that's one of the keys. Well, here we have a chiastic structure, and we have, these things are all revisited. In verse two, it says, number one, he who walks blamelessly, so that's our point A there, and does what is right, that's our point B, and speaks truth in his heart, that's point C. Well now, starting in verse three, as we have it marked, he's going to reverse the order. And so in the beginning of verse three, he stays there on the truth issue. We have walking blamelessly, doing what's right, speaking truth in the heart. And so now he's gonna talk about truthfulness first, and then rightness, and then blamelessness. So who does not slander with his tongue? He who speaks truth in his heart, well, here's the reflection of that, who does not slander with his tongue. Look in Psalm 24, we're gonna see the same idea there. Psalm 24 and verse four, Who shall ascend unto His holy hill? It says here we don't have the whole chiastic structure, but here's that point again. He who has clean hands and a pure heart does not lift up his soul to what is false. There's our truth element. Does not swear deceitfully. So truthfulness is important. Isaiah 33. We have a similar list. He who walks rightly, there's that righteousness, speaks up rightly, There's the truthfulness, and this is all in verse 15, and who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands lest they take a bribe. There's the integrity aspect of it. Okay, so let's see these three things here. Integrity, righteousness, and truth. Truth, never lying about or contributing to the slander of others. That's what we see in these passages here. In Colossians 3, verses eight and nine, I'll just read it to you, it says, but now you must put them all away, these characteristics, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices. So here we have New Testament admonishment that fits with the Old Testament one there, that we are to be truthful people if we want to have fellowship with God. We need to be truthful. We should never participate in the slander of others. What is slander? Backbiting can be a part of it. It's gossip. Usually slander is saying anything that is intended to cause someone else to view another person negatively. If you share something with someone else, that is intended to draw them into having a negative view of another person, that is slander. And God hates it. And it goes as far as here, they're talking a little bit in legal terms, where you would not take up a reproach against his friend in Psalm 15. Or in Psalm 24, does not swear deceitfully. We're talking about a person who might even go to court and lie about somebody. In Isaiah, it says he despises the gain of oppressions, shakes his hands, he won't take a bribe. I'm not going to lie about somebody, even for money. I'm not gonna take part in any of that. You can't buy me, no way. Shakes his hand saying, uh-uh, I won't do it. I'm not gonna speak falsely or slanderously about someone else. This is being a truthful person. And it was an admonition in Colossians to the early church that Christians certainly ought not treat each other this way. These things that he says to put away, to take off, in the context of talking about taking off the old man, the characteristics of the old person, because now you have new life in Christ, he says, put these away, take these off and put them off. This is the way the old person dresses. This is what the old person looks like. The anger, the wrath, the malice, the slander, obscene talk. These are all things that have to do with the fences of the mouth toward other people. And he's saying that doesn't belong in the Christian life. And so that's very consistent with what we see in these passages here in this formula for fellowship with God. He's looking for truthful people who will not try to harm others with their words. The second element that we see as we went from A to B to C, and now we've talked about C, truth, and we're going back to B, righteousness. doing right, thinking right, loving what is right, despising what is perverse. Let's see these in the three passages here. In Psalm 15 is the very first part of verse four. It says, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord. in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord. We have a clear contrast, this righteous person takes no pleasure in vile things, sinful, ugly things that don't honor God. This person doesn't take any pleasure in that. And in fact, it goes beyond that. There's the reverse side of it. They do love something. What do they love? What does it say there in verse four? Say it again. That's right. He loves those who honor the Lord, right? So rather than applauding, for instance, in our situation today, rather than applauding some of the junk in our society and in our media today, and the total degradation of moral standards, rather than just going along with that and enjoying that and oh, you know, the dirty jokes that are told and that's kind of funny. Rather than appreciating that, we should have an attitude that says, oh, yuck. But on the other hand, when we see someone who loves God and honors God with their lives. They talk about godly things, they live in a godly way. It doesn't mean that they necessarily wear a halo, but someone who does honor God, who tries, who serves God in whatever way they can in their life, that person should be loved by this righteous person. So when you look around and you see the people who attempt to serve God with their lives, The right person, the person who thinks rightly, who does rightly, who loves what is right, will recognize the person who loves and serves God, and their heart will go out to that person. And rather than enter into any kind of slander, they will support and help that person and honor them. In Philippians, bringing it into the New Testament era here, bringing this bridge across here so we can see the relevance is still very clearly for us today. In Philippians chapter four, verse eight, again, Paul is writing and he says, finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, listen, that's a long list, isn't it? And it's a beautiful list, really. Whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, If there's anything worthy of praise, think on these things. See, despising what is vile, loving what is good and what honors God. Well, back in the Old Testament, even in Amos, this admonition was given. Amos 5, verses 14 and 15, I'll just read it. You probably won't get there before I'm done. Amos 5, verses 14 and 15, it says, seek good. Not evil. Well, that's pretty plain, isn't it? Seek good, not evil. That you may live and so the Lord, the God of hosts will be with you as you have said. And he says again, verse 15, hate evil and love good and establish justice in the gate. This is what God's desire was for his people and still is for us today. Hate what's evil, love what's good and seek to do what's just. So that's righteousness. We have an archiasm, we have integrity, righteousness, truth, and then we've talked about truth, we've talked about righteousness, and now we're back out to integrity in our structure. Integrity is dealing honestly with others and following through on promises no matter how much it hurts. Go with me again, please, to Psalm 24, Psalm 24, verse four, and the last part of it. Here's where we have the progression in this passage. It's the end of verse four, after clean hands, pure heart, does not lift up the soul to what is false. It's out of order in this passage. It doesn't match the same order as Psalm 15. Now, the end of it, does not swear deceitfully. The swearing aspect. Now, this isn't just talking about profanity. Not swearing deceitfully is talking about an oath. And this person who wants to have fellowship with God is someone who keeps their word. You say you're going to do something or you say you're not going to do something and you keep your word. Look in Psalm 15 with me. Psalm 15, verse four, in the middle of the verse, Verse four, who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Swears to his own hurt and does not change. Do any of you recall in your Sunday school classes the story of Jephthah's vow? This is one of the, if I can put it this way, one of the worst things in scripture. I mean, it's just very difficult. And I think the reason we have difficulty with it, again, is because we don't have an adequate view of the holiness, the magnificence of God and how important it is to obey and to keep our word before him. To summarize what happened, And I almost hate to open this can of worms because it's gonna, some of you are gonna go away thinking, oh, this is just so wrong. There's an Old Testament times during the judges where scripture gives us this commentary over and over again during the period of the judges. And the people did, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. And we have cycles of this going on. Everybody just did whatever. In other words, they held themselves as the standard of what's right. Does that sound familiar to you at all today? Today's, well, it's right for me. Whatever your values are, that's fine for you. I have to do what's right for me. Everyone does what's right in their own eyes. And these people face judgment after judgment. And so as they would, the judgment that God would bring them would be to allow the enemy people who surrounded them, in the in the land of Canaan he would allow them to conquer the Israelites or to oppress them in one way or another they would you know have raids against them and and enslave them temporarily and things like that and so he would allow this as as a punishment as a judgment to try to call their attention back to him and they would call out to God and say Lord we're sorry we were wrong we should have not been worshiping those other gods we shouldn't have been playing around with these with these other false religions And so please help us, please. And so he would raise up a judge. He would raise someone up who would help deliver the people. Well, so Jephthah is one of these people who went out to fight against the enemy, and he made this foolish vow. And he said, Lord, if you will give me victory over the enemy, then when I return home, I will offer up as a sacrifice to you the first thing that comes out the door as I return home. Oh, what an idiot. I'm sorry, but that was just a stupid thing to say. But he made a vow to the one true and living and holy God. And when he returned successful in battle, what was the first thing through his door? His one and only daughter. And he was brokenhearted. And he told his daughter about this vow, and she even had the wisdom, she had the reverence for God to say, you've made this vow to God, you must keep it. You must sacrifice me to God. Now, qualifier, nowhere in scripture did God ever ask for anyone to offer up a human sacrifice. That is not anything that God desires. But just reflect for a moment on the seriousness, the understanding of the seriousness of making a vow before God. In Ecclesiastes, Chapter five, we have Solomon writing, sharing some of his great wisdom that God gave him. In Ecclesiastes chapter five, verses one through seven, he says, guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near, to listen, is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools. Notice, again, the issue, what God's really looking for is the heart, not just sacrifices. The sacrifices were necessary, but he's really after the heart issue. Draw near to listen is better than to offer sacrifice of fools, which may have been Jephthah's sacrifice, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words. When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. Let not your mouth lead you into sin. There's that mouth getting us into trouble again. Do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake. In other words, you make a vow and then somebody comes to collect. And it's not convenient for you now to carry out the vow. I was just kidding. Really? Really? You think I was serious? I think you misunderstood. Do not say to the messenger it was a mistake. Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands? For when dreams increase and words grow many, there is vanity, but God is the one you must fear. Integrity, the keeping of promises, the keeping of oaths before God is a very serious matter. And it is one of the ingredients of the kind of life, the kind of person who can have close fellowship with God. A person must be truthful, never lying about and contributing to the slander of others. They must be righteous, doing what's right, thinking what's right, loving what's right, despising what is not. The person must be a person of integrity, dealing honestly with others and following through on promises, no matter how much it hurts. But there is a promise here. There's a positive side to all of this. We have that question of who can bear the presence of God. We have the answer, the person who is truthful and righteous and has integrity. And now there's a positive side, there's a reward to this. Protection and provision. Let's look at the protection here, which is stability and security under God's care. In Psalm 15, our primary passage here, in Psalm 15, verse five. Oh, you know, I'm sorry, I skipped over something and I do want to address it because I can't skip over the first part of verse five. It says, who does not put out his money at interest and not take a bribe against the innocent. And that is another part of the integrity aspect there. And this was particularly important for the Israelite people because it was part of the covenant, part of the Mosaic law that God gave to them that a Jewish person should never charge interest on a loan to another Jewish person. Within the people of Israel, That was, in some translations you have usury there. It was against God's law for his people to charge interest against his own other people, for the Israelites. And so this also is a matter of integrity here, keeping your vows, being honest, following through on your arrangements, on your deals, but on the other side of it, you don't take advantage of someone else. And this was viewed amongst the Israelites as taking advantage of someone to charge them interest on a loan. I'm not trying to give you theology for how we do business today. There's nothing else in the New Testament that indicates that God thinks that interest is an evil thing, but he did not want that for his people. He did not want that within the Jewish economy, within his people of Israel, he did not want that. So here we are in the end of verse five then, Psalm 15. He who does these things shall never be moved. Here we have a statement of strong situation of security for the person who lives in this fashion, who is truthful, who loves what's right, and who has integrity. no slandering of other people, no loving of the evil things of the world, but rather honoring those who do right things and keeping your promises, not taking advantage of other people. These are the characteristics that God wants to see in the life of his people and that endears a person to his heart. And here's the promise, he who does these things will never be moved. In Isaiah 33, we have a similar statement. Isaiah 33 verse 16 says, he will dwell on the heights. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be given to him and his water will be sure. So here we have both a statement of security, of protection and of provision. God will provide for this person who deals honestly with others. God will reward him by providing what they need. And in Psalm 24, verse six, verse five and six, it says, he will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation, such as the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. And the person will clearly be rewarded, will receive blessing from God when they live in this way. So we have both protection and provision granted by God for those who are characterized by these things in their lives. Well, coming to the conclusion already. I don't preach nearly as long as Pastor Mike does. I don't have as many good things to say. In these passages, we have a pretty clear formula for fellowship. Now part of that we have talked about, we understand that for us in the New Testament era, that issue of cleansing comes only through faith in Jesus Christ. But we've also seen these other principles of how we live that are reiterated, they are expanded upon even in the New Testament. It is important that we speak truthfully about other people and that we do nothing to try to harm others with our words. It is important that we love what is right and hate what is evil and that we honor those who honor God. We don't honor those who despise God. And it is important, we see still, that we be people of integrity, that we keep our word, that we're not foolish in the things that we say. As Solomon said, it's better not to make a promise than to make it and not keep it. We're supposed to be people of integrity and people who will never take advantage of another person. And you know, it saddens my heart when I hear sometimes talking with unbelieving people of the reputation and when it comes to integrity, I hear horrible things sometimes about the lack of integrity in believers and in other Christians. Some people, unbelievers, don't want to do business with a Christian person because they've been burned, because they found that that person thinks that they have some sort of special right from God to always have the advantage. They think that everybody ought to help them out. and they are sometimes even dishonest. And oh my goodness, how that gives a black eye to the testimony of Christ because that's not what God wants for his people. He wants us to be people of integrity. We should have the best reputations in business. Understanding what we need to be is simple, of course. Actually being it is a different thing. We really must set our hearts and our minds to the task of becoming what God wants us to be. Yes, we are qualified by the blood of Christ to enter heaven. That's not the question. Are we people, however, who live in close fellowship with God now? Are we the kind of people in whose lives he can take pleasure? And if we are, our lives are gonna be characterized by these things. We should be truthful people at work, with our neighbors, with our families and every aspect of lives, we should be absolutely truthful and never try to do harm to another person by what we say about them. We must avoid slander. Secondly, are we characterized by the love for what is right and hatred for what is perverse? You know, I think we let an awful lot of things into our lives and I'll put my hand up with you. I think there are an awful lot of things we kind of let through the filter that really are not contributing rightness and holiness to our lives. And I know we can't, even as Paul says, in order to avoid all evil, you'd have to go out of the world entirely. We know that we live in the world, but we don't have to be of the world. We don't have to embrace all of the things that are embraced by our society. And I feel like I'm getting to be an old man now because now I'm starting to think and say some of the things that I remember the older folks saying when I was a kid about those video games and stuff like that. And I used to think, come on. But as I see little advertisements for video games, Today, I'm not against video games. Don't get the wrong message here. I don't think it's wrong to play video games, all right? But do we ever filter the stuff that we look at? Because I see some stuff, I mean, a lot of stuff that is just grotesquely violent. And just the images are just hideously immoral. And really, does that have any place in a Christian's life? I have now lived just long enough to see that these things actually do affect people's minds and lives and have changed society. I have seen dramatic change in Western society over the last 25 years that I think can very clearly be linked to the media that we have imbibed. And I think we need to use some discernment to love what is right and to hate that which is perverse. Enough of that. Are we people of integrity? Do we follow through on our promises or not promise things that we don't intend to do? Do we prove to be dependable? People ought to think, as soon as they find out that you're a Christian, and I hope that people do find that out about you. I hope it's not the best kept secret in the world. When people find out that you're a Christian, their instant expectation should be, oh, Well, then I can trust this person. I can do business with this person. I can rely on this person because Christians are people of integrity. Sadly, that is not always the case. We must inspect our lives and make sure that we are not smudging the reputation of Christ in this world. We must be people of integrity and we see here in these scripture passages that God is ready and willing and happy to grant you security To provide for you to protect you to bless your life If you're that kind of person in whose lifestyle he can take pleasure That's not a guarantee of no hardships. I Because Christ also tells us that as Christians, we're gonna face opposition. But God blesses in many ways. And that ought to be the reward that we look for. If we're honest, we all look for a reward in some way or another. Nobody is ever completely altruistic. Nobody ever really does things with no desire whatsoever for any good thing to come back. Everybody at least wants a thank you or an attaboy or for God to be pleased with us. And that ought to be our ultimate goal is to look for God's attaboy, attagirl. Way to go. Good on you in our lives. So think about this. Will you this week? Inspect your life as you go about your business and ask yourself, does this reflect integrity in my life? Does this reflect a love for what is right in my life? And am I treating other people as I ought to? Am I being truthful? Am I being careful not to say things that smudge other people's reputation with others? Never trying to persuade someone else to adopt a negative view of another person. That doesn't belong in the Christian's life.