Tonight, if you would turn with me to Psalm 15, one of David's psalms, wonderful portion. I don't know if you get such blessings as I get. I taught some of the psalms, of course, for a while, but there are many that I didn't touch at all. But I get tremendous blessings from the psalm for my own soul. because, as I said, really David and Paul fit so close together. Many of the things that David says in his Psalms, we find Paul speaking of the same themes in his epistles, but from different viewpoints. David is not indwelt by the Spirit of God. Paul is indwelt by the Spirit of God. Remember, there was no indwelling Holy Spirit until Christ arose from the dead, ascended, and sent his Holy Spirit to us. He said, the Spirit cannot come to you unless I go away, and when I go away, I will send you the Spirit, and he will come into you and abide with you forever. So the Spirit dealt with men from the outside in the Old Testament. It wasn't until the New Covenant that the Holy Spirit became the indwelling presence. Men's bodies were not the temple of God in the Old Testament. You remember in Hebrews it tells us that while the old temple was yet standing, you see, they dwelt in buildings made with hands, which were but a figure of the true. Now the true temple is heaven itself and the body, which God has by his wondrous grace chosen to dwell in now by faith. Now this psalm, I'll read the first few verses here. I'll read the psalm, there's only five verses. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor. Ernie read about that tonight. Love hurteth not his neighbor. Love is the fulfillment of the law. It's a very important portion there that Ernie read tonight in Romans 13. You often hear me talk of it and quote it, but love is the fulfillment of the law because love does not hurt. See, quotes all the commandments, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not. The reason you don't commit adultery is because love, agape, God's love, can't hurt anybody else. All right? That's the highest code. God's love can't hurt anybody else. So it's not a matter of the legal code, thou shalt not commit adultery. Love will not hurt his neighbor. That's the prime thing. So, you'll notice that it says, he that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is contemned. but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not, he that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things shall never be moved. Now, if we go back to the beginning of that psalm. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? I can't help but think that there are many ways here that we can justly and properly interpret this portion of Scripture, not just one way. I think there are interpretations of this Scripture that could not be possibly known to David. In other words, only possible to New Testament saints, those who are born again. But it had its portion for David, naturally, since David is speaking. And here he has, if I might just begin with a thought like this, Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? The word abide here means remain constantly, constant abiding in thy tabernacle. Now, certainly we would know right away that this didn't mean that David was going to physically sit in the temple, that it had much more to say to his heart than that, that David was a very active man. But what it is meaning is that there is this constant abiding in the very atmosphere of the tabernacle. The worship life on Sunday is taken out to the dying world on Monday and on Tuesday and down through the week. In other words, there is a constancy. We are remaining in that attitude of worshipful obedience, you see? It's not going to church on Sunday. I have to just convince people of this, that Christianity is not going to church. The coming together in church is for the fellowship of the children of God, to fellowship around the Word of God. But we're to go out with that constant abiding in the tabernacle, the atmosphere around our business. Within our own souls, we may hear much that contaminates. But we still can have that abiding, constant presence of Jesus Christ. You can experience this. Day by day, in your life, there's to be that constant abiding. Who shall abide in thy tabernacle, Lord? the whole word here to David's heart is that that worship life which he practiced, he would carry out to the world outside. There'd be that abiding in the very atmosphere, you see, of holiness. Very important. If we, you know, sometimes people say, you go by the face of the word here. How can I abide in your tabernacle always? As though you're gonna be physically present in the church. The application could not be possible here. David is a king. But David wanted to live in the atmosphere of worship. And this is so important, you see. Is your life being lived in this atmosphere? Is church cut off at 8 o'clock on Sunday night, or sometimes 8.15 or 8.20? But is that it? Is that it? It's cut off? No, David says, no, I don't want that, Lord. Who shall abide, constantly remain in thy tabernacle? And David, in this great spiritual sense, conceived of that thought, that abidingness in the very atmosphere of worship, in the presence of your brethren. Then two, walking in the atmosphere, if I might say, of the tabernacle, your walk will be proper. It comes into that in the second verse, and walking uprightly, you see. There is the walk of life, and so there's that constant abiding, that gloriousness that we would hear if a person were to say to you on Monday, you speak to them. And if you could feel that they're seeing a sermon, they may not be hearing it, but they're seeing a sermon in your life. Isn't that exactly what Paul says? We are what? Living epistles. We are living messages. We just don't take it in on Sunday and hold it in all week long and then let it burst out the following Sunday or on Wednesday night at prayer meeting, but on Monday and all the other days, whether it's mother or the children or dad, whether it's business or home, God give us the atmosphere of the tabernacle. You know, I've often said how the athlete walks in the atmosphere of his prowess as an athlete. I don't know if you love, I love to watch athletic events, I have to be frank. Having been an athlete, I guess that's normal, you know, for me. But for me to watch a great track meet is thrilling. But I'm not confined to that. There isn't any sport that I don't like very much. But I don't know whether you watch, like when the Olympics come. And I don't know whether you watch all of the great acrobats and those on the cross bars and the high bars, gymnastics. And you watch them. Watch them after they have done a complete flip or something and they come down, you know. and then watch them as they walk off. They're walking, you see, in the very atmosphere of that which they've just done. You see the athlete on the street who's a real athlete, they walk like it. There's something about their step. It's there. Well, Christian, that's what God wants from you, you see. That's what he wants, that constancy in our lives. As he says in another place, they go, when Paul speaks of, they run a race. And he says, why, they go to seek a temporal crown, a temporal thing, a gold medal. But you, eternal. You see, he pushes us, you know, talks of the racing. To them, it's a temporal thing. Thrilling, but oh, how much more thrilling, you see, to know that at the very throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll receive the reward for all the deeds done in the body, and may they be good. May they be good, because we'll be rewarded for deeds in the body, whether they be good or bad, but may they be good. Number two, there is here more to be said, I think, than that. we might take this view of this portion, just as precious as the first view, and even more beautiful possibly than the first view I've just given. David here, or let's say, in our hearts now, bringing it down to where we are in the New Testament dispensation, Let's word it this way, Lord, who shall constantly abide in thy tabernacle? Now listen, am I not thy tabernacle? Yea, though David looked to the earthly temple, for thy very presence. Is not my body thy tabernacle? Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Is not thy Holy Spirit, through my faith in Christ, the very resident of my body now? Am I not thy tabernacle? Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Listen, God says he will give us the Spirit because we have trusted Christ as our personal Savior. And he says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. He abides forever. I will give you the Holy Spirit and he will come in unto you and he will abide. with you forever. So that this is even more beautiful than the first. The first is to carry the atmosphere of the tabernacle, the worship here, out into the world. But the second is more beautiful because this recognizes that Christ has come now to dwell in our bodies, which are the true temples of the living God. And now in that indwelling presence, It is almost as though here we might say, are thou questioning my heart, Father, to see if I understand what has happened to me? Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Are thou asking me to see if I have understood that I have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of thy dear Son, and I have received thy Holy Spirit? And Paul cries out to me, What? Do you not know that your body is now the temple of God, who ye are? Are you testing me, Father, to see if I understand it? Listen. I believe that plenty of Christians hardly understand that their bodies are the temples of the living God or they wouldn't live the way they are. You act as though you belong to yourself. You act as though you can do what you can do without any thought of God. This is an impossibility. He says, you are not your own. You've been bought with a price, with the precious blood of Christ. Why am I not my own? Because you are a temple. Temples belong to God. Temples are indwelt by God's Spirit. You are the temple of the living God. It is so God is testing man. Do you understand? You see, we can use this verse beautifully here. Do we understand that our bodies are the temples of the living God? Do you see this? Are you conscious of the Holy Spirit's presence within your soul? Do you know that? Do you know that when you sin, when you defile this temple, you are defiling the very temple of God and defiling the Christ who dwells within you? For he says, if you join yourself to a harlot, you'll join Christ to the harlot. Oh, how tremendous. I believe that when the church of Jesus Christ gets a consciousness of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in every individual's heart, you'll see a transformation in the church that will put it on fire for God, because it will sense the mighty power that has come to dwell in everyone's body, making us all the temples of God, all individual stones in the great building of God. Building unto a holy temple unto God, living stones, we're told. building the temple of God. These stones are dead. This wood is dead. The drapes, dead. Figures of the true. But the Holy Spirit has made our bodies the temples of the living God. And so this second is more beautiful, more expressive than even the first. The first says, take the atmosphere of your worship out to the world. The second says, you don't have to take it out to the world. Your body is the temple of the living God. Walk like a temple in the world. And be conscious of the fact that if you wouldn't defile the temple of God in the temple here, you wouldn't think of sinning. I believe the Christians by and large, they wouldn't think of sinning within the church. God says why that's the lowest of reasoning, as wonderful as it is. Understand that if you would not defile this place with its bricks and its stones and its pews, and you wouldn't want to commit sin in here, how can you commit sin in your body? Which is the true temple of the living God. Tremendous. Why, I know people would be heart-stricken to think that any sin, you remember when sin was committed in the temple of old, they were struck dead, many. And here we are, beloved, our bodies now, the temple of the living God. So here is a glorious thought for you and I. David could not have conceived of this, you see. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?" And the answer of God here would be, my Holy Spirit shall abide in thee forever. Dost thou not know this? Thou hast been redeemed in the blood, and now the Spirit of God come into your hearts by faith. Then, if I might, just a third thought. A third view of these same words, glorious words. Who shall be the constant abiding one in my soul? Shall it not be thee? I am a paradox. Father, We are schizophrenic by nature. Who shall have the control? Who shall be the constant abiding presence in thy temple? Lord, I have indwelling sin in me. It is a ravening wolf. The only possibility of its being controlled is by that other one who dwells in me, thy Holy Spirit, who shall reign as King, who shall abide Who shall be the constant resident of my soul? Shall I allow indwelling sin to possess me? For it really can. Lord, it can consume me. I am no fool, Lord. I know its power. It often comes in like a flood, and when I do not raise the standard of God against it, it possesses me and crushes me. Now, Lord, who shall be the constant abiding one in my soul? Who shall be the reigning power in my soul? Shall it be indwelling sin which shall be in me down to the grave? Shall it be that factor within my being that power within my being that can crush me and bring me down into the deepest sin of defilement, and at the same time almost convince me that it's beautiful, in its fiendish and satanic power of deceit and delusion and the wiles of the devil, shall make me think that sin is beautiful and to reason a way in my mind that for me I am entitled to something in life. And if sin will fulfill it, I shall be fulfilled. Lord, who shall reign in me? Shall this indwelling sin that would take possession of my soul? That would fiendishly grip me and convince me that the world on the other side, the grass is greener. The world has a lot to offer. Make all the money you can. Get it no matter how you have to get it. Only get an education that you'll be successful in making money. Lord, shall indwelling sin so convince my heart of this that I cannot see the ultimate meaningfulness of man's life and what his destiny is? Shall I be so taken in by Satan?" And I want to tell you, in this society we're living in, Satan has taken in the souls of so many Christians. who could have been great powers for God, and they've been swept up into the possessions and work. David is saying here, Lord, who shall constantly abide in this tabernacle? Who shall reign? Shall it be the Holy Spirit, beloved? Shall it? Or shall it be indwelling sin? You have a choice, you know. Isn't that wonderful? You have a choice. If you want the Holy Spirit to have the power in your life and you long for it, they that seek after righteousness shall be what? Filled. If you don't have it, you're not seeking. If you seek it, you'll find it. They that seek after righteousness shall not be turned away, but they shall be filled. And so, beloved, we could take any one of these three views wonderfully set before us. The atmosphere of the worship service when you leave to go out in the power of the Spirit of God and want to walk in that atmosphere. If the preacher has said something that's touched your heart and wants you to live a higher and a holier life for God, to take it out and make it part of Monday and Tuesday and down through the week. And then to be conscious of the second one, in which the Spirit has come to indwell you and abide with you forever. He's made your body his temple, which is even richer than the first. And he says you don't have to only take the atmosphere of the temple. You can take Christ with you right out wherever you go. He dwells in you. And thirdly, to make Christ dwelling in this temple the reigning power, so that you are victorious over sin. Wonderful. Wonderful. Boy, I love his words. I tell you, it thrills your heart until you just about can burst, you know, at the greatness of our God and the power of his precious words. Then he finishes this first verse by saying, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Well, we could well say, now you've heard the first three. This tells you how you get victory. Who shall now dwell in thy holy hill? And then we could go to Paul. Lead David, go to Paul. We are seated together already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, the heavenly hill. Who's going to go there? Who's going to dwell there? Thou hast promised us, Lord, that we're going to dwell with thee forever. But who shall be with thee now? Who shall experience thy love and thy tenderness and thy compassion and all of the wonderful fruits of the Spirit of God? those who understand the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, those who walk in their daily life in the atmosphere of the sanctuary, those who have allowed the Spirit of God to reign in their bodies and give them victory over sin. You'll dwell there because dwelling means being right with them all the time. And while in the Spirit we've been seated together already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, by faith this is our position before God to make that position our practical possession. There must be victory. And then we're conscious that we're seated with Christ already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There are no joyous, defeated Christians. There are only joyous, victorious ones. May God seal us to your hearts tonight. Let us pray. Father, we thank Thee for Thy precious Word. Bless it to our hearts. How good Thou art to us, Lord, we pray that We might seize upon these precious things, as David says in his psalm, and as we translate it from the Old Testament covenant into the New Testament covenant, we remember that Hebrews, the ninth chapter, tells us that when Jesus come, he said, lo, in the volume of the book, it is spoken of me. A body thou hast prepared me. Sacrifice and burnt offerings thou wouldst not. And when he saith, a body thou hast prepared me, he taketh away the first covenant, that he may establish the second covenant, the indwelling presence of Christ in the heart of every believer, making us the temples of the living God. Father, touch our hearts tonight. May we want to walk in the atmosphere of the sanctuary in our daily lives. May we recognize that the Holy Spirit dwells in us moment by moment richer than anything else we could have even conceived of. And that he that dwells in us is greater than he that is in the world, Satan, and greater than indwelling sin, and can defeat both as we allow him to reign in our mortal bodies. Touch our spirits tonight. Give us a good week in Christ. Bring us safely to our homes. In Christ's name, amen.