Assurance

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. (Psalm 16:1 ESV)

God keeps His promises. Unlike the creatures He brought into existence, even those given the image of God, He is not limited in His power or awareness. Existing outside of space-time, God sees all that was, is and will occur. He knows everything, even what might have happened but did not. He alone is able to fulfill His plans and complete His creation. He alone is capable of fulfilling all the promises He makes.

Christian theology and doctrine use the word “assurance” when describing the believer’s confidence and trust in God. Christians have the assurance of salvation. Assurance is unwavering confidence built upon a foundation of faith. One of the elements of faith is the trust. Trust is the firm and extraordinary belief in the strength and veracity of a person to finish that which they have determined to accomplish. However, with those who are God’s, trust is the emotional certainty and conviction that He will uphold His moral laws and all of the consequences of either keeping or breaking those laws. Part of the image of God given to some of His creation is the ability to feel, know and understand when a moral law is being either upheld or violated. The violation of a moral law will generate fear and hatred in the inner being of a person with a right and wholesome relationship with Him. God promises those who are His that He has forgiven sin because of the sacrifice of His Son. Thus, assurance is the emotional trust that God has fulfilled the moral obligation of His law through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Believers trust that their salvation is secured, not through any of their efforts or work, but because of the work of Christ.

David uses the word preserve, which means to keep, to guard, to protect and save. There are two instances in which God may preserve, or guard and protect His saints. First, God manipulates the things of the world to fulfill His purposes, even when that purpose involves the suffering for righteousness’ sake of the citizen of His kingdom. God also preserves for eternity those who are His.

God works through His providence to bring those who are His to the object of His eternal purpose for them. Knowing all that will happen, or might have happened, God works in His knowledge to ensure those who are His will ultimately be with Him in eternity. 

When Jesus was born, the Deceiver, using Herod the Great, sought to have Him murdered. 

An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” (Matthew 2:13 ESV)

Joseph fled with His family to Egypt. After Herod died, Joseph was told to take Jesus home to Israel. 

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” (Matthew 2:19-20 ESV)

Paul tells believers that God works in every circumstance to achieve His decreed objectives. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 ESV). God’s providence involves more than the immediate circumstance found in space-time.

Accompanying God’s providence is the theological doctrine of preservation. God preserves, which is exactly what David is praying in Psalm 16:1. God not only protects, He preserves. Jesus tells those who follow Him that God is aware of their circumstance and that those circumstance, though filled with suffering for righteousness’ sake, should not cause fear. God will bring those who are His into eternity with Him where they will never again face such suffering.

I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear, fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7 ESV)

To fear means to put to flight or scare away, to be struck with dread. Jesus says that those who are His should have no terror because of the machinations and threats of the world toward God and toward those who are identified with God. A debate rages in the Christian world. Can a person who belongs to God lose their salvation? Once a person is saved, changed, recreated, filled with the Holy Spirit, can that person sink back into sin, become corrupt again, and drive away the Holy Spirit? Psalm 16 implies that God will not abandon those whom He makes holy. He is their refuge and His promises are absolute. This does not mean that all people are saved but that those who are God’s are His for eternity. God’s providence confirms that what He has started He will accomplish. God’s preservation confirms that He will not lose any that are His. Our assurance is that through Jesus Christ we will enter the presence of God and live.

A Gift Versus a Bribe

Who does not put out his money at interest 
and does not take a bribe against the innocent. (Ps. 15:5)

After Jesus was baptized, He went out into the wilderness and was tempted, or tested, by the Deceiver. One of the temptations was bribery. “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (Matt. 4:8-9; Luke 4:5-7). The Deceiver knew who Jesus was and why He was incarnate as a man. What the Deceiver did not know was how Jesus would achieve His goal. Had the Deceiver known that putting Him to death was decreed by God in eternity and that He would rise from death in victory, he would never have allowed the Jewish religious leaders to murder Him. There was no corruption in Jesus. Jesus thought with an eternal perspective, not the temporary, worldly perspective of those corrupted by sin. Jesus was not looking for the easy way out but the perfect, obedient way to accomplish God’s will.

The Deceiver tried to bribe Jesus with an easy and valuable shortcut. Bribes are never free. There is always a repayment plan attached to every bribe. Jesus could attain the end results He wanted by falling down and worshipping a creature. God is eternal, with no beginning and no ending. While created beings made in the image of God are also eternal, all creatures have a beginning. No creature can claim divinity. God is explicit to Moses and His people when He brought them out of Egypt. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exod. 20:2-3; Deut. 5:6-7). Jesus always responded to temptation with Scripture, which He wrote, which always points to God. “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (Matt. 4:10; Luke 4:8; citing Deut. 6:13).

Bribery destroys integrity. The word for bribe means a present or a gift. Gifts are good things. But the meaning of this strophe is that one person in authority is given a gift to destroy an innocent person. Innocent means free from (guilt), exempt, clear and clean. The implication is that the person who has authority, or believes they have authority, is willing to destroy an innocent person for money or something they view as valuable. There are any number of scenes which could play out in the sinful world. The person in authority could be asked to lie. At Jesus’ mock trial before the Jewish religious leaders, two false witnesses came forward and gave deceptive and misleading testimony about Jesus. We do not know if they were given money for their perjury.

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” (Matt. 26:59-61)

In some instances, a person in authority may offer services for money, such as setting a person free from prison. While Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea, he languished in jail for two years at the whim of the authority, Felix, who was waiting for a bribe.

After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.” At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him. (Acts 24:24-26)

Those who covet what another owns are immoral and will act in ways that allows them to gain that which is not theirs. There are those swayed by a bribe, having no integrity in their lives to fight against the covetous temptation. There are those who actively seek bribes in order to advance their place and position in the world. But what of the person who offers the bribe? They also are convicted of coveting that which does not belong to them, seeking to gain control over another person who owns what they want. To them integrity is a meaningless word.

Only one person who has ever lived can claim innocence. His name is Jesus Christ. Those who are in rebellion against Him look for false evidence to use against Him to justify their actions and motivations. The Deceiver will deny that God’s grace is truly free and entice people with his lies to draw them away from God. He bribes with that which is not his to give, offering divinity to people made in the image of God. Bow down and worship the creature and he will give everything you want, which becomes nothing of value. Only God can give anything of value. God’s gifts are free. Those who accept a bribe become the slave of those who give the bribe. Jesus does not offer a bribe, nor will He accept a bribe, for that which He gives out of eternal love.

The Cost of Knowing God

Who does not put out his money at interest 
and does not take a bribe against the innocent. (Ps. 15:5)

God gives His grace to people without the demand of receiving something of value from them in return. No one can buy their way into heaven. Only God gives value and nothing we have, because we are corrupted by sin, has any value in His eyes. God views those created in His image as valuable. God gives His grace because He loves those He has created. He who is willing to promise and deliver on that promise, even when doing so causes great suffering and pain to Himself, will not then demand repayment. A gift is a gift, a present, offered with no strings attached. 

Are there no strings attached to Jesus’ gift? God expects obedience. He built into people, found within the image of God embedded in everyone, the natural desire to obey Him. Sin corrupted the vessel containing the image of God. Now people fight against Him. Those who are His fight a war within themselves as they are tugged away from Him by the unnatural power of sin and pulled toward Him by the super-natural power of His image in them. Obedience is the natural inclination of God’s image.

When God created the earth and all in it and created Man to rule over the earth as His representative, God blessed the earth and Adam and Eve. “And God blessed them” (Gen. 1:28). To bless means to kneel before and give something good, as a parent will kneel before their child and give them something they need. There are no strings attached to this gift. The child may not like what is given simply because they do not understand. Their misunderstanding does not change the value of the gift or of the blessing.

To put out means to give, to bestow, grant or devote. To put out also means to pay wages, sell or lend. Put out is coupled with the word not. The one who is in God’s presence does not give, pay, sell or lend at interest, which is usually translated with an archaic word, usury, which suggests excessive interest or outright extortion. Money means silver or metal, such as coins, or an ornament, all of which are considered valuable for barter. What we think is valuable is waste in God’s sight. What God gives us has eternal value. Nothing found in the physical world can compare to the eternal gift. Everything in the physical world will ultimately be destroyed.

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (Phil. 3:7-9)

God does not owe anyone anything. He does have an expectation of obedience from those He created in His image. All of creation is designed to obey Him and operates under natural and moral laws. Because of sin God expects everyone to fail and rebel against Him. Because of the image of God in each person God also expects everyone to obey Him. There is a war raging within every person. No created being will win this war against God. Ultimately, only God is victorious. This does not mean all are finally saved.

Only God is capable of fulfilling His promises. From Genesis 3, God promised that He would overcome the rebellion of the Deceiver and those who follow the Deceiver to death. Speaking to the Deceiver in the guise of a serpent, God cursed him and told him that his life was only failure.

Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:14-15)

Many follow the commands of God religiously and legalistically but do not follow God with their whole heart. “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice” (Matt. 23:2-3). There may be a moment of time where anyone may believe with their whole heart, like Abraham believing God, crediting his faith as righteousness, but those are just moments. “‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:5-6). In the next moment there is self-centered sin. Abraham continued to sin. No one gives anything with an absolutely pure heart, except Jesus. The only person who can give, and does give without expectation of return, is Jesus Christ. 

It is good to follow Christ’s example and commands.

Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. (Luke 6:37-38)

Christ did not come to give us an example to follow. He came to die for those who are His so that they would be with Him in eternity. Jesus came to give Himself, to die and be raised from the dead. 

And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Pet. 1:17-19)

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Who swears to his own hurt and does not change (Ps. 15:4)

Why was Jesus incarnate? Why did Jesus come as a Man, setting aside His divine prerogatives and take upon Himself flesh? What is the Gospel, the good news?

When God created people in His image, so that all people might have a personal relationship with Him, God knew that sin would enter the world and corrupt that which He made perfect and for Himself. Looking ahead, God determined that He would provide a means for those who are in rebellion and separated from Him to turn away from their unrighteousness toward His righteousness. They could, only with His power and direction, turn away from the sin which infected their whole being toward God. From before the creation of the world, God determined to save from sin those who would turn back, away from sin and toward Him. 

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (1 Pet. 1:20-21)

Jesus, who is God, decided in eternity to come in the likeness of corrupted human flesh. He never sinned, nor was sin part of His divine nature. He did this so that He would bear the sentence of His eternal law broken by each person who sins.  God commands all who sin to turn from their sin toward His Son so they would not be legally liable for and suffer the eternal consequences of sin.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4)

There are some things God cannot do. God cannot deny Himself. God cannot lie. God cannot be unjust. God created the heavens and the earth. The beings He created, who have His image, exist within the boundaries of His eternal laws. Creation cannot operate in a manner that violates the laws of nature emplaced by God. Yet, there is a difference between the laws of nature and the moral laws followed by creatures made in the image of God. God’s image includes freedom to decide to choose that which is righteous, to be creative and think through decisions which need making. Just because people decide to violate God’s moral law does not mean they are released from the  obligation to keep and fulfill that law. Though the moral and civil laws were written down and given to Moses and the people of Israel, the eternal moral law is found embedded in the image of God. People can violate that moral law. God cannot violate His own law because the law’s foundation is in His eternal nature.

When Adam rebelled against God and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in direct violation of His specific command, he died. The penalty of eating the forbidden fruit was death. “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam did not immediately physically die. He and all people who would follow him, were spiritually separated from God facing an eternal existence away from the source of eternal life. Death is not just physical, for there is more to those created in the image of God than the physical. Death is eternal. Once a law is broken that law cannot be unbroken. Once corrupted a person cannot be magically uncorrupted. Nor can God simply ignore the broken law. God cannot allow anything which is not perfect in His eternal presence.

If the law cannot be ignored and the person corrupted cannot be viewed as uncontaminated then no one can unbreak the law or remove the corruption from the person. God’s law must be upheld by Him. The corrupt person must die, being removed from God’s presence. 

God provided a solution to man’s eternal predicament from before Adam’s fall from grace. The solution involves Jesus becoming a man, in the likeness of sinful flesh, yet without sin, and taking upon Himself the sin, the sentence and the punishment for sin justly imposed by God on all who sin. On the cross, when Jesus died, He took upon Himself the sin of all people and imputed to those so covered by His blood, His righteousness. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). Those who are covered with the blood of Christ, who are imputed His righteousness, still physically die but are raised from death just as Christ was raised from the dead. God makes those who are His new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). God views as righteous those so cover and made new through His Son. They are in Him, which is shown in the Psalms as taking refuge in God. “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him” (Ps. 2:12).

In eternity, before creation began, God decided to send His Son to take upon Himself the sin of those people created in the image of God who would become eternally His. Jesus’ sacrifice involved more suffering than any could or will ever know. Jesus swore to his own hurt and did not change but carried through and fulfilled His promise.

True Honor

In whose eyes a vile person is despised, 
but who honors those who fear the LORD. (Ps. 15:4)

Just as God does not despise a person the way the sinful world expects, so He does not honor a person as the world honors people. Sinful Man has taken the good and true things of God and perverted them, and then trained people to view God in a perverted fashion. People must be retrained to view others as created in the image of God just as they must be retrained to know and understand Him. These two stanzas (Ps. 15:2-3) give parallel, though diametrically opposed, judgments about how God views people.

Those who despise God are, in turn, truly despised by God.  Those who honor God are, in turn, truly honored by God. Despised means God turns His back on those who purposefully and actively rebel against His commands. God favors people for the evidence of their love and honor for Him, not that they have earned their way into His presence

To honor means to acknowledge the weight of glory and comes with seeking to understand God, which comes from walking with Him. Honor also means heaviness and is a word used to describe the dullest, stupidest person or the one who exalts God over all else. Whoever they are, they throw themselves into their beliefs and the actions, which show the evidence of their thinking and deepest motivations. God uses this word to describe the attitude children are to have toward their parents. “Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Deut. 5:16; Exod. 20:12). The weight of honoring is too heavy for those who are compromised by sin. Only God can accomplish honor through the person in His strength and directed by His will. Those who honor God want to do God’s will.

Who are those who fear the LORD? LORD is the word YHWH, and can mean only God, the Creator. To fear means to revere and includes being afraid or terrified. Those who fear God are not afraid of the world. “I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around” (Ps. 3:6). God tells those who rebel against Him, and teach others to do the same, that He is in control and that their insubordination brings down upon them His wrath. If they do not stop rebelling, they are in danger of eternal separation from Him. 

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. (Ps. 2:10-12)

Only Jesus, because He is God in the flesh, can in a godly manner despise those who despise God. Only Jesus, because He is God in the flesh, can in a godly manner honor those who honor God. What is impossible for us is eternally possible for God.

Are these words not a command to us? Are we not supposed to despise those who despise God and honor those who fear God? We are to do these things, but not as a command. Despising those who despise God and honoring those who fear God is the evidence of seeking God and walking with Him. It is the image of God that we carry, which drives us toward God. Yet, the sinful nature drives us away from God. Those who seek God are drawn toward Him by the Holy Spirit and the Divine image they carry. Seeking God is a natural part of being human. Fighting against the sin which propels us away from God is an act of the disciplined will but is not enough.

Taking refuge in God means hiding in Him and relying upon Him to protect those who are His for eternity from the effects of sin. The consequence of sin is separation from Him. Not all are eternally separated from Him. Though all are corrupt, and none do what is right, God still recognizes that there are a people who are His.

They have all turned aside; 
Together they have become corrupt; 
there is none who does good, not even one. 
Have they no knowledge, 
all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread 
and do not call upon the LORD? (Ps. 14:3-4)

Those who are God’s cannot be taken from His hand. This is a promise of God.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (John 10:27-30)

True Judgment

In whose eyes a vile person is despised, 
but who honors those who fear the LORD. (Ps. 15:4)

What does it mean to despise someone? The word despise means to hold in contempt. People who rebel against God hold Him in contempt, showing their hatred for Him by causing those who are His to suffer. Those who are God’s, and who obey God’s commands, are viewed as worthless in the eyes of those who are wicked, who practice and train others to disobey God. Do those who are God’s view the world in the same manner as the world views them? To despise means to place another far below contempt and hatred, effectively making them a non-person and valueless.

Even those who hate God are created in the image of God, for relationship with Him. Jesus teaches that there is a sin that God will not forgive. Does not the Spirit of God, speaking to the image of God in each person, command all obey God, who created them?

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matt. 12:30-32, Mark 3:28-30, Luke 12:10)

When God commands His creation, His eternal expectation is that those who are His, and everyone is His, will obey. To disobey a command of God is a direct act of rebellion and carries the sentence of death, which is separation from Him who gives life. Death does not mean cessation of existence, but continued existence, for eternity, separated from life and all that gives and sustains life.

People despise God by purposefully disobeying Him. According to Psalm 14, there is no one who has not despised God. 

They have all turned aside; 
Together they have become corrupt; 
there is none who does good, not even one. (Ps. 14:3)

According to Paul, who quotes this verse, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Yet, these same people who hate God and show their hatred through disobedience, are loved by God, as shown by the sacrifice of His Son.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Rom. 3:22-25)

Never does God ask, or beg, for anyone to obey Him. God created people for obedience to Him. He is not a malevolent Creator, seeking to hurt or harm, yet He allows suffering because of sin and rebellion. Suffering is the consequence of sin and rebellion. When people show their hatred for God, who loves them in spite of their hatred for Him, He ultimately despises them in return. God’s despising of people looks like hatred to those who neither seek God nor walk with Him.

We cannot assign to God the same meaning of the sinful human understanding of despising or hatred that we have for Him. We are not God, even though we have the image of God. Nor is God sinful, though Jesus was incarnate as human. God’s love for those He created for relationship does not change. However, God is also just and righteous and will turn away from Himself those who, though commanded to obey through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, continue to disobey.

A vile person is one who actively rejects God, throughout their life, rebelling against Him and teaching others to do the same. They reject God. Those who reject God are rejected by God. This does not mean God does not love them. God’s love cannot be separated out from the rest of His eternal, divine character.

Jesus teaches that those who train anyone created in the image of God, designed to love and obey God, to sin, that it would be better had the

y not been born. Children are naturally drawn to God and must be trained to hate Him.

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matt. 18:5-6; Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2) 

God is aware, knowing the beginning from the ending, of the thinking and the hearts of all people. His foreknowledge does not mean the acts of people are predestined. God knows intimately not only what will happen but what could have happened and did not. His eternal judgments are true and righteous.

Dealing With The People Of The World

Who does not slander with his tongue 
and does no evil to his neighbor, 
nor takes up a reproach against his friend. (Ps. 15:3)

We encounter people of this world daily. They are our family, friends and acquaintances, our neighbors and colleagues, and the people whom we meet as we go about our business and lives. How we view God will determine how we treat the people created in His image. Do we love God, bearing eternal fruit? Then we will treat the people we encounter with the respect and honor of one who carries within themselves the image of God. Or do we hate God and rebel against Him? If so, then we will hate those who remind us of God and His righteousness.

The Psalmist uses three parallel statements to drive home the point that how we treat the people around us shows the evidence of our thoughts about God. These statements use the words slander, evil and reproach.

What is slander? It is back-biting, gossip, making up lies or telling untrue tales about another. In many countries slander is a crime. Those who slander are intent on causing the downfall of the person by false testimony, to those who judge and convict. At the questioning of Jesus before the high priest the night He was betrayed, the Jewish council looked for an excuse to murder Him. They slandered Him.

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” (Matt. 26:59-61)

On the flimsy, slanderous testimony of two people Jesus was brought before Pilate and finally crucified. Do we speak about people with words that seek to destroy them? 

Evil means bad, giving pain, doing unpleasant things. People who are evil put action to their words. They do not just slander hoping another will carry out their will but conspire and campaign and then execute their schemes. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, the Jewish religious leaders hated what He did and what He said and sought to undermine His words and actions. They constantly tested Jesus to see if He would say something wrong or to try to trip Him into hypocrisy. Jesus wants scrutiny of His life. 

O LORD my God, if I have done this, 
if there is wrong in my hands, 
if I have repaid my friend with evil 
or plundered my enemy without cause, 
let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, and let him trample my life to the ground and lay my glory in the dust. (Ps. 7:3-5) 

Nothing Jesus did or said was disobedient to God. He was perfect in every way.

Finally, the word reproach is used. To reproach is to taunt or scorn. Those who slander act out their hatred toward God and those who obey God. Those who reproach will take up another’s hatred and make it their own. People influence others, training others to hate and act out their hatred.

James, the brother of Jesus, has much to say about the tongue and about the evil that comes from within a person and is made known through speech.

And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. (Jas. 3:6-9)

There is no one who has ever lived who has not sinned, and shown the evidence of sin, especially through their speech, except for Christ. Jesus tells us that we are required to act and be perfect. Yet, the context of perfection is shown in how we treat those made in the image of God.

 You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:43-48)

Only Jesus is perfect and only as we take refuge in Him, hidden in Him and covered with His blood, will God see us as perfect through Him.

Spoken Truth

He who walks blamelessly 
and does what is right 
and speaks truth in his heart. (Ps. 15:2)

Jesus never sinned. “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). While incarnate, Jesus’ every thought and word were eternally true. In Psalm 15 the word truth means firm and sure, stable, divine instruction and eternal, ethical knowledge. Jesus’ life stands firm when scrutinized by both God and the people of the world. At His trial, Pilate found Jesus had done nothing worthy of death. “I find no guilt in him” (John 18:38; see Luke 23:4). But Pilate did not care about truth, willing to scourge Jesus and then let Him go (Luke 23:22). Finally, bowing to the pressure of the Jewish religious leaders, Pilate had Jesus crucified, though Jesus had done nothing warranting His execution as a criminal.

We have already seen in the Psalms that Jesus encouraged examination of His life by the Supreme Judge. He wanted His life tested according to the eternal standards of justice and righteousness. “Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me” (Ps. 7:8). His life as a human was lived justly, according to the eternal, divine character of God. The purpose for His life as a human was to fulfill the requirements of the eternal law of God so that He would be an acceptable substitution for those who could not pay for their own sin. “For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment” (Ps. 9:4). Through Jesus’ obedience comes our salvation.

God wants those who are His to speak truth not only with words but from the deepest motivation of their souls. To speak is to declare, warn, sing and promise. Speaking truth to self, instead of lying to self and then believing and acting upon the lie, is evidence of seeking God and walking with Him. This is something those who rebel against God cannot accomplish. “Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak” (Ps. 12:2). Truth is firm and unshakable, stable and reliable knowledge that leads to righteous understanding of God, self, the world and eternity. Such truth, which is known because of the relationship those who are God’s have with their Maker, is filtered through the image of God given to everyone. The whole person is involved in knowing and living according to truth.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins His description of the citizen of the kingdom of heaven by saying “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). Those who are poor in spirit understand their inability to do anything, whether physically or from their deepest motivations, that will appease God and cause Him to owe them salvation. They hate the lie and love the truth, having recognized the truth of sin in themselves and the world in which they live. Their understanding comes from the truthful knowledge of their own hearts. Those who truly seek God do so from an upright heart, made so by God, never by themselves.

It is the upright, or those declared righteous by God, who are the targets of hatred by the unrighteous. 

Behold, the wicked bend the bow; 
they have fitted their arrow to the string 
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart. (Ps. 11:32)

Those who are upright in heart are the ones Jesus calls pure in heart, who will spend eternity in God’s presence. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). All who rebel against God, disobeying His commands, are driven from His presence and away from the eternal source of Life.

Speaking truth in one’s heart is a discipline, for there is a constant temptation to compromise and live according to a lie. The Deceiver wants all to believe a lie about God. Beginning with Eve, the Deceiver introduced a doubt about the truthfulness of God. “Did God actually say…?” (Gen. 3:1). It is the intent of the Deceiver, and those who follow him, to destroy the foundation of righteousness (Ps. 11:3). Everything done by the world, the flesh and the Deceiver is diametrically opposed to God.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Speaking the truth in one’s heart demands constant vigilance against the attacks of the world. Only Jesus, incarnate as a man, was able to do this perfectly. Only those who are filled with the Spirit of God have the tools to speak truth in their hearts perfectly.

Walking With God

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right 
and speaks truth in his heart. (Ps. 15:2)

Look back at the beginning of creation when God made the heavens and the earth out of nothing. God created the earth as a home for Man, whom He created in His image. God spoke with Adam and Eve as He walked in the Garden He created for His enjoyment. Adam and Eve, and all who follow, were and still are, the caretakers of creation. He gave them dominion over the world in which they lived. This does not mean that the world and everything in it belongs to anyone other than God. All creation belongs to God. As God’s regents, Man is responsible for the creation under their authority. One of the implications of having the image of God is that people are able to relate to each other and to their Creator. Throughout history God spoke to some people in a way they could understand, verbally, with a voice. Sometimes, God spoke through a theophany, the preincarnate Son of God appearing as a physical object, such as the burning bush in the desert.

And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” 

And he said, “Here I am.” 

Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (Exod. 3:2-6)

Moses spoke with God. Moses argued with God, not wanting to do what he was commanded. Yet, by the end of his life, Moses was called a friend of God. “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exod. 33:11). Moses sinned throughout his life. God would not allow him to enter the Promised Land because of a rash act in striking the rock at the end of the exodus.

Because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel. (Deut. 32:51-52)

Moses was a man of God who walked with God and was viewed as blameless and upright in God’s eyes. Blameless means being whole, sound and having absolute integrity in accordance with truth. Just because God views those who are His through the blood of Christ does not mean God’s people are actually blameless and upright by their own efforts. Psalm 14 is clear that there are none who do what is right, that all people are corrupt. Yet, Psalm 14 is equally clear that there are some people who are identified by God as citizens of the kingdom of heaven and are persecuted by the world because of their relationship with Him.

We are faced with a dilemma. About whom is this Psalm speaking? This is the same dilemma faced in Psalm 1. The Psalmist, David, if speaking about himself, knows his sin and repeatedly repents. Though declared righteous by God, David still suffered the consequence of his sin. So, too, Moses, and the prophets, like Elijah and all others. Considering the description of the person who walks with God given in this Psalm there is only one person who has lived who qualifies.

Psalm 1 speaks about the one righteous man. Psalm 8 speaks about the one person God has given dominion over all creation. Psalm 15 is speaking about that same person. His name is Jesus, and He is the Son of God incarnate as a Man, who lived a sinless life. No one else may claim to fit the description given here. Only Jesus walked blamelessly and did what was right.

Psalm 15 is about the author of the Psalms, the Author of life, the Creator of all, and the Redeemer of those who repent and obey God. Jesus’ walk was absolutely blameless. Jesus, an innocent Man, was murdered by the Jewish religious leaders because He was God in the flesh. In Psalm 15, Jesus, the ultimate Author of Scripture, is speaking about Himself. 

Eternity With God

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? 
Who shall dwell on your holy hill? (Ps. 15:1)

Citizens of God’s eternal kingdom live in a world that hates them while looking forward to a place where they are loved and protected by God. Eternity with God not only gives refuge from the sin of the world and the wickedness of those directed by the Deceiver but also gives absolute life from the One who sustains Life.

In this Psalm God describes some of the characteristics of those who are His, who will be with Him in eternity. All of these characteristics are found in the person of Jesus Christ. Conversely, those who rebel against God, who disobey His commands and fight against Him, will not live in His presence but will die for eternity, parade before all characteristics opposite of those described.

God uses the Passover to illustrate the difference between those who are His and those who rebel against Him. When God brought Israel, His people, out of Egypt, He told Moses who could and who could not eat the Passover. No foreigner could eat the Passover.

This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. (Exod. 12:43-45)

Slaves and strangers, who have taken up residence in Israel as servants and immigrants, may eat the Passover after they were circumcised. 

If a stranger (alien) shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. (Exod. 12:48)

Only those people who identify with God and the people of God are allowed to eat the Passover.

A stranger is a person who is just passing through the land, like a businessman, tourist, government agent or soldier. They are in the land to get something for themselves or their country and then return to their home country. Strangers do not identify with the nation or place in which they find themselves but with their home. Aliens, on the other hand, are immigrants who have left their home country to reside permanently in the host country. They identify with the host country while maintaining their cultural heritage. Also, slaves are recognized as able to eat the Passover because they have no right to leave the nation in which they reside. Aliens who are circumcised show their intention of staying and supporting the host country, which becomes their new home.

People who sojourn in God’s tent are people who recognize their transient lives in this world, looking forward to permanent residence in eternity with God. Tent is tabernacle and may refer to either a nomad’s tent, easily moved from one place to the next, or the tent of meeting where the ark of the covenant was kept. Those who are God’s are left in the world, as both strangers and aliens, for two reasons. First, they are a witness against those who hate God, and by extension, hate them. Secondly, God uses this world to prepare those who are His for eternity with Him.

Those who are God’s will dwell on His holy hill. To dwell is to settle down and abide and to establish a permanent residence. Eternity is their home while the world is their temporary residence. In the Psalms, God’s holy hill is identified as Zion. “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill” (Ps. 2:6). Who is the King of Zion?  He is the Son of God. 

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” (Ps. 2:7-8)

God’s Son is Jesus, the Christ. “Behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matt. 3:17). God spoke at the beginning of the ministry of Christ, and then toward the end, on the mount of transfiguration. “Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him’” (Matt. 17: 5).

Jesus dwelt in the world for a short time, identifying with those whom He came to save. He left eternity, with all the rights and privileges which derive from His divine position and came as a man.

Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:5-8)

By identifying with sinful man, Jesus made a way for sinful people to identify with Him. Compared to eternity, our time in this world is a moment. Yet, it is the moment with God that shows the evidence to the world and to God of an eternal relationship with Him. Jesus was the ultimate alien and stranger. Those who take refuge in Him also identify as aliens and strangers in the world.