Psalm 15:2 Qualified in Christ

David began this wonderful Psalm by asking the question “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?” Yesterday, we discussed what David meant by that question. Today, we will answer it.

Please read Psalm 15, paying particular attention to verse 2.

There are three main qualifications for the person who can dwell with God forever, all found in verse 2: (1) He must be blameless, (2) he must do what is right, and (3) he must speak the truth in his heart. These three qualifications are only met by the person who has surrendered their life to Jesus Christ. Allow me to defend that statement one point at a time.

The first one is easy. We are all willing to admit (I hope) that we are not blameless. Left to our own volition, we all fail to completely uphold the Law of God. A simple glance at the end of the Ten Commandments reminds us that we have all dishonored our parents, hated, lusted, stolen, lied, and been jealous. And that’s not even to mention the beginning of the Ten commandments, which have to do with our relationship with God! Looking at them, we are reminded that we have not always honored God above all else, we have instead worshiped other ‘gods’ of money, success, friendship, family commitments, or others, we have used God’s name in vain, and we have failed to honor His Sabbath.

You might be thinking to yourself, “well, I never did that (filling in 'that' with whatever sin you think you haven't committed).” But James tells us that “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10). We are all guilty of breaking some part of the law. None of us are blameless.

What’s more, by failing to keep the law, we fail to do what is right. God has given very clear commands to follow, and we don’t always obey. We sometimes think highly of ourselves because we haven’t actively committed certain gross sins, but failure to do the right thing is sinful in and of itself. This is called a sin of omission, and it too makes us guilty.

However, sinful humans love to justify themselves in their hearts. When someone tells us a lie, we are indignant at their lying behavior and remind ourselves that they are not to be trusted because they are a liar. But, when we tell a lie, we write it off as a small little white lie, or we justify it as necessary for the greater good. In our hearts, we ignore the truth of our sin.

Thus, we are not blameless, we do not do what is right, and we do not speak the truth in our hearts. We are guilty on all counts! We do not have any of the qualifications to dwell with God forever!

But Jesus does.

Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, yet He was without sin—He was blameless. Jesus humbly came to this earth to teach the words of God, heal the sick, help the poor, feed the hungry, and ultimately die on the cross for our sins—He did what is right. Jesus had perfect communion with the Father, knew exactly who He was and why He came, and shared that with His followers—He spoke the truth in His heart.

Jesus was the only human to ever live who was qualified to dwell with God forever. When He died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, a mutual exchange was offered. When we accept this offer by repenting of our sins and trusting in Jesus, all of our sin was then transferred to Him on the cross, and all of His righteousness is transferred to our account. God now sees us with all the righteousness of Christ!

Because I believe in Jesus as my Lord and Savior, God sees me as blameless, doing what is right, and speaking the truth in my heart. Through Christ, and only through Christ, I become qualified to dwell on God’s holy hill forever!