Marks Of A True Worshiper
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Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
The theme for the last several Sunday evening sermons has been “Lessons From The Psalms.”
With the hope of drawing closer to God by examining the powerful emotions behind much of our worship.
Tonight we will be focusing on a small but powerful psalm, Psalm 15.
This psalm is said to be written by David and it is thought by many that it was after Uzzah touched the ark and David was perplexed as to how to get the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem, for proper worship.
3 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. 5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
6 And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. 8 And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. 9 And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”
David was confused and angry at what took place.
You can almost hear David’s prayer to God upon hearing of Uzzah’s death…
1 O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
Tent i.e., tabernacle and holy hill are symbolism of the house of God and God’s house is always a house of worship.
8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Let’s begin our lesson tonight looking closer at…
The Questions
The Questions
Who Shall Sojourn In Your Tent?
Who Shall Sojourn In Your Tent?
At first glance it appear that these questions are similar but upon a bit of a closer look we can see that they are not.
Let’s take a closer look at David’s first question…
Psalm 15:1 (ESV)
1 O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
Some translations have, instead of sojourn, “abide” “reside” and “dwell.”
The Hebrew word here means, “to stay as a temporary resident” i.e., a guest.
Who will the LORD allow to be a guest in his tent or tabernacle?
In other words, or maybe an easier way of asking the question might be…
Who will the LORD invite as a guest into his home?
There is no doubt that God has been “inviting humanity” to his home since the beginning.
However, sin had kept that from happening which is why God’s word spends a significant amount of time discussing how much “God has called us to him.”
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Unfortunately, more often than not mankind ignores that call or invitation.
Matthew 22:14 (ESV)
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
David then asks another question…
Who Shall Dwell On Your Hill?
Who Shall Dwell On Your Hill?
Again, at first glance these appear the same question but they are not.
In the first question David asked “who will the LORD invite into his home in his second question he asks…
Psalm 15:1 (ESV)
1 Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
In this second question David is asking “who will you allow to live with you in your home.”
There is a difference between being a “guest” in a home and “living” in that home.
One is temporary the other is permanent.
David wants to know “how can we get invited to your “house” and once there “how can we become a resident.
Summary
Summary
So, David is asking who do you invite to worship you and what worship allows them to stay indefinitely worshiping you “night and day.”
As we have said before, God never leaves a doctrinal question unanswered.
We see in the four verses…
The Answer
The Answer
One Who Walks Blamelessly.
One Who Walks Blamelessly.
The word blameless here means to “meet fully or completely the requirements of God’s law.”
Deuteronomy 32:4 (ESV)
4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Deuteronomy 18:13 (ESV)
13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God
This reality is further bolstered by the next statement in Psalm 15:2…
Psalm 15:2 (ESV)
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right…
Now, for any child of God this isn’t a surprise as God has always required such.
As we just read earlier God told the Israelites, before going into the promised land, “You shall be blameless before the LORD your God” (Deuteronomy 18:13).
Now under the Old Law, there was only one way to actually be invited to worship God and stay forever and that was through actual perfection under the Old Law, however God made provisions by forgiving sins under the Old Law based on Jesus’ blood, which would go “back wards and forwards” (Hebrews 10:10).
As those under the “new law” the “Law of Christ” we are told the same thing.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
And just like for those under the Old Law we only can be this way through Jesus.
Jude 24 (ESV)
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy
Thanks be to God that Jesus’ blood keeps us blameless and upright as we walk in the light of God’s word (1 John 1:7).
But to “walk blamelessly” one must have…
Truth In His Heart.
Truth In His Heart.
The heart is the most vital part of every person’s spiritual walk.
There is no one found blameless through the blood of Christ, if their heart is not right first ,which is why God responds to David’s questions with the answer he does in verse two.
Psalm 15:2 (ESV)
2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart
God has always been clear, where the heart lies there is where our treasure i.e., true wants and desires lie.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This is why we cannot worship God properly i.e., blamelessly and righteously without the heart.
Matthew 15:8 (ESV)
8 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me
With the heart playing such a vital role it’s no wonder God said a “true worshiper” will speak truth in his heart.”
A true or truth seeking and living worshiper of God will be one…
Psalm 15:3–5 (ESV)
3 who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 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; 5 who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent…
Summary
Summary
What this tells us is that, though not all life is worship, how we live our life will effect how we worship our God.
If we go about are daily life not caring for truth’s impact on how we treat other and live our life we will not worship God who is truth biblically.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So, before we begin worshiping our God either on a personal level or collective level we need to make certain we are have been living blamelessly in our day to day life.
In other words, that we don’t have a past that is keeping us from worshiping in the present.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.