THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

Psalms: Living By Faith In God

XV. Living Securely In An Insecure World

(Psalm 15:1-5)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

There is a lot of insecurity in today's world, and it is being fostered by a lot of leaders:

(1) The way many leaders have handled the COVID-19 mask mandates has led to unrest: At a recent meeting of Naugatuck Board of Education, "(t)he majority of . . . residents, mainly parents, spoke against masks and . . . how masks negatively impacted their children. Applause burst through the packed . . . room . . . for nearly every parent who spoke." (Andreas Yilma, "Borough eases mask policy," Republican-American, Feb. 12, 2022, p. 1A) Michael Barone's piece, "An overrated election hazard" (Ibid., Feb. 14, 2022, p. 10A), noted, "Masks were necessary, especially in schools, to prevent mass deaths. Or so we were told, at great and tedious length – until suddenly, in the last two weeks, they weren't. The governors of Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut and California followed the lead of Glenn Youngkin, the newly installed Republican governor of Virginia, and revoked mask mandates."

(2) The way many leaders have acted in "Russia-gate" has harmed the public's trust: " . . . (A) tech executive connected to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign mined internet contacts between Russia and the entities connected to Donald Trump . . . in search of material to try to . . . 'establish' an inference' and 'narrative tying then-candidate Trump to Russia' . . . (T)he matter . . . deranged American politics for two solid years, but has been derided or ignored by the mainstream news media," and those "most invested in Russia-gate . . . are least interested . . . in apologizing for their own credulousness or malice." (Rich Lowry, "Durham's righteous probe," Ibid., Feb. 16, 2022, p. 8A)

(3) The problem affects the religious realm, too: (a) The Catholic Church teaches that baptism is necessary for salvation from hell as it allegedly "cleanses us from original sin" and "makes us Christians through grace by sharing in Christ's death and resurrection . . ." (R. C. Broderick, ed., The Catholic Ency., 1986, p. 65; Loraine Boettner, Rom. Catholicism, 1978, p. 188-190) (b) Yet, Rev. Andres Arango, a Catholic priest, "has caused confusion and anxiety for thousands of Catholics in the Phoenix area" due to the wording he used in the baptism ritual: he had been saying, "'We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,' when he should have begun the sentence by saying, 'I baptize you.' The difference is theologically crucial, the Vatican ruled in 2020, because it's not the 'we' of the congregation doing the baptizing but the 'I' of Jesus Christ, working through the priest." ("Baptisms by Ariz. Priest presumed invalid due to error," Republican-American, Feb. 17, 2022, p. 9A, emphases ours;) So, "thousands of baptisms are now presumed to be invalid because he used incorrect wording," Ibid. It is believed that "those affected may need to be re-baptized" (Ibid.), and who knows the eternal destiny of those who were baptized with the wrong ritual wording by Rev. Arango and then may have died in ignorance of the error! (d) The problem is intensified when considering the case of the Rev. Matthew Hood of Detroit: from watching a family video of the event, he learned he was baptized as an infant with the "we" error, so years of administering all the sacraments to thousands of people were undermined, creating confusion and anxiety! (Matthew Loh, "A Catholic priest in Arizona resigned after discovery he'd incorrectly performed thousands of baptisms over 20 years," February 15, 2022; yahoo.com/news)

Need: So, we ask, "How can we respond effectively to the insecurity that is fueled specially by leaders?!"

I. In a rising emphasis on gaining security from the Lord, David asked who could "abide" (KJV) in God's tabernacle and who could "dwell" (KJV) in His holy hill, Psalm 15:1:

A. The KJV verb "abide" translates the Hebrew verb gur, meaning "sojourner for a time without original rights as a citizen" (B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 157-158), and the KJV verb "dwell" renders the Hebrew verb shakan, meaning "settle down to abide [with full citizenship rights]," Ibid., p. 1014-1015.

B. David thus asked who could sojourn as a foreigner for a time without citizenship rights in God's tabernacle and who could gain greater security by settling as a citizen with full citizenship rights on God's holy mountain.

II. David answered these questions by listing eleven qualifications for growing security, Psalm 15:2-5b: One enjoys increasing security from God if his lifestyle is blameless (v. 2a), if he works righteousness (v. 2b), if he speaks truth from the heart (v. 2c), if he does not slander others (v. 3a), if he does not wrong his neighbor (v. 3b), if he does not scorn his fellow man (v. 3c), if he despises men who are vile (v. 4a; B. K. C., O. T., p. 803), if he honors those who revere God (v. 4b), if he keeps his promises even if it hurts (v. 4c) if he loans to the needy without interest (v. 5a) and if he refuses bribes that hurt the innocent (v. 5b).

III. David added that he who kept practicing these deeds would enjoy permanent, perfect security:

A. In Psalm 15:1, David wrote that he who did the upright deeds in Psalm 15:2-5b would enjoy growing security in shifting from sojourning as a foreigner without full rights to settling down with full rights on God's mount.

B. However, in Psalm 15:5c, David went further than he did in Psalm 15:1 to claim that he who "doeth" (KJV), better, "practices" ('asah, Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 985; Robert B. Girdlestone, Syns. of the O. T., 1973, p. 195-198) the righteous deeds in Psalm 15:2-5b would enjoy permanent, perfect security (as follows):

1. One who regularly practiced the Psalm 15:2-5b deeds would not even be "tottered" (Niphal [passive] stem of the verb mut, Ibid., B. D. B., p. 556-557) by foes in his settlement as a citizen with full rights with God.

2. This perfect security of not even being tottered from one's settlement as a citizen with full rights before God would last "for the unending future" (the Hebrew prepositional phrase le'olam (le + 'olam), Ibid., p. 761-763; Ibid., Kittel) in permanent, perfect security. (Psalm 15:5c)

Lesson: If one lives blamelessly, if he works righteousness, if he speaks truth from the heart, if he does not slander, if he does not wrong his neighbor, if he does not scorn others, if he despises the vile, if he honors those who revere God, if he keeps his promises even if it hurts, if he loans to the needy without interest and if he refuses bribes that harm the innocent, he will enjoy security. If he keeps doing these things, he will enjoy permanent, perfect security.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) May we rely on the Holy Spirit for behavior control (Galatians 5:16-23) first to do and then to keep practicing the Psalm 15:2-5b deeds for permanent, perfect security.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

To obey this sermon's lesson as a pastor, I wish to keep "speaking the truth from the heart" (Psalm 15:2c) and keep "working righteousness" (Psalm 15:2b) on issues of concern presented in our introduction (as follows):

(1) On mask mandates, if required to heed oppressive mask mandates, we should heed Galatians 5:16, 22-23 and rely in faith on the indwelling Holy Spirit for thought and behavior control. We will then exhibit the "fruit" of the Spirit that is "love," "joy," "peace," "self-restraint in bearing up under wrong" (makrothumia, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 489; Robert C. Trench, Syns. of the N. T., 1973, p. 195), "sweet benignity" (chrestotes, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 894; Ibid., Trench, p. 232-235), "goodness," "faithfulness," "mild and gentle friendliness" (prautes, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 705-706; Theol. Dict. of the N. T., vol. VI, p. 646-651), and "self-control." Each of these virtues is the opposite of a major pathological disorder according to a Christian therapist, so relying on the Holy Spirit equips us to retain good emotional and mental health under duress.

(2) On "Russia-gate" and the appalling misconduct of the mainstream media and national political leaders in trying to concoct a false narrative about a sitting president with the evident intent of trying to unseat him, we must shift away from seeking security in our nation's leaders to seeking it from God by heeding Psalm 15:2-5b as noted in this sermon. As the people of God, we are foreigners on this lost world, so we look to our Lord for security.

(3) On baptisms where Catholic officials used the word "We" and not "I," (a) salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9; Acts 4:10-12) and the Apostle Paul wrote that Christ did not send him to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 1:17. Rituals, "correct" or "incorrect," cannot affect one's salvation status, for salvation is by faith. (b) Water baptism does not remove original sin, for 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 teaches that the sin nature is removed from believers at the rapture, the "redemption of the body," Romans 8:23. [If a believer dies before the rapture, his death removes him from his sin nature so his soul can be instantly taken to heaven, 2 Corinthians 5:8!] (c) We share in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ not by water baptism, but by the spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit that occurs when we trust in Christ for salvation, 1 Corinthians 12:13 with Romans 6:3-6. (d) Christ does not baptize people by water through a priest, for there is only one Mediator between God and men, Christ, 1 Timothy 2:5. (e) When Jesus told His disciples to baptize converts in Matthew 28:18-20, He gave no command for any ritualistic words they were to use regarding who administered the baptism, but only that they baptize "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (KJV, NIV, ESV) (f) On the concerns created over Rev. Matthew Hood's "errant" baptism as an infant, thus allegedly undermining his administration of all the sacraments for others in his ministry as a Catholic priest, no sacrament can help save the soul and no ritual error in conducting a sacrament can nullify efforts to be saved, for salvation is by faith, not by works, Ephesians 2:8-9. (g) On infant baptism, Scripture teaches only believer's baptism for the Church, and all infants at death instantly go to heaven, 2 Samuel 12:15-23.

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life. May we rely on the Holy Spirit for behavior control first to do and then to keep practicing the deeds of Psalm 15:2-5b for permanent, perfect security.