June 5, 2016 The Ten Conditions by Conley Owens

Proverbs 3 and John 13 as the Reading for Psalm 15

1st Proverbs chapter 3, beginning of verse 21, and continuing to verse 35, excuse me, which is found on page 529 of your free Bibles. And then after that, John chapter 13, verse 36 through 14, verse 7, which is found on page 529 of your free Bibles.

If you've arrived at Proverbs 3, beginning of chapter 21, please stand if you're able for the reading of God's word. My son, do not lose sight of these. Keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

Then you will walk on your way securely and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked when it comes.

For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, go and come again.

Tomorrow I will give it when you have it with you. Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells close to you, beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways.

For the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the dwelling of the righteous. Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor.

The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace. Now John chapter 13. What, Charis? Verse 36 on page 900 if you're using it. What do you want? No, not right now, okay. Simon Peter said to him, that being Jesus of course, Lord, where are you going?

Jesus answered him, where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, will you lay down your life for me?

Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know the way.

We do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you and praise you for your Word, which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. It's the source of our knowledge about the saving love you have for us and the saving power of the precious blood of your Son.

And we humbly confess our need for more of your Word, for it to have its way with us. And so we just humbly ask that you'll grant all the hearers to have a humble heart, a broken heart before your Word, a willing heart to receive your Word, to receive correction, to receive encouragement, to receive whatever you and your sovereign will determine we need to have.

Father, without your Word, we would not even perish, and some would fall into darkness. So we just humbly again ask that you'll grant us a humble and recipient hearts. We also ask that you'll grant Conley to speak before you clearly, Father, and well, and that she'll pour out your Holy Spirit on the preaching and the hearing of your Word, for without these things, it's all vain.

So we just ask these things in Jesus' name, for your glory, amen. Amen.

Who Can Dwell with God in Psalm 15?

Please turn with me to Psalm 15. And while you're turning there, let me ask you, have you ever heard of imposter syndrome? It's this term that was coined in 1978. It refers to this phenomenon where people who are in a particular position feel that they're imposters.

They see the people around them, they see competent people, they see competent people, and they just don't feel like they meet the mark. They don't feel like they fit in. It's very common, especially here in the Bay Area where a lot of talented people gather to work.

You can imagine how a lot of people would see that and feel like they don't meet the mark. And it's not necessarily that these people don't fit in, that they are imposters and they aren't qualified. It's just that they feel like this is the case.

And we usually talk about imposter syndrome in the context of the workplace. But what about imposter syndrome in the context of the church? A lot of people spend time around the church and they see other people living holy and sanctified lives, and they don't necessarily feel like they meet the mark.

They don't really have it all together like those around them seem to have it. And so what would make someone imposter? What would be the bar by which we would say this person belongs with God and with his people?

Or one who does not belong with God and with his people? That's a similar issue to the one that David is working with here. He is asking, who can dwell with God? Who can dwell in his city with his people?

And he's going to ask that question and he's going to describe the man who can dwell with God and dwell in his city. And then he's going to summarize and reaffirm that this is the one who can dwell with God.

And so if you have that, let's read. A Psalm of David. O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.

Who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend. 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.

Does not put out his money at interest. Does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved. Amen. So let's read this first verse again. O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?

Who shall dwell in your holy hill? The tent of which David speaks is the tabernacle, that place where God would come to dwell with man. And the holy hill is Zion, the mountain on which the tabernacle sat.

This is Jerusalem. This is God's holy city. And so David is asking, you know, who can sojourn here? Sojourn meaning to dwell for a short period of time. To dwell meaning to stay there for a longer period of time.

So you can kind of hear the poetry of what he's saying. Saying, who could stay for a little while in your house? Who could stay even permanently in your city? And this is related to the question I was asking before because Zion, it is revealed in the New Testament that Zion is not just a physical mountain.

It is representative of the salvation and the salvation community that we have in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12, 22 says, speaking to Christians, but you have come to Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts, and to innumerable angels and festal gathering.

So the idea is that if you have come to Zion, then you have come to this salvation community full of saints, full of angels. And so when David asked this question, we should be asking this question about whether or not we can dwell with God's people.

We can dwell in his city, in his house. Now, you might ask yourself, well, why is it all that important to dwell with God? Well, I can think of two reasons. To dwell with God gives one security and it gives one meaning, you know, purpose in their life.

So if you think in David's context, to be inside of a city is to be within the walls, safe from attacks. If you're outside the walls, then you're open to attack. Now, a lot of people think that they've got safety through their job, through, you know, being a part of a country that has a decent military, through their health insurance, but it is an uncontested fact that it is appointed for each man wants to die.

And once that comes, none of these things that provide security are going to be there. The only way that you can still have security is to be with God, to be in his city, having his security. Then there's also the aspect of having meaning by dwelling with God.

People derive meaning from where they dwell, right? They say, I live in this city, you know, I'm this kind of person, you know, I'm a Californian, I'm an American. I go to this school, I'm a Hokie. That was my mascot.

They derive meaning from where they dwell, from their family, their friends. They say, this is what gives me meaning and purpose. And to be with God, to dwell with him and with his people is to have an ultimate purpose, a lasting one, one that will last even beyond the grave.

Now, if you are of the opinion that there is no conscious existence beyond the grave, well, then let me ask you, why do you labor as though there is? If you work, if you do the things that you do and you act the way that you do, you do it because you feel that these things you do have some meaning that will continue.

But whether those last 10 minutes, 10 ,000 years, at some point, it will have not mattered if you have done them at all. And they will only matter if there is some kind of lasting persistence. If you are dwelling with God, dwelling with his people, then the fruits of your labors, then your friendships and your relationships will have some kind of lasting importance.

And to think otherwise is to act inconsistently because there would be no purpose for you treating the things in your life as though they have meaning. Now, further, we cannot assume that we have this question, or we have the answer to this question.

You know, we all sit here, we dwell among this fellowship. You know, it seems like, well, of course, me. I can dwell with God. I can dwell with his people because I already do. That's not how this works.

Recall that Zion in the Bible is often called the city of David. And who asks this question? David does. He asks, oh Lord, who can dwell in the city of David? But still, you know, he feels that he needs to ask this question.

If David feels that he should ask this question, we should be asking this question also. And it's such an important question, the difference between being with God in his city and being outside of the city.

It's like the difference between an infant being in a car on a highway and an infant being outside of a car on the highway. There's a stark, stark contrast in the kind of security that you have. One is perfectly safe and fine.

The other will not last. So David begins to describe this man who can dwell with God. He begins, he who walks blamelessly and does what is right, this is verse two, and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor.

So this way he begins and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue. He's talking about someone who has truth, both inside and out. He speaks truth in his heart. Now we generally think of ourselves as being pretty honest, at least with ourselves, but this isn't necessarily saying that you believe the things you believe.

That would be tautology. That would be meaningless. This is saying someone who recognizes things as they are in reality. Think of the previous psalm. The previous psalm, if you just look at it, it begins, the fool says in his heart, there is no God.

They are corrupt. They do abominable deeds. There is none who does good. The fool says in his heart, there is no God. The fool thinks that God isn't there. It's not that he's not being honest with himself.

It's that he is not recognizing things as they are. And atheism, as we think of it, it was very uncommon in David's day. It was not the case that David is worried about people who think that God doesn't exist, who think that God has no existence.

Rather, it's people who think that God has no imminence, that God is not near, that God is not watching me. I will not have to give an account to him. And so if you think on your own life, when no one is around you, do you find it easier to dwell in impure thoughts, to engage in worldly pleasures?

If that's the case, the reason is because when no one is around you, you think that you're alone. You think that God is not near, that he is not watching you. And slander, David speaks of slandering. To slander is to speak some falsity about someone.

But it doesn't just have to be some kind of straightforward gossip. This could be anything that maligns the character of another. Even if you act with favoritism towards some people and not others, that is implicitly by your actions and by your words saying that these people are worth this, these people are worth this.

That is slandering another. And we have this thermostat in the back of the building. And if it read the wrong temperature or it kicked on at the wrong times, we'd kick it out and we'd get a new one, right?

And so this is what God needs in his house. He needs people who tell the truth, who have the truth inside and out, not false thermostats. David continues, looking at the second half of verse two and speaks, sorry, starting at verse three.

He who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend. The Bible speaks often of neighbors and a neighbor is anyone who we encounter. Jesus makes that fairly clear in the New Testament.

Neighbor is anyone who's nearest, but there's a special reason why they're called neighbors. They're neighbors because in dwelling next to someone, there is an implicit trust that exists there between you and the one you spend time with, or not even if you spend time with them, but even if you just live near them, there is this implicit trust.

So to violate that trust is particularly heinous. And that's what David has in mind here. And that trust can be violated in ways that you might not think. If you think to the Proverbs that we had read before, Proverbs 3, 28 and 29 says, do not say to your neighbor, go and come again.

Tomorrow I will give it when you have it with you. Do not plan evil against your neighbor who dwells trustingly beside you. So this is the evil that the one writing Proverbs at this point has in mind.

He's saying that the evil that one plans against his neighbor is saying, go and come again, I'll give it to you tomorrow when you have it with you. So what does that look like in your life? Are you free with your possessions?

If there is some obligation or something that needs attending to at the church, do you stretch the truth to make it sound as though it's more of a burden than it really is? That kind of thing would be saying, go and come again.

Tomorrow we'll give it. That is planning evil against a neighbor. And he speaks of reproach. Reproach would be any kind of shame. And David say this might be taking someone to court. You take someone to court, you put them to shame.

However, any kind of shame will do. Any kind of lack that a person has where they wouldn't be able to provide for themselves or for their family, or they're in some dire situation that to them would be shameful.

I would argue that if you leave them in that shame, that is just as bad at not fulfilling this description. You are leaving someone in their shame. You are creating reproach against them when you have it in your power to do good.

You know, the previous verse to the one I quoted, Proverbs 3 .27 says, do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it isn't your power to give it. We read on. Oh, before we read on, there's this game, this party game that people sometimes play called Mafia, where you sit in a circle.

And I don't know if you've ever played it before, but you sit in the circle and most of the game, you're working all as a team. However, there's a couple of secret designated betrayers who betray everybody else during other rounds of the game.

And it's pretty fun, but in real life, that would not be fun at all. And so if you imagine God's house with, you know, these people who act like friends, who are secretly going around betraying, that wouldn't stand.

God will not have such things in his house. We read on. In whose eyes a vile person is despised. This is verse four, sorry. In whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord.

Now, this is not saying that we should hate our enemies. Jesus said, you know, Jesus said you should love your enemies. What despising is, despising is to think of someone as very little, to think very little of someone.

And so this is not saying that we should have some kind of partiality towards people, some kind of wrong partiality. This is calling for God discernment, godly discernment. We are supposed to think of those as honorable, as honorable, and those who are vile, we are to think of as they are, as lowly.

And so, and so think about, think about how this would play out in your life. If you have, if you have a celebrity in your mind, or, you know, a hero in your field, or you have a quiet aging saint in this congregation, which one are you more, more eager to think of as highly?

And which one are you more eager to think of as lowly? And it's not just how you think of them. It's also how you act. Galatians 6 .10 says, so then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

So there is a special, a special honor that we are supposed to give to those who are of the household of faith. That's what David says, right? He says those who are to be honored are those who fear the Lord, and those who are vile are obviously those who do not fear the Lord.

Those are the ones who are supposed to be thought lowly of. So Galatians is saying we need to also act this way to them. So if you take that situation, again, I gave you with the celebrity and the aging saint.

You know, let's say each announced that they're going to come visit you at your home. Which one are you going to treat with greater honor? Which one are you going to roll out the red carpet for? And why?

You know, maybe there would be reasons why you would treat one differently than the other, but what is the root cause of those reasons? We are to honor those who are honorable and to treat as lowly those who are lowly.

If you ever go to a house that has a spoiled dog, you know, if an enemy gives them treats, you know, they'll cuddle up beside them, but they might bite an honored guest, you know, just because they're a spoiled dog.

And God will not have such creatures in his home. David continues, "'Who swears to his own hurt and does not change.'. This is someone who keeps their word. Someone who keeps their word even when it hurts.

Now, we don't make that many promises, and when we do, we generally tend to keep them. However, if you think about this a little further, imagine, so it's not even halfway through the year yet, right?

And how many of us have made a New Year's resolution and not kept it? I'm getting a few nods, so I'm not the only one. I've made a New Year's resolution this year. I've not kept it. This is, yeah, this is not keeping your word, you know, to your own hurt.

As soon as it becomes a little inconvenient, ah, this isn't so easy. David continues, "'He who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent.'". So taking bribes is obviously wrong.

Proverbs 15, 27 says that, "'He who is greedy for unjust gain troubles his own household, but he who hates bribes will live.'". So what is put there in parallel with bribery, with taking bribes, put in parallel with that, is being greedy for unjust gain.

So this brings in all the standard examples of, you know, cheating on your taxes, stealing office supplies, but if you think beyond the monetary and the physical, you know, imagine there's two lanes on the highway and you're supposed to merge into this one and everyone's patiently waiting in their lane.

Do you go up way past where the signs are to merge, to get into that lane? Are you greedy for that unjust gain to get ahead of everybody else? You know, this applies in all sorts of parts of our lives.

Those who are free with their possessions, those who give are free from their possessions. And those who bind themselves to their possessions will be bound to their possessions. And God's house is the house of the free.

You know, he wants free men. David also spoke here of putting out one's money at interest. You might be thinking, well, that seems a little odd. Does that mean that you can't work at a bank? That's not what it's saying.

And to get some context, I'd like you to turn with me to Deuteronomy 23. In Deuteronomy 23, it gives this injunction. When you get there, please look at verse 19. Deuteronomy 23, 19. You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest.

You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest. That the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

So this isn't a universal command against taking interest. This is saying that you may take interest against foreigners but you may not take interest against your brothers. The idea here seems to be that taking interest has the opportunity to be abused, and therefore special protection is made against fellow Israelites.

So if this is not just a blanket command not to take interest, then that gives us reason to think, you know, are we abusing the way we use our money and the way we give our money, et cetera? Are we being as free with our money as we ought?

David continues. Well, yeah, he who does these things shall never be moved. The one who fulfills these things will be able to dwell in God's presence. However, I think it was pretty clear as we went through that that this really doesn't describe anybody.

Psalm 14 .3, the previous Psalm, said they have all turned aside. Together they have become corrupt. There's none who does good, not one. And so if nobody fulfills this description, then who can dwell with God?

Who can dwell in a city? It seems rather hopeless. No one matches this description, except there's one who does. Let me tell you about him. Jesus said that he came to fulfill the law. He fulfills these things.

And before I explain to you how he fulfills these things, let me show you further how this relates to the law. Let me pause for a moment and give you just an understanding of some of the poetry in this Psalm.

So you'll notice that in the Psalms and in some of the prophets, your Bibles will usually put them on different lines, put different sayings on different lines, have indents. The reason is because this is poetry.

And it's not absolutely certain where to put those new lines, but you can generally tell based on the Hebrew meter and based on the ideas being conveyed where those new lines should go. Now, some translations combine he who walks blamelessly and does what is right, and some split those apart.

Now, most of these, almost all these descriptions are on their own line, right? And speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue, does no evil to his neighbor. Those are all on separate lines because they're all these separate descriptions.

And you would think that in English, it sounds good if they're all on their own line like that. And that's why some translations, they have he who walks blamelessly and does what is right on two lines.

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and does not slander, et cetera, right? That sounds good in English. And that's why some of your translations will do that. However, other translations are trying to mimic the Hebrew meter.

And while he who walks blamelessly and does what is right sounds rather long to us, he who walks blamelessly is just two short words in Hebrew. And then and does what is right is another two words. So according to the meter in Hebrew, this actually fits very well with sitting on its own line and then matching all the other lines.

And it's not just that reason that we should put these two together. There's another reason. There's a pattern that emerges of rising and falling if these two go together. David gives these positive descriptions of the man who can dwell with God.

And then he gives some negative descriptions. He says, he says, this is the man who does this. This is the man who doesn't do this. And if you count them with me, you'll see this rising and falling pattern.

He starts off with a couple of positive commands. He says, he who walks blamelessly and does what is right, let's count that as one instead of two, right? They go together as one. And speaks truth in his heart.

That's another one. And does not slander with his tongue. That's negative, does not. So count that as a negative. And does no evil to his neighbor. That's another negative. Nor takes up reproach against his friend.

That's another negative. So you see this, you know, two positive, three negative. And now we're gonna see the other half of this. And whose eyes a vile person is despised. That's positive. But who honors those who fear the Lord.

That's positive. Who swears to his own hurt and does not change. That's another positive. Does not put out his money at interest, negative. Does not take a bribe against the innocent. That's negative.

So we have two positive, three negative, three positive, two negative. Do you see that rising and falling pattern? This is why we should consider those first two as being one description and not two descriptions.

And you may be wondering, why on earth is he talking about this? Well, let me tell you, if you count them up, if you count them up, two, three, three, two, add that together, that's 10. This is not arbitrary.

There's a reason why there's 10. It's because the one who meets this tenfold description of God is the one who fulfills his tenfold law. You know, why did God give the 10 plagues? It was to show that this is the curse who goes on the one who does not fulfill his tenfold law.

This is a tenfold description because this is the man who fulfills the law of God. And that's why I began to speak of Jesus, the one who fulfills the law of God. They said he came to fulfill. And so we'll walk through this again and we'll see how it is that he fulfills it.

He who walks blamelessly and does what is right. Hebrews 1, 9, the father speaks to the son and says, you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.

He and speaks truth in his heart and does not slander with his tongue. Jesus always spoke truth in his heart. He never slandered with his tongue. First Peter 2, 22 says that he committed no sin nor was any deceit found in his mouth.

And does no evil to his neighbor nor takes up reproach against his friend. Not only did Jesus do no evil, he lifted people up out of their reproach, right? He went to the blind, the lame, the demon possessed and lifted them up out of that shame.

And then in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord. You know, who did this better than Jesus? At a time when the Pharisees were held like this, you know, Jesus saw them for who they were.

He saw that they were washed on the outside, but dirty on the inside. And when those prostitutes and tax collectors would come to him and turn to him in faith, he saw that change of heart. He saw them for who they are.

He honored them though to everyone else, they seemed lowly. Who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Jesus always kept his word. And the example I think of is the pact he made with his father to come and save this people.

He had many opportunities to defect and to take the easy road out. I mean, if you think when Satan was tempting Jesus and he said, you know, if you are the son of God, do this. If you are the son of God, do that.

If you are the son of God, throw yourself off this great height. Why would that be tempting, to throw oneself off this great height? When Satan is saying, if you are the son of God, he's not challenging.

He's not challenging Jesus saying, oh, you're not really the son of God. That's not what I believe. I believe he is saying that if you are the son of God, then don't, you know, as Romans 1, 4 says, declare yourself to be the son of God by virtue of the cross and resurrection.

Declare yourself to be the son of God quickly like this, much easier than going the full path. Jesus went the full path. This was at the beginning of the ministry. He went through the next three years, which were, I'm sure quite difficult for him, and went all the way to the cross, which we know is insanely difficult.

Who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. That's verse five. We don't have any record of how Jesus spent his money, but we do have a lot of his teachings on money.

In Luke 6, he says, and if you give to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners give to sinners, expecting to get back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return.

And your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he's kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Jesus was free with his possessions, and he taught others to be as well. And Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.

And so by this, this last verse, this last statement, this summary is fulfilled. He who does these things shall never be moved. Jesus sits right now at the right hand of the Father. He does dwell in the presence of God.

He does dwell in God's city. However, though we've shown Jesus, though we see how Jesus can dwell with God, that doesn't really explain how we could dwell with God. So what if Jesus can dwell with God?

Where does that leave me? Well, let me tell you. Let me tell you by asking a question. I like to ask questions if you haven't noticed. What are the wages of sin? Most of you are probably thinking death, right?

Because that's the memory verse. The wages of sin are death. There's another way to think about this. In the context of the psalm, you might be saying, oh, the wages of God would be to not to get to dwell with him.

That's also a good answer, but not what I'm thinking of. There's another one. It has a Latin term, lex talianus, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Psalm 716 says, speaking of the sinner, his mischief descends upon his own head and on his own skull, his violence descends.

Okay, so there's this idea in the Old Testament that your sin comes back upon your own head. Jesus did not just fulfill these things. He also sat on the other side of the one who does not fulfill these things, taking that violence from them onto his own head.

I would like to walk through this again and show you how he did that. He didn't just fulfill these things. He accepted the pain of those who did not fulfill these things. It's verse two, he who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart, who does not slander with his tongue, who was slandered more than Jesus.

He came eating and drinking, and therefore he was called a drunkard and a glutton and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up reproach against his friend. You know, for many days, for many months, the Pharisees were plotting on how they could capture him and set up this reproach against him.

Let's shame him before the eyes of everyone. Verse four, in whose eyes a vile person is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord. I think of Jesus and Barabbas standing there next to each other.

And people honor Barabbas, the one who should be despised, and they despise Jesus, the one who should be honored, who swears to his own hurt and does not change. Jesus had a good friend, Peter, swore he would be with him to the end.

Next day, second things go, inconvenient, he's gone. He's out of there. Who does not put out his money at interest, does not take a bribe against the innocent. Jesus had another friend, Judas, took a bribe so that those Pharisees would know where Jesus would be when the crowd wasn't there to protect him.