◄ Psalm 15:4 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Man In Undisturbed Rest
Psalm 15:1-5
C. Clemance
It matters little when this psalm was written, or by whom. Although there is no reason for denying its Davidic authorship, still its contents are manifestly and equally precious, whoever was the inspired penman, and whenever he penned these words. Manifestly, the psalm is a product of Judaism. The Mosaic legislation had its ritual, but it was not ritualistic. There was not only an altar of sacrifice, but also a pillar of testimony and the tables of the Law; and to leave out either the sacrificial or the ethical part of the Hebrew faith would give as the residuum, only a mutilated fragment of it. This psalm is not one of those which in itself contains a new revelation, but one the inspiration of which is due to a revelation already received. The forms of expression in the first verse indicate this with sufficient clearness; the entire psalm suggests to us three lines of truth for pulpit exposition.

I. THERE IS A HOME FOR THE SOUL IN GOD. We do not regard the question in the first verse as one of despair, but simply as one of inquiry. It suggests that there is a sphere wherein men may dwell with God, and asks who are the men who can and do live in this sphere. The inquiry is addressed to "Jehovah," the redeeming God of Israel, who by this name had made himself known to the chosen people as their God - the Loving, the Eternal, the Changeless One. Moreover, there had been a tabernacle made, and afterwards the palace of the great King was erected on Mount Zion, the holy hill. "This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it." And inasmuch as this was the spot where God dwelt with men, to the devout soul the happiest place was that spot where he could meet with God; and if, perchance, he could there abide, not only to sojourn as for a night, but even to take up his permanent abode, he would realize the very ideal of good. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." But in the later form of scriptural thought it is not only in this place or that that the yearning spirit can find God, but everywhere; yea, God himself is the soul's home - a home neither enclosed by walls, nor restricted in space, nor bounded by time. And we know what are the features of that home - it is one of righteousness, of a purity which allows no stain; it is one of mercy, in which all the occupants have made a covenant with God by sacrifice; it is one of closest fellowship, in which there may be a perpetual interchange of communion between the soul and the great eternal God. And when we remember that on the one hand, God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, and that on the other hand, even all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, it must always be a wonder of wonders that the sinner should ever be allowed to find a home in God; and never can it be inappropriate to ask the question with which the psalm begins, "Lord, dost thou give it to all men to find their rest in thee? If not, who are these happy ones?" "Who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?"

II. ONLY SOME SOULS FIND GOD A HOME FOR THEM. The rest of the psalm answers the question which is raised at the outset of it. Inasmuch as the very phraseology of the psalm is built upon and assumes the divinely appointed institutions of priesthood, sacrifice, penitence, prayer, and pardon, it is needful only to remark in passing that the man who dwells in God's holy hill is the one who accepts the divinely revealed plan of mercy and pardon through an appointed sacrifice. But the fact that by God's mercy we are permitted to base the edifice of our life on such a foundation does by no means dispense with the necessity or lessen the importance of our erecting such edifice with scrupulous exactness according to the Divine requirements. The two parts of revealed religion cannot be disjoined now, any more than of old; the sacrificial and ethical departments must be equally recognized. And we arc here called upon to study a Scripture portraiture of a virtue which God will approve, by seeing how a man who lives in God will demean himself before the world.

1. His walk is upright. His entire life and bearing will be of unswerving integrity. Bishop Perowne renders the word "uprightly," "perfectly," which in the scriptural sense is equivalent to "sincerely," with an absolutely incorruptible aim at the glory of God.

2. His deeds are right. They correspond with the simplicity and integrity of his life's aim and intent.

3. His heart is true to his words. He does not say one thing and mean another, nor will he cajole another by false pretences.

4. He guards his tongue. He will not "backbite" or "slander:" the verb is from a root signifying "to go about," and conveys the idea of one going about from house to house, spreading an evil report of a neighbour.

5. He checks the tongues of others. He will not take up a reproach against his neighbour. Retailers of gossip and scandal will find their labour lost on him.

6. He abstains from injuring a friend - by deeds of wrong.

7. He estimates people according to a moral standard, not according to their wealth. A base person is rejected, however rich. A man who fears the Lord is honoured, however poor.

8. He is true to his promise, though it may cost him much, even more than he at first supposed.

9. He is conscientious in the use of what he has. He will not be one to bite, to devour, or to oppress another by greed of gain, nor will he take a bribe to trick a guileless man. He will be clear as light, bright as day, true as steel, firm as rock. While resting on the promises of God as a ground of hope, he will follow the Divine precepts as the rule of his life. As Bishop Perowne admirably remarks, "Faith in God and spotless integrity may not be sundered. Religion does not veil or excuse petty dishonesties. Love to God is only then worthy the name, when it is the life and bond of every social virtue." A holy man said on his death-bed, "Next to my hope in Christ, my greatest comfort is that I never wronged any one in business."

III. FROM THEIR HOME IN GOD such SOULS CAN NEVER BE DISLODGED. (Ver. 5, "He that doeth these things shall never be moved.") The man is one who lives up to the Divine requirements under the gospel.

"Yet when his holiest works are done,
His soul depends on grace alone." Even so. And he shall not be disappointed. Note, in passing, it is not his excellence that ensures this security; but the grace of God honors a man whose faith and works accord with his will.

1. No convulsions can disturb such a man. His rest in Divine love is one which is secure against any catastrophe whatever (Psalm 46:1, 2; Romans 8:38, 39).

2. Time is on the side of such a one. For both the graces of faith and obedience will strengthen with age; while the Being who is his Stronghold is the same "yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." Such characters, moreover, can never get out of date.

3. No discoveries in science nor in any department can dim the lustre of such a life. To trust in the great eternal God and to aspire to his likeness, is surely that of which no advance in human thought can ever make us ashamed.

4. The faithful God will never desert such a one. Whoever clings to God in faith, love, and obedience will never find his love unreciprocated or his trust unrecompensed.

5. The promises made to each a one will never fail. They are all Yea and Amen in Christ; they are sealed by "the blood of the everlasting covenant." And hence they who repose their trust in them can never be moved. In conclusion, the preacher may well warn against any attempt to divorce these two departments of character - trust and action.

1. Without trust in God there can be no right action.

2. Without the aim at right action we have no right to trust in God. - C.

Biblical Illustrator
In whose eyes a vile person is contemned.
Psalm 15:4
Second moral appreciations
J. H. Jowett, M. A.
"In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord." Then he is a man of sound moral appreciations. He does not pay respect where no respect is deserved. He does not withhold respect where it is merited. Says an old Puritan, "We must be as honest in paying respect as in paying our bills." But let us pay them in the right quarter. Do not let us call the vile person honourable because he is clothed in purple and fine linen, and fareth sumptuously every day. And do not let us esteem the honourable man as vile because his equipage is poor and his nobility is clothed in rags. Let us call villainy vile wherever we find it, and let us esteem nobility as noble in whatever guise it may appear. This is one of the great characteristics of the friend of God; to whom the sweet is sweet and the sour is sour; evil is evil and good is good. Nothing is allowed to interfere with the soundness and sobriety of his judgment, and no verbal jugglery is permitted to destroy the healthiness of his discriminating vocabulary. He knows the superlative, and loves it! "As for the saints that are in the earth, they are the excellent in whom is all My delight."

(J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

The believer's regard for those who fear God
John Trapp.
Mr. Fox being asked whether he remembered not such a poor servant of God who had received succour from him in time of trouble answered, "I remember him well; I tell you, I forget the lords and ladies to remember such."

(John Trapp.)

He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
The obligation of an oath
Henry Hellier, M. A.
Among the duties mentioned in this Psalm we find this of constancy and faithfulness in keeping those promises which we have confirmed by an oath. Because the greatest temptation to the breaking of oaths proceeds from fear of some temporal damage, or prospect of some worldly advantage, therefore it is said, "He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not."

I. IN WHAT CASES AN OATH DOTH OBLIGE. No oath can oblige to that which is impossible; or to that which is unlawful; for justice requires that we do not invade the rights and privileges of other men. Oaths contrary to charity or mercy or humanity are void. No oath can oblige when it hinders a greater good. What if the matter be purely indifferent? There can be here no occasion of difficulty, except the matter be also of no moment. He is undoubtedly guilty of great irreverence towards God, that will cite His name to a trifle. If the matter of the oath be such as causeth a man to doubt whether it be lawful or no, in that case he had better perform it. There are cases relating to the person that swears. Here, whensoever we shall determine that an oath doth not bind, it will be for the want of the person's rightly understanding that he made one. A man may not know what an oath is; or he may swear when affected by anger, or by drink, or by fear; or by any other passion; or if a man swears to save his life, as from robbers.

II. IN WHAT SENSE AN OATH OUGHT TO BE TAKEN. That sense is to be taken which is most suitable to the business men are about. We may not precisely, without limitation, accept the sense of the swearer, or of the imposer, or that which the words of the oath will bear. The swearer may equivocate, or use mental reservations. What if a man swears and doth not intend to swear? Something of intention is always required to an oath. It would be a frivolous excuse for a man to say, he intended to swear, but did not intend to be obliged.

III. HOW GREAT THE OBLIGATION OF AN OATH IS. It is a solemn invocation of God to witness what we say, by His favour and mercy to us, if it be true; or by His vengeance upon us if it be false. It is a high advantage and privilege which God vouchsafeth to us, in that He gives us leave, upon urgent and weighty causes, to make use of His glorious Name as a seal to confirm the truth of what we assent. If, therefore, we take it up to avouch a falsehood, we are exceedingly ungrateful, we falsify that seal, we profane that dreadful name, we apply that which is most sacred to the worst of uses...For these and the like causes an oath hath generally been looked upon as a sufficient assurance and confirmation of the truth of any matter. He that seriously considers what an oath is cannot surely believe that any man is above the obligation of it. And as no man can be too great for such an obligation himself, so neither can he dispense with it in others.

(Henry Hellier, M. A.)

Immutable in covenant
J. H. Jowett, M. A.
"He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." Then he is immutable in covenant. His word is his bond. He is dependable. When he promises he redeems. And he does it even to his own hurt! If it necessitates bleeding, he still redeems it. He is "faithful even unto death." He is grandly consistent, consistent not in the sense of never changing his opinion, but in the grander sense of never altering his loyalty to truth and his relationship to God. His word is a tower in which the weak and defenceless have a strong defence.

(J. H. Jowett, M. A.)

People
David, Psalmist
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Approval, Change, Changeth, Contemned, Depraved, Despised, Doesn't, Evil, Fear, Fearing, Gives, Honoreth, Honors, Honour, Honoureth, Hurt, Hurts, Keeps, Lord's, Makes, Oath, Rejected, Reprobate, Suffer, Sweareth, Swears, Sworn, Takes, Turning, Vile
Outline
1. David describes a citizen of Zion

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Psalm 15:4

     8337   reverence, and behaviour

Psalm 15:1-5

     1461   truth, nature of
     8158   righteousness, of believers
     8278   innocence, teaching on

Psalm 15:4-5

     5329   guarantee

Library
Question of the Division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative
I. May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Augustine, De Consensu Evangelistarum, I., iv. 8 " Tractatus, cxxiv. 5, in Joannem II. Is this division of Life into the Active and the Contemplative a sufficient one? S. Augustine, Of the Trinity, I., viii. 17 I May Life be fittingly divided into the Active and the Contemplative? S. Gregory the Great says[291]: "There are two kinds of lives in which Almighty God instructs us by His Sacred Word--namely, the active and …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Perceivest Thou not How Much this Reasoning Aideth the Very Persons whom as Great...
2. Perceivest thou not how much this reasoning aideth the very persons whom as great game we make ado to catch by our lies? For, as thyself hast shown, this is the sentiment of the Priscillianists to prove which, they apply testimonies from the Scriptures exhorting their followers to lie, as though by the examples of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Angels; not hesitating to add even the Lord Christ Himself; and deeming that they cannot otherwise prove their falsehood truthful, unless they pronounce …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

Wherefore, that which is Written, "Who Speaketh the Truth in his Heart...
14. Wherefore, that which is written, "Who speaketh the truth in his heart," [2400] is not so to be taken, as if, truth being retained in the heart, in the mouth one may speak a lie. But the reason why it is said, is, because it is possible that a man may speak with his mouth a truth which profiteth him nothing, if he hold it not in his heart, that is, if what he speaketh, himself believe not; as the heretics, and, above all, these same Priscillianists do, when they do, not indeed believe the catholic …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

Thus Then what is Written, "The Mouth that Lieth...
31. Thus then what is written, "The mouth that lieth, slayeth the soul;" [2351] of what mouth it speaketh, is the question. For in general when the Scripture speaks of the mouth, it signifies the very seat of our conception [2352] in the heart, where is approved and decreed whatever also by the voice, when we speak the truth, is uttered: so that he lieth with the heart who approveth a lie; yet that man may possibly not lie with the heart, who uttereth other than is in his mind, in such sort that …
St. Augustine—On Lying

The Folly of Slander. Part 1.
"He that uttereth slander is a fool."--Prov. x. 18. General declamations against vice and sin are indeed excellently useful, as rousing men to consider and look about them: but they do often want effect, because they only raise confused apprehensions of things, and indeterminate propensions to action; which usually, before men thoroughly perceive or resolve what they should practise, do decay and vanish. As he that cries out "Fire!" doth stir up people, and inspireth them with a kind of hovering …
Isaac Barrow—Sermons on Evil-Speaking, by Isaac Barrow

Of Evil-Speaking in General.
"To speak evil of no man."--Titus iii. 2. These words do imply a double duty; one incumbent on teachers, another on the people who are to be instructed by them. The teacher's duty appeareth from reflecting on the words of the context, which govern these, and make them up an entire sentence: put them in mind, or, rub up their memory to do thus. It is St. Paul's injunction to Titus, a bishop and pastor of the Church, that he should admonish the people committed to his care and instruction, …
Isaac Barrow—Sermons on Evil-Speaking, by Isaac Barrow

Thou Shalt not Bear False Witness against Thy Neighbor.
This Commandment seems small, and yet is so great, that he who would rightly keep it must risk and imperil life and limb, goods and honor, friends and all that he has; and yet it includes no more than the work of that small member, the tongue, and is called in German Wahrheit sagen, "telling the truth" and, where there is need, gainsaying lies; so that it forbids many evil works of the tongue. First: those which are committed by speaking, and those which are committed by keeping silent. By speaking, …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Life of a Christian Man. Scriptural Arguments Exhorting to It.
This first chapter consists of two parts,--I. Connection between this treatise on the Christian Life and the doctrine of Regeneration and Repentance. Arrangement of the treatise, sec. 1-3. II. Extremes to be avoided; 1. False Christians denying Christ by their works condemned, sec. 4. 2. Christians should not despair, though they have not attained perfection, provided they make daily progress in piety and righteousness. 1. WE have said that the object of regeneration is to bring the life of believers …
Archpriest John Iliytch Sergieff—On the Christian Life

How to Dwell in the Fire of God
'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 15. He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.'--ISAIAH xxxiii. 14, 15. 'He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God'--1 JOHN iv. 16. I have put these two verses together because, striking as is at first sight the …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The King --Continued.
The years thus well begun are, in the historical books, characterized mainly by three events, namely, the bringing up of the ark to the newly won city of David, Nathan's prophecy of the perpetual dominion of his house, and his victories over the surrounding nations. These three hinges of the narrative are all abundantly illustrated in the psalms. As to the first, we have relics of the joyful ceremonial connected with it in two psalms, the fifteenth and twenty-fourth, which are singularly alike not …
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of David

The Ninth Commandment
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.' Exod 20: 16. THE tongue which at first was made to be an organ of God's praise, is now become an instrument of unrighteousness. This commandment binds the tongue to its good behaviour. God has set two natural fences to keep in the tongue, the teeth and lips; and this commandment is a third fence set about it, that it should not break forth into evil. It has a prohibitory and a mandatory part: the first is set down in plain words, the other …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Question Lxxxi of the virtue of Religion
I. Does the Virtue of Religion Direct a Man To God Alone? S. Augustine, sermon, cccxxxiv. 3 " on Psalm lxxvi. 32 sermon, cccxi. 14-15 II. Is Religion a Virtue? III. Is Religion One Virtue? IV. Is Religion a Special Virtue Distinct From Others? V. Is Religion One of the Theological Virtues? VI. Is Religion To Be Preferred To the Other Moral Virtues? VII. Has Religion, Or Latria, Any External Acts? S. Augustine, of Care for the Dead, V. VIII. Is Religion the Same As Sanctity? Cardinal Cajetan, …
St. Thomas Aquinas—On Prayer and The Contemplative Life

Rules to be Observed in Singing of Psalms.
1. Beware of singing divine psalms for an ordinary recreation, as do men of impure spirits, who sing holy psalms intermingled with profane ballads: They are God's word: take them not in thy mouth in vain. 2. Remember to sing David's psalms with David's spirit (Matt. xxii. 43.) 3. Practise St. Paul's rule--"I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also." (1 Cor. xiv. 15.) 4. As you sing uncover your heads (1 Cor. xi. 4), and behave yourselves in comely reverence as in the …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Election Confirmed by the Calling of God. The Reprobate Bring Upon Themselves the Righteous Destruction to which they are Doomed.
1. The election of God is secret, but is manifested by effectual calling. The nature of this effectual calling. How election and effectual calling are founded on the free mercy of God. A cavil of certain expositors refuted by the words of Augustine. An exception disposed of. 2. Calling proved to be free, 1. By its nature and the mode in which it is dispensed. 2. By the word of God. 3. By the calling of Abraham, the father of the faithful. 4. By the testimony of John. 5. By the example of those who …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Psalms
The piety of the Old Testament Church is reflected with more clearness and variety in the Psalter than in any other book of the Old Testament. It constitutes the response of the Church to the divine demands of prophecy, and, in a less degree, of law; or, rather, it expresses those emotions and aspirations of the universal heart which lie deeper than any formal demand. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Its words are as simple and unaffected as human words can be, for it is the genius …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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