So can our Bibles, again, to
Psalm 15. The title of the message this evening
is a question. I hope all of us will consider
very carefully. Will you go to heaven? That's
the question. Cecil told me one time his brother
John told him, get to the point in life that gets down to one
thing. Is it heaven or hell? Do I know
Christ or no? That's the question David asks
here in verse one. Will I go to heaven? He says,
Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in
thy holy hill? David in picture here is referring
to heaven. In the wilderness, the tabernacle
was the place where God dwelt. He dwelt in the midst of the
people in the holy of holies. His Shekinah glory dwelt there. And then years later, when Solomon
built the temple upon the Holy Hill, Jerusalem, God's presence
dwelt there in the Holy of Holies. And what David is asking is,
who can go into the very presence of God and live? Who can abide
there? Who can be there and not be just
consumed by the brightness of God's glory and holiness? I hope
this question gets our attention. I assume that Everybody who's
gathered here on a Wednesday evening has some interest in
knowing Christ. I don't think no matter where
you go, you meet anybody that wants to go to hell. This ought
to get our attention. Will I go to heaven? Well, I
will if I fit the description of the person that's there. In
this psalm, David gives us a description of the only people who will be
in heaven. We read it just a few minutes
ago. It's those who always work righteously. Those who always
speak truth in the heart, not just with the lip, but in the
heart. They never slander. They never gossip. They're honest
people. They're honest people who keep
their word and they never take advantage of anyone. That's who
will be in heaven. Now that makes me catch my breath
because that doesn't describe me and doesn't describe you either,
does it? And you know, no matter how many
times some preacher tells me this is what you've got to do.
I don't have the ability to do it. I can't do it. I cannot do
these things that fit this description that David gives. So here's the
question. Is there any hope for a sinner
like me who can do nothing good for God, who can do nothing to
please God? Yes, there is. You know the answer
to that. Yes, there is that hope. is only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And my goal in preaching this
evening is this, that all of us leave here with a good hope,
with a good hope, at least knowing where a sure and certain hope
of salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior.
You see, in this psalm, David only describes one person. He
only describes the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the only one
who can be described as walking uprightly and having worked righteousness. That's what he says in verse
2. This is who will be in heaven. He that walketh uprightly and
worketh righteousness. That word uprightly means without
blemish. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's perfect. He's the lamb without spot and
without blemish. He never sins. Thought, word,
or deed. He never sinned. He doesn't have
a single blemish of sin. He is the perfect beauty of righteousness. Christ is righteousness. That's his nature. So since that's
his nature, that's what he came and worked. He worked righteousness
because his nature is righteousness. Just like we work sin because
our nature is sin. His work of the law was perfect. It was equity. It was equal to
God. Because he is God. You see, this
one who worketh righteousness, this one who walketh uprightly,
can only describe the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there's none
good but one, and that's God. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
in human flesh. He's the only one who's good.
The only one who walked uprightly. The only one who could work righteousness.
That's why he's in heaven. And he spoke the truth. Liars
aren't going to be in heaven. He always spoke the truth because
he is truth. Look at the end of verse two,
and speaketh the truth in his heart. Now, not only did Christ
tell the truth, but in his person, he reveals the truth. When we
see Christ, if we ever see him for who he is, as he is, Only
then will the truth of God be revealed to us. Christ reveals
the truth of who God is. God is holy. God can't even look
upon sin. The only one he looks upon with
favor is his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my beloved Son,
he said, in whom I am well pleased. Because he's holy. God is just. The only way we know that is
by seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. God is just. He justly punishes
every sin. Even when it's found on his own
beloved son, he put him to death because God's just. That's the
only way we find out that God is truly just. The only way we
know that God is love is by seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent
his son to be the propitiation for the sin of his people. for
a people who sinned against Him. Now that's love. The only way
we know that is by seeing Christ. God is gracious. The only way
we'll ever see that truth about the character of God and He's
gracious is seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. God is gracious. He put His Son to death so that
His people would live. That's grace. That's undeserved
merit, isn't it? We see Christ, we finally see
the truth of who God is. And if we ever see Christ, we'll
see the truth about man. And not just about man. About
me. The only way I'll ever see the
truth about me is by seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. Seeing myself
in light of who Christ is. Then I'll understand who I am.
That's what Job said. Job spent a lot of time talking
about his righteousness and the things that he did right. And
he got to the point, he said, Lord, I abhor myself. I've heard
of you, but now mine eye sees you. Wherefore, I abhor myself. He saw the truth of who he is
when he saw the truth of Christ. When I see who Christ is, then
I'll know the truth that man is dead in sin. And the only
way we can have life is in Christ, who is life. When I see who Christ is, then
I'll know the truth that man is lost in sin. That's not just
some doctrine that we hold to. I'm lost, and the only way I
can ever be found and put in the right way is if Christ the
Good Shepherd comes and finds me. He's got to come where I
am and find me and put me in Him, put me in the way. If I
ever see who Christ is, I'll see the truth of man. He's without
help, without strength, without any ability to do anything to
please God. That's why Christ came to do
that for His people. And then Christ reveals the truth
about Himself. If we ever see Him as He is,
we'll have no problem understanding He's the only Savior. There's
salvation in no other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. It's only in Christ. We can't
accomplish our salvation. We can't even do anything to
contribute to it. Christ the Savior has got to accomplish
all of my salvation or I'll be damned. Not only will I see that
truth, not only will I believe it, I'll love that truth. If
I ever see Christ as he is, he is the truth. Now, the natural
man doesn't like that truth. Our Lord told the Pharisees,
you know why you're seeking to kill me? Because I told you the
truth. The natural man doesn't like
the truth. Whether we like it or not, it's true. Let God be
true and every man a liar. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
truth of God. And He came and He did what His
nature is. This truth is in His heart. It's
His nature. So He accomplished the salvation
of His people in truth. Because His character, His nature
is truth. And he's never going to change
his mind and cast his people out, because in his heart is
truth. He's righteous and true all together. Then look here at verse three.
Here's who will be in heaven. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor. That word backbite there means
slander. The Lord Jesus did not come to
slander anyone. He didn't even come to expose
secret sins and tell everybody in a juicy gossip about the sins
that's in people's heart. And you know, he knows everything.
He knows what's in men's heart. He could have spent a long time
exposing the secrets of our hearts, the secret sins, the secret things.
But he didn't do it. What did he do here? What did
he come to do? He came to cover the sin of His people with His
blood. And He didn't come to do evil to His neighbor. He only
ever did good for people. This word reproach means to shame.
Christ didn't come to shame people. He didn't come to entertain shaming
His people. He came to take the shame of
His people away by taking their sin away. Now who did He come
to do this for? He didn't come to do it for everybody,
did He? Who did He come to do this for? Well, he came to do
it for his neighbor. Well, who's his neighbor? You
remember the time our Lord was there and the lawyer came and
stood up to tempt our Lord and ask him, good master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? He's asking this question, who's
going to go to heaven? How can I, what can I do to go
to heaven? And our Lord asked him, well,
what does the law say? And the lawyer answered him,
he answered him right. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with
all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. The Lord said, you
rightly said, now go do that, and you'll live. Go do that,
and you'll go to heaven. I told you this Sunday, here's
a perfect example of what I was talking about. Everybody is trying
to keep the law. If they're trying to keep the
law to earn their way to heaven, they're always looking for an
out. They're looking for an excuse to do the minimum. So the lawyer
asked, who's my neighbor? He completely skipped over loving
God because even he must have known that's not possible. So
he asked, who's my neighbor? You know why I asked that? Who
can I hate? And who's the ones that I have
to love? You know, that's, that's what he's wanting to know. And
then our Lord gave the parable of the good Samaritan. There
was a man traveling. He was robbed. He fell among
thieves, he was robbed, he was beaten. They threw him down in
the ditch and left him there half dead. That's you and me. Our sin has robbed us and beaten
us and left us in the ditch half dead. Now we're half dead only
in this sense. Physically, we're alive right
now, aren't we? But spiritually, we're completely
dead. Dead is a doornail. So in that sense, we're half
dead. And then the priest came by, he saw that man laying over
there in a ditch, but the priest passed by on the other side.
Because he couldn't help that man. All the priests had was
religious ceremonies. You and I need a whole lot more
than ceremony. We need genuine healing. We need genuine cleansing.
We need real life to be given to us. The priest with his ceremonies
couldn't help him. Then the Levite passed by, the
Levite with all of his laws and rules and regulations. He looked
on the other man, he passed by on the other side. He couldn't
be defiled by that fella. The Levite couldn't help him
because we can't keep the law. There's no point in somebody
coming and reading the law to us, we can't keep it. But then the
Samaritan, the hated Samaritan passed by. How the Jews hated
the Samaritan. But that Samaritan saw that beaten,
robbed, naked, half-dead man laying in the ditch, and he had
compassion on him. He went down in the ditch where
he was. He bound up his wounds. He poured in oil and wine. He
put him on his donkey and took him to the inn, the inn which
represents the church, and provided for his every need. He said to
the towed innkeeper, you take care of him, and I'll settle
up with you when I come back. You take care of him. Now who's
the neighbor? Who is neighbor to the Lord Jesus
Christ? It's the poor, needy sinner who's
been robbed, who's been beaten, who's half dead, laying in the
ditch, who can't do anything for himself. The neighbor of
our Lord is the one who's covered with wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores. Christ the Savior comes to those
people. He comes where they are and He does them good. Not just
by giving them a ceremony. He forgives their sin. He takes
their sin away from them. He makes them righteous. He makes
them whole. He clothes them in His righteousness. He went to suffer to be the sacrifice
for their sin. He gives them eternal life that
can never be lost. Now they're not half dead or
they're all the way alive. He's given them eternal life.
He takes away their shame. He provides for their every need.
Oh, what a Savior. There's none like him. It's no
wonder he's in glory. And then, Christ is just. The
only people to be in heaven are just people. Christ is just. And you know, he gives everyone,
everyone, exactly what they deserve. No more, no less. He doesn't
love everyone. He loves his people. The people
he made love him. That's who he loves. And those
who hate him, he hates. Verse four, in whose eyes a vile
person is contemned, but he honored them to fear the Lord. Christ
hates those who only have the nature of Adam. He hates them.
God doesn't love everybody. Christ hates them. God hated
Esau because Esau just had one nature, the nature of Adam. And
it was only right that God hate Esau. Esau hated God too, didn't
he? Esau sold his birthright for
a bowl of beans. And best I can figure, those
beans are lentils. Now, I've only had lentils one
time, maybe, and I fixed them, so maybe I didn't fix them right,
I don't know. But they tasted like mud to me.
Esau sold his birthright for some beans that taste like mud.
That's what he thinks about God. It's no wonder Christ hates you.
And that's why he'll tell all of them who are just like Esau,
depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you. And
they can't blame anybody but themselves. But Christ loves
his people with an eternal, unchanging love. He loves his people. Now,
he doesn't love them because they loved him first. No. By
nature, they don't love Christ. So he comes and gives them a
new heart. He gives them a new nature that does fear the Lord,
that does love the Lord. They love him. All God's people,
they love the Lord. Not as much as he deserves to
be loved. Not like we wish we love him, but we do love him.
And it's for this reason he first loved us. And you think of that. We only love Him because He first
loved us. We love Him because He put a
new heart of love in us. And then you know what He does?
He turns around and honors them for having it. What a God! Christ gives His
people a new heart to love Him and then He honors them for having
it. And this word honors, it has to do with making heavy.
This is Christ loading down His people. with his grace, with
his mercy, with his love. He just mows them down with it. He honors his people by washing
them white as snow and making them just like him. That's who
will be in heaven. Then only an honest person will
be in heaven. That's Christ. He's the honest man. He promised
to save his people from their sins and you can bank on this. He's going to keep his promise.
Look at the end of verse four. Here's who will be in heaven.
He that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. In eternity,
before God created anything, the Father and the Son entered
into a covenant of grace, a promise. They made each other a promise.
Christ the Son agreed to be the surety for his people. And in
the fullness of time, he promised, I will come as a man and I will
do everything necessary to save those people that you've given
me. I'll do everything that's necessary to save them from their
sins and give them eternal life. Now it's easy, I mean we have
to think about this as human beings, not as God who dwells
outside of time, but it's easy to make a promise like that when
it's years and years and years and years out in the future,
isn't it? Oh yeah, I'll do that. But when it comes time to pull
the trigger, it's a different story, isn't it? When it came
time to actually do it, Christ the Savior never pulled back.
When it came time to humiliate himself, to become flesh, he
didn't change his mind. Even to his own hurt, his own
humiliation, he came in the likeness of flesh. He humbled himself
to appear in the likeness of human flesh. And when it was
time for him to humble himself, to be made into subjection to
his own law, he didn't change his mind. He humbled himself
and came under the law to keep it for His people. And when it
came time for Him to be made sin for His people, He didn't
change His mind. Even to His own hurt, His own
humiliation, He didn't pull back. He willingly went and was made
sin for His people. When they threw all those accusations
against Him at His false trial, never one time did He open His
mouth and defend Himself. because he had been made guilty.
He bore that humiliation willingly. And when it came time for him
to suffer and to die, to pay for the sins of his people, to
satisfy justice for their sin, he didn't change his mind. He
didn't change his mind. Even so, Father, not as I will,
but as Thou will. He didn't pull back, even to
his own hurt and his own humiliation. He went there to suffer willingly.
of the joy that was set before him. He didn't change his mind.
Christ the Savior has proven his honesty and his integrity.
He has proven he is worthy to be believed. You go through this
book, every, you just go through every page of it and you find
every promise God has made in this book to his people. You
can write this down. It's already written down. You
just believe it. He's going to keep that promise. He'll keep
every promise to His people. Don't let changing circumstances
of this life ever make you doubt the promise of the Lord. He's
going to keep His promise to His people. He's an honest man.
And He never takes advantage of anyone. He never takes advantage
of the poor. Verse 5. This is who will be in heaven.
He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against
the innocent, He that doeth these things shall never be moved.
Now usury is interest charged on a loan. And scripture is not
teaching that there's anything wrong with charging interest
on a loan. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever. But you go back
in Leviticus and you read the law about this. Here's what the
law forbid. The law forbid charging excessive
interest. You're not going to make excessive
profit off people in this. The law also forbid charging
any interest to your brethren. You couldn't charge interest
to someone who's poverty stricken. The law forbid that. The Lord
Jesus Christ came as our Savior and He fulfilled the law. He
doesn't charge interest. He gives salvation to His people
freely. He doesn't give you salvation
and then charge interest on it. He doesn't save you and then
tell you, ma'am, I'm charging interest. You also got to be
obedient to the law. No, he doesn't do that. He gives salvation freely.
He doesn't save you and say, now, you know, I'm going to charge
interest on this. You've got to be a good moral person or
I'll take it away. No, he doesn't do that. He gives salvation freely
without us helping him in any way. Whatever it is, your mind
concocts that you think I got to do this in order to help out
with my salvation. That's interest. Get it out of
your mind. He gives salvation freely. Look
at Isaiah chapter 55. He gives both the principle and
the interest freely. A bank could never stay in business
like that, could he? That's the way our Savior does
business. Look here, Isaiah 51, or 55, excuse me, verse one. Ho, everyone that thirsteth.
come ye to the waters. He that hath no money, come ye,
buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without
price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which
satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me. Here in your soul shall live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of David. Now, do you want to be saved?
Does anybody here want to be saved? I'll tell you what you
do. You come to Christ. You come
to Him spiritually bankrupt. You come to Him with nothing
to offer. Whatever it is you think you've
got to offer, you leave it behind. You'd be like old blind Bartimaeus.
They came and said, be a good cheer. The Master's calling for
you. He threw off his rag and came running. You throw off your
rag. and you come to him with nothing. You come to Christ to have the
bread of life freely, the water of life freely, the milk of the
gospel freely. You come. He's the Savior. He's the one who's in heaven.
See that? The only person David can be
describing here is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who'll never
be moved. Not only is he in heaven, He's
the glory of it. Not only is he in heaven, heaven
is where he is. That's how glorious he is. All
right, I see that. I see David here describing the
Lord Jesus Christ. How does that affect all of us
here this evening? If this is only describing Christ, how does
this tell me how I can be in heaven? It's just one way. It's by being in Christ. by believing
Him. No man can come to the Father
but by Christ. The only way anyone can be in
heaven is by being in Christ, through faith in Christ. It's
in Him. When God sees His people, He
doesn't see Christ and see His people separately. He sees one
person. He sees Christ. When God describes
His people, He doesn't describe His Son and then describe His
people separately. No, He calls them the same. Their
name is Jehovah, said Kenu, the Lord, our righteousness. When
God describes His people, He just describes them as one person
because they're one with Christ. He's the head, we're the body.
Well, I see Dan come and I'll say, well, look, there's Dan's
head. There's Dan's body. I see there's Dan. He's one person.
That's the way the Father looks at his people. He sees them as
one person, as the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who will be
in heaven. It's everyone who believes Christ,
who receives him by faith, just like Abraham did. Verse two,
here's the description of the believer. He that walketh uprightly
and worketh righteousness. Now, how can any son of Adam
work righteousness? It's not by anything we do. Because
we can't do anything righteous, can we? Sinners like us can only
be made righteous in Christ, who is our righteousness. If
we have faith in Christ, if we're joined to Him by faith, then
we did everything He did as a man. When He obeyed the law, you did
too. If you believe Him, if you're
in Him. When Christ walked uprightly, you walked uprightly. If you
believe Him, if you're in Him by faith, when Christ worked
righteousness, you worked righteousness, if you're in Him. Look at Romans
chapter 4. If you have faith in Christ,
He is your righteousness. The Lord says their righteousness
is of Me. And we lay hold on that by faith,
just like Abraham did. Romans 4 verse 1. What shall we say, then, that
Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, if he did something to
work righteousness, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of death. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. That's who will be in heaven.
Those who are in Christ, who believe Him, they're in Him by
faith. And the way a believer walks
uprightly through this world is by faith. It's looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The believer walks
uprightly by walking through this world, trusting Christ to
be my righteousness and not look into the law to tell me what
to do. I know how to walk by looking to Christ. That's how
we walk uprightly. Then who will be in heaven? Everybody
who's received a new heart, a new nature from God. Look here at
the end of verse two, and speaketh the truth in his heart. Everyone
who's been born again has been given a new heart. They've been
given a new nature. It's the nature of Christ. That's
how they've been made partakers of the divine nature. So we say
the same things that Christ says. We say the same thing about him.
We say the same gospel. Not only do I preach the same
gospel, the same truth about who God is and who Christ is
and who I am. It's more than that. I mean,
it is that, but it's more than that. I say those things because
I believe them. I believe those things in the
heart So I need Christ to be my savior. I need him to forgive
me. I need him to wash me in his
blood. I need him to be my righteousness. This is not just an outward show.
God's put it in my heart so that I cannot and will not say anything
else. Then who will go to heaven? It's
those who've been given a heart of love. It's a heart of faith
that works by love, verse three. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor." Now God's people love each other. It's
not that they should love each other. They ought to love each
other. They love each other sometimes. God's people love each other.
Now strive to show it by your actions. By your actions. Seek
every opportunity to show your love for God's people. Our Lord
says, by this shall all men know you're my disciple, if you have
love one to another. But what does love do? How does
love act? What would I do to show my love
for my brethren? Well, this verse tells us this,
love covers a multitude of sins. That's a good thing, because
we need that, don't we? Love is not anxious to pass on
a juicy bit of gossip that we've heard about one of our brethren.
You know, we're not going to take the time to whisper in somebody's
ear and tear down our brother and sister by something awful
that we heard about. Love rather keeps it a secret.
And if we've got a little wisdom to go along with our love, we'll
know this, that what we heard might not be true anyway, so
I'm going to keep my mouth shut about it. That's what love does,
covers a multitude of secrets. And love won't even hear a bit
of juicy gossip about a brother. Somebody starts to tell something
like that, we say, stop right there. I don't even want to hear
it. This word taketh up, a reproach against his neighbor means receiveth. He won't even receive a report
of a reproach against his brother because love covers a multitude
of sin. Then there's this, verse four,
who will be in heaven? It's everyone who hates his own
sin, in whose eyes a vile person is contend, but he honoreth them
that fear the Lord. Now, if I know the Lord, I will
not call a lie the gospel. There are a lot of different
messages preached everywhere. If I know the Lord, I'm not going
to call a lie the gospel. No, it's not. It's a lie. The
truth is not a lie. They're not the same. If you
believe that lie, you're going to be damned. That's all there
is to it. If I know the Lord, I will not say we're all worshiping
the same God from different angles, from different directions. That's
a lie. That's not true. If I know the
Lord, I hate false religion. I hate it because it lies about
my safety. They hate Christ. That's why
they lie about it. That's what David said. Do not
I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? Am I not grieved with those
that rise up against Thee? Yes, I am. But we still love
them enough to preach Christ to them. We still love them enough
to witness to them. Aren't you glad somebody did
that for you? It ought to be. You know, we're not going around
looking for people to hate. If that's what you think that
verse is teaching, you got it all wrong. We're not going around
looking for people to hate. I got one. He's always right
with me. The vile person that I contend
the most is me. Is me. Any other attitude
is self-righteousness. That old man that I carry around
with me, I hate him. I hate him. I hate his sin. I hate him trying to constantly
pull me back under the law. I hate him cloaking himself in
religion to do these awful, horrible things, the things that he thinks
and says and does. I hate him. I contemn him. See, the key here is my sin. Hating my sin. Hating myself
for what I am. And if I truly think that, I'll
think lowly of myself and I'll honor my brethren. I'll esteem
others better than myself. You see, believers love the brethren. You know, I've been able to travel
around, preach a little bit at other places, and I'll go to
a place I've never been before. I might know one or two people. Maybe I know nobody there, you
know, I first go. But there's something I find
out real quick. There's a common bond that draws them together.
They honor one another. They love one another. That's
who will be in heaven. Then every honest person will
be in heaven. The end of verse four. He that
sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. Now, an honest
man is going to say the truth. He'll say the truth about himself,
even when it's not flattering. I'm a sinner. through and through
a vile, corrupt sinner. Now that doesn't paint me and
you in a flattering light at all, but that's true. And God's
people will only say that. We're not going to flatter one
another, you know, have this mutual admiration society. No,
we'll say the truth even when it's not flattering. So that
our only hope of salvation is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we're not going to go back on that. I'm not going to change
our tune. I'm not going to change my message for money, to gain
influence or fame. By God's grace, I believe Christ. He's my only hope. Isn't He yours? If somebody tries to get you
to go back on it and change that, what are we going to say? To
whom shall we go? Lord, You have the words of eternal
life. We believe and are sure Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Here I stand, I can do no other. An honest man is not going to
change, not going to change his message. Then lastly, I'll tell
you who will be in heaven. Mercy beggars. He that put not
out his money to usury nor taketh reward against the innocent,
he that doeth these things shall never be moved. Now this is a
whole lot more than a believer not charging interest on a loan.
You make a loan to somebody, it's fine to charge a reasonable
interest on it, you know. I hope we wouldn't do that with
one another if need be, but you know. But the real meaning of
this is not how to handle your checkbook. This is not what this
is teaching. This is what this is teaching
us. Don't try to earn something from God. Don't think. Christ gives everybody this blessing,
but I can earn something extra. That's usury, that's interest.
Don't think you can earn more of God's favor than somebody
else because you're keeping the law better than they are. No,
Christ is our righteousness. He's our only righteousness.
Don't think you can make God happy with you by tithing your
10% like the law requires. No, sir. We give, a believer
gives out of love. Love should at least do what
the law requires, Don't put a calculator to it. Just whatever you do,
don't put a calculator to it. Just give out of love, freely,
out of a free heart. Not because you're trying to
get a blessing from God. Putting money in offering is not investing. You're not giving so God will
give you more back. No, it's giving out of a free
heart, out of love. Whatever you do, don't fall into
this trap of charging God interest. Charging God interest is thinking
that I can do something to earn something extra from God instead
of Christ being my all. It's going back to knowing the
truth. If we see Christ as He is, we'll know He is all. Not only do I not need anything
else, I don't want anything else. Christ is all. Don't charge God
usury. Don't charge Him interest by
thinking, you know, Love acts. I see my brethren in need, so
I'm going to go help them. And then they're going to owe
me one. So when I'm in trouble, they'll have to come help me.
That's charging interest now. Just act out of love because
you love. And that person that depends
completely on Christ will never be moved. You know why we read
that in Psalm 62 to open the service. You know why David said,
I shall not be moved. because Christ is my rock and
he'll never be moved. If Christ is all of your hope,
without you doing anything to contribute anything to add to
it, you're in him and that's who will be in heaven. I hope
the Lord will make that so with every one of us that will not
leave here without looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
bow in prayer. Father, we thank you for this
glorious description of our Savior, how perfect He is in every way. He's the opposite of who and
what we are in every way. Oh, but how we thank you for
your mercy and your grace, that this one who's so glorious, who's
perfect, who's the opposite of everything we are, would come
to where His people are to save them from their sin, to make
them what He is. Oh, Father, how we thank you.
Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Thank
you for our Savior who saves. Father, cause us to walk through
this life looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Cause us to walk in love, love for Christ, love for one another.
Cause us to walk in faithfulness. to never stray from thee, to
never stray from your side. It's in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and give thanks.