Psalms 15:1

The Bible says in Psalms 15:1-5, “LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?[2] He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.[3] He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.[4] In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.[5] He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” There are at least two ways of looking at the salvation of the soul. The first has to do with how to get saved so that your eternal destiny is heaven instead of hell. For example, it says in Titus 3:5, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” A second way of looking at the salvation of the soul has to do with the results of salvation or the proof that someone has really been saved. Only God sees the heart. We cannot see the heart, but we can see the works. It says in Second Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.”

One reason that a life is changed once a person gets saved by faith in Christ is that part of the motivation for coming to Jesus is the desire of the lost soul to start serving God and start doing the right thing. That is repentance. Repentance is a change of mind from going the wrong way to start going the right way. That is why King David says in verse 2, “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness…” If you claim to be saved and do not have a changed life, something is terribly wrong. Perhaps you did not get saved, or perhaps you did not learn to feed upon God’s Word daily so you could grow in the Lord.

David also said in verse two that a true Christian “speaketh the truth in his heart.” The heart is the innermost being. It represents your emotions and will. You must believe the truth about Jesus in your heart in order to be right with God. It says in Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Verse three mentions three things that a true Christian does not do: “He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.” All of these have to do with things that harm other people. God wants us to help other people: not harm them. Jesus said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Two of the three things in Psalms 15:3 have to do with what we say. To “backbite” means to slander. It is the use of critical, negative, and judgmental words against another, and it results in harming their reputation, and the purpose is to spread ill-will against that person. You have heard the old saying: “Say something nice, or do not say anything at all.” It is not just your words that can be evil: your attitude can be evil too. If you have a “reproach” against your neighbor, you are not being a loving Christian. Remember that God loves everyone and He wants everyone to be saved. The idea is to win people over, and not to alienate them further.

Of course, believers do not compromise. And believers know the importance of not being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. We want to learn to love lost souls, but we turn away from those who have turned away from God. We do not like what they have become: “In whose eyes a vile person is contemned.” We like what true believers have become: people who are right with God, people who pray and study the Word, and people who walk the straight and narrow path trusting in Jesus each day. Anyone who does not do that, we have no common ground with. We do not fellowship with them. That is one of the values of going to a good Bible teaching church: Christians are gathered together in the name of the Lord. We honor “them that fear the LORD.”

The end of verse 4 says that a true Christian is he that swears “to his own hurt, and changeth not.” In other words, if you make a promise, you keep it. You keep your word even if you lose and even if it hurts to keep it. If you tell someone that you are going to do something, then do it. Once you give your word, you do not change for your own advantage or profit. Since God keeps His Word, we should keep our word too.

Verse 5 says that a true Christian does not put “out his money to usury.” Usury is interest on a loan. The Bible principle on interest is as follows: The only time that someone will borrow is when they are in some kind of desperate difficulty. And if you loan to them in such a situation, you are trying to help them and not trying to take advantage of them. Taking interest from them would be using them at a time when they are in need. Strange that the world’s economic system has been based upon debt and is greatly affected by interest rates that are always charged for these loans. This is just one more reason that the world is in big trouble. If only a Savior would come. Guess what: a Savior will come. His name is Jesus.

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