Series: Psalm
Title: He Who Keeps His Oath
Text: Psalm 15: 4
Date: June 13, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Who
will holy God accept? Who will holy God receive to dwell with him in his holy
hill of heavenly Zion for all eternity? David asked that question in Psalm 15:
1.
Psalm 15: 1: LORD, who shall abide in thy
tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
Is
anyone under the sound of my voice interested in the answer to that
question? We all should be because each
of us shall stand before the judgment seat of holy God very soon. We all have an eternity to spend somewhere:
either in the joy of heaven or in the terrors of hell under the wrath and
judgment of God, so it behooves us to listen carefully and heed God’s word.
God
himself, gives the answer. Will you
listen to what God says he requires of us?
This is God declaring who it is that he will accept to dwell with him
for all eternity.
Psalm 15: 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.
If we
summarized the answer God gives here, the answer would be this: the man God
will receive into his holy presence is he, that “loves the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all
thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Lu 10:25-27) What we have before us in
this Psalm is the law of God. And God is
saying here that the man God will receive must be as holy and righteous as God
is holy and righteous.
Adam, the
first representative man disobeyed God. By his one transgression he broke all
of these things listed in this Psalm—both toward God, as well as toward his
neighbor because all men would be born of him. Adam broke the whole law of God.
And because his death passed upon us, being born of his corrupt seed, “for that
all have sinned.” (Rom 5: 12) No child of Adam has done any of these things
ever—no, not one.
Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God;
Galatians 3:11: But that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
But
doesn’t God say in this Psalm that for God to receive us WE must do these
things? Indeed, he does! Every man God will receive must do these
things and must do them perfectly, without sin!
Who then can be saved?
The
only one that has done all these things perfectly is the last Adam, the only
other representative man, God’s own Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
represented his people—those chosen of God—when he did these things so that we
actually did them perfectly in Christ our Representative. Not only that, but Christ went to the cross,
took all the sins of his people, wherein we sinned in all these things, satisfied
justice for us and put away all our sin. It was at the cross that Christ
preeminently did all of these things. When Christ willing laid down his life to
be made sin and bear the justice of God in place of his people it was then that
Christ walked uprightly, worked righteousness and spoke the truth; it was then
that Christ did good to his neighbor; it was then that Christ conemned the vile
man and honored them that fear the LORD; it was then that Christ kept his oath;
it was then that Christ provided the poor with unsearchable riches; it was then
that Christ upheld justice. So those called by God the Holy Spirit to rest in
Christ have done these things perfectly through faith in Christ.
Now, indeed,
those born of the Spirit of God, have a new heart in which we delight in these
things and we would like to do them perfectly. Yet, our hope is not that we
have done these things for we have been made honest that we cannot do them as
God requires them to be done. But our
hope is that Christ has and that Christ has put away our sin so that we are
complete and accepted of God in him through faith.
Proposition: The purpose of God in giving us these things—as with all
the law—is to show us our sin while showing us the greatness of our Savior who
did all of these in perfection.
So tonight,
our focus will be the next thing God gives here. And again, we will see how we fail to do this
but how Christ has fulfilled this perfectly and is the fulfillment of these
things for all who trust him.
I. THE MAN GOD WILL RECEIVE IS HE THAT WILL
KEEP HIS WORD, EVEN WHEN IT MEANS HIS OWN HURT—V4: He that sweareth to his
own hurt, and changeth not.
“Swearing”
is to take a solemn oath or vow before God to do such and such a thing.
For example: in a court of law, a witness raises his hand to God,
saying, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth
so help me God.” That is an oath.
Our
text says the man who shall dwell with God in his holy hill is “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and
changeth not.” That is, though his
oath will mean his own hurt, yet he does not go back on his word but does the
thing he vowed to do.
Such a
one is perfectly faithful to his word, exactly fulfilling all the obligations
he promises he will do, even when it means harm or loss to himself. He is one
who can be counted on because he is honest, upright, faithful and just in all
his dealings. That one is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for
ever.” (Heb 13: 8)
Sinners Cannot and Will Not Keep our Oath
When
Moses delivered the commandments of God to the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai,
the LORD entered into a covenant of works with them, like he did with Adam in
the garden. In the covenant of works God said that IF the children of Israel
kept all his commandments perfectly THEN God would bless them. That is what a covenant of works requires.
Now, be
sure you understand, when God made that covenant with them, they were already
sinners. There would be no way they
would keep the law of God. So why did God give it?
God
gave the law to reveal sin to those God would save from among them—his true
elect remnant among them. By the law,
God shows his people that we must be saved through the everlasting covenant of
grace (God doing all the works) rather than through a covenant of works (which
makes salvation dependent upon us keeping all the works of the law perfectly.)
Romans 3: 19: Now we know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God. 20: Therefore by the deeds of
the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is
the knowledge of sin.
Notice
this, when God gave his commandments they asked for a mediator to go between
them and God. They said,
Deuteronomy 5: 26: For who is there of all flesh, that
hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire,
as we have, and lived? 27: Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God
shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto
thee;
But
notice, they only wanted a mediator to tell them what God said THEY must do.
But they said this.
Deuteronomy 5: 27:… and we will hear it, and do it.
Application:
Now, that is what most religious people want Christ for: to tell us what we
must do, to be an example to us, but then men vainly imagine we can do the
works necessary to save ourselves. Not true!
So when
the children of Israel said that they would hear and do the commandments they
made an oath and entered into a covenant with God. They swore, they vowed, they
made an oath, that they would do what God commanded.
Concerning
their need of a mediator, the LORD said they spoke well.
Deuteronomy 5:28: And the LORD heard the voice of your
words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice
of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well
said all that they have spoken.
But
concerning their oath, their promising that they themselves would keep all his
commandments, God said,
Deuteronomy 5: 29: O that there were such an heart in
them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it
might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
Our
text says, God will receive the man who “sweareth
to his own hurt, and changeth not.” Brethren, you and I—no sinner—can of
his flesh, of his will, of his power, keep an oath to God or to men. We are shown that by God through these
natural, unregenerate children of Israel.
When
the children of Israel entered the land God gave, God said, “Ye shall not go
after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;” (Deut
6: 14) But when they would suffer to their own hurt in their business or in
wartime unless they compromised with the false worship of the people around
them, they changed—they went back on their oath and broke the law of God—to
avoid their own hurt.
The
Lord said they were to enter into no covenants with the people of that land
(Deuteronomy 7: 2) But when it came to suffering hurt in personal gain and loss
of personal gain, they broke the law of God, entering into covenants with the
people, so as not to suffer their own hurt—they changed and went back on their
oath.
God
said in the law we are not to marry with unbelievers because God said the false
worshippers will turn us, our sons and daughters to worship idol gods.
(Deuteronomy 7: 3-6). Yet, rather than
suffer their own hurt, to please their lusts, they broke their oath to God and
married them anyway.
Application: These are just a few examples. But the point is that you and I, along with every
sinner born of Adam, if left to ourselves will do the same. By nature, no man has ability of himself to
keep any oath to God or men for when it comes to our suffering in the flesh to
our own hurt we will break our oath to please our flesh. And the heart of flesh
is so deceitful that we will even do so believing in our vain hearts that we
are KEEPING our oath and honoring his law.
Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked: who can know it?
II. CHRIST JESUS IS THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS KEPT
HIS OATH, EVEN WHEN IT MEANT HIS OWN HURT—V4: He that sweareth to his own
hurt, and changeth not.
God the
Son, Christ Jesus, entered into a covenant with God the Father to be Surety of
his people before the world began.
Christ Promised to Take Flesh
Christ
promised to come to this earth to be born in the likeness of sinful flesh
because those he came to redeem were flesh.
It meant his own hurt because Christ would be, and was, despised and
rejected of men. (Isaiah 53: 3) It meant
his own hurt of living amongst sinners who were nothing like our glorious
Savior. Yet, when the fullness of time was come, he kept his oath.
Christ Promised to be the Spotless Lamb of God
It
meant his own hurt because no man had ever served God in perfection like Christ
and so men hated him all the more because of it. (John 15: 22-24; Proverbs 29:
27) Chris would be hurt from bearing the backbiting, the evil works and the
reproaches of men. (Psalm 69: 9; 31: 11; 109: 25; Yet, he kept his oath.
Christ Promised to Bear the Sin of God’s Elect
Christ
made an oath that in his own body he would bear all the sin of all the elect of
God in order that the law might be honored and magnified and God’s holy justice
be upheld. (1 Peter 2: 24; Isaiah 53: 6; Hebrews 9: 28)
It
meant his own hurt from being made what he was not—he knew no sin. (2
Corinthians 5: 21; Hebrews 7: 26) He despised sin. Sin is an abomination to our
holy and spotless Redeemer. He despised the shame of being made sin for his
people. (Hebrews 12: 2)
Not
only that, it meant the hurt of bearing the bruises and wounds in body, soul
and spirit from bearing our sin in his own body—it was because of sin that “his
visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of
men:” (Isaiah 52: 14; Isaiah 53: 5)
Most of
all, it meant the unimaginable hurt of being forsaken of the God he loved. (Psalm
22: 1-3; Matthew 27: 46; Mark 15: 34) God is holy and just. (Isaiah 6: 3; Revelation 4: 8; Deuteronomy 32:
4; Romans 3: 26) Therefore, when Christ was made sin, God would by no means
clear the guilty. (Exodus 34: 7) God
must punish sin, even when it is found on his own darling Son. So God forsook him on the cross as would have
us, had Christ not took our place and bore it in our room and stead.
Yet,
though all of this meant his own hurt, Christ kept his oath. So we see brethren that Christ Jesus the Lord
is the only one who has perfectly sworn to his own hurt, and changed not. By
his faithfulness in keeping his Suretyship engagements all those for whom he
was hurt are now healed, reconciled to God and redeemed from all iniquity.
(Isaiah 53: 5; Hebrews 9: 12; Romans 5: 10; 2 Corinthians 5: 20)
Application:
It is sad that sinners are being told that they can do these things, that all
is on their shoulders—that they, themselves, must do these things or they
cannot be saved. They are constantly in
bondage and have no comfort and no rest in Christ.
Illustration: The past five days I spent with my grandmother Curtis I
have seen the utter worthlessness, utter powerlessness, and utter inability of
our flesh. She could barely take a
breath; she could not raise herself out of bed; she could not control her thoughts
to speak coherently; her heart would jump to 150 beats per minute then drop to
25 beats per minute. All of these things were entirely out of her control.
As I
sat holding her hand, I thought how desperately wicked our own depraved hearts
are to deceive us into putting confidence in our flesh: in our will, in our strength,
or in our ability. If there was anything that you told my grandmother she must
do, or could do, by her fleshly strength to save herself from physical death,
in her condition in that bed, it would have been utterly impossible for her to
do it. The same inability in her to do
anything physically to save herself is the same inability in all men to do
anything spiritually to save ourselves.
For you
and I—and for every other sinner—the things required in this 15th
Psalm—in all the law of God—are as utterly impossible for us to do spiritually
in perfection to save ourselves as it was for that 90 year old woman to do anything
physically in her flesh to save herself from physical death.
Isaiah 40: 6:…All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness
thereof is as the flower of the field: 7: The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is
grass.
But
will you hear God speak!
Isaiah 40: 8: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but
the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Christ
is the Word who fulfilled the word of our God, his own word. When God gives us
a new heart, makes us see our sin and behold Christ Jesus, the end of the law
for righteousness, God makes with us an everlasting covenant ordered in all
things and sure and, Christ who was faithful to keep his oath even to his own
hurt, becomes all our hope and all our salvation. And all those in him shall
endure forever, made the righteousness of God in him.
I trust
my grandmother’s hope was Christ alone as she said it was. If so, at 3:30 this
afternoon she entered into that eternal uninterrupted communion with him just
as like our covenant-keeping God promises we shall! Christ is the real promise keeper!
III. BRETHREN, MAKE NO OATHS BUT LET YOUR YES
BE YES AND YOUR NO BE NO.
Now,
brethren, concerning you and I making oaths, Christ teaches his child not to
swear at all but simply be true to your word.
Matthew 5: 33: Again, ye have heard that it hath been
said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, [commit perjury] but
shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: 34: But I say unto you, SWEAR NOT AT
ALL;
This
does not include times when we may have to be sworn in by a court of law. In
such cases we are to do what is lawful. But he means in matters between us and God
or between us and other men.
Matthew 5: 34: But I say unto you, SWEAR NOT AT ALL; Neither
by heaven; for it is God’s throne: 35: Nor by the earth; for it is his
footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Illustration: “I swear by Art’s house such and such.”
I have
no right to do so because Art’s house does not even belong to me. Likewise, we can swear by nothing in heaven
or earth because all belongs to God, not us. So do not swear by heaven or
earth.
Matthew 5: 36: Neither shalt thou swear by thy head,
because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Neither
swear on your life—which is what is meant “by thy head.” The believers life is
of Christ and we have no power to uphold our life, to make one hair white or
black. So do not swear on your life.
Matthew 5: 37: But let your communication be, Yea, yea;
Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
If we
say yes or no then do that which you have said you would do. And it should
always be “if the Lord is willing” because it is only by his will and power
that we can do anything. Whatsoever is
more than a simply yes or no comes of evil.
If it takes an oath to make a man accountable to keep his word then it
proves him a liar and unfaithful and evil.
This is how Satan would have the world to operate. And by in large, that is exactly how the
world operates. You have to constantly
sign contracts, entering into oaths that you will do such and such. It is all evil. Believers ought to simply say, “Yes or no, if
it is the Lord’s will, I will do such and such.” Our word should be as good as
an oath, even when it means our own hurt.
Our
Surety, who swore to his own hurt, but gloriously fulfilled his suretyship
engagments even unto death, is our constraint and example to fulfill our
covenants with others, even to our own hurt.
That is what Paul said to the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 1: 17
When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things
that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should
be yea yea, and nay nay? 18 But as God
is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
Paul
said, I did not use lightness when I purposed to come to you. I did not
purpose after the flesh as if I had
power in my flesh. I did not say, “Yes, of certainty I will come to you.” But I
said “yes, if the Lord will, I will come to you.” And he said, “And I meant
what I said” And here was Paul’s constraint to be true to his word. It was
Christ our covenant keeping God for our gospel is not yes and no or maybe, but
sure because Christ accomplished all he promised.
2 Corinthians 1: 19
For [because] the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you
by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him
was yea. 20 For all the promises of God
in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Remember:
whatever we may lose, if the honor of remaining true to our word is not lost,
all other losses are bearable; but if we lose the honor of being true to our
word then we have lost all.
So
brethren, here are the three things we have seen tonight.
1) Rest
in Christ who kept all his Suretyship engagements for his people and turn not
to your own law-keeping for acceptance with God. Ye are complete in him!
2) Sware
not all. But let your yes be yes, if the
Lord will. And you no be no, if the Lord will.
3) Remember,
our constraint is Christ, because all the promises of God in him are yea, and
in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
Amen!