Oh, No! That’s Impossible! But…

A psalm of David. LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill? He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken.

A. God looks for the people who are seeking Him (1-4)

1) No one can live on the Lord’s holy hill

according to the standards

I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? （Romans 7:18-24)16)

2) Only one exception: Jesus

B. The one and only way for us to live with God

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John14:6)

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. or we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin– （Romans 6:4-6)

SUMMARY

David knew that he was not good enough to meet the standards. Even so, he believed that God never desert him. David was living in 1000 years before Jesus was born. It can be said that he unconsciously gave us the prophecy about Jesus. Jesus came to us and met the standards which were totally impossible for us to meet. Jesus bore the punishment in place of us-for all the disqualified. He is God who forgave us and offered to become the Master for all of us. We are expected to be following Jesus.

FOR DISCUSSION

1) How did David feel when he wrote this psalm?
2) Why should we follow Jesus?