A Place in God’s House

Psalm 15

Dr. Edwin P. Elliott

I. How Do People Get to Heaven?

A. What are the entrance requirements for heaven? “A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1)

B. Believers know they will have a place with God. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” (Psalm 23:6)

C. People want to go to heaven; the desire to glorify and enjoy God becomes the overriding and directive force in a genuine believer’s life. “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 enquire in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

D. People who are born again know they cannot make the world of sin home. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3-5)

II. God Identifies His Guests

A. People who are upright from the inside out are welcome with God. “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” (Psalm 15:2)

B. Behavior matters to God; He expects His people to walk the holy path. “Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.” (Proverbs 28:18)

C. God designed good works and assigned them to His people to demonstrate the life people were intended to live. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

D. People saved by grace begin to display God to the world; saved people come to look like the Savior. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” (1 John 3:7)

E. Believers refuse to let the world set the standard for Christian living. “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.” (James 2:1-9)

III. God’s Guests Will Stay for Eternity

A. A person who lives as God directs cannot be shaken. “He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” (Psalm 15:5)

B. When people live with constant awareness of God’s presence, they prosper, and when they do not, they blow away in the wind. “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (Psalm 16:8) “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” (Psalm 1:1-6)

C. Jesus reaffirmed what David had believed and taught. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)