Psalm 15

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill? Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever.”  Psalm 15:1-5 (Compare: 1 Corinthians 6:9-11) (NLT)

There is a false assumption dominating the understanding of many Christians that Old Testament believers were somehow justified by the works of the Law. Reading today’s psalm, it’s easy to assume a “salvation by works” mindset, so some explaining is necessary. Nobody has ever been justified solely by their good works. Salvation has always been and forever will be, by grace, through faith.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)

Old Testament righteousness, by grace, through faith, is the primary message of the New Testament book of Hebrews. Hebrews was written to the Jewish community after Jesus’ resurrection to drive home the reality that none of the Old Testament heroes were justified in the eyes of God based solely on their own good works.  

So, exactly how were those Old Testament heroes justified before God? They were saved when they put their faith in God’s Word, which said that if they would repent and turn from their sin as He prescribed, He would forgive them. Again, it was not their works that saved them but their faithful belief that God’s Word was true. That faith motivated their works and met His standards. Works must follow faith, but faith does the heavy lifting. Otherwise, a person with no faith in God could do certain prescribed actions and be saved without believing in God. As one pastor put it, “We are not saved by faith & works. Rather, we are saved by faith that works!”  Notice how the Apostle John introduced Jesus as “the Word” in his gospel.  

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1;14 (NKJV)

So, what does the Bible say we must do to be saved in our generation? We must believe God’s Word. The Bible says that God loves the world and desires to forgive sinners who are willing to repent. (John 3:16)  We must repent (turn from our sin), placing our faith in Jesus, that He paid our sin debt by dying on the cross and was raised from the grave. By God’s grace, we are saved when the object of our faith is Jesus’ work, not our own. By His work, we stand blameless before God! By faith in Jesus’ work, we are made righteous, and that motivates our good works.