Let's open our Bibles again to
Psalm 26. The title of the message this evening
is, Judge Me. Judge Me. Now we know that David
wrote this psalm and says this is a psalm of David. But this
cannot be just David speaking. In verse 1, he makes an amazing
statement. That any son of Adam would write
these words on paper. Judge me, O Lord. He's serious
about this. In verse 2, he says, examine
me, O Lord. Prove me. Try my reins in my
heart. Now that can only be our Lord
Jesus Christ speaking through David. Only Christ can say, judge
me. Only Christ could say, prove
me. Try my reins. Try my heart. Only the Lord Jesus
Christ could say, judge me because I've walked in mine integrity.
David's like us. David has to say my sins ever
before me. So this can only be Christ speaking
through David. If this whole psalm is Christ
speaking, and it is, if this is Christ speaking of his obedience,
of his righteousness, of his perfection, then how can this
be good news to sinners like you and me? Well, the good news
is this. The son of God came to this earth
as a man. Almighty God became a real man. And as a man, he was the servant
of his father. And he's the perfect servant.
He served with perfect obedience. He served his father with perfect
faith and perfect love. And everything that he did, Everything
that the Lord Jesus did, he did as the representative of his
people. So that God's elect did everything that Christ did. The
obedience of Christ, how Christ kept the law perfectly is my
personal obedience before God. God sees me not as I see myself. God sees me as righteous because
God says I did everything that Christ did. I did every thou
shalt of the law and I didn't do any thou shalt not of the
law because I did everything the Lord Jesus Christ did. Now
that's no new news to anyone here. This is the gospel of representation. All of us did, every one of us
in this room did what Adam, our first representative did. That's
why we're all guilty. That's why we're all sinners
in need of a savior, because we all did what Adam did in the
garden. Adam was our first representative.
But all of God's elect did what Christ, our second representative
did, what the second Adam did. Just as surely as we did what
Adam did in the garden, God's elect did what Christ did. In
Christ, we are as righteous and as innocent as Christ himself,
just like in Adam. We're as guilty and unrighteous
as Adam is. So in ourselves, we can never
ask the Lord to judge us, can we? Nobody wants that. Nobody
wants to be judged outside of Christ. We say with David, if
thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Not
me, not you. The only way we can be willing
to be judged by God is if we're judged in Christ. If we're judged
in Christ, we'll be found perfect. So the believer is so confident
in Christ, we're actually anxious to be judged in Christ. I'm so
confident in him. I'm so confident in his righteousness.
I'm so confident in his sacrifice. I'm actually anxious to be judged
in the Lord Jesus Christ, because then I'm going to be found not
guilty. and be able to enter into eternal rest. So I want
us to look at this psalm and see it as Christ speaking, so
we can see the believer's confidence in Christ. First, in Christ,
we have perfect obedience. Verse one. Judge me, O Lord,
for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord,
therefore I shall not slide. Now, like I said a minute ago,
only the Lord Jesus Christ could ask the Father to judge him. This word judge, it means litigate
against me. In truth, either vindicate me
or punish me, one or the other. Judge me. Find me guilty or innocent
as I am. Now Christ can say that because
He walked in His integrity. That word integrity means completeness
or innocence. That's how Christ walked. Christ
was complete. He's whole. He didn't lack anything
the Father requires. He's complete. Not only did He
do everything right, His motive was always right. His motive
was always a motive of love and desire to honor His Father. His
motives were always right. Have you ever done the right
thing? but had a bad attitude about it. And somebody can tell
it and they'd tell you, I just assume you didn't do it. The
father who sees everything never said that to his son. Everything
he did, he did with a perfect motive. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only man who ever lived who can say, I'm innocent of
any charge. Though any charge against me,
I'm innocent. He never did or thought anything
sinful. Now you think of the glory of
that. We can't go a nanosecond without sin. Everything we do
is sin. When you try not to, you can't
help but think sinful thoughts. It's what we are. Christ never,
because of who He is, He's holy. Perfect. He's the Son of God
manifest in human flesh. He never slipped up. He never
slid away from God. Now that's glorious. You know,
we want to make sure we get this point now. Everything he did
was perfect. And we're thankful. This is what
thrills the believer's soul because that's our obedience. The perfection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. His obedience was perfect, His
heart was perfect, His love was perfect, His faith was perfect. He had faith that His Father
would fulfill the covenant of grace. Now God's covenant of
grace is grace for His people in Christ. It's God's grace for
His people because of what Christ would accomplish for them. And
the Lord Jesus always had perfect faith that His blood would ratify
that covenant. And he gives that faith to his
people. Now, true faith, saving faith, is not believing some
doctrine. Saving faith is not trusting
God's covenant of grace. True faith, saving faith, rests
in Christ who ratified the covenant. Saving faith trusts God who keeps
his promises, who made the promise and keeps his promise. True faith
is in a person. True faith is not trusting the
finished work of Christ. True faith is trusting Christ
who finished the work of redemption for His people, for the elect
people that the Father gave Him. True faith is believing a person,
is believing the Lord Jesus Christ. And everyone who believes Christ
can have perfect, absolute confidence because of who our Savior is.
He gave His obedience to His people. So they're innocent in
Him. Everyone who believes Christ
is innocent of every charge because we did what the Savior did. And
since Christ is perfect, His sacrifice is the sacrifice of
perfect, sinless blood that pays the sin debt of His people. The
Lord Jesus Christ is complete. Remember I told you that's what
that word means. It means complete. He didn't lack anything that
the Father requires. And what does Scripture say to
those who believe Him? You are complete in Him. If you believe
Christ, you don't lack anything the Father requires. You're complete
in Him. This word that David uses here,
trusted. I have also trusted in the Lord. The word actually means hidden. The believer is hidden. in Christ,
not Calvary. Christ was made sin by His Father,
and He was judged in absolute justice. Christ was judged for
the sin of His people. He said, Judge me, O Lord. And in Calvary, the Father did.
He judged Him for the sin of His people and punished Him in
full. He fully vindicated His justice,
His wrath, upon His Son. That is exactly why the believer
can face the judgment with such confidence. If my sin has already
been punished in the person of my substitute, God's never going
to punish me. If God sees me in Christ, my
substitute, He has to find me innocent of all charges. Because
His blood cleanses us from all sin. His obedience makes us perfectly
righteous before the Father. So the believer can say confidently,
I shall not slide. I shall not slide because I'm
hiding in Christ and he won't be moved. My hiding place won't
be moved, so I won't either. In Christ, we have perfect obedience
and shall never be moved away from God. Second, in Christ,
we have a perfect heart. Verse two. Examine me, O Lord,
and prove me. Try my reins and my heart, for
thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked
in thy truth." Now, only Christ could say this. Like I said a
minute ago, not only did Christ do right, His motives were always
right, His heart was always right. He had a clean, pure, sinless
heart that loved God in perfect truth. The love of God was always
before His eyes. He has the heart that the Father
loves. But you know, a believer can
say, I've got that same heart because of Christ formed in us.
That's what Paul told the church at Galatia. I labor and travail
until Christ be formed in you. In the new birth, there's a new
man born who's perfect because he's made just like Christ. He's
born from the holy, sinless seed of the Word of God. That inner
man, his mind is perfect because we have the mind of Christ. When
God gives his people a new heart, it's not a new organ beating
and pumping blood inside our chest. It's a new nature, a nature
that's holy, that cannot sin. It's the nature of Christ. Look
over at 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. Verse five. Now, the end of the commandment
is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and
a faith unfeigned. The end, the goal of the commandment,
the goal of the law is to point us to Christ who did love God
perfectly. who did obey the law perfectly,
who did trust God perfectly. The whole goal, the purpose of
the law is to show us our inability and to point us to Christ and
see His perfection. And that's good news to us, remember,
because everything that Christ did, He did as the representative
of His people. So when we look to Christ and
see His perfection, we see how we can be perfect in Him. And that gives God's people the
confidence to come to God through Christ. To come to God begging
for forgiveness for Christ's sake. To come to God begging
to be heard for Christ's sake. To come begging mercy and grace
for Christ's sake. Let me show you that in Hebrews
chapter 12. Or I'm sorry, Hebrews 10. Hebrews chapter 10. The believer can come before
God in perfect confidence. Hebrews 10 verse 22. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And let's
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he
is faithful that promised. See, that's why we can come to
God boldly and confidently. is it coming in Christ because
he's given us his nature and will always be accepted just
like Christ the son is accepted. All right. Thirdly, if we believe
Christ, we will not be deceived by false religion. Verse four,
back in our text, Psalm 26. I have not sat with vain persons,
neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation
of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked. I looked and
looked at this this week and this is an astounding thing to
see the perfection and the integrity of Christ our Savior. He was
always surrounded by sinners. No matter where He was, wasn't
He? He was always surrounded by sinners. Even when He was
a boy at home, He was always surrounded by sinful men and
women. He could be around sinners. During His earthly ministry,
how often was He thronged by them? The day he said someone
touched me, the disciples said, Lord, everybody's touching you. How can you say that? He thronged
by sinners. Yet he was never contaminated
by them. He could receive publicans and sinners and eat with them
and not be defiled by their sin. He could reach out and touch
a leper and tell him, I will not be defiled, not be not be
defiled by his disease. What a Savior we have. The great physician can come
heal the sick and not be made sick by them. What a Savior. Our Savior even went to the religious
centers of his day. He went to the religious centers
of the Jews. He was a Jew. He came into his own. He went
into their synagogues. He went into the temple. And
he was not defiled by their false religion. Now, he never agreed
with them. He went to their synagogues,
he went to the temple, but he never sat with them. He never
agreed with them and their false religion. He always pointed out
the wickedness of their religion. Now, weren't they following the
law? Weren't they observing the Sabbath day and the tithe and
the ceremonies and the sacrifices? Yeah, they were. Then what made their religion
so wicked? Didn't they try to not lie and
tell the truth? Didn't they at least give lip
service to honoring their mother and their father and not murdering,
not killing, not committing adultery, all those things? Weren't they
moral people? I bet they were moral people, boy. I bet they'd
be tough to be around. I mean, they're so moral we never
measure up. Then what made their religion
so wicked? It was religion without Christ. It was an observance
of ceremony. It was reliance upon self and
self righteousness, self morality, but no Christ. Their religion
had degenerated to the point they offered a sacrifice, but
there was no They offered a sacrifice, but they didn't see it as a sacrifice
for sin, because they didn't think they had any. They didn't
think they needed one. And that made their religion
wicked. Not needing Christ. Not worshiping Christ. Not seeking
Christ. Makes any religion, no matter
how glossy it looks to men, wicked. Wicked. And our Lord could go
in amongst that, and not be defiled by it. And we do well to remember
how our Lord dealt with those in false religion. His harshest
words were reserved for those in false religion who would not
bow, who would not surrender to Him. Now, by no means am I
saying, let's go out and be harsh to everybody. We should pity
people in false religion, really. Don't think for a second we wouldn't
be right there with them. It wasn't for God's grace. You
know we would. We should pity people in false
religion. Take every opportunity that we
can to show them the truth. But we can never, ever compromise
with them. Don't compromise with them in
an effort to get along, to feel like we're all the same. Because
we're not. Don't compromise with them. Their
religion is wicked. The Savior says He would not
go with dissemblers. And I saw that, I thought that
meant like someone that divides. But I looked the word up and
this is what it means. It means something veiled or kept secret. Isn't that man's religion? Man's
religion tries to veil, keep our sin all a secret. Now, the sin's still there. Their
whole goal is to just hide it from each other, hide it from
men. But they can't hide it from God. And that makes their religion
wicked. Because sin is still there. Try
as he might. This is one thing man can never
do. Man left to his own devices can
never come up with a way to cleanse sin and get rid of it once and
for all. Man cannot come up with a way
to do that. So the best we can come up with is just trying to
hide our sin. And that won't work. God's still
going to see it. The only way sin can be removed,
there's just one way. And God had to come up with it.
God has to reveal it to us. God had to send the way. The
only way sin can be removed is by being washed in the blood
of Christ. And that brings me to the fourth point. Brethren,
we've got good news to preach. We've got the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ to preach. Verse six, I will wash mine hands
in innocency. So will I compass thine altar,
O Lord. Our Lord Jesus never had to be
washed to be made innocent. He's personally perfectly innocent. He walked in his own integrity.
But you and I are sinners and we need to be washed in the blood
of Christ. And this is the good news we
have to preach to sinners. If there is anybody here who's
a sinner, I've got good news. Christ came to shed his blood
to wash away the sin of sin. Christ came to pay the sin debt
of His people, the sin debt of sinners, with His blood. And He didn't try to do it. He
did it. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. The Scripture doesn't say it
could cleanse us from all sin. Or it might cleanse us from all
sin if we meet certain criteria. No. The blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanses us from all sin, completely removes the sin
of his people. Now that's good news for sinners. If you're a sinner, that's good
news. And this is the gospel that we must preach. In our preaching,
in our worship, we compass, we just keep circling, we compass
Christ our altar. The best preaching, the best
worship stays as close as possible to Christ our altar. We just
compass Him, get as near as we can to Him, because all the good
news we have is Christ. This way he says in verse 7,
this is the gospel, we must preach it, that I may publish with the
voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works. Lord,
I've loved the habitation of thy house and the place where
thine honor dwelleth. You know, Christ, our Savior,
this is Christ speaking. You know, He's our preacher.
He's our preacher. Christ is the one that speaks
to the heart of His people. And when He speaks, His people
believe. When He speaks to the heart,
His people are comforted and encouraged and given faith. God's elect believe the gospel
because God gives them faith to believe it when Christ speaks
to the heart. Look at Psalm 40, just over a
few pages, Psalm 40. Let's listen here to Christ,
the preacher, speak. Psalm 40, verse 7. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O God. Yea, thy law is within my heart.
Now you know that can only be Christ speaking. Here's the gospel. that he preaches. Verse nine.
I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. I've
not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I've not hid thy
righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I've not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. You know, I've heard over the
course of my life A whole lot of preaching. I mean a whole
lot of preaching. I don't know, unless I was deathly
ill, that I ever could miss a service. I mean, I don't know how old
I was. My parents, my family just never
missed a service. I can't imagine how many gospel
messages I've heard preached. I'm telling you what, there's
a great big difference. between hearing a man preach
something that you give mental agreement that, yeah, that's
got to be true. And then Christ speaks to the
heart and you believe it. Christ speaks to the heart and
you can't not believe. Christ speaks to the heart, you
can't keep somebody away from Him. Christ, the Prince of Preachers,
declares the Gospel to the hearts of His people. And David gives
us his outline here. His outline is thy righteousness. It's the righteousness of God.
It's the righteousness of the God-man imputed to the hearts
of his people. His second point is thy faithfulness. It's not our faithfulness. It's
not how faithful we are to do. No, it's his faithfulness. He's faithful and just. He is
faithful to fulfill everything that was required. His third
point is thy salvation. It's salvation found in Christ. It's salvation that God provided
in His Son. His fourth point is, thy loving
kindness. All the love of God for sinners. That He'd send His Son to be
their sacrifice. And the truth. He declares Christ
the truth. Now if you ever hear Christ speak
that to the heart, you're going to believe. That's when we believe. However, if we're going to hear
from God, we're going to have to hear a man preach. It's please
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You're
going to hear from a man and in spite of him, you're going
to believe. You know, we just, we just never
need to think, get so full of ourselves, think somebody's going
to believe because of what, you know, interesting argument I've
made or an interesting illustration I've come up with. Now, you don't
hear from God, you don't hear from a man. That's so. But you're
going to hear in spite of that man. But we need to be faithful. We've got to be faithful. God's
given us pastors and elders to preach the gospel. And when we
preach the gospel, it's not overly complicated. We just say what
Christ said. We just say who Christ is. We
just say what Christ did. We just say where Christ is now.
That's all we need to say. The gospel is not complicated. If we're having a hard time understanding
what the preacher said, it's probably the preacher's fault.
It probably is because the gospel is not complicated. Good news
is never complicated. Bad news is complicated, isn't
it? Just imagine you go to the doctor. You had a series of tests,
and the doctor's office calls you in to get your test results.
And the doctor comes in with his folder, and he says, Sean,
I've got good news. Everything's clear. Go on home. See you next year. That's the
end of the discussion. Good news don't take very long,
does it? But when the doctor comes in, he looks at that folder.
He said, now I've got some bad news. You've got cancer. Well,
you just mark it down. You're going to be there a while.
Because there's a lot of things to discuss in there. There's
treatment options and all these different things that have got
to be discussed. That's what a false gospel is. A false gospel
is complicated. And it's hard to understand because
there's so many different ways to go. They're offering you so
many different treatment options. A false gospel is just not something
you want to hear over and over and over again. You don't want
to hear it repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated because
there's just no rest in it. But the gospel of Christ is good
news, and it just doesn't take that long to say it. It's so simple, anybody can understand
it. Sinner, you're healed because
Christ did it all. Now just rest in him. Just go
to him. and rest in Him. That's the gospel.
The gospel is good news that declares the wondrous works of
Christ. You know, men love to tell a
wild story, don't we? If we hear of something really
unusual happening, we just can't wait to go tell it to somebody.
We say, you won't believe what I just heard. Can you believe
this happened? That's how I feel about preaching
the gospel. Can you believe this? Christ
died for sinners, of whom I am chief. What a wonderful story
we have to tell. God has healed you by the blood
of His Son. He's made you righteous through
the obedience of His Son. Now go be thankful. Go sing His
praises. See, that's a simple gospel,
isn't it? It sure gives us a lot to sing
about. How many songs have you sung, Mike? How many different
songs? Simple gospel. Boy, it gives us a lot to sing
about. Spurgeon made this statement.
He said, God's people should never be tongue-tied. No matter
where we are, no matter what we're doing, we have some reason
to sing God's praises and to have a heart of thanksgiving. Those people who Christ heals,
they love His house. They love to be in the house
of the one who healed them. You know, my, for lack of a better
word, work week revolves around Wednesday and Sunday, Wednesday
and Sunday. It's just a cycle, Wednesday
and Sunday, Wednesday and Sunday. Tomorrow night, Thursday night,
I'll be preaching again. And I can't wait. I just can't
wait for Sunday to come and Wednesday to come and those opportunities
to come, to go to the house of the Lord, to meet with his people,
to sing praises, to hear the word read, to preach the gospel.
People who Christ has healed, they love to be in the place
where Christ is preached. I just can't hardly go from Sunday
to Sunday without, I need that Wednesday service. They love
to be in the place where other people who Christ has healed,
where they meet, they love to gather in public worship to praise
the name of the Savior, to thank the one who loved us and washed
us from our sin in his own blood. What a gospel we have to preach.
May God make us faithful to preach it, excited to preach it and
excited to hear it. All right, here's the fifth thing.
In Christ, we're confident, aren't we? We have complete confidence
in Christ. But yet we're always begging for mercy. Our confidence
in Christ never makes the believer stop begging God for mercy. Verse
9. Gather not my soul with sinners,
nor my life with bloody men, in whose hands is mischief, and
their right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in
mine integrity. Redeem me and be merciful unto
me. Now Christ, he says here verse
9, gather not my soul with sinners. At Calvary, Christ was made sin,
but he was never made a sinner. He asked his father, he willingly
was made sin for his people, but he says now, don't count
me a sinner. Make me sin so that I can put
away the sin of my people. I've walked in my integrity so
I can put away the sin of my people with my perfect Precious
blood. But when that sacrifice is over,
don't gather me with the sinners. Because after he dies, there'll
be no more sin left. He's put it all away by a sacrifice. And Christ doesn't want us to
be like these men whose hands is full of mischief and their
right hand is full of bribes. Christ didn't bring a bribe.
He asked His Father for justice. Judge me, He says. Try my reigns,
judge me in justice." He didn't bring a bribe. He went to Calvary
with this intent. To pay in full the sin debt of
his people. He's not going with a bribe.
He went to pay the full price with his own blood. And that's
just exactly what he did. So when he asked for mercy here,
he's not asking for mercy for himself. Because he needs no
mercy. He walked in his integrity. Even
on the cross, when He suffered agony you and I could never imagine. Even as He was suffering that
untold agony, He never asked for mercy. He never asked His
Father to lighten His hand. He willingly suffered the full
penalty of the broken law so that He could redeem His people.
He drank every drop of damnation dry. He didn't try to miss one.
and now he has mercy for his people, that they would be redeemed. We can understand that. We need
mercy, don't we? We need mercy because we're sinners.
Now, we know we stand in Christ, we're accepted in Christ, yet
we always bow before God. We bow before Him as mercy beggars. Even though we're taught, the
believer is perfect in Christ, yet how did our Lord teach us
to pray? forgive us our sins. We always need mercy. We always
need forgiveness. Don't ever let this confidence
in Christ bleed over to confidence in yourself. We've got no reason
for confidence in self, do we? We've got no reason for boasting
in self. The only boasting we can have is in Christ. But when we ask for forgiveness
and we beg for mercy, the believer can do so confidently because
we beg in Christ. My foot standeth in an even place.
In the congregations will I bless the Lord. If I stand in Christ,
my foot stands on a firm, even place. I'm not going to stumble. I'm not going to fall. There's
nothing there to make me slide. There's no stumbling blocks there.
Everything's been made smooth. If we stand on Christ, the solid
rock, we stand on the sure mercies of David, the sure promises of
God, our foot will never slide because we've got a solid foundation.
So I say with David, I'm determined to stand in Christ in all the
days he gives me to bless his holy name. Because no matter
what else happens to me in this life, I've got reason to bless
the Lord. I've got reason to thank him
for putting me in Christ and for the redemption that's in
Christ Jesus. Make a sinner like you and me
one with Him. What a glorious gospel. Let's
bow in prayer. Father, how we thank You for
the good news, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that there
is righteousness to be had in Him. There's cleansing to be
had in His perfect blood. Father, how we thank You for
Him. Father, I pray that You'd use the word preached to glorify
His precious exalt and magnify the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
cause us to look to Him, cause us to look, look to the Savior,
to run to Him, to find everything we need in Him. Father, give
us faith. Give us a heart that would believe
the Word, not just to hear the Word as we hear so often and
go home and go on with our lives, but Father, to have a heart of
faith, that we'd look to Christ, walk in him, rest in him, that
he would be our all in all. Father, we ask this great blessing
for the glory of your son. It's in his precious name we
pray and give thanks. Amen.