Turn to Psalm 26, and let's see
where it takes us. And I've had two or three portions
of Scripture in this psalm that I started to use as a title.
And I started using in verse 7, "...I
will tell of all thy wondrous works." That's a good title,
isn't it? To speak of the wondrous works
of God, what He's done for us in Jesus Christ, made us righteous in Him, forgiven in Him, cleansed in
Him, given us everything we need to stand in His presence in Him.
He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then I got to looking at
this again today, and verse 2 hit me, examined me, proved me, and
tried my reins. And the thought came to me, the thought that
I had in the study was this, I want to know, I want to know
that I have faith. I want to know before I die that
the faith I have is real, that it's genuine, that it's
of God. And I know, I know this, I know
that the only way I'm going to know that is when God sends those
trials and those heartaches and those difficult times. That is
how faith is proven. That is how faith is brought
to the forefront. Now, let's see where this goes. Now, David is the writer of this
psalm, and he lays out his heart before God. It's evident that when David
sat down and wrote out his prayers, or he wrote a psalm to be sung,
he poured out his heart before God, and he wrote of things he
experienced. He's not just writing, He's writing
of things He experienced. This is the experience of a believer. Now, He wrote Psalms that are
Messianic. They speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this Psalm speaks of Christ. Because the Lord Jesus
Christ can say, Judge me, O God. The Lord Jesus Christ can say,
Examine me, O Lord. Prove me, try my reigns. Because
He knew no sin. He could be searched, but you
know, David said in another place, try me and see if there be any
wicked way in me. Would you know that? I would
know that. I've thought about that. I've
thought about it. Lord, make me to know. Make me to know myself. Make me to know you first, and
then knowing you, know myself. And if there's something that
needs to be dealt with, I want to deal with it here. before
I die." So David lays out his heart before
God and he asks God to examine him, try him, and prove him. This is a bold request for a
sinner, but it's a sinner saved by grace.
It'd be a foolish request by a sinner who doesn't believe
God. That'd be foolish. But here's one who believes God.
In Christ, David knew this, and everyone here whom the Lord has
saved, you know this, you know that in Jesus Christ you are
holy, you are righteous, And you know that in Jesus Christ
you are as He is, spotless. In Him you are. Now in this flesh,
in this life, we sin. But you know what? That's not
how God sees. God sees us in Christ. That's the only way He
can deal with us, is in Christ. Dave is not saying here that
he has no sin, but he's saying, First of all, he's saying in
this matter he's praying about, in most of the reading I did,
it has to do with David being accused of trying to dethrone
Saul, and David's standing before God and he says, you know my
heart, you know I'm not doing that. I'm innocent in this matter. You know that. So he says here
in verse 1, judge me. He's saying, vindicate me, O
Lord. He's asking the Lord to be his judge. You know, when
I first read this, he said, judge me. And I thought, you know,
in Christ, God has already judged me. I've already been judged. On Calvary's tree, God judged
me. He dealt with Christ over my
sins. And He put my sins away. And
so here, David can, as a believer, say, vindicate me. in this matter. Vindicate me. Be my judge." And
the reason he asked God to be his judge is this. God is a just
God. He's not like men. You know that one of the hardest
things to get in court is justice. The first thing you've got to
check when you go to the courtroom is truth. Then you can check
your weapons and all that other stuff. But truth is checked first.
That's the hardest thing to get in the courtroom, is truth. But
God is a just God. He says, God will deal with this
in a just manner. And He says, I want you to be
the judge. I don't want men to be the judge. I want God to be
my judge. And then secondly, God knows
my heart. God knows my heart. Peter said,
Lord, you know all things. You know I love you. Yes, I denied
you. Yes, I'm a sinful man. He said
one time, Lord, depart from me. I'm a sinful man. But Lord, there's
one thing I do know. You know my heart. You know I
love you. You know that." And David said,
God's a just God. God knows his heart. He knows
he's innocent in this matter. And he also knew this, that he
was a God of mercy. That God's a God of mercy. And then he says here, "'Judge
me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity.'" I have walked
in the word integrity means sincerity, it means honesty, it means sound
moral character. I've walked in my integrity. Now listen, he's not talking
about human integrity here. He's talking about spiritual
integrity. The Scriptures say, "'He that walks in the Spirit
and not in the flesh, When you walk in the Spirit and not in
the flesh, you are walking in integrity. You're walking in
spiritual integrity. So he says, I have walked in
my integrity, spiritual integrity, and I've trusted also in the
Lord. Lord, I trust you. I trust you for salvation. I
trust you for time and eternity. I trust you for today, I trust
you for tomorrow, and I trust you for the day I die. I trust
you. To trust is to have full confidence. David says this so many times
throughout the Psalms. I trust you. I trust you. Therefore, I shall not slide.
David is saying here, I walked in the integrity of faith that
you've given me. I have walked in spiritual integrity
and not in this flesh.' And David knew that he was secure in the
Lord whom he trusted, for he said, I shall not slide. I shall
not be a reprobate. I shall not go back. I trusted
the Lord to save me." Now brethren, that's faith. That's faith. I
trust the Lord to save me. And I shall not slide. Turn over
to Psalm 62. In Psalm 62, look in verse 5. My soul wait thou only upon God,
for my expectation is from Him. You know, Henry wrote, when I
used to write, when I lived in Milton, I would write to Henry,
and one of the verses he would write back would be, because
I must have sounded impatient, he would write back, wait upon
the Lord. Wait, I say upon the Lord, and
He shall strengthen thy heart." Wait on the Lord. He only is
my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not
be moved. God is my salvation and my glory,
the rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. He's my salvation, He's my strength. Listen. He's my salvation, He's
my strength, even when I can't even detect Him. Turn over to
Isaiah 50. The Scripture says, we walk by
faith and not by sight. Look in verse 10. Who is among you? that feareth
the Lord." That's everybody here who claims to be saved. The Lord has saved you. "...that
obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness." What
is to walk in darkness? You don't know what's going on.
When you're walking in darkness, you just can't grasp what's going
on, what's happening. In Job chapter 10, Job said this,
"...I am full of confusion." I'm full of confusion. "...that walketh in darkness,
and hath no light. Let him trust in the name of
the Lord, and stay upon his God." Let him trust in the name of
the Lord. Let him trust in God's faithfulness. Let him trust in
God's goodness. The Lord is good. He can do no
wrong. I may not understand, but I know this, the one who's
doing it is not doing wrong. He can do no wrong and He will
do no wrong. Everything God does to me, no
matter how much it hurts, it's right. As Peter said, it's a
need be. I promise you it's a need be,
whatever it is, it's a need be. And listen here, David's greatest
interest here, when he says, judge me and I walk to my integrity
and I've trusted the Lord Therefore I shall not slide." David's greatest
interest in this is that the name of God would not be reproached. Vindicate me, listen, for your
namesake. Not just for my sake, not just
because I'm right and they're wrong and I want God to prove
it. No. It's for His namesake. Because
whatever slander they're saying against me is a reflection on
God, my Father. So when we really ask for vindication,
we're asking that God would vindicate us for His namesake, not just
for our sake of being right. Now, He comes to this request.
It's bold, too. It's bold. But I thought about
this when I read this. He has three requests here in
verse 2. Examine me, prove me, try me. Now our Lord could say that,
who knew no sin. But this is David speaking also,
and this is a sinner, saved by grace, speaking. Faith is going
to be tried. Now you just mark it down. He
chastens every son whom he receives. Every son. He chastens them. Scott Richardson said this about
trials, We are either in a trial, coming out of a trial or getting
ready to go into a trial. He said that's the life of a
believer. You're either in one, coming
out of it, or getting ready to go in it. That's the life of a believer. Faith will be tried. Untried
faith is no faith at all. No faith at all. I already mentioned this in the
beginning, but I want to mention it again. Would you know that
the faith that you have is real? Then it's got to be proven. Not
to God, but to us. God knoweth them that believe
because He's the One who gave Him faith. Listen, this thing about trials
drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ, not away from us. Trials also
exposes our weaknesses. Trials exposes the chink in the
armor. You think you're strong in an
area, you think you may be strong in something, then all of a sudden
something comes along. And I'll tell you something else that
I've learned about trials. I realized the sin that's still
in me is still in me. I mean, it's there. You think
you're gonna be gracious and kind all the time. A difficult
trial comes along, just the right kind, and it just brings, boy,
that stuff comes to the surface. And you realize, wow, that's
still in me. That's still there. And you seek the Lord to put
it down, put it down. It reveals a lot of things. The
child of God, though, the child of God, and I'm not saying we
rejoice it. There is a sense in which we
do find some joy in the fact that God loves us. If He chastens us, He loves us.
The Scripture says, He that is without chastening is a bastard
and not a son. But the child of God can say,
he can say or she can say, Lord,
prove me. Make me to know, make me to know
that I'm yours. Make me to know that the faith
I have is of you. Make me to know it. Don't leave
me alone. Don't leave me alone. And David's
saying here, examine me, Lord, prove me and try me. And he says
here, "...for thy lovingkindness is before my eyes." Now listen,
if God... Here's faith. Here's faith now. If God's lovingkindness is before
your eyes, that's the gospel. The lovingkindness of God is
made known to us in the gospel. Here's what he's saying, your
loving-kindness is before me, the gospel is before me, I believe
the gospel, I believe on you, I trust you. And he wasn't afraid
to be examined, and in fact he wanted to make sure that he did
not have the faith of hypocrites. For thy loving-kindness is before
mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. What's before my eyes? What's
before your eyes? What is it? Is it some sickness? Is that before your eyes? Is
that what your mind is on? Is it some business problem? Maybe
a misunderstanding? Or is it the loving kindness
of your father which has given you what you've got? That is loving kindness. There
are many who are going about in this world as blind, as dead
as can be. They think they've got the world
by the tail on a downhill drag, not realizing they are going
to hell at a breakneck speed. And God has stopped you. And
He's forcing you to your knees to call upon Him, and think upon
Him, and read about Him, and search after Him in His Word.
And that's His loving kindness. He says in Jeremiah 31.3, I have
loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with cords I
have drawn you. You know, sometimes those cords
are trials. Sometimes those cords are trials. He lassoes you with
loving kindness and starts pulling you to him. You know, you know,
that you and I would not call upon God in a very serious manner
until we're hurting. I know that, I'm talking from
experience now, I'm talking from experience, that when it begins
to hurt, and the night's long, that's when you call on God in
seriousness. Lord, hear my prayer. Hear the
voice of my supplication. I want you to turn over to, it
just came, when I was sitting there, I want you to turn over
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I thought, while I was sitting
there, and I read this, and I thought, I've never switched messages
right in the midstream, but this one is, boy, this one is good. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, not
chapter 5, chapter 4. Look in verse 15, "...for all things are for your
sakes." Now, what does all cover? It's all-encompassing, isn't
it? All things. whether you can see it or not,
all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might,
through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God.
For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish,
he's dying, his body's dying, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. For our light affliction, Paul
was stoned, they thought he was dead at one time, He said, I've
learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. He said,
I've learned how to abound and I've learned how to be abased.
I've learned how to be broke. I've learned how to be completely
broke. And I've learned how to handle, I've learned how to abound.
When I've had money, when things have gone well, I've learned
how to handle it properly. Because tomorrow I'll probably
be broke. It comes and it goes. You know, God has set the day
of prosperity against the day of adversity. They're set against
one another. Our light affliction, whatever brings, and I tell you
what, now they don't feel light. Anything that makes you cry is
not light. But it depends on what you compare it to. For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, that's all, just
a moment, that's a moment. And you say, man, this thing
never gonna end. It's just a moment. Worketh for us. You see, whatever
it is, it's working for you. You realize that? You know, some
of you've had some money and you've put it in some investment,
it's working for you. You say, my money's working for
me. Mine hasn't, but mine worked away from me. But trials, I've got them working
for me. They're working for me. And here's what they're working.
"...they worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, take your eyes off the temporal." That's what
he's saying. Paul's saying, take your eyes off the temporal. And
I tell you what, it takes a while to learn this. I'll tell you what it takes.
It takes some time growing in grace and knowledge of Christ
that you learn to put value where value really is. Durable riches. That's what you learn. While we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. That's it.
That's all it is. But the things which are not
seen are eternal. They are eternal. Well, what was I at here? David says also here, let me
pick up where I think I left off. What we keep before us determines
our attitude every day. You know that? What you kept
before you today, what you were focused on, determines your attitude
this past day. And I live the same life you
live. I know what I'm talking about. And David said, I have
walked in thy truth. The life of faith is indicated
by our walk. It's indicated by our walk. David
practiced what he preached. I want you to listen to this.
This thought came to me today. I thought, one's walk is better
than one's talk. It's one thing to talk about
election, predestination, particular redemption. It's another thing
to walk in a life of grace, a life of trust. It's easy to talk a big talk.
What's the old adage, talk is cheap? Talk is cheap. David said, I have walked. I've
lived your truth. And Lord, you know it. And I have not sat with vain
persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers." This is part
of his walk, see? He's talking about his walk here.
I have not sat with vain persons, that is liars. I've not sat with
a bunch of liars, people who rely on God. I've not sat with... They're not my company. That's
why he's saying, they're not my company. You know, the company
we keep shows if we walk in spiritual integrity or if we are walking
in the flesh. It's that simple. It's that simple. If you notice, he says here,
and I'm not sat with vain persons. To sit with someone is to side
with them. To sit with someone is a choice. You know, when we come down here
and we have fellowship, we're going to have a dinner here in
a week after, Sunday afternoon. Every one of you will sit down
beside of your, you'll sit down beside of your families. You'll
make a choice. You won't say, well, I have to
sit over there. No, you'll make a choice. And that David says
here, I have not set, I have made a choice. I am not going
to run with them, those guys. They are not going to be my company.
I'm not going to sit with them. That's what he's saying. Blessed
is the man who, let me go over here to Psalm 1. And he's going
right back to Psalm 1, really, when he refers back there. 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
the law doth he meditate day and night." I know that we must work with
vain persons. We must work with all kind of
people. But we don't seek out their company. And David says
something here that's strong. He says something that's strong.
He says, I hate, I have hated the congregation of evildoers.
I hate those who lie on God, despise Him. And that's harsh,
isn't it? I mean, that sounds harsh. But
to the godly, you understand. I understand what he's saying.
I understand what he's saying. He said in Psalm 139.21, Do not
I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? and have not I grieved with those
that rise up against thee." His enemies are our enemies. That's
what he's saying. Lord, your enemies are my enemies.
In Psalm 119, 104, he said, Through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. I hate it. I tell you this, if we don't
hate every false way, I assure you, we'll compromise. Somewhere
along the way, we'll compromise. I'm thinking about bringing a
message Sunday on Lukewarm at the church of Laodicea. One thing
Lukewarm will do every time, it will compromise. Well, it
don't matter. Well, yes, it does. Yes, it does. And he said, and he will not
sit with the wicked. Scripture says in Corinthians 6.14, I like
to use a lot of scriptures when I do these things because scripture
interprets scripture. Commentaries don't interpret
scriptures. Scriptures interpret scriptures. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness?
Be ye not deceived. 1 Corinthians 15.33. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good
manners. Our Lord was a friend of sinners.
But I can tell you this, I am confident of this, He controlled
that situation and He controlled that conversation. He controlled
it. When He spoke, they listened. It's a conscious choice one makes
as to who they sit with. And He says here in verse 6,
"...I will wash my hands in innocency, The Pharisees, the Pharisees,
they made a great big deal out of washing their hands all the
time, didn't they? But they washed their hands in
water, just on water. Here's something I thought was
just, I heard this the other day called this coronavirus.
They quit using the holy water because it's being contaminated. People getting their dipping,
they said they had to, so they didn't, they're not using the
holy water now. I thought, well, I thought it was holy water.
Well, that shows you what the water is. Just right there. I thought, well, they don't even
know what they just said. Wow. David said, I don't wash
my hands in water. I wash my hands in purity. He's
speaking here of Christ washed in the blood of the Lamb. He's
also speaking here of sincerity in worship. Because he says,
I will wash my hands in innocency. I am not a hypocrite. I am sincere. Lord, I trust You. You know this.
I wash my hands in the blood of the Lamb. And so will I compass
Thine altar. I'll walk about Thine altar.
Who is our altar? Christ. True worship demands honesty.
Hypocritical worship is never received of God. I know we sin,
but we continually pray for what? Lord, cleanse me. You know what
the Lord did for Peter and them? He washed their feet. He said,
you've been washed all over, but we live in this world. We
do need daily cleansing of the Spirit. We walk through this
world. We get, so to speak, our feet
dirty. Listen, Aaron did this, and when
Aaron offered the sacrifices of the high priest, he'd wash
his hands, and then offer the sacrifice. And what Aaron did,
typically, David is doing spiritually. And the altar here is the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it's through Him that we give Thanksgiving.
I will walk around thy altar, which is Christ's, and I will
proclaim the good news with thanksgiving." There's verse 7, "...that I may
publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous
works." Can you imagine walking around that altar? That's what
we do with the gospel. Christ is the altar, Christ is
the gospel, and standing there preaching is like walking around
and looking at Him and just telling all about the wonders of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We tell about the wonders, the
wondrous work of His redemption. He has redeemed us from our sins. That was not an attempt. That
was a redemption. He purchased me. I'm His and
He is mine. We talk about the wondrous work
of His righteousness. That perfect life He lived for
33 years is our righteousness. And His obedience in death To
God's law, all of that is our righteousness. He believed God
perfectly. As a man, he believed God perfectly. That's our righteousness. It's
our righteousness. We'll talk of His wondrous work
of grace. He saved a wretch like me. Amazing
grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. We talk of the wondrous work
of His power in saving my soul and making me whole. He made
me whole. In Christ, I'm complete. You
know what Scripture says? In Him, you are complete. He said, Lord, I love the habitation
of thy house and the place where thy honor dwelleth. He said in
one place, I was glad when they said, let us go to the house
of the Lord. You glad to be here tonight?
Are you really glad? The house that he's speaking
of here is the church. And the church is where God dwells
and makes his presence known. I put that in the bulletin as
a blind deaf lady. I think it was in a bulletin that I put it in. And she went
to church every, she went to the service every week. And the pastor asked her, you
can't hear a word. I'm paraphrasing. You can't hear
a word. Why are you here? Because this is where God's presence
is most known. This is where His people are. And where His people are, He
is. And I want to be there. But you can read the rest of
it in the bulletin. We love His ordinances. We love
His Word preached. And where the Lord's people gather
is where He is, and it's where His honor is made known. His
honor is not being made known out there in the street. And
it's not being made known in these false pulpits. But I'm
telling you this, God's honor is being made known here. I am
confident of that. I'm confident of it. And David
says here, verse 9, Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my
life with bloody men. I've got to die. There's a day
I've got to die. I have to die. And Lord, preserve my life. Keep me. Don't gather my soul with bloody
men. Don't let me prove to be a reprobate. Lord, gather me
with your saints. Listen, I'll ask you a question.
Who do you want to spend eternity with? The people you went to
school with? or the ones you worship God with? Who do you
want to be gathered with? Seriously. Believers do not want to be in
the company of bloody men here or hereafter. I don't want to
be in their company here or hereafter. And whose hands is mischief,
that's all it is, is mischief. Their right hand is full of bribes.
How many men stand in a pulpit Every Sunday, preaching what
the people want to hear so they can get a paycheck. That's a
bribe. That's nothing but a bribe. What do you want me to say? And I've heard men say, well,
if I preach that, I'd lose my job. Well, if it wasn't a job
to you, you wouldn't have a problem. The problem is you look at it
as a job, it's a calling. It's not a job, it's a calling. Bribery is of the spirit of Satan. Remember when Satan tempted our
Lord in the wilderness. He said this, if you will fall
down and worship me, I'll give you the kingdoms of the world. So when you hear bribery, the
spirit of Satan is at work. Bribery perverts justice. And God's people are not bribers. But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity,
I'll walk in honesty, sincerity, and sound moral character. Redeem me and be merciful to
me. Who else said, as for me? Remember, somebody else in the
Bible said, as for me? Joshua. As for me and my house,
we're going to worship the Lord. That is a fixed determination.
As for me and my house, we're going to worship the Lord." And
that's what David said, as for me, I'll walk in my integrity. And he said, Lord, redeem me
and be merciful to me. That's the only way I can walk
in true integrity, spiritual integrity. And last of all, my foot standeth
in an even place. In the congregations will I bless
the Lord." Jesus Christ is even ground. He's even ground. That's solid rock. He is a sure
foundation. At the end of the day, and at
the end of our life on this earth, we have but one resolve. And
that is to bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Lord, examine me, prove me, try
me. I want to know that my faith
is real. It's genuine. You know, I was thinking of this,
and I'll close. The last time I preached when
Henry was still with us, Paul's. As I was standing there getting
ready to preach, one of the thoughts that hit my mind that really
gave me real comfort. There was Henry and Doris, and
they've been through some difficult times. I thought me and Vicki's there,
and I said, we've been through some things. I thought 40 years
has gone by, and we're still here. and we're still preaching. And that gave me great comfort.
After all the water that's gone under the bridge, and you can
say, some of you have been here a long time, and you've gone
through trials and heartaches and troubles, and you're still
here. That ought to give you some comfort.
God has kept you. All right.