Psalm 26 says, Judge me, O Lord,
for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord,
therefore I shall not slide. 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. 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 will wash
mine hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord,
that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all
thy wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation
of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. 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. My foot standeth in an even place. In the congregations will I bless
the Lord." continuing in our consideration
of the Psalms here as being the prayers of Christ. And indeed, the Lord has manifested Himself to men over the years in many ways,
that is, who has known the mind of the Lord, who has been His
counselor. He revealed Himself to Moses
in the burning bush. He spoke to Balaam through an
ass. He has met with men various ways
down through the years. In all of those interactions
wherein the God of heaven has come to meet with men on a personal
basis, He's done so through the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord
Jesus Christ. There is no means or method or
person or fashion in which a man can ever approach unto God except
in Christ. Now, that doesn't sit well with
man by nature because man likes to think that somehow or other
he has an inside track with God. You know, I mean, all people
kind of think that way, don't they? I mean, you talk to the
man on the street, well, you know, he'll say, well, you know,
the Lord understands me. Everybody want to tell you that?
Now they say that as though that's a good thing. Now, dear brethren,
it's a true thing. The Lord does understand every
one of us. He knows us like the back of
His hand. I mean, He knows everything about
us. But that's not a good thing. Because what does He see in us?
He sees what we are by nature. He knows us. He knows that we
are dust. He knows the corruption that
dwells within our heart. The heart is deceitful. Who can
know it? Now what the writer there is
saying, who among men can know it? But the Lord surely knows
it. He knows that the way of man is contrary to His way. And so when we read this in the
psalm here, and David writes these words, But again, David,
on the one hand, we read in the Scripture that David was a man
after God's own heart. And so David was a type of Christ,
and David prophetically spoke the words of Christ, but these
aren't the prayers of Christ. Because, you know, who desires
Or who could come before the Lord and say, Judge me, O Lord,
for I have walked in mine integrity? I mean, surely a man who is acquainted
with his sin, how can he expect to do that? Judge me, O Lord,
for I am upright. No, brethren, who could this
be but the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, who in a spiritual understanding... Now plenty of people say that.
Plenty of people think that they're going to be vindicated by the
Lord. Well, you know the Lord, He's going to right all the wrongs. And what people mean by that
is the things that's been done to me that's wrong. Now, they
don't really care if they did something wrong to you. What
they want is they want justice for their self. You know, somebody
did this to me, buddy, they're going to get what's coming to
them. Oh, Lord, show mercy to me, but give them what's coming
to them. See, that's just human nature. That's the way we are
by nature. I didn't ever have to teach you
to be like that. Your mom and daddy didn't say,
now here, sons, what you need to do is you need to be always
looking out for yourself. See? I mean, your parents didn't
have to teach you that, did they? Now, unfortunately, some parents
do teach their children such stuff as that. And that just
compounds the problem, reinforces it. So the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only one who could in truth pray such prayers as this. And I believe this is his prayer.
Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. Now,
judgment and justice is a good thing as long as you are on the
side of justice. You know, a courtroom is a good
place to be if you are innocent And the truth is going to come
out that you're innocent. That's a good thing. If you're
accused of a crime and you are not guilty of that crime, and
the judgment comes down that you are not guilty, that is a
good thing, is it not? But you see, the sad thing is
that when any man stands before the court of God, according to
the judgment and justice of God, In and of himself, he cannot
expect to have anything but condemnation heaped upon him. So he could
not pray such a prayer, judge me according to my integrity,
because he does not have any. But, as I said, justice is a
good thing if you have integrity. If you have walked in cleanness
and purity of heart and mind, and the Lord Jesus Christ surely
did. He was without sin. And He walked
perfectly among men. And there was nothing that while
men would accuse Him of many things, there was nothing that
He was accused of by His heavenly Father, except insofar as He
took upon Himself our sins. and became sin for us. But he
was judged for his integrity and he was glad to come before
the Lord. And brethren, we ought to be
glad this day that he did come before the Lord. Because you
see, it is justice that causes us to stand in the final day
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there is no place for mercy
at the judgment seat. See, there is no mercy at the
judgment seat. Some people think that they're
going to get before the throne of God and they're going to say,
well, Lord, show me mercy. No, there will be no mercy at
the judgment seat of God, because that's not the place for mercy.
That's the place for justice. And it is on the basis of justice
that God's people shall stand before the Lord as righteous. Because they shall stand there
in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, who prays this prayer,
and He says, Judge me, O Lord, according to thy righteousness.
So when we say that we are justified, that's a good thing. We're justified. We're a just people. made just
in the sight of God. As someone has said, the word
justified is just as if I had not sinned. And that's a good
manner in which to think of it, because that's what justified
means. It doesn't just mean, well, you're a sinner, but we're
going to overlook it. No, the Lord looks at His people
as those who have not sinned. Why? Because He bore their sin.
Now he being the only one being without sin, who could bear their
sin and become a sin offering for them, having no sin of his
own. I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord,
therefore I shall not slide. Jonathan Edwards preached a famous
message years ago, and he took for his text a text from Exodus,
I believe, or it might be Deuteronomy, I don't remember where it's at,
but anyway. The name of the text was, Their foot shall slide in
due time. The Lord said, Therefore I shall
not slide. That is, there is nothing that
can move me away from thy presence. For I have walked in mine integrity.
But you see the wicked, their foot shall slide in due time. They are going to be in a slippery
place. Have you ever tried to walk on ice? I remember back
when, I was back in the 80s, probably 88 or 89 or somewhere
along in there, and we had all that real hard freeze, and there
was ice on the road out in front of the house, and the boys was
out there, you know, sliding around on the ice, and so I was
going to show them how to do it. You know, so I got me, there
was some spots where there wasn't any ice, but then there was some
ice. So I got me a running start. And then what my thought was,
well I'm going to just, you know, go on with them, I'm going to
be like I'm skiing. Well, I skied all right. And
my feet went completely out of my mind, my landed flat on my
back. My feet slid. And that's the way people are
before the judgment of God. There's no place to stand. You
can't stand up. You can try as hard as you can. Curtis and I, during that same
period of time, we rode down to Gainesville, and there was
ice on the road, and we saw a car just be going along, and all
of a sudden, it just slid sideways, just completely off of the road.
Now fortunately, they weren't going very fast, so it wasn't
that much to it, but it wasn't anything they could do about
it. And so that's what the slide is. But the Lord said, I shall
not slide. Why? Because he has traction
before the Lord. He is that one who has integrity. Examine me, O Lord, and prove
me. Try my reins in my heart, for
Thy lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in
Thy truth. Oh, can it be anyone but Christ?
Can anyone but Christ say those things? Can you say that? No.
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins. No. Lord, don't
look on my heart. Look upon Christ. Oh, that you
might see Christ and not me. Because if I have to stand before
the gaze of God's justice, I'm done for. I've not sat with vain
persons. That is, empty people. World
full of empty people. The emptiest people are usually
the ones who think they're the fullest. Isn't that the truth? I mean, all these great philosophers
and great men of wisdom, they tell us all this stuff and they
don't know anything. You know, they tell us how we
ought to act and this, that and the other, and they don't know
anything about the truth of God. I have sat with vain persons,
I have not sat with vain persons. The Lord Jesus Christ, well,
when it says He has not sat, now He sat with sinners, did
He not? He accompanied with sinners. But what He means is, He has
not sat in a place of agreement with them. He didn't go in among
the Pharisees and try to gain their confidence. He didn't try
to go in among them and try to pat them on the back and butter
them up and try to make them his friend. He just went in there
and told them the truth, did he not? He didn't sit with them.
He didn't take it for a moment. He didn't try to gain their favor. He says, I have not sat with
vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers, that is,
hypocrites, those that say one thing and do something else.
For the Lord Jesus Christ, He spoke the truth from beginning
to end. He says, I have hated the congregation
of evildoers. I've hated it. Now you know, quite often in
the flesh, We like evildoers as long as they are on our side. I mean, if they are accomplishing
what we want them to do, we can kind of look the other way and
say, well, you know, we will go along with it because it is
helping our cause. Now that is the way politics
is. That is the way politics is. I mean, what is that saying,
the enemy of my The enemy is my friend or whatever
it is, you know, however that goes. But that's the way men
are. But that's not the way the Lord
was. No. He says, I will not. I have hated
the congregation of evil doers. I will not sit with the wicked. I will not accompany with them. I will not rejoice in their presence. I will wash mine hands in innocency. So will I come past thine altar,
O Lord. The innocency of the Lord was
like a perfume coming up to the Father. The Father saw the Son
and He was pleased with Him. He saw everything that He did
and He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He is my Son. He is my only begotten
Son. He is acceptable unto me. I will wash mine hands in innocence
and so will I compass thine altar, O Lord. And the Lord did. Compass
the altar of the Lord. He was that acceptable sacrifice
that was placed upon that altar. He surrounded it. It was a sweet-smelling
savor coming up into the nostrils of God. So will I compass thine
altar, O Lord, that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving
and tell of all thy wondrous works. How often it is that the Lord
moves in our heart and mind to exalt and honor His name, but
we don't have the ability. It just feels like we just fall
short of it, doesn't it? I mean, we want to praise Him.
We want to exalt Him by the work of the Spirit in us, but we find
ourselves weak and unable to do it. Well, the Lord Jesus Christ,
He perfectly did it. I mean, he praised the Father
perfectly in our behalf. He is a perfect worshipper of
God in our behalf. And that is what he says here.
He says, I will publish with the voice of thanksgiving and
tell of all thy wondrous works. See, he perfectly has told the
wondrous works of the Lord. Lord, I have loved the habitation
of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. The habitation
of thy house, the dwelling place of God. Now where is it that
the Lord has said He would dwell with His people? He will dwell
in and amongst His people. He has come into our presence. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I have loved the habitation of thy house. He loved the people
of God. He knew who they were. See, the
Lord knoweth them that are His. Now you and I, we go out through
the world here, and we don't have any way of knowing who the
people of God are. I mean, we kind of have some
kind of an inclination of those that we come in contact with
and we have fellowship with, and we come to know we have some
knowledge, but we don't really know who the people of God are. Surely not when we go out here
in the world outside of our meeting. We don't know who the people
of God are, but the Lord knoweth them that are His, and He delights
in them. He delights in their presence,
and He delights in their gatherings. See, the Lord inhabiteth the
praises of His people. He's in the midst of His people.
When our hearts are united together through the Spirit of God, then
He's causing us to praise Him. The Lord inhabits those praises.
That's a blessed thing, dear brethren. It's one thing, you
know, when we go out here by ourselves and we pray, and we
go out here and we sing to ourselves or whatever, in psalms and hymns,
making joy to the Lord. making melody in our hearts unto
the Lord, that's a good thing. But when we come together in
the congregation, you see, it is a more glorious thing. Why? Because we love the habitation
of God. We love the place where God is
pleased to dwell with His people and to meet with us there. The
place where thine honor dwelleth. Now, unfortunately, So-called churches are not a
place where the honor of God dwells. It's a place where the
honor of men dwells. Because at every opportunity,
they want to praise what men are doing, and they want to say
to men what they can do, and what they ought to do, and all
of these things. But you see, where the Spirit
of God is, There is only one name that is going to be exalted.
It is going to be the name of Christ. We are not coming down here to
pat one another on the back and say, what a good job you are
doing, but we came down here to magnify Christ. We are as
honored with it. When men preach, sometimes when
they sing, it's just the way of man. They will seek to have
some recognition for it. They want men to see it. They
want men to say, you did a good job. I mean, that was a good
thing. Brethren, we're not praising
God or praying or preaching. for the praise of men, but for
the honor of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
that He delighted, He loved the place where His honor dwells. Because where the Lord is, where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. That doesn't mean
there is liberty for men to do whatever the flesh delights in,
but there is liberty to do that which the Spirit desires to do.
What does the Spirit desire to do? to glorify Christ. The Lord said, when the Spirits
come, He will glorify me. So if you want to know where
the glory of God is, it's where Christ is glorified. That's where
Christ is. That's where the honor of God
is. Where Christ is lifted up. Where
thine honor dwelleth. Gather not my soul with sinners,
nor my life with bloody men. Now, you know, on the one hand,
and this is a dichotomy that we cannot really fully comprehend,
on the one hand, the Scripture says that the Lord hates sinners. It says the soul that sinneth
shall die. He despises sin. But yet the Scripture says that
He loves sinners. He accompanied sinners. He walked
with sinners. He saved sinners. But he says,
"...neither my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men."
That is, don't let me be in reality insofar as my walking in the
flesh is concerned. Don't let me be numbered among
them. Don't let me be like them. Don't let their ways rub off
on me. Gather not my soul, sinners,
nor my life with bloody men. Don't let me go in that place
where they are at, because that is the way of man, is it not?
We said a couple of weeks ago, the dark places of the earth
are the habitations of cruelty. Man is desirous in the depths
of his soul of bringing harm to other men. if it will benefit
him. Now, he might not just like to
go out and just hurt them for their sake, but if it comes down
to either hurting them or hurting him, he'll hurt them. I mean,
that's just the way men are. That's the way we are by nature.
Gathered up my soul, sinners of my life with bloody men, in
whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.
That's who he's describing. It's those that have no consideration
of the way of God, but whatever their benefit is to be. I don't know how many people
in Washington have ever read that passage of Scripture right
there. Or maybe not even far as Washington. I mean, it's always
been amazing to me that people that get involved in political
offices always seem to come out on the other end better off than
they were when they went in. Isn't that an amazing thing?
How does that happen? I mean, how does a guy go to
Congress with no money and then ten, fifteen years later he's
a multimillionaire? Now how does that happen? Was
he just that smart? I mean, what's going on there?
The Lord said, don't let me be found among them. Their right
hand is full of bribes. And you know, that's kind of
the way man is by nature, to think that he can bribe God.
Because he says, well, you know, Lord, I'll do this. I'll give
some money. Give them a time. I'll go down
to the homeless shelter and I'll help feed some people and I'll
do all these things. All these things are good things,
but often men use them kind of like a leverage point. They use it as kind of like a
way to get an inside track. With the Lord, that's the same
thing as bribing somebody, is it not? It's the same type of
thing. But as for me, I will walk in
mine integrity. Deliver me and be merciful unto
me. Now why did the Lord say to the
Father, Be merciful unto me? Was He not worthy of all the
Lord's mercy? Of course He was. But you see,
He was a man. He was a perfect man. He was a man that knew he
needed the mercy of God, even though he had no sin. Now see,
people think that if you didn't have any sin, you wouldn't need
mercy. Well, that's not true. You need the mercy of God. You
see, the mercy of God is new every morning. The mercy of God
is even that which the Lord Jesus Christ desired. Be merciful unto
me, but as for me, I will walk in my integrity." Again, he says,
I walk in my uprightness. But then what did he say? He
said, redeem me or deliver me. That word redeem means to deliver. He said, deliver me. Now, I want
you to read a passage over here in Hebrews. It came to mind here. It's about the seventh verse. Well, let's read. Verse 5 says,
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest,
but he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten
thee. As he said also in another place,
Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Now
the Lord Jesus Christ as an humble man did not even so much as as
a man put himself in the place of being the priest of the people
of God. He did not make himself a priest,
but he was made a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek
by the decree of Almighty God. He came into the world as a priest,
not to gain favor unto himself, not to exalt himself above his
father, but he came because that was what the Father ordained
him to do. Now listen to this. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek, who in the days of his flesh, speaking
of Christ, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong cryings and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death, and was heard in that he feared." The Lord Jesus Christ cried out
to his Father. to be delivered from death. Because you see, death is an
encompassing matter. And He was heard in that He feared.
The Lord did deliver Him from death, did He not? Why did He
deliver Him from death? He delivered Him from death because
He walked in His integrity. Death couldn't hold Him. Now
you or I, we can't be delivered from death because of our integrity.
But Christ could. See, death didn't have any hold
on Him. When He had paid the price for death, for the sin
of His people, then it was no longer possible for death to
hold on to Him. Because, you see, He is the eternally
begotten Son of God. And he was able to satisfy the
claims of God's justice. And when he had completely and
perfectly satisfied the claims of God's justice, then death
could not hold him. And he was heard in that he feared.
He was heard in that he walked in his integrity. He was heard
in that he was the perfect Savior. And he was that one who came
forth Even as he says, redeem me and be merciful unto me, my
foot standeth in an even place. That's the place where he stands. It's an even place. He's not
only inclined, he's not worried about falling, his foot won't
slide, he's in an even place. He's at the right hand of the
Father. He is that one who is the Savior of sinners, my foot
standeth in an even place in the congregation while I bless
the Lord." You see, the Lord will call His people, and He
will cause His people to praise Him. See, He will have praise
from His people. It's as impossible, or more impossible, It's more possible for the mountains
to slide into the sea, for the seas to rise up and cover the
mountains. It's more possible that that
should happen than that the people of God should not praise Him
with their whole heart. Because that's the work that
He performs in His people, in the congregation. He'll meet
with them. He'll bless them. He'll direct
their steps. He'll give them hearts to follow
Him, to delight in His way, because that's the work that He does.
He walks in His integrity, and He gives His people a desire
to walk in His integrity, because that's just what He does. Oh,
that the Lord might perform those works in us to make us to be,
to manifest, to show to the world the glories of the Savior. Oh,
you know that He might come down and meet with us. That's what
we need. We need revival. That is, we
need stirring up. We can't call a revival and cause
it to happen. We can't say we're going to have
a revival. Now, a lot of these guys, they
advertise that they're going to have a Holy Ghost revival.
I don't know how they know it. Well, they know that. They don't
know that. What they're talking about is
they're going to get around and get some folks stirred up and
they're going to call it the Holy Ghost. You can't predict that. When
the disciples were in the upper room and the Holy Ghost came
upon them, they didn't predict that. They didn't know when it
was going to happen. They didn't even know what it
was. They said, what in the world is going on here? But see, when
the Lord is pleased to meet with His people and revive His people.
It is a glorious thing. And I believe He gives His people
a heart to cry out to Him. Oh Lord, as Hosea did, or Habakkuk,
I believe. Oh Lord, revive Thy work in the
midst of the years, in the midst of the years, make known in wrath,
remember mercy. Oh, stir us up, that we might
praise and exalt the name of Christ as well. Now every man,
I believe, who is awakened by the Spirit of God knows the barrenness
of his own heart and how weak and paltry his service to God
is. And his desire is, O Lord, fill
me. Let me be what You want me to
be. Let me praise You with my whole heart.