Psalm 101 p3 of 3

Q: What does the Bible say about mercy and judgment?

The Bible reveals that mercy and judgment are harmoniously fulfilled in Christ, who satisfied God's justice through His sacrifice. In Psalm 101, David proclaims a commitment to mercy and judgment, echoing the dual aspects of God's character. The psalm highlights that true justice is not separate from mercy; they coexist in God’s throne, which is established on justice and mercy (Psalm 89:14). The Gospel of John reinforces this when John the Baptist identifies Christ as the Lamb of God, who provides mercy through His atoning sacrifice, thereby fulfilling God’s judgment against sin. As believers, we find comfort in knowing that Christ's righteousness covers us, allowing us to stand justified before God.

Q: How do we know justification by faith is true?

Justification by faith is affirmed in Scripture, particularly in Romans 4, where it emphasizes that righteousness is imputed apart from works. The doctrine of justification by faith is central to Reformed theology and is explicitly taught in Romans 4, which refers to Abraham and David as examples of those justified without works. The apostle Paul clarifies that it is not by any human effort that one is justified, but by faith in Christ who has fulfilled all righteousness and paid the penalty for sin. David himself proclaims in Psalm 32 the blessedness of the man whose sins are forgiven, illustrating that God's mercy is extended to sinners because of Christ's work on the cross. Thus, this doctrine is rooted deeply in Scripture and affirmed through the narratives of biblical figures.

Q: Why is the concept of sin important for Christians?

Understanding sin is vital for Christians as it highlights our need for grace and the sufficiency of Christ's atonement. The concept of sin is essential for Christians because it reveals humanity's total depravity and need for redemption. Scripture states that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), emphasizing our inability to achieve righteousness on our own. Recognizing sin prompts a deeper appreciation for God's grace and mercy, as seen in David's confessions in Psalms 51 and 130. These passages remind us that forgiveness is available, not through our works, but through the sacrificial love of Christ, who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). This understanding cultivates humility, reliance on God’s grace, and a desire to reflect His mercy in our lives.

Q: What does Psalm 101 teach about living a righteous life?

Psalm 101 instructs believers to pursue righteousness and integrity, demonstrating commitment to God’s standards. In Psalm 101, David expresses his intent to live righteously as a king, pledging to behave wisely and avoid wickedness. This psalm encapsulates the believer's desire to live in accordance with God's will, illustrating that true righteousness is a reflection of God’s character. While David’s resolve is commendable, it is also a reminder of the struggle with sin that every believer faces, as shown through David’s own failures. Yet, the psalm ultimately points to the sufficiency of Christ’s righteousness, which is credited to us by faith, empowering us to walk in newness of life. Therefore, pursuing righteousness in the believer’s life is both an effort to reflect God's holiness and an acknowledgment of our dependence on Christ for strength.

Okay, we're gonna be in Psalm 101 tonight for the last time, at least for the short term. But we've gone through it twice. Now, this is a third part. And I wanted to go through this because we didn't get to it last time, and I think it's an important aspect of this psalm. In our first look at this psalm, we saw that, the psalm speaks of Christ and that he sings, as it says in verse one, of mercy and judgment.

And he himself has pledged, as it says in the psalm, in many different ways, I will behave myself wisely. in a perfect way, and I will walk within my house with a perfect heart," in verse 2, and many other things like that. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes, verse 3.

I hate the work of them that turn aside. It will not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer, won't allow it, won't tolerate.

So you can see that the Lord Jesus Christ in these things, he spoke what he determined to do and did it. Okay, so that was our first look at this psalm. And throughout that, it's a blessed thing to see how Christ is the one who this psalm is speaking of and that he fulfilled it in his own person and work as our representative and as our substitute. Because he is our righteousness and his wisdom, as it says in verse two, behaving himself wisely, his perfections and his holiness are our perfections, our holiness before God. That's what the believer relies on.

We know that from the New Testament because So many places God has said that he has made us in Christ to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Or that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. And the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3, for example, that he considered all that he had ever done to be worthless dung, and he wanted only to be found in Christ, and not having his own righteousness, but Christ's righteousness.

So, these things are prevalent throughout the New Testament, and it is a great blessing, and we see it here, and are comforted by it in the first case, because it applies to the Lord, and therefore it applies to his people. The second time we looked at this psalm we were trying to see how mercy rejoices against judgment and in a way that it triumphs because mercy is in the Lord Jesus Christ through his precious blood has satisfied and brought delight to God in judgment. All of God's justice has been pleased, satisfied in Christ.

And that again is a major, it's probably what I would consider the major theme of Scripture. And let me just give you an example of how that theme is prevalent throughout Scripture. Remember in the book of John, the Gospel of John, how John the Baptist spoke of Christ, remember the two prominent things that he said about him. Number one, he's the son of God. And number two, he's the lamb of God. So those two things include really the wide scope of the gospel.

Christ, who is God, offered himself to God as the Lamb of God for our sins. And so when we see in this psalm, Mercy and Judgment, we see then that in Christ's shed blood, the sacrifice he gave of himself to God for our sins, That was mercy, and that mercy in Christ has pleased God in all of his justice. So the judgment that was rendered by mercy causes both mercy and judgment, God's righteousness and peace to kiss. There's an embrace between these things that to us seem at tension, but they're not at tension. They're actually harmoniously magnified in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So that was the second aspect of this psalm that we looked at and we spent a good bit of time last week. Now this week, I want to look at this psalm as David wrote it. And I know that David understood, and I've made this claim and I believe it's true, that David understood that when he wrote this psalm he was speaking primarily of Christ. But he also was speaking as a king who was coming into his throne.

Because when you see it, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. Throughout the Psalms, for example, Psalm 89 and 14, the throne of God is established in judgment and justice and also in mercy. And I'll remind you by reading that verse, Psalm 89 and verse 14, he says, Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. So this is God's throne, justice and judgment, that's where they dwell, God's throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. There they are together, judgment, mercy, truth, justice, it's all there, it's reconciled in God's throne. Only God can do, what God has done, which is to justify the ungodly in mercy and truth, in judgment.

So when David is speaking these words as King David, then he's like a believer. He is a believer. We know he is. And so I want to read through this psalm, looking at it from David's perspective, because this is the perspective a believer has, I think. And we see how, I want to state it at the outset, that through this psalm, we see how God is teaching us that he causes the truth of the gospel to be an experience in our life, and hopefully that'll become clear as we go through this.

So verse one, it says, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. As the king, he understood that justice was necessary for the throne. For his throne to be administered under God's delegated authority and on behalf of God among men, then it also needed to be a throne of justice and judgment and mercy and truth, just like it says in Psalm 89, 14. So he's singing of mercy and judgment in this way as the king who's coming into his kingdom, being anointed by God to be king over Israel. He said, unto thee, O Lord, will I sing, because it's God's mercy and God's truth and judgment that he's speaking of.

And then he says in verse 2 and following through, through verse five, verses two through five. Notice how he pledges these things. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when wilt thou come to me? You can see that David is dependent upon the Lord to come to him and to enable him to rule as king. And he's resolved to behave perfectly and wisely. And he did for the most part. He says, oh, when will thou come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. To turn aside means to turn aside from the way. Of course, Christ is that way. There's only one narrow way, and that's the way of life, the way of salvation, the way to heaven. It's the way of Christ. He's the way to the Father. He brings us into glory. He brings us to glory. We don't bring ourselves. That's why the way is so narrow, is because men don't understand. They cannot bring to God anything that God can accept, especially themselves.

And so, he says, I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me. And then he goes on, verse four, a froward heart shall depart from me, I will not know a wicked person. And he's talking about the things that follow. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that has a high look, a proud heart, will I not tolerate or suffer.

So these are pledges that David as king is making as he begins to take the throne he's been appointed and anointed to take by God over God's people. And so you can see his resolve in these things. He's determined to do the right thing, isn't he? Now, take that as the attitude of the believer, knowing what is pleasing to God, because we know how God himself rules.

We want to do right, don't we? We want to be merciful. We want to have integrity, as judgment would suggest, or equitable. We don't want to be partial in our judgment. We want to be merciful to the needy, merciful to those who have needs and are poor and are oppressed, are destitute. our fatherless, our widows. We want to be merciful to them and we don't want to do things in order to gain the praise of men or to gain from men by their reward.

We want to do everything as unto the Lord. That's the believer's desire, isn't it? But let's go on to read this in verse six and following. He says, my eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

OK. In verse 8, finally, he says, I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all the wicked doers from the city of the Lord. Now, there's many ways, as I tried to enumerate a week or so ago, that David intended to do right but failed. And I say that because, let me just remind you, remember Bathsheba. Here David is.

Things are going well. He's had the kingdom now. His enemies are being destroyed. God is with him. He's given him wisdom, lots of things. And then he commits adultery and murder and he hides it and he doesn't do anything until the prophet Nathan exposes him. And so God had to come to him. All right. So here's a man. obviously anointed by the Spirit of God. So God, he was one of the Lord's people, and yet he fell grievously.

So consider the words of this psalm now and consider just that one thing. David failed to do what he wanted to do. And that's Romans 7, isn't it? The good that I would, I do not. The evil which I would not, that I do. So then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Those are the words of Romans 7. And this is the words of the Apostle Paul.

We know these are the words of a man of God, someone in whom the Spirit of God dwells, just like David. David was, he was prominent in Old Testament scriptures. Two men, really, were prominent when we consider the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham and David, and for example, the first chapter of Matthew in the New Testament, and also in Luke, the genealogy of Christ is given, and Abraham and David are right there in that genealogy. Christ had to be a descendant of Abraham and of David, or he couldn't be the savior of his people. Because God had pledged and promised to Abraham to save, to justify the ungodly through him. So he had to descend from Abraham, and then also he would rule over God's people forever, because he would be the son of David, so he had to also descend from David.

And so these two men are held up prominently, not only in that way, but also in the book of Romans, in chapter 4, both Abraham and David are brought to support the truth of the gospel that we're justified not by what we do, but by what Christ has done.

Before God, we are not accepted by anything we do. In fact, if we attempt to do in order to be approved of God, to gain his acceptance and his approval, if we expect God to recognize our efforts, whether it be mental, or what we say, what we know, or what we do, anything that's from us, or our inherent value, or any of those things, then God says, then he's going to reward us according to our works, what we deserve. That's the very worst possible situation we could face, to be rewarded by God in all of his holiness for what we really are and what we really do and think. But wonderfully in the gospel, and it's revealed in Romans chapter four, Abraham first and then David are both brought forward in order to prove that God never, ever, and will never justify a man by what he is or what he does, but for Christ's sake alone.

It says in verse five of Romans four, to him that worketh not, does not work, does not attempt to gain approval or acceptance or justification or make himself holy before God by what he can do. that man who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

And then he refers to Abraham and the account God gave of him and then to David. So I bring that forward to show how important David was and Abraham was, but specifically David. Because in Romans chapter 4, now this is David talking. I want to read it as it's written there in Romans 4. Let me turn there for we get it right. He says in Romans 4 and verse 6, even as David also, like Abraham, describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without works.

He doesn't do work. And yet God says he's righteous. God, in his accounting, in God's accounting, he says this man is righteous. That's a blessed man. That's what David says. Now think about that statement. Think about what David said. Blessed is the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works. Because in Psalm 101, he's talking about what he's going to do. He's pledging all these things. I'm not gonna do this, I'm not gonna do that. I am gonna do this, I am gonna do that.

David knew that his works would not justify him before God, based on Romans chapter four. He says, without works, God imputes righteousness. That is a blessed man. So David is preaching justification by the free gift of righteousness, that righteousness being the obedience and blood of Christ, charged or counted ours by God out of pure grace, without any work on our part. We did nothing.

In fact, We were opposed to God. We were enemies and sinners and without strength and hostile in our minds and alienated, all these things that are mentioned throughout the New Testament, by wicked works. And in the Old Testament, our heart was deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Every imagination of the thoughts of our hearts was only wicked, continually evil. So, and out of the heart of man, Jesus says, comes all these things. Sin comes from our heart, okay?

But yet, David says, the man who is justified, counted righteous by God without works, that is the blessed man. Of course, he's quoting from Psalm 32, where it says in Romans 4, verse 7, he quotes from Psalm 32. He says, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. So that covering of our sins is the cleansing and the clothing. We're cleansed by the blood of Christ, we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He says, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Now, he was saying here, the Apostle Paul is saying that is justification by the imputed righteousness God imputing that righteousness, which was worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? That's the gospel, right? Christ died for our sins. That's the way God takes our sins away.

And David is celebrating that in Psalm 32. The Apostle Paul is referring to David in Romans chapter four. And in Psalm 101, we have this man who firmly believed that he was justified before God by free grace because of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's the righteousness that's imputed to us. Christ redeeming work. Okay. So we know then that all of David's resolve coming into his kingdom then is a good It was a good desire and it reflects a man who really wants to conform in his life to what God is, to what Christ is. And yet, In the matter of Bathsheba, he horribly fails, doesn't he? He just horribly fails.

And then there were many other times, and I mentioned them the other day, where he put up with men who, he unwisely did things with men who were wicked, and I mentioned Absalom, and Ahithophel, his counselor, or his captain Joab, or Ziba, the man who he put over the goods that he gave to Mephibosheth.

Ziba lied about Mephibosheth, slandered Mephibosheth, but yet David swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. And Mephibosheth, everything was taken from Mephibosheth and given to Ziba. And so at the end of it, David had to tell Mephibosheth, well, you get to sit at the king's table. And Mephibosheth said, that's fine with me.

Ziba can take everything. All I want is the king, which is true of all believers and Christ. But other things too. Remember Psalm 51. That was the confession of David. And how sweet that psalm is. David confessed his sin. David confessed his sin. That's what he did. How could he do that unless he knew that God was gracious?

In Psalm 130 he says, if you would mark iniquities who could stand but there's forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. And so in Psalm 51, he says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, not according to me or my innocence, but according to your lovingkindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies. So see, he's asking God to be gracious to him according to his mercies, not according to David's sin or his own works. And you can read that Psalm, and it's delightful, Psalm 51, but I want to read verse 14 of that Psalm.

Deliver me from blood guiltiness. He was a murderer. He asked God to deliver him from blood guiltiness, and then he says, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. That seems contrary to anything that's just, doesn't it?

How could God let a murderer go free and it be righteous? How could anyone hearing David sing of God's righteousness, knowing that he had murdered Uriah the Hittite, and took his wife, how could anyone tolerate someone singing like that? Well, because again, that righteousness was established by God in the Lord Jesus Christ. God made him sin for us. made Christ sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

That's what David's singing about. That's what he said in Psalm 32, about how blessed it was that the man would be justified by God without works, okay? So Psalm 101 is flowing then from a man who knows this. He's obviously a believer, a man who confesses his sin, and yet he fails a lot. His life is marked by many failures, and I just named a few.

And the thing is, you might wonder, well, how could David be a man after God's own heart and yet do these things? Bathsheba, the poor judgment with Ziba or Absalom, not, I mean, allowing Absalom to build up this resistance and eventually rebel against his father in a coup with Ahithophel and all the men that were with him. How could he allow this conspiracy to take place? Because he was tolerating Absalom because Absalom was his own son. He was overlooking what he should have been looking for. And then there was the thing of where he numbered Israel, remember? And so the question is, how could this man do those things? Well, it's the same thing with us, and that's what I'm getting to here. David is like every believer. in this psalm. We want to do the right thing. We want to be, if I could say it this way, we want to do right. We want to be right, don't we?

But the problem is that when we're living this life of faith, the way that God deals with us is that he at times will bring things into our life that seem sudden, unexpected, and we don't have time to respond to them properly, and so we just respond.

Or it's even worse, like with the matter of Bathsheba. He wasn't like, oh, I just... you know, I just responded to a complex situation in the wrong way. No, he went after this, he pursued the lust of his own heart. So you can see then that there are times, or like when he numbered Israel, there were times when God removed the restraint from David so that David acted according to his own nature, his own sinful nature, And then he was brought back, like in the confession of Psalm 51 or Psalm 32, or even after he numbered Israel, he said, I've sinned, you know, and God gave him those choices.

So what we see then is through the failures, through these times when the Lord brings temptation in to test the man, He tests us too. He tests us and sometimes that testing is simply allowing us to do what we want to do. And that brings all the consequences that sin brings. Sorrow, grief, depression, a feeling of being forsaken, misery. Psalm 102, which is the psalm that follows this one, sounds like that.

In Psalm 102, verse 6, he says, I'm like a pelican of the wilderness. Pelicans belong at the ocean, not in the wilderness, not in the desert. There's nothing in the desert for a pelican. He says, I'm like an owl of the desert. Owls belong in trees. or in barns looking for mice, not in the desert. He says, I watch an emesis sparrow alone upon the housetop. Sparrows don't do well when they're alone. They're always together.

And so you can see that that's the result of this failure. I wanted to do right. I failed to do right. I understand that I'm saved by grace, because of the righteousness of Christ, and yet I failed in a way that has left me in a horrible condition. And now what? Well, David's response was he confessed his sin, didn't he? He just confessed his sin.

And he pleaded that God would have mercy on him for goodness found in him on the basis of what God would find in his own name, his own character, his own person. In fact, all that All that God is that brought forth Christ as our propitiation, as our redeemer and our surety. All that God did in our salvation. The Lord has become my salvation. So David was pleading according to God and his character in him becoming his salvation. That's the way he could sing aloud of his righteousness even though he was blood guilty.

Okay, so Psalm 101 is referring to these things, and it really comes to a crystal clear, if you will, expression in 2 Samuel. If you want to turn to 2 Samuel chapter 23. This is familiar, because the people that we listen to have referred to this often, but listen to these words in Psalm 23. He says in verse one, now these be the last words of David.

David the son of Jesse said, the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel. So make sure that you understand who he's talking about. The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me." And here's what he knew from God. He that ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God. Doesn't that sound like the resolve of Psalm 101? The believer knows that we are to be followers of Christ.

Remember what Jesus told the woman at the well. I'm sorry, not the woman at the well, the woman in John chapter eight, taken in adultery. Remember what he said to her after those men came and accused her to him in the company of all the people in the temple when he was teaching them.

And he silenced those men. And he did that by stooping down and writing. And they were convicted of their in their conscience when he told them, whoever is without sin among you, you throw the first stone. And stooped down again, wrote a second time, and then rose up that second time. And there was no one left. And he looked at the woman and he said to her, where are your accusers? She said, no man has. And she said, he said, Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn thee. Remember those words?

In other words, Christ justified her. The one who was charged by his enemies, brought in order with the intent of exposing Christ as false before the people. And they were proved false, and he justified her. So this is what the Lord does for his people.

But that wasn't the only thing he said, remember? The first thing he said was, neither do I condemn thee. In other words, you're justified. The second one was, go and sin no more. There's so a lot to be said about that, and I'm not going to take time to say it, but I just want to say this one thing here.

That's what Psalm 101, verses 2 through 5, and even beyond, is saying. It's a man who hears the words, go and sin no more, and he's trying, and he's failing, and he's trying, and he's failing. And this is the pattern of his life, trying, to do right, trying to be right, but he can't. And what did he learn through that? Well, 2 Samuel 23 now, he says, he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, verse four.

And he, now he's talking about someone else, he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. It sounds like after the flood. when the earth dried up and God had a rainbow and he pledged that he would no more flood the earth, made a covenant, an everlasting one, because the judgment had passed because Noah and his family in the ark had been spared judgment inside the ark, that ark pitched with the atonement. So he's talking about the light of the morning. This is the sun rising, the morning of the gospel. When the morning rises without clouds, there's no more tempest and darkness and sound of a trumpet like at Sinai. It's the bright shining after the rain.

He says in verse five, although my house be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my salvation. and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." So David now, again, he's a believer, the Spirit of God is with him, he takes the place God has assigned to him, which is the throne to rule over his people. He's determined to do it in the fear of God, ruling over men justly. He understands this is the way God rules, and he even says in Psalm 101, when will you come to me?

But he fails. He fails because when God removes his hand of restraint just a little bit, then he does all sorts of things that are wrong. He falls to temptation at many times, doesn't act wisely, doesn't act in a perfect way. And yet, at the end of his life now, in 2 Samuel 23, he's reflecting on that.

He's telling us this is the life, this is the experience of grace, in the life of a believer. The experience of grace in the life of the believer is to teach that child of God the gospel. And the gospel is, my house is not so. My heart, my family, my kingdom, whatever house he's referring to here, every part of his house.

Yet he made with me an everlasting covenant before he gave me the throne. Before I heard his call, before I saw that it's the man God justifies without works by the blood of Christ, before I knew those things, God had made an everlasting covenant with me in Christ.

And he says, and it's ordered, this covenant is ordered in all things. It was ordered to bring Christ into the world, that he would take on our nature, that he would fulfill the law under the law and answer the law and justice by his precious blood, taking our sins and removing our sins and fulfilling all righteousness and rising again in triumph, ascending to glory and taking his place and from there sending his spirit to preach the gospel, giving us grace to believe and see he has done it all. That's what he's talking about, this ordering. Our lives are ordered. Everything is ordered according to this covenant to bring us to God by Christ.

And sure, there's no failure in this. We couldn't do what God required. Christ did it. We cannot undo what God has done in Christ for us. So all of this draws out from David's life. We see the experience here. If he could have excluded himself from salvation and grace, it would have happened. But he couldn't because God made an everlasting covenant with him, ordered and God ordered it. And sure, it couldn't be changed. This is all my salvation and this is all my desire.

You see, What the believer is in his life, in all of our lives, is we're subjected again and again to our own weakness and Christ's all-sufficiency. So, Going back to the woman charged with adultery by her accusers to the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the presence of all the people in the temple, he justifies her and sends them away. Condemned them, justified her, and then tells her, go and sin no more.

In the same way, we hear the words. We hear the words. It's like the lame man in John chapter five. Take up your bed and walk. The Pharisees saw him, what are you doing carrying your bed on the Sabbath day? The one who made me whole told me to take up my bed and walk. That's why I'm carrying my bed. He made me whole. That's why we're living this way, because he told me, go and sin no more. And yet we find in ourselves this horrible weakness. And it's a sinful weakness, all sorts of sinful weaknesses. And what do those weaknesses do? Well, they make us to confess our sins like David in Psalm 51 or Psalm 32.

They make us to realize again how blessed it is that we're justified by the righteousness of Christ, not by our own work. In fact, it's the one who doesn't work but believes on Christ that's justified, not the one who works and trusts himself or herself. And so David was learning this, and this is the story of our life. Over and over again, we're brought back to Christ and Him crucified.

You know, sadly, when I was young, I understood that we needed to get saved, otherwise we're gonna go to hell, and the way we get saved is by doing something. There was many different things I was told to do. I remember my mom reading me a bedtime story about a little boy in the hospital who had been hit by a car and he's all banged up, head to toe. And then some nurse told him, well, there's this, you know, Jesus passes through at night and all you have to do is have your hand up and he's going to save you or something. I mean, I would latch on to anything like that. I said, maybe if I hold my hand up when I'm going to sleep.

Or ask Jesus into your heart, or go forward in the church, or rededicate your life, or go out and witness, or whatever it is that men give you to do. In order to be a true Christian, you gotta do these different things. And so you begin to look and see. And what you see is utter failure. And then you hear, You're not justified by what you do, or what you are, or what you think, or what you say. It's what God thinks of Christ. Period. That's it. There's only, you know, it's that simple equation. Christ is all. He equals everything that God requires. God has provided and accepted him for us. God did it all. Salvation is of the Lord.

And so, David is brought back to this through the pain of his own failures and the recognition of his own weakness, even though it was always there. But going through life and having the things that God had given him in revelation and authority as king and the ability to sing these songs, all these things, had to be a great blessing. But there was this pain. It was like a thorn in his flesh constantly holding him down. And he, like the Apostle Paul, no doubt was crying out, Oh, wretched man that I am. And what was the result of that? He was pointed again to Christ. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

The answer, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You see, that's our life. And so when he opens the psalm, I will sing of mercy and judgment. Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. He's seen how God's judgment in the life of a believer is not the judgment of eternal damnation, but it's the correction of the Father.

It's the correction of the Father that draws us to Christ effectively. He accomplishes by His chastening what is necessary for our salvation, to bring us to Christ. And being brought to Christ by faith, through the hearing of the gospel, is the way God works in our lives. He brings us out of the depths, and He causes us to see that Christ is everything. And the result of this, the result of this, is that we learn another level of maturity as a believer. And what is that? To be merciful to God's people as the Lord has been merciful to us.

Ephesians chapter four, the last verse, he says this, be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. For Christ's sake, God forgave you. That's the same reason you forgive. You've been forgiven for Christ's sake, you forgive for Christ's sake.

In verse two of the next chapter, in verse one he says, be ye followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. You know what pleased God? When Christ gave himself for sinners. You know what pleases God?

When we trust Christ to save us, who are sinners, and because of that faith God has given us, recognizing our own utter sinfulness, knowing we have nothing and are utterly weak, and God has to save us. We are the objects of needed mercy, and then we therefore, seeing that all of God's mercy and judgment are in Christ, singing of that, we then are merciful to our brothers and sisters. You see, so it has a real effect, doesn't it? It changes us. The truth of Christ in the gospel caused us to not only approach God solely on the basis of what God thinks of Christ in spite of our sin, like David, blessed is the man, to whom God imputes righteousness without works.

Blessed is the man, the Lord, that their iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. That is a blessed man. And you know that blessedness when you see that God has provided and accepted Christ.

Christ has worked everything out, and the Lord tells us, look to Him. You don't need to look any further, look nowhere else, just look to Him. And so when we see that, then the burden is lifted, and then we no longer want to, we're not cold and indifferent towards the needs of others, are we? In fact, we want them to hear this same truth. And that's this being kind and merciful to others. And we could go throughout scripture and see that.

In Galatians chapter 6, for example, he says, If a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. David knew that. David was a merciful man because he knew he had been shown mercy. He was prone to being tempted and also falling. So when he saw a brother or sister overtaken in a fault, he was merciful to them. He preached Christ to them.

He said, let me tell you about confessing your sins. Let me tell you about the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of God's righteousness to us out of pure grace. And that's Psalm 101. It's teaching us that the gospel, the truth of the gospel, God sees to it that that truth is going to be lived out in our lives so that our own sinful weakness becomes the the opportunity, the way, God's ordained way of bringing good out of evil to His glory and for our salvation. Because through our sins we're confessing and agreeing with God that what we are, what Christ is and how God is holy, not accepting us except in Christ, but accepting us in Christ according to His righteousness in perfect standing.

These things are so glorious. And life is painful in this way, but yet it's glorious. I'll say this last thing. When these things afflict us and we're brought low, take David, for example, in Psalm 51, or after he numbered Israel and God destroyed 70,000 in Israel and he was pleading with God, what would you say there would be the greatest moments of David's life? Well, I think it would be like at the end of his life when he realized those times proved to me again the truth God first delivered to us. As I received Christ Jesus the Lord, so I walk in him. It's all him. It's not about David. It's not about John the Baptist. It's about Christ.

And so those low points in our lives, as Psalm 102 will show us next time, these things are actually blessed times, because under the rod, under the chastening hand of God, we're brought to Christ. And that's the whole intention of God, is to keep us with Him.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Hold us fast, bring us to yourself, show us Christ, show us your glory, your beauty, your magnificence in him. And Lord, we pray that our sin would serve to remind us of your greatness, how you've redeemed us when we were sinners, without strength, hostile in our minds, enemies of God. could do nothing about it, and our best attempts to earn your favor were horrible, filthy rags of our own making.

Help us to realize that the beauty of Christ's own righteousness is our covering. His blood is our cleansing. He is our Savior, our surety, our Redeemer. We have nothing to bring, we have no claims, but your word that says Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and we know ourselves to be that. And we thank you that even though it's painful in our lives to be brought to this place of being overwhelmed, and feeling as if we have nothing and we're facing the end of everything and then finding Christ to be our all, that this is a most blessed place. Help us, dear Lord, out of that weakness and meekness and poverty of spirit to see that Christ is our righteousness. In his name we pray, amen.

Psalm 101 p3 of 3

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about mercy and judgment?

How do we know justification by faith is true?

Why is the concept of sin important for Christians?

What does Psalm 101 teach about living a righteous life?

Sermon Transcript

About Rick Warta

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Psalm 101 p3 of 3

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about mercy and judgment?

How do we know justification by faith is true?

Why is the concept of sin important for Christians?

What does Psalm 101 teach about living a righteous life?

Sermon Transcript

About Rick Warta

Comments

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