Psalm 26 this evening. It's called
the Psalm of David. We know that David was God's
chosen king. We know that the Lord said of
David, he's a man after mine own heart. But we also know that
David was a man. He was a man that made great,
great mistakes, great sin against God, and he asked the Lord for
mercy. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies, blot out my sin. And that's the way we pray. We
pray unto God to bless us for Christ's sake. Now, the title
of the message this evening I'm taking from verse, the words
found in verse seven. And I think this is a very good
description of what true gospel preaching is. Notice verse seven,
that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving. With the voice
of thanksgiving that I may declare the gospel and publish it near
and far with thanksgiving And in doing so, tell of all thy
wondrous works. Salvation is all by the doing
of the Lord Jesus Christ, all based upon what he has done for
us. The gospel is not about what
we must do for God. The gospel is all about what
he has done for us in redeeming us, choosing us, calling us,
And we declare the gospel with thanksgiving, with thanksgiving
unto the Lord. Don't turn, but let me just read
this to you in Psalm 9. I will praise thee, O Lord, with
my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvelous
works. His marvelous works. His marvelous
doing. I will be glad and rejoice in
thee. I will sing to thy name. I will sing praise to thy name,
O thou most high. So we love to talk about everything
he has done for us. to publish the gospel, whether
it be by print or by radio, TV, internet, however God gives us,
and do it with a voice of thanksgiving. In everything give thanks, this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now this
is what every God sent preacher desires in his heart to do as
we minister to God's people, that is, to lift up the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember he said, if I be lifted
up, I draw men unto me. I draw all the elect of God through
Christ being lifted up. Declare what he has done for
us, whose name is, he has done wonderful works. Everything he
does is wonderful. Everything he says is wonderful.
His name is wonderful. When we talk about the wonderful
things that he has done for us, talk about works he's done for
us, to us, and in us. What has he done for us? Wounded
for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. What has
He done to us? He's made us new creatures in
Christ. What has He done in us? Being confident of this very
thing, that God who has begun a good work in you, He will accomplish
all that He has purposed to do for us. And we tell out all the
wonderful things He had done for us. We declare all the counsel
of God. We preach not ourselves, but
the Lord Jesus Christ. Determined as the Apostle Paul
to preach Christ and Him crucified as all of our salvation. Now
with that being said, look at verse 1. Judge me, O Lord. Judge
me. For I have walked in mine integrity. David is not saying here, Lord,
I have so much righteousness that you cannot condemn me. That's
not what he's saying. He's saying, judge me, O Lord,
for I have walked in mine integrity. I have walked seeking salvation,
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, as we read in Romans
chapter eight. Judge me, O Lord, for I have
walked, I am walking in mine integrity, that is, in the gospel,
looking to Christ. I have trusted also in the Lord. Therefore, therefore, I shall
not slide. I shall not slide. The only way
a believer desires to stand before God is in Christ. where and in
whom our sins have already been judged and put away by His blood. We are indeed crucified with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins have already been judged
in Him. That's why we can read in Romans
8, 1, there is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment
to those who are in Christ. Now this is not an arrogant boast,
but rather confidence and assurance of the Lord Jesus Christ putting
away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. We have all confidence
in Him. But we have no confidence in
the flesh, do we? We are the true Israel which
worship God in the spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
we have no confidence in the flesh. I have walked in mine
integrity, and I believe that word can be rendered completeness. Look down to verse three. For
I have walked in thy truth. Now, what is the truth? The Lord
Jesus Christ, He is our truth. Remember we read in John 8, Sunday,
where the Lord said, You shall know the truth, and the truth
will set you free. Whom the Son sets free, He's
free indeed. I have walked in thy truth. I've walked in my integrity.
And then down in verse 11, he says this again, but as for me,
I will walk in my integrity. What is my integrity? It's Christ.
It's Christ my righteousness, redeem me and be merciful unto
me for Christ's sake. I have walked or I am walking,
being made complete in the Lord Jesus Christ, walking in the
spirit, not after the flesh. We are not seeking salvation
by the deeds of the flesh or by the deeds of the law, but
rather walking in the spirit. What is walking in the spirit?
Well, that doesn't mean that I feel real spiritual. That's
not what he's talking about. Walking in the Spirit is seeking
God in Christ. That's what it is. Seeking salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, he said, I've
trusted. Therefore, I have trusted also in the Lord. Would you trust
anyone else? But the Lord alone, in Him dwells
all the fullness of a Godhead bodily, and in Him we stand complete. I've trusted, I've trusted in
the Lord. Turn back one page to Psalm 25,
verse one and two. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift
up my soul, O my God, I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed,
let not my enemies triumph over me. And then if you want to find
Psalm 62, Psalm 62. When are we to trust him, he
only is my rock. Remember Psalm 62 verse 6, my
defense, my salvation, I shall not be moved, I shall not slide,
and God is my salvation, my glory, the rock of my strength, and
my refuge is in God, and I trust in him at all times. When you're
up, when you're down, when you're happy, when you're not. Trust
in Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. Lord, judge me. I've walked in
Christ, my righteousness. I've trusted the Lord, who is
the Lord, my righteousness. Now, therefore, I shall not sly. I shall not slide. Now, I thought
of an interesting verse, I shall not slide, I shall not be condemned,
I shall not fall away. David said of the ungodly, turn
over here to Psalm 73. Remember, he saw how the ungodly
were getting along so fine, and he said in Psalm 73, verse 13,
Have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence?
Have I done what I have done, trusting the Lord, in vain? For
all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning,
If I say, I will thus speak, behold, I should not offend against
the generation of our children. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me until I went into the sanctuary of
God. Then I understood their end."
Talking about the end of those who are enemies of the gospel. Surely thou did set them in slippery
places. Thou casteth them down to destruction. David says here, I shall not
slide. God doesn't set us in slippery
places. He sets us on the rock. To move
the believer, you gotta move the rock. We're fastened to the
rock. The rock of ages, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's recorded in Deuteronomy
32. To me, the Lord said, belonged vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due
time. Their foot will slide in due
time. Now, verse 2. Examine me, O Lord. Prove me. Try my reins and try
my heart. Now what's he saying here? True
faith will be tried. True faith, the faith of God's
elect will be tested, whether it's real or whether it's phony. Not that the Lord needs to know. He knows all things. He knows
our heart already. He knows our heart. We look on
the outward countenance, God looks on the heart. But he sends
us trials to make us know whether our faith is real or not, to
reveal unto us the worth of true faith as it relates to and looks
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. As I've often said to you, trials
do not produce faith. They don't. They reveal it, whether
it's real or whether it's not. Trials don't drive the believer
away they bring a believer closer to the Lord. You remember in
John chapter six when the Lord declared the gospel so plainly
unto those 5,000 who had just received a dinner, a gracious,
bountiful dinner by the miracle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he declared the gospel unto them that no man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him, and those 5,000 turned and
walked away. And the Lord said to those disciples,
will you also go away? Remember what Peter said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. We believe and we are sure thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. So trials do not drive a believer
away. They're called precious trials.
Like Job, Job lost his income, all of his finances. His family
was taken away from him. His health was taken away from
him. His wife said, won't you just curse God and die? Job said, though he slay me,
yet I will trust him. The Lord has given, the Lord
has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now that's the heart of a believer. That's the heart of a believer.
We are told in scripture to examine ourselves whether we be in the
faith. Our light afflictions don't work
against us, they work for us. Exceeding eternal weight of glory. Now look at verse 3. For or because thy loving-kindness is before
my eyes. His loving-kindness is before
the eyes of the believer. I have walked in thy truth because
of thy loving-kindness. We love Him only because He first
loved us. Because of thy loving-kindness,
I walk in thy truth. Because of His loving-kindness,
He orders our steps. You remember Psalm 37, the steps
of a righteous man? Ordered of the Lord. Now what
a gracious word this is, this word here, loving kindness. We
sang a moment ago, oh how wonderful, oh how marvelous is thy love
to me. Hearing his love, not that we
loved God, but he loved us. And sent his son to be a sacrifice
for our sin. His loving kindness. Now, I want
you to look at some other places where this is said in the book
of Psalms. Psalm 138. Psalm 138 verse 2.
Psalm 138 verse 2. But let's read verse 1 and 2,
Psalm 138. I will praise thee with my whole heart, before the
God will I sing praise unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy
temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and thy truth,
for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. His lovingkindness
and his truth. And then one of my favorite psalms,
Psalm 143. We'll have to take a look at
this here some weeks to come. Psalm 143 verse 8. Cause me to
hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk, for I lift up my soul to thee. The way I should
walk? We walk by faith, not by sight.
Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning. And then, remember,
don't turn because you know this one. I quoted it a while ago.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness, Psalm
51. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercy, blot out my transgression. Wash me throughly
from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge
my transgression and my sin as ever before me. We appeal unto
God's loving-kindness. His loving-kindness is His favor,
His sovereign favor, and His goodness to us. What better motive
to walk and live for His glory than for His loving-kindness?
The love of God constrains us, does it not? Some only Some talk
only of truth. Some talk only of truth. It's
better to walk in the truth, live in the truth, the truth
of the gospel, the truth of worship, and to walk in faith, trusting
Christ. FOUR TIMES IN THE WORD OF GOD
IT SAID, THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. HIS LOVING-KINDNESS
IS EVER BEFORE OUR EYES. THE EYE OF FAITH SPIES OUT THE
LOVE OF GOD IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. NOTHING CAN SEPARATE
US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD WHICH IS IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
SAVING FAITH IS ALWAYS LOOKING TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST FOR
ALL OF SALVATION. LOOK AT VERSE FOUR. with vain persons, neither will
I go in with dissimilars. I have hated, verse 5, the congregation
of evildoers. I will not sit with the wicked."
Now, what's David saying here? Well, I believe it's this. True
citizens will have no dealings with traitors. Will they? True
citizens of a country They don't want to have any dealing with
traitors. Now, I realize that we live in
a world where most people hate the God that we worship and hate
the gospel that we preach. I realize we must see and speak
and trade with the ungodly of this world. We cannot live in
isolation. But we do not seek out their
company or partake of their wicked ways or agree with their hypocrisy. The Lord had the sharpest words
for who? those who went about to establish
a righteousness of their own. He was a friend of publicans
and sinners, but he despised those who went about to establish
a righteousness of their own. And then he says very strong
words, I have hated the congregation of evildoers. Those who worship
Baal, those who dwell in a house of idolatry. He said, I will
not go in with those people. Believer has no place in a house
where the gospel is not preached in a public worship setting or
manner, where the gospel is denied, where the gospel is not preached.
How can you go there? I couldn't, not now. I was raised
in that, but I couldn't go sit and listen to somebody lie on
God now, could you? I've hated the congregation of
evildoers. I will not sit with them." Now,
that's strong language. Let me see if I can bring it
down to where we can get a hold of it here. What God hates, we
must hate. A severe sentence, but not too
severe. Now, here's where I'm going.
If you do not hate, that which is contrary to the true gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because you have no love for
the truth. If you don't hate that, which is contrary to the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because you have no love
for the truth. Now, you can turn with me, but
turn over here to Psalm 119. We've looked at this before,
and this is not being unreasonable. This is what the Lord says here
in his word. Psalm 119, verse 104. Verse 103 and 104. Psalm 119,
how sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey
to my mouth. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I, what does that say? I hate every false way. I hate
every false way. Again, he repeats himself here. In Psalm 119, 128, therefore
I esteem all thy commandments, Therefore I love thy commandments
above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts
concerning all things be right. Therefore I hate every false
way. Now, I know we live in a day
when it's popular to compromise. But where God's glory is at stake,
and the truth of the gospel is at stake, we cannot compromise.
Though we or an angel from heaven preach another gospel, it won't
be okay. Let him be accursed. We are taught
in scripture to love our enemies, right? But not his, not his. Now let me show you here, look
at Psalm 139. Psalm 139, I'm not trying to be clever here. I'm not trying to be consistent
with myself. I'm trying to be consistent with
the scripture. Psalm 139 verse 21. Look what he says here. This
is interesting here. Verse 20 says for Psalm 139 verse
20, For they speak against thee wickedly, and thy enemies take
thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that
hate thee, and Am not I grieved with those that rise up against
thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me and know my thoughts." That's strong, but it's so. That
is so. That's strong, but that is so.
We are taught to love our enemies, but not His. Now look at verse
six back in the text. I will wash my hands, I will
wash my hands in innocency. I will compass thine altar, surround
thine altar, it's the altar of sacrifice, it's the altar of
worship, oh Lord, oh Lord. Now there's an old saying that's
been around a long time which says I'll wash my hands of the
whole business. Remember Pilate tried to do that.
Remember, tried to wash his hand and said, it's no, it's all right,
be okay. He's just taking a ride. I will
wash my hands in innocency. I will wash my hands of the whole
business. Pilate tried to do that. Our
only hope of being washed and made clean is in the blood drawn
from Emmanuel's veins, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our only
hope. That's our only, Our only hope of being washed and made
clean is a fountain of blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses us from all our sin. So will I compass thine
altar. I will surround thine altar. and the sacrifice of thine altar,
and always that typical, whenever we read the word altar, we should
always remember the sacrifice on that altar, which is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our sin offering, He is
our altar, and He is our God to whom the sin offering is offered
unto the Lord. He'll settle down in a minute.
He sacrificed the Lord Jesus Christ, his humanity, on the
altar of his deity. We continue to look to the exalted
Lord Jesus Christ who put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. I will compass thine altar. I
will surround thine altar, O Lord. I'll be taken up with thine altar.
Continue by His grace to seek acceptance only through the crucified,
risen, exalted, victorious Lord Jesus Christ. That gets us down
to our title verse, verse 7, that I may publish with the voice
of thanksgiving and tell of thy wondrous works. Now a lot of
preachers want to brag what they've done for God. A lot of false
preachers want to brag about what they've done for God, how
many souls they've won to the Lord. No man has ever won a soul
to the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Savior. He is our salvation. But this
is what every believer desires to do, to publish with the voice
of thanksgiving and tell of His wondrous works. Tell of His wondrous
works. His name is called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. We tell out the wonders of His
redeeming blood, how He redeemed us with His precious blood. We tell out the wonders of His
glorious person, who He is, God our Savior. We tell out the wonders
of regenerating grace, how he justified us freely by his own
grace. We tell out the wondrous works
of the power of his resurrection glory. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He sat down on the right hand of God. We tell out the
wonders of His mighty doings, His mighty works. His work is honorable and glorious,
and His righteousness endures forever. Psalm 111. He hath made
his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full
of compassion that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving
and tell of his wondrous works. You see, the gospel is a declaration
of what he's done for us. It's not what we must do for
him. The gospel is not about us. It's
about him. It's all about him. Verse eight. Lord, I love thee, I love the
habitation of thine house. The house of the Lord is where
we hear of his wondrous works, and the place where his honor
dwells. Look right across the page, Psalm 27. One thing, verse
4 says, I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek after,
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His
holy temple. For in the time of trouble He
shall hide me in His pavilion, His house. In the secret of his
tabernacle, his kingdom, shall he hide me and set me upon the
rock. Remember what David said in another
psalm, I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house
of the Lord. That's why I was so discouraged
when our governor said, don't go to the house of the Lord today
or Sunday, don't go, don't go. I don't know, somehow I have a
great disagreement with that. Lord, I've loved thy habitation
of thy house, the place where His honor dwells, where His glory
dwells. It's all about His glory, isn't
it? His honor. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive all honor and glory. We come together to honor, not
the creature, but the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ. We come
together in the name of Christ to worship and honor Him. This
is the chief business of the saints below, and it is the eternal
business of the saints above, to worship our God. He seeketh
such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Verse 9 and 10,
gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men. When I die, let me die the death
of the righteous. Gather me unto thyself, Lord,
in whose hand, verse 10, don't gather me with bloody men, guilty
men, and whose hand is mischief, and their right hand is just
full of bribes. But as for me, verse 11, I will
walk in my integrity. Redeem me and be merciful unto
me. I hope, David said in Psalm 17,
as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Brother Todd Nyberg
used that verse at the graveside service for our dear friend,
Brother Henry. As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. But as for me, verse 11, I will
walk in mine integrity, and that again is walking in Christ. Now
redeem me, and he has. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things, we're redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And be merciful unto me. God
delights to show mercy. His mercies are new every morning.
He delights to show mercy unto us. My foot, verse 12, my foot standeth. It standeth. in a even place in the congregations,
I will bless the Lord, O my soul. Believers are in Christ, are
placed on a good footing, good ground, a sure place, a sure
dwelling place. You remember from our study in
Isaiah 28, 16? You could quote that, couldn't
you? Psalm 28, 16. God said, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation of stone, a tri-stone, a precious cornerstone. He that
believeth on him shall not be confounded, shall not be ashamed,
shall not be forced out. My foot stands in an even place,
therefore I shall not slide. I'm fixed upon the rock, the
Lord Jesus Christ, therefore will I bless the Lord. As he
says in Psalm 103, I'll bless the Lord. Bless the Lord, O my
soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Being established in Christ,
being vitally one with Him, we have nothing left to occupy our
thoughts in worship but praise. unto our God and worship unto
the Lord Jesus Christ alone. As Paul said, God forbid I see
glory saved in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a good
psalm to study.