[0:00] Please join me in Psalm 101. You know, the history of mankind is the history of God's faithfulness to us. It's also the history of believers writing songs and singing it together.
[0:14] And every generation I'd have people writing a song about their faithfulness of God and then people singing it. Every language should have a song like the one we just heard. And thank you for that. That was fantastic.
[0:25] Psalm 101, if you've got a handout tonight, you'll see that there's six resolutions that David made. Not every psalm divides itself out so nicely as this one does.
[0:36] Or maybe it does and I just aren't, I'm not able to see it as well as I was able to see this one. The six different resolutions that David is going to make here. And we're going to go through those tonight.
[0:47] Let me read you the chapter before we jump into it. Psalm 101. The first resolution has to do with singing. That we will look at tonight. It says, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.
[1:01] I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O, when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
[1:13] I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privately slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off.
[1:27] Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine 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.
[1:38] He that worketh the seat shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 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.
[1:51] As we read the psalm here, we might consider the background. Sometimes it's outlined for us or given to us what the background is. Seeing David here coming in, leading a nation after Saul, all the confusion of Saul's troubled years.
[2:06] Now David coming in wanting to create reform and believing that he's God's viceroy, which means that he believed that he was exercising authority over an area that ultimately was over, somebody was over him.
[2:20] So David knew that he had a responsibility to lead people in a way that would reflect the way that God wanted it led. It would be nice to live in that kind of world, didn't it?
[2:32] It would be nice to live in what they call theocracy where God, his word was to dictate the law and order of our land. And that's what David was saying, that he had a great responsibility given to him.
[2:45] The other night, Zach Elrod at the daddy-daughter date, he had a crown on his head the whole night, all right? And because I guess one of his daughters gave it to him. That's the only explanation I could think that would make any sense.
[2:55] Hopefully he didn't make it and color it himself and put it on. But that was fitting because Zach in some ways is him and Whitney are the king and queens of their home. And they have leadership and all the dads say amen to that, right?
[3:07] And ladies, but there's areas of influence. And so you think, well, I'm never going to be in the position that David is with a kingdom, a southern and a northern part, and have all these people. But David said, with the area of influence and leadership I have, I want it to reflect the character of God.
[3:24] Every one of us should recognize the same for ourselves. Fill in the blank. Who is it that you have influence over? David had some time to know that this was coming. He gets anointed three different times to be king.
[3:35] The first one's a story you know about. Samuel comes, looks at all the brothers. They don't find David. They bring David out, 1 Samuel 16, 13. Samuel takes a horn of oil and anoints him in the midst of his brethren.
[3:47] And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David that day. And then in 2 Samuel, after Saul's death, he was anointed king over the tribe of Judah at Hebron. And the men of Judah came.
[3:58] They were anointing David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying that the men of Jabez-Gilead were they that buried Saul. So the men here had come of the tribe of Judah to anoint.
[4:10] And then lastly, as he was anointed king over all the tribes of Israel, northern and southern kingdoms, 2 Samuel 5, 3. So all the elders of Israel came to the king, the Hebron. And King David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord.
[4:24] And they anointed David king over Israel. And young men over in this far left corner, the reason I wanted to put this in my notes here, he was thinking specifically about you, is that David knew there was coming a day that he would have more leadership responsibilities.
[4:38] And he thought about those. And he wanted to have the leadership characteristics. And he wanted to have the character that would reflect that of his great God. And so that's what you're supposed to be doing at this time.
[4:51] And as you're waiting and saying someday I'll be a husband or I'll be a dad or I'll be a wife or what all these different things, or be a mom, is to say that I want to have in my life the resolution.
[5:03] I want to be resolved to live in a way that reflects our God. And that's what you should be doing with your time is preparing for that. In Europe, the psalm was called the Prince of Psalms, owing to the concern for the proper conduct of a magistrate prince or a king.
[5:19] That royalty in Europe would memorize this psalm because it was a prince's psalm. Martin Luther wrote 80 pages of commentary on the psalm.
[5:30] Don't worry, I will not be reading you 80 pages. 80 pages on eight verses. He really got into it. And he would say at the end of it, obviously he didn't scratch the surface of it.
[5:41] But 80 pages because he knew that he wanted to give great instruction to Christians who were living in a world with a broken government, broken rulers. And he wanted to focus on something that would show us how to live in conduct.
[5:55] And then I love this story. Spurgeon said there's a story of a duke who sent an unfaithful minister a copy of the 101st Psalm. And it became a proverb, literally, and a proverb in the country.
[6:08] When an official had done anything wrong, he would receive a copy of Psalms 101. Could you imagine if you were acting up and somebody mailed you a copy of Psalms 101?
[6:19] I'd only served at one other church, other than the church I grew up in before here. And a large church, and they would have big business meetings. And I was over the singles ministry. But I had an idea about everything, all right?
[6:32] And so it didn't matter if they were talking about the nursery, if they were talking about the missions conference. Like, no matter what they were talking about, I had some ideas that I needed to share. And so on more than one occasion, in my little mailbox at the church, I got a memo that said, if you will notice, your name is on this committee.
[6:49] Your name is not on all these other committees. We would appreciate if you would not talk so much in all of our leadership meetings. Now, they should have sent me Psalm 101 and said, this is how you should conduct yourself, young man.
[7:02] That would have helped me. And so the resolutions here are sent, and they should bring us to a standard in our lives. So the main thought is, if we do not plan and resolve to live the godly life, it is unlikely that we will.
[7:20] If we do not plan and resolve to live a godly life, it is unlikely that we will. It is good to make resolutions. I will make a case for that here in a second. But it is good to resolve.
[7:31] It is good to plan ahead. It is good to say, in this scenario, this is the decisions I am already going to make. Some of you will be familiar with Jonathan Edwards. He wrote 70 resolutions at the age of 19.
[7:43] And when I read these and think he was 19, and I'm more than 19 now, and the way he wrote and the way he thought, it is just so humbling to see somebody that's so given over to the things of the Lord.
[7:55] I'll read a few of them for you. Resolve never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more that tends, but what tends to the glory of God, nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.
[8:08] Resolve to live with all my might while I do live. That's a good one. While I'm living, I'm going to live with all of my might. Resolve never to do anything but duty. Then according to Ephesians 6, 6 through 8, do it willingly and cheerfully as unto the Lord, and not to man, knowing that whatever good thing any man doeth, he shall receive of the Lord.
[8:28] That whatever I'm going to do, I'm going to give my all to it. And if I'm going to give my all to it, then I'm going to do it cheerfully for the Lord. Jamila had a saying much like that. Wherever you be, be all there, you know, like you want to be fully present.
[8:40] And what God had given him to do. So, resolved never to lose one moment of time, but improve it to the most profitable way I possibly can. Resolve never to do anything which I should be afraid to do if it was the last hour of my life.
[8:57] That's a strong one, isn't it? TJ and Matt and I were talking about some things going on in this world that are, and we said we should be looking up to heaven, believing the Lord's return, you know, is imminent at any time.
[9:09] That's a convicting thought to not do anything that believing that the Lord may return in this hour. This one's convicting. Resolve to inquire every night before I go to bed whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could with respect to eating and drinking.
[9:24] You see, they didn't have cinnamon toast crunch or pop tarts when Jonathan Edwards was alive. I would hate to be going through my list of 70 resolutions as I'm eating a bowl of carb tarts or whatever, you know, some form of cereal at the end.
[9:38] But just kind of reflecting and just looking on my day and say, did I do the best that I could for my body and soul at the end of the day? And he'd read these, I believe, weekly. And then lastly by Edwards, resolve never to speak evil of anyone so that it shall tend to his dishonor more or less upon no account except for some real good.
[9:58] Never to speak in a way that would do anything but be for the profit of other people. So that's Jonathan Edwards. We don't preach in the book of Jonathan Edwards, but he's certainly a biographer and a person that you could learn and be encouraged by.
[10:11] He has an example. But Daniel, in 1 Daniel 1 8, would say that he purposed in his heart that he wouldn't defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, a premeditated decision before he would go and do that.
[10:24] Job said that he made a covenant with his eyes that he would not think upon a maid, a decision in advance. Philippians, Paul would tell us to only let your conversation be as it become of the gospel of Christ.
[10:37] Whether I come and see you, be absent, may hear of your fears. But to make a decision in advance to resolve to live in a certain way. And so I remind you, if you do not plan and resolve to live a godly life, it is unlikely that we will.
[10:52] So these first four verses pertain to David and his own character. And the first one being that he will sing of God's mercy and justice.
[11:03] Verse number one, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. See, mercy and judgment, mercy and justice, they belong together.
[11:15] You can't fully understand one without understanding the other. Mercy can only be properly understood in light of justice. You know, you can only be forgiven greatly if you have been much the needed forgiveness, right?
[11:28] And then when justice pronounces its righteous penalty, then mercy can grant relief. And so all of our songs should always have this mixture of mercy and justice.
[11:40] Our conversations ought to be talking about the goodness of God in contrast to what we were deserving. And so it doesn't just say that we would speak about it and teach it, but it says that as God's people, we should resolve to sing about it.
[11:53] To sing about something, we know from experience, but more than that, as we look in the Bible, we see that singing means that you understand something on a deep heart level, that you would sing and think about the mercy and justice of the Lord.
[12:10] You know, it's so great. One of the reasons that we enjoy music so much in church, or I know that I do, is that the young ladies that sung before, you know that they believe that of the goodness of God. They believe in the great of His faithfulness.
[12:22] They have seen it, they've experienced, now they're singing about it and encouraging us to do it. And nobody can replicate that. God's people singing something that we've known and we've experienced it.
[12:33] So David says, when I am leading these people, and now that I have influence and authority, I am going to be a person who sings about the mercy and judgment.
[12:46] And I would like to encourage all of you in here to be people that benefit from music. If you say, I don't really, when I get in my car, I don't like to listen to music, I like to listen to talk radio, I don't like to do this, I'd rather listen to something else.
[13:02] I'm not telling you where music needs to fit into your life, but I'm telling you that the Bible makes a very strong case that it's supposed to be part of your life. That music needs to be part of our lives, not just listening to it, but singing it.
[13:15] And not just listening to it in this room, and not only singing about it in this room, but part of your regular rhythm and habit of life. So David says, I'm going to sing of your mercy and judgment.
[13:28] The second thing in verse number two is, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when wilt thou come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
[13:40] David says, I want to behave wisely by living in integrity. David had come into a position of great power, and it was all the more important that he focus on a personal godliness and behave wisely in a perfect way.
[13:56] Of all the things that he had to worry about, all the spinning plates, you ask the average American, it's the only country I live in, so I don't know the average other people. How's your week been?
[14:07] And I said it tonight, Brother Steve said it, we say it all the time, and it's true. It's been busy, but good, right? But there's just, busyness is so common for us.
[14:19] But David, if you think about anybody that had a bunch of plates to be spinning, unless he needs to juggle those plates, spin the plates or juggle the plates, David as a king would have a lot of things going on, a lot of responsibilities, a lot of conversations, a lot of wisdom that he would need to share with people, a lot of things that would just end at his desk that he'd have to decide.
[14:39] But he says, the priority of my life is, I'm going to live in wisdom and integrity. He didn't say, now that I've came into this royal power, I'm going to live a good life.
[14:53] But he said, I will behave myself wisely. He doesn't say, I'm going to have the biggest party ever, which would probably be my plan if you vote me in to be a king in some country, right? He didn't say, I'm going to have the biggest party ever.
[15:05] He says, I want to behave myself wisely. He doesn't say, I'm going to show everybody how important I am. He says, I'm going to behave myself wisely. He doesn't say, I'm going to punish my enemies and show my power, which we see with other kings that come into power.
[15:21] What is their first concern? That's what they're going to do, but not David. He says, I'm going to behave myself wisely. And he resolves to do that.
[15:32] And as he says, when wilt thou come to me? So David says, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. And then he asks a question to the Lord. How, oh, when wilt thou come unto me?
[15:45] David understood a principle that we learn in the New Testament. First John six and seven, it says, if we say that we have fellowship with him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
[15:57] But if we walk in light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, the son cleanses us from all sin. David is saying, I know that me walking in wisdom and integrity means that I'm going to be walking with a closeness to God.
[16:14] God, I want to meet with you. I want to be involved. I want my every day. I want to live in your presence. So he cries out to God and says, will you come unto me?
[16:24] I want to walk in light. I want to fellowship with him. And then he gets personal here. He says, not only will I walk, but I will walk in my house with a perfect heart, representing his most personal of life.
[16:39] Clark says, it is easier for most men to walk with a perfect heart in the church or even in the world than in their own families.
[16:51] How many are a meek as lambs among others, but when at home they are wasps or tigers? That stings a little bit, doesn't it? No pun intended there. But it says that at home they are wasps and they are tigers because where is the Christian life and the walking in wisdom most tested?
[17:12] It's going to be most tested with the people that we live our lives with the most, isn't it? And so in that home. And so David says, I want to walk wisely and I want to live in integrity, but not just when I'm sitting on my throne, not just when I'm over with my kingdom, but I'm talking about when I'm just living my life there in my house.
[17:34] I want people to know that about me. I want that to be true about me, not just know that about me, believe that about me, but I want it to really be true. Then verse number three, how is he going to live this life of wisdom and integrity?
[17:47] Verse three, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. Summarize this resolution like this.
[17:59] I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. That word worthless is a strong word, you know, without profit, worthless.
[18:09] We're very careful how I use the word worthless. That's very damaging. And then so we think about worthless and it is not even get us to fully understanding what evil is. As children of God, of heirs of eternal glorious wealth, so our lust for any worthless thing is an offense to God.
[18:28] Why would you ever want to lust after such lesser things as the children of God? Why would you set something that is worthless in front of you?
[18:39] You should turn away from it. Evil things of this world, they are worthless because they do not profit us. They do not build us up. They do not draw us closer to God. And he says, I don't want any of the evil things.
[18:50] I don't want any of these things in my life that would not evil, which would be taking me away from what would be of merit or what would be of profitable until Lord it would be worthless. I do not want any of these worthless things in my life.
[19:04] And then he says, I must regain the ability to decide what we set before our eyes. He says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
[19:15] Some of your kids, they may have made excuses before watching something that they're not supposed to. They have something and they just say, well, I didn't mean to watch this.
[19:26] I didn't plan to watch this as if it's just accidental. But David takes responsibility for it. He says, I'm going to decide what I set in front of me. If you're going to set the right things in front of you and avoid the wrong things, then you're going to have to take personal responsibility to say that I, in my heart, make a decision, either walk in integrity or I'm going to walk in a way that allows evil in my life.
[19:50] And it says that man has almost an infinite appetite for distraction. We love to be distracted. I won't ask any of you to raise your hand, but have any of you ever been on more than one piece of technology at a time?
[20:04] Have you ever been playing on your phone while watching TV, while cooking dinner or something like that? I mean, what is the ability to multitask? You know, the thing that's constantly that computers move so fast now, don't they?
[20:17] I don't even remember the last time that I saw an hourglass on a computer waiting for it. And when we had the wellness weekend, Dr. Haynes talked about how there used to be a time where you had to always pause.
[20:31] You know, if you were going to make a tape for somebody, you had to sit by the radio and wait until it came on the radio, hit record. All right. Then you had to call in for your next song. And then there's all these things that would make you stop along the way.
[20:45] We don't live in a time where you have to stop along the way. You can make a, you can download it from the cloud. You can upload it. You can move on to something else and you'll be constantly moving. And we have this infinite appetite for distractions in our lives.
[20:58] And so that really sets us up in the market to receive worthless things, evil things. So attention is the skill withdrawing from everything to focus on some things.
[21:11] If you need to give attention. I heard somebody telling a funny story about how his wife said, yeah, in school, I remember in middle school, I took a language class. What language class did you take in middle school?
[21:24] He said, I didn't take any language class. He said, what class did you take? And he said, I took attention class. What was that? He's like, it was me and a few of my friends. And we were taken to a room and we were told how to pay attention.
[21:36] And he said, I went to it every year in middle school. And some of you, Jeff, brother Jeff and I would have been in that class together. We would have been given a extra class to say, we're going to just help you pay attention, how to focus on one thing at a time.
[21:52] And so we are people that are shaped by what we're constantly focusing on. You can listen to David and he says this. You can say, what a hypocrite, right? David, you're going to tell us that you decide what you're going to set in front of your eyes.
[22:05] Well, you didn't seem to think that that resolution wasn't lived out the day you didn't go to battle. You went up on the rooftop. You set your eyes upon something. And not only did you see something evil, but you acted upon it.
[22:16] But is David really a hypocrite? And I would say that he's not because he doesn't live by a different standard, even though he didn't meet that standard. He was a man after God's heart. He did not remove God's standard when it was brought to him.
[22:28] And there comes a time of repenting. And so we see in his prayers, Psalm 119, 37, turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me and thy way. So the one is to turn their eyes away.
[22:40] That's the negative. And that ought to be a prayer. God, turn my eyes away from the evil and the worthless things of this world so that I can walk in integrity and in wisdom. And then the positive side is where we behold the pleasures of our heavenly father, the things that we hope in, not the worthless things, but we refocus our attention on the eternal.
[22:58] Psalm 119, 33. It says, Teach me, O Lord, the ways of thy statutes, and shall keep it in. Give me understanding, I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
[23:09] Lord, put this in front of me. Show it to me. I will observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go on the path of thy commandments. For therein do I delight. Incline my heart into thy testimonies and not the covetousness.
[23:21] Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me and thy way. Establish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. Turn away my reproach which I fear, for thy judgments are good.
[23:33] Behold, I have longed after thy precepts. Quicken me in thy righteousness. Not just negatively of turning away from worthless things, but God, give me the proper appetite to look upon the things of God and just want to see it and want to behold it.
[23:47] Spurgeon said, It is the tendency of things that are gazed at to get through the eyes into the mind and the heart. What you look at will not stay there, but it will find its way into your heart.
[24:01] And David says, God, turn my heart towards the things that I should be looking at and away from those. The last four verses pertain to the kinds of people that he is going to surround himself with and what he plans to do among the people of the Lamb.
[24:15] Did you know, just like you get to choose what you look at as adults in here, you know, and as no matter what age in here, you're making the decision what you look at. You also choose the type of people that you're going to surround yourself with.
[24:26] Psalm 101, 4, A froward heart shall depart from me, and I will not know a wicked person. David wants to remove ungodly people from his counsel. He does not want to know wicked people.
[24:39] 1 Corinthians 15, 33, Be not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners. Does this contradict this idea that Jesus would eat with sinners? Certainly not.
[24:50] Jesus was to say that he would be there upon a mission. As a teenager, some of you might have saw this example. I don't know I ever showed with the teenagers, but you'd stand up on a chair. And Greg, would you come here? You'll be as tall as me when you walk over here.
[25:02] All right. And so the idea is that if I'm up here and Greg's down here, it is easier. Give me your hand, will you? I don't want to hold your hand. Give me that hand. That would be less weird. Okay.
[25:12] And all right. It would be easier for Greg to pull me down than it is for me to pull Greg up. Doesn't that make sense? All right. It'd probably be easier for Greg to pull me up too, stronger. But the idea is that as a friend, that your friends, you know, they're going to pull you down.
[25:24] And that certainly makes sense. And I didn't know how to balance that with I'm supposed to be friends to sinners. I'm supposed to share the gospel with them. And I really think that came from having such a shallow view of friendship is that what I'm supposed to do around unbelieving people is the same thing that I'm supposed to have with all people.
[25:42] And as a teenager, I prayed. If I remember praying in one prayer at all, it was this, to say, God, I need a godly friend. I really need a godly friend.
[25:52] And I would pray it. And God provided for me a godly friend named Justin West. And we served the Lord together. And we helped each other in the Lord.
[26:04] But David here isn't contradicting. It's this, but we know that bad friendships have this sticky quality about it. Psalms 103. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.
[26:15] I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. It shall not stick to me. It's that the ways of sinful people and rebellious people, it sticks to you. It clings to you.
[26:27] And that's why I said that a shallow view of friendship caused me not to understand that. But as I was a teenager and I developed good Christian friends, I knew that I could know these people and that I could fellowship with these people on a much more meaningful way than when I'm just sharing the gospel with unbelieving people.
[26:47] And I'm being kind to them. I'm having a meal with them. I'm getting to know them. But it's not the same thing. And they not only have not have negative friendships for wicked people, but Psalm 101 verse 6, it says, Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the Lamb, and they may dwell with me, and he that walketh in a perfect way shall serve me.
[27:05] Very simple. The next step David takes is to surround himself with people who are godly, the faithful in the Lamb. In the New Testament, we are told that we ought to commit things that we know, which requires time, unto faithful people in 2 Timothy 2.
[27:21] The thing that you still should be looking for to surround yourself with are the faithful that are in the Lamb. Then it says, They shall serve me. And that sounds weird to us because you're thinking he wants to have good Christian people mowing his yard, right?
[27:34] Like, okay, that sounds nice. I want to get a good Christian mechanic. But David here is speaking about who's going to serve in his cabinet, who's going to serve there in that new government that he's established. I'm going to surround myself with advisors of people that are faithful, not those people that are wicked, because if I'm going to live this life of integrity, then I've got to surround myself with the right kind of people.
[27:56] And we see that earlier because he says that he's going to dwell with them. You don't dwell with the person that mows your yard or picks up your trash, but the people that you're doing ministry with and life in and serving, that's the kind of people he wanted to surround himself with.
[28:09] And then he makes a pledge to promote justice. Verse 8, I will early destroy all the wicked of the Lamb, that I may cut off all the wicked doers from the city of the Lord.
[28:20] And that just sounds like pretty cutthroat, doesn't it? Every morning I will wake up and I will purge the land of everybody that's evil. All right? That would be a rough wake up every morning that you would have.
[28:31] But he is not talking about this morning purge of every evil person in the Lamb, but he's talking about consistent justice in the Lamb, that he will oversee the area in which he has been given by God to have influence over.
[28:44] I'll read a quote to you here. The commitment to excellence implies a difference in administration from the manner in which kings ruled in the ancient Near East. The godly king affirms that his loyalty is the Yahweh and not to the ways of this world.
[28:58] So he says that I will be a person that will cut off the wicked in the Lamb, that I will not promote injustice. I will be a person that rules in a righteous and in a godly manner all throughout the Lamb, starting in the early part of the day.
[29:16] And so what does David not want among those that have given, he's been given oversight? So who is it that he would say is part of that wicked? Psalm 100 verse 5, it said, Whosoever privately slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off.
[29:30] Him that has a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer. David's surrounding himself with people that are faithful in the Lamb, and he is separating himself and not letting these people that would cleave to him, that are people that are slanderers, that they slander their neighbor, they speak evil of other people, they have a high look, a haughty look.
[29:48] It's been said that pride will sit and show itself in the eyes as soon as anywhere. Have you ever seen pride in the eyes of your kid? Have you ever seen it before it was acted upon?
[29:59] You can see it there in the eyes. You can see it in our eyes as well. So we don't want people that are prideful, people that are slanderers, or people that have a proud heart. He says, I don't want them serving and ruling in the Lamb because I want to be a kingdom and a place that would reflect the character of God.
[30:18] And that's what he ends with in this verse. It says, doers from the city of the Lord, recognizing here that this city does not belong to him.
[30:30] Your family does not belong to you. The ministry that you have influence over, it is not yours. He said the city of the Lord. You could say the family of the Lord. You could say the ministry of the Lord.
[30:41] Whatever it is, it belongs unto the Lord. And so resolutions are good, but you can't depend upon your resolutions. But you have to depend upon the grace of God in your life.
[30:53] So David, though he resolves to live in a certain way, when he fails, he does not plead that he tried to live a certain way, but he pleads to God for grace and mercy.
[31:04] Psalm 51, verse 1 and 3-4, it says, David, when he sins, he doesn't say, but God, I had so many great intentions.
[31:34] I just really resolved myself. I was just the most disciplined of people. I had 70 resolutions. I had all these things that I had printed on the wall of my house that said I was going to do them. He didn't go to that because he wasn't putting his trust in his resolutions.
[31:48] But he's saying, God, I plead for you for mercy upon my life and your loving kindness. David did not believe his resolutions earned merit with God. He knew that he needed mercy and kindness.
[32:02] But a reading of the Bible would tell you that decisions need to be made. It's a shame that we live in a world where we get criticized because we believe we have answers about eternal things.
[32:13] How is it more intellectual not to know anything? Like, why are we criticized that we believe the Bible dictates a way in which we are supposed to live? And we should have no shame about that.
[32:24] We should be resolved. When you read the Bible and it says you have a purpose in your heart, if it says something needs to be done, on that day, say, I resolve that this is the way that I'm going to live my life.
[32:35] I want to live with wisdom in my house. And when you don't, then you don't blame your system, but you crawl out to God for mercy and for loving kindness.
[32:46] And the next day comes around again, you resolve once again to honor him with your life. I'm going to pray for us. We'll be dismissed tonight. Pick up your kids from Awanum.
[32:57] But I think it's such a wonderful gift in having this type of instruction, these six things laid out for you. We live in a world where everybody feels like they're spinning out of control.
[33:08] They don't know up from down. And that God would give us in eight verses so much wisdom. Like, if you could just tell somebody, if you could just say, live by these six principles here over the next month and watch what God would do with your life, all of us already know.
[33:24] We don't have to imagine it, right? One of the candidates have signs out here. It says, imagine the possibilities. And that's kind of a funny campaign, isn't it? We don't want to just imagine the possibilities.
[33:34] What are you going to do, right? But we don't just imagine the possibilities of living for the Bible. We should be a living example of what it is to live according to the precepts of God that are laid out.
[33:49] And He is not shy about it. And He is not confusing. He just lays it out. Saying of the mercies and justice of the Lord every day. Live in integrity, even, especially in your house.
[33:59] Don't set anything evil or worthless in front of you. Don't walk or work with people that are wicked. Witness to them, but don't walk and work with people that are wicked. And then find faithful people in your life.
[34:12] If you have a shortage of people that are in your life, pray as I did and bring people that are faithful into your life and then promote to live a life of consistency and justice.
[34:23] Not unfair, not of imbalance, not for selfish gain. But say, I want to live according to the standards of God's Word and treat people according to those words.