Well, as I read our sermon passage for today, Psalm 26, I read it trusting and I pray you'll receive it trusting that it's God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, sufficient, powerful word.
And when we proclaim the word of God faithfully, the spirit is pleased to apply that and illuminate it to our lives.
And in that way, in the hand of the Holy Spirit, it's a sword that's sharp and two-edged and it will pierce through where no man's insights or words could ever pierce.
So here is God's word for us today.
Psalm 26, a Psalm of David.
Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity.
I have also trusted in the Lord.
I shall not slip.
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me.
Try my mind and my heart.
For your loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in your truth.
I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, nor will I go in with hypocrites.
I have hated the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.
I wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, O Lord, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of your wondrous works.
Lord, I have loved the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, and whose hand is a sinister scheme, and whose right hand is full of bribes.
But as for me, I will walk in my integrity, redeem me, and be merciful to me.
My foot stands in an even place.
In the congregations, I will bless the Lord.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
Please be seated.
Let's pray.
Oh, Father, please show us what we cannot see on our own.
Please teach us to pray in words we could never come up with on our own.
And please help us to behold God through Jesus Christ in a way that we could never fathom on our own.
We ask this for your namesake.
Amen.
Imagine being caught by surprise one of these weeks, one of these Lord's Days, by a man you've never met, don't know anything about him,
and he picks up this microphone in the middle of a public worship service, and he says, please pray with me.
God, go ahead.
Examine my heart.
It's clean.
Try my mind.
It's pure.
Look at my walk.
It's blameless.
Judge me based on my righteousness.
Amen.
I think several, I can picture probably which ones, and probably walk up here, gently escort this gentleman out,
and, sir, I think you came to the wrong church.
I don't think that sounds right.
Didn't you just hear, we are saved sinners.
That's who we are as we gather here.
But it sounds in Psalm 26 like that's exactly how David is praying, isn't he?
Look at verse 1.
Vindicate me, O Lord.
Vindicate means judge me, avenge me, declare me innocent, O Lord.
So he's appealing on God to be the judge.
That verb, it means to try a case.
Like a judge will hear both sides and then make a ruling one way or the other.
Either the Lord will pronounce a sentence for or against this man that's appealing to God this way.
God will either punish him because he's found guilty or vindicate him because he's truly innocent.
So David is praying like that.
God, evaluate me, my life, and rule in my favor.
That word vindicate is the one I'm preferring to use today.
I know other translations are just as faithful, they use judge or something like that.
But the reason vindicate to me is helpful is because the Latin root, vindi, it means to see.
So vindicate means to make visible.
To make a thing publicly seen for what it really is.
My question to you and to me today, it's our sermon title,
Who Can Pray for Vindication?
Who can pray for vindication?
And if the Holy Spirit will help us, once again, we'll walk through this psalm, verse by verse,
and see four ways that I believe you and I can and must pray for God to vindicate us, according to Psalm 26.
So let's start at verse 1.
Vindicate me, O Lord.
Now listen carefully to what he says next.
The basis of his prayer is this.
Vindicate me based on two things.
My walk and my trust.
Look what he says.
For I have walked in my integrity.
A person's walk points to the outer man.
Your actions, your deeds, your life, what you do.
So evaluate me based on my walk.
And number two, vindicate me based on my trust.
He says, I have also trusted in the Lord.
I shall not slip.
Who we trust reveals our inner man, our thoughts, our intentions, our desires, what we believe is good, worthy, and what we call to mind in our soul and our heart.
And so he says in verse 2, basically opening up that same initial statement, examine me, O Lord.
He's going to use another synonym, another way of saying the same thing.
Examine me.
Prove or test me.
Try my mind and my heart.
Now in verse 2, does yours also say mind and heart?
Does it say it like that?
And many translations will say, like the ESV, my mind and my heart.
Literally the words are first heart, not mind.
And then the second word is reins or kidneys.
And the kidneys represent the lower part of the inner being.
What in a time before the scientific revolution, they called the animal desires.
The lower baser desires that creatures have.
And then the heart is more like the higher part of the inner being that could include a person's conscience.
And so it's a good translation to say mind, my conscience, my heart in that sense.
And also my base desires.
Those, he's saying go ahead and examine those as well.
So it's the whole inner being that is put on the balance for God to weigh.
With the inner man, whatever that inner man finds desirable.
And in this case he says, I will meditate in verse 3 on your loving kindness.
That's what I'm putting before my eyes.
I find your loving kindness desirable.
Therefore, I have walked in your truth.
So it sounds like David is making his case to God that in his inner man, he thinks of God and desires God.
And therefore, it translated into his life and his walk.
It sounds like David is showing up at the tabernacle to worship God.
And he's saying almost those exact same words of the Pharisee that our Lord described in Luke 18.
Remember, Jesus said,
This Pharisee stood up and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
And our Lord himself said that that proud Pharisee would not go home justified that day.
When I first read David's 26th Psalm here,
I thought, no wonder King Saul wanted to kill this guy so bad.
He's a self-righteous snob.
Who does David think he is to plead his own righteousness like that?
And so how are God's people supposed to sing and pray Psalm 26 without falling into that error of being Pharisees,
being whitewashed tombstones?
Martin Luther said,
My old man, my sinful nature,
it was drowned in baptism,
but the beast swims.
Do we pretend to not battle remaining sin?
Is that how we pray Psalm 26?
Just fake it till you make it?
Second London Confession of Faith, chapter 1, paragraph 9,
reminds us,
this is how we read the Bible.
The infallible rule of interpreting Scripture is,
you know the answer,
Scripture itself.
Therefore,
when there is a question about the true and full meaning of any part of Scripture,
it must be understood in the light of other passages that speak more clearly.
So let's use that help as we try to interpret 26 correctly.
We study Psalm 26 in light of its immediate context,
and in light of what the Bible as a whole says,
for there is one divine author of Scripture.
Now, if you notice,
as we've read Psalm 26 once already,
there is no confession of sin clearly in this Psalm.
But the Holy Spirit also not only inspired the words of Scripture,
not only inspired every Psalm individually,
the Holy Spirit also superintended the arrangement of the whole Psalter,
150 Psalms arranged according to His purpose.
And the Holy Spirit has placed Psalm 26,
well, you know exactly where.
It's right after Psalm 25.
And in Psalm 25,
we saw two very clear confessions of sin.
So,
it's God's design
that we will read Psalm 25,
and as an immediate sequel,
we can continue now to pray
Psalm 26.
Look back at Psalm 25.
It's probably on the same page for you.
Look at Psalm 25,
verse 5.
It's also a Psalm of David,
the same human author.
And in verse 5,
he says,
remember not the sins of my youth
or my transgressions.
He's confessing his sin.
According to your steadfast love,
remember me
for the sake of your goodness,
O Lord.
And then look again at verse 11
of Psalm 25.
For your name's sake,
O Lord,
pardon my guilt,
for it is great.
So,
David
has already confessed
the greatness of his sin
that God saves,
not because man deserves it,
but because
of God's own loving kindness
for the sake of His own glory.
Psalm 25
makes clear
that we are guilty
of great sin,
but God's grace is greater.
Our salvation
is all of God
and all
for God's glory.
It's not our own salvation.
We cannot merit
any grace from God.
We receive it like poor beggars
with an empty hand,
but we are saved
according to God's
steadfast love.
And so,
in light of Psalm 25,
we can now
understand better
the prayer of Psalm 26.
Many times
as we work through
the Old Testament,
we'll handle
the entire passage,
then we'll see
how Christ fulfilled
all these shadows.
I simply could not
keep going with Psalm 26
without showing
how our Lord fulfilled it
early on
because there's no sense
in reading the rest of it
until we recognize
that there was only
one man in all human history
who could pray
Psalm 26
directly
without a mediator.
And that's
our Lord Jesus Christ.
The standard of Psalm 26
is impossible
for anyone
under the curse
of the first Adam,
the old creation.
but in Jesus Christ,
Psalm 26
is now
being fulfilled
because he's
the second,
the final Adam,
the firstborn
of the new creation.
And then Jesus said
in Matthew 5,
do not think
that I have come
to destroy the law
or the prophets.
So the standard
of Psalm 26
does not get lowered.
Instead,
Jesus elevated
the standard
of his own moral law
even more.
In the Sermon on the Mount,
in Matthew 5,
he said,
whoever has been angry
has committed murder
in the heart.
It's not just
your outward deeds.
It's the inward man
that must be perfect
before God also.
Jesus said,
whoever has looked
at someone
that you are not married to
lustfully
is an adulterer.
That's who you are.
And you deserve death.
You deserve to be stoned.
1 Corinthians 4, 5
tells us to wait
until the Lord comes
who will both
bring to light
the things hidden
in the darkness
and disclose
the motives
of men's hearts.
You see the impossibly
high standard
of keeping God's law
perfectly.
God knows our heart.
He even knows
our hidden motives
for doing what
everybody else would think
is a good deed.
Only our Lord Jesus Christ
could turn his eyes
to God
and pray Psalm 26.
Vindicate me,
O Lord,
for I have walked
in my integrity.
Jesus could pray that.
Examine me, O Lord,
and prove me.
Try my heart
and my kidneys
for your loving kindness
is before my eyes
and I have walked
in your truth.
Jesus could say that.
No one else
without him.
Our Lord Jesus Christ
fulfilled the righteousness
that David lacked.
Jesus fulfilled
the righteousness
that you and I lack.
And he fulfilled this
on behalf of everyone
that he purchased
with his own blood.
So here's the first
encouragement
for you and me.
In Jesus Christ,
you and I
can now pray
along with David
for the Lord
to vindicate
our inner lives.
In Christ Jesus,
we can pray
asking God
to vindicate,
make visible
any good
that's in my
inner being.
Publicly display that
because it's not
my good.
It's not my
pure heart.
It's Christ in me.
That's what
I want the world
to see.
You and I
can pray
in Jesus Christ's name
because
his deepest
desires
were fully devoted
to do
the Father's will.
You and I
can pray
in Jesus Christ's name
because his
thoughts,
intentions,
and his trust
never once
slipped into sin.
You and I
can pray
in Jesus' name
because his
perfect inner life
is now
freely credited
to you
and me
as our own.
His Holy Spirit
in each believer
slowly transforms
our inner lives
to love
what Christ
loves.
When we find
ourselves
desiring good,
it's all
of Christ
in us
and it's
fueled
out of pure
gratitude
for his
great
grace.
Amen?
This is why
we resonate
so deeply
with those
beautiful choruses
like this one
when we sing,
I hear the
Savior say,
Thy strength
indeed is small.
Child of weakness,
watch and pray
and find in me
thine all in all.
And we respond
to the Lord.
Lord,
now indeed
I find
Thy power
and Thine alone
can change
the leper's spots
and melt
the heart
of stone.
For nothing
good have I
whereby
Thy grace
to claim.
I'll wash
my garments
white
in the blood
of Calvary's
lamb.
Jesus
died my soul
to save
and my lips
shall continue
to repeat.
Jesus paid
it all,
all to Him
I own.
sin
had left
a crimson
stain
but He
washed it
white
as snow.
Well,
now let's
continue to
work through
this psalm
interpreting it
as only Christ
could fulfill it
and now He
applies it
to us
His people.
Here's the
second encouragement
of why we
can pray
Psalm 26.
In Jesus
Christ,
you and I
now can also
pray for the
Lord to not
only vindicate
our inner
lives
but for Him
to also
vindicate
our outward
lives.
You and I
in Christ
can pray
for the
Lord to
vindicate
our outer
lives in
Christ.
That's what
David does
next in
verse 4.
He says,
I have not
sat with
deceitful
idolatrous
mortals
nor will I
go in
with hypocrites.
I have
hated the
assembly of
evildoers
and will
not sit
with the
wicked.
David is
meditating
on God's
word.
He's
praying
Psalm 1.
He's
reflecting
on the
path that
God promises
to be
blessed,
that Christ
ultimately
could fulfill
in Him
alone.
And he
also
contrasts
that with
the path
that perishes.
And it's
to walk,
to stand,
and to sit
with those
who hate
God,
with God's
enemies.
But we
think of
our Lord
Jesus Christ
and He
was known
to be
among
sinners.
And He
was known
to call
out the
Pharisees,
the hypocrites.
But it
wasn't Jesus
sitting at
the feet
of these
evildoers.
It was
them coming
to Jesus
because He
welcomed them
and them
sitting at
His feet,
listening to
His teaching,
His counsel.
And so many
of us,
we sit
every day
for lunch
at work
with people
who don't
know the
Lord.
They're His
enemies.
Christians.
But are
you sitting
there to
learn,
to receive
counsel,
to be
influenced
because these
are your
people?
You'll be
gathering
with them.
Or are
you a
disciple of
Jesus Christ
gathered with
Christ's people
as you are
today?
That's the
one thing
we have
in common.
A healthy
church is
Christ plus
nothing else.
The moment
we say this
church is about
Christ and
one more
thing,
that thing
is an
idol.
And it
will tear
a church
apart.
We're
gathered as
the assembly
of Christ's
people,
nothing else.
And when we
go into
the world,
all of the
scripture teaches
us that every
person,
every image
bearer is
God's
workmanship.
Every image
bearer still
has remaining
good in them
just as we
Christians have
remaining sin.
But God
hates the
evil deeds
of men
and their
rejection of
Him as
God.
Romans 1
18 says
that the
wrath of
God is
revealed from
heaven against
all ungodliness
and unrighteousness
of men who
by their
unrighteousness
suppress the
truth.
They don't
want to hear
about God.
God hates
it when men
assemble
themselves to
do evil.
There are
only two
camps in
this world
as we read
in the
parable that
Christ told
in Matthew
18.
The field
is the
world,
the whole
world.
You are
either wheat
that God
will harvest
for His
glory to
belong to
the great
assembly one
day,
or you
are the
weeds to
tear that
will be
cut down,
thrown into
the fire.
There is
no middle
ground.
If you
are not
assembled
with God's
people,
you are
of the
world.
What does
it mean to
sit in the
assembly of
evildoers?
I thought the
comments by
George Swinock
were very
helpful.
Three observations
about sitting.
Number one,
sitting is a
posture of
choice.
It's at a
man's liberty
whether he
will sit
or stand.
Number two,
sitting is a
posture of
pleasure.
Men sit
for their
ease and
with delight.
Therefore,
the glorified
are said in
Scripture to
sit in
heavenly
places.
Ephesians
2,
6.
Number three,
sitting is a
posture of
staying or
abiding.
Standing is a
posture of
going, but
sitting is a
posture of
staying.
The blessed
who shall
forever be
with the
Lord and
his chosen
are mentioned
in Scripture
to sit
down with
Abraham,
Isaac,
and Jacob,
the great
cloud of
witnesses in
the kingdom
of heaven,
Matthew 8,
11.
That's the
end of
Swinock's
quote.
So,
believers,
in this
life, in
our outer
man, our
actions, our
walk, our
deeds,
will it be
characterized by
belonging to
the world or
by belonging to
Christ and
his kingdom?
We pray that
God will
vindicate, that
he'll see,
Lord, I used
to be of the
world.
You snatched
me out of
that.
I am firmly
with your
people.
In the
assembly of
your people,
make that
vindicated,
make that
visible.
Let me not
be ashamed to
be gathered in
the name of
King Jesus.
We can pray
that.
Believers
can ask God
to vindicate
our outer
life by
putting on
display the
good works of
Christ that
he is working
out through
me now.
You and I
can pray in
Christ's name
because his
active obedience
to the whole
law of God
perfectly fulfilled
every righteous
requirement in
our place.
So he declares
us justified.
And you and I
can pray in
Jesus' name
because his
passive obedience
and his
death fully
discharged our
legal debt and
completely satisfied
divine justice
on the cross.
See, God will
not punish what
Christ has already
borne.
We deserve to be
punished, but
Christ was punished
in our place.
So on the great
day of judgment,
there is no
punishment that a
just God can or
will pour out on
those he already
saved and
redeemed and
punished in
Christ.
You and I can
pray in Jesus
Christ's name
because his
merit is now
freely given.
It's transferred.
It's imputed to
us by his grace
alone and his
spirit in us.
He puts the
Holy Spirit
inside believers
and that spirit
generates all the
power and is
the channel of
all the power we
need to walk
in union with
Christ.
So if we do
perform a good
work, it will
be limited.
It will not be
contributing at all
to our justification.
But God will
receive it as if
it were a glorious
work, as if Christ
himself had done
that good work.
And on that great
day of judgment,
the outer life, the
walk of all God's
people before his
throne will bring
glory to Christ that
way.
It will be the good
works, those things
God commanded, his
church did.
Not because of any
motive other than it
was Christ who lives
in them, performing
them through them.
God has commanded that
his church gather and
pray.
When any one of the
brothers up here or
I, we get the
microphone and we do
our best to pray
publicly.
If we think too much
about ourselves, we
just want to say,
Lord, I confess, I
apologize.
I was a weak
prayer.
It was so limited.
It's not what I felt
in my heart.
My words didn't do
justice.
But God, in his
grace, he receives
that as if it was
Jesus Christ glorified
without any human
constraints, praying
that good work, that
good prayer on behalf
of that brother and on
behalf of us as a
church doing our best
to pray with them.
Believers, our
confession of faith
helpfully summarizes
from scripture, are
accepted through Christ
and thus their good
works are also
accepted in him.
Good works are not
our ideas, but what
God has commanded.
This acceptance does
not mean our good
works are completely
blameless and
irreproachable in
God's sight.
They would be
reproachable.
Instead, God views
them in his Son, and
so he is pleased to
accept and reward that
which is sincere by the
help of the Spirit, even
though it is
accompanied by many
weaknesses and
imperfections.
Isn't that comforting?
And so we can pray for
the Lord to vindicate
even our outer life, even
those good works he's
commanded, because we
know it's Christ
performing them through
us for his glory.
Here's the third
encouragement.
God vindicates us in
the inner man and the
outer man, and you and
I and Jesus Christ can
also pray for the Lord
to vindicate us when we
enter his presence every
Lord's Day in this life.
Even now as we gather to
worship in his name, we
can pray that right now
this worship will be
vindicated, that it will
make visible and be
considered good and just
in his eyes as we enter
his presence in this
life.
That's what David is
describing in verses 6,
7, and 8.
He's describing a public
worship gathering under
the old covenant
regulations.
Look at verse 6.
He says,
I will wash my hands in
innocence, so I will go
about your altar, O Lord,
that I may proclaim with
the voice of thanksgiving
and tell of all your
wondrous works.
In verse 8 he says,
Lord, I have loved the
habitation of your house,
the place where your
glory dwells.
And under the old
covenant, this was a
geographic spot.
It was Zion.
It was the temple, or in
David's time, the
tabernacle in Jerusalem,
the house of God, the
place where his glory
dwells in a concentrated,
magnified way.
I loved how our brother
Jonathan pointed out
during our Bible study,
this is a great picture
of the king, King David,
praying a prayer that no
king would ever pray.
He's praying the prayer
of a priest.
And it foreshadows how
the Lord will unite a
king office with the
priestly office and a
prophetic office.
And that's only possible
in the work of Jesus.
Washing the hands, it's
where you would come in
to do the work of a
priest, the ceremonial
washings.
You take the water out
of the lava, what they
call the sea.
And you wash your hands
so that you as a
minister will be clean to
do the work.
In verse 7, proclaiming
with a voice and
ministering around the
altar, that's calling the
people to behold what's
on the altar here.
It's a substitutionary
sacrifice to atone for
your sins by blood, which
God requires.
Let's sing with
thanksgiving, declare
God's wondrous works.
The king, the priest,
the prophet.
I'm reminded how David
also, through Samuel,
knew the lesson that our
Lord loves obedience
more than sacrifice.
He rebukes those who
approach God and they
want to be only pardoned
on the outside, just by
the blood of the Lamb.
But their deeds, their
hands continue to do
evil unrepentantly.
So to wash your hands, it
means to have nothing to
do with evil in order for
sinners to approach God
according to the
ceremonial law.
They needed to be washed
before they had access
to the blood.
He says, Lord, I have
loved the habitation of
your house, the place
where your glory dwells.
And you and I can pray
that in the same way.
Lord, make visible when I
gather in your presence,
even in this life, make it
visible that I belong to
you.
That this is sincere for
me.
I love to be where your
glory dwells.
I love the habitation of
your house.
I love church.
An old minister of the
gospel told this story of a
worthy, aged woman,
quote, who has for many
years been so deaf as to
not distinguish the loudest
sound.
And yet, she is always one
of the first in the public
worship meeting place.
On asking the reason for
her constant attendance, as
it was impossible for her
to hear the voice of the
preacher preaching, she
answered, even though I
cannot hear you, I come to
God's house because I love
it and would be found in
his ways.
And he gives me many a
sweet thought upon the
text, the sermon passage,
that is pointed out to me.
And another reason is
because here I am in the
best company in the more
immediate presence of God
and among his people, his
saints, the honorable of
the earth.
I am not satisfied with
serving God in private.
It is my duty and privilege
to honor my God regularly
in public.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters, you
and I know this joy.
Every time we gather in
Jesus' name and we can
pray when we're gathered
publicly like this in his
presence, in this life,
because his hands, the
hands of our Lord Jesus
Christ in his life, in his
work, they were always
clean, absolute innocence.
You and I can enter into his
presence today and every
Lord's Day because he alone
first entered the Holy of
Holies with flawless
obedience, which God loves
more than any sacrifice.
You and I can pray in Jesus'
name because Jesus Christ is
our altar.
He is our lamb and he is our
great high priest.
Amen.
We pray in his name because his
soul completely loved the
habitation of God's house.
A zeal for the house of God
consumed him that it would be a
house of prayer.
And he ministers to us the
acceptable way of worshiping
God truly in spirit and in
truth.
You and I can enter his
presence today and every
Lord's Day because he draws us
into the immediate presence of
the holy, holy, holy God
through our union to him.
And it's because our Lord
mediates for us.
He vindicates you and me every
Lord's Day among his great
gathered congregation in heaven,
the great cloud of witnesses.
He's there vindicating us
already saying these are my
people too.
They'll be with us soon.
And he reminds you and me now
of our right standing that we
enjoy this moment that will one
day be vindicated finally on the
great judgment day.
Well, the fourth and final
encouragement for today,
not only does our Lord vindicate
us to enter his presence in this
life, but in Jesus Christ,
you and I can now also pray for
the Lord to vindicate us when we
will enter his presence in the
next life also.
Look at verse 9.
David's eyes now shift to the
future.
He says, do not gather my soul
with sinners, nor my life with
bloodthirsty men.
He's talking about a soul one day
being gathered.
And our scripture reading said of
the wheat and the tares, the weeds.
David's praying, Lord, on that
great day of judgment, don't let
my soul be counted among the
sinners, the evildoers,
bloodthirsty men, those whose
hands is a sinister scheme and
whose right hand is full of
bribes.
And it's right for us to have that
healthy fear, just that reminder,
that reverence that God's judgment
is coming and it's a real thing.
This should quicken us.
It should give us a sense of
urgency to make sure that everyone
has heard the gospel and been
warned.
George Swinnock again commented of a
faithful woman who prayed on her
deathbed after wrestling with
natural doubts that Christians will
have about salvation.
She prayed, Lord, please do not send
me to hell among the wicked.
For you know I never loved their
company during my life.
My only joy was being among your
children here on earth.
Will I really be shut out from their
company in eternity?
Oh, do not sweep my soul away with
sinners to face the wine press of
your eternal anger.
That's what David's praying here as
well.
Verse 11, but as for me, he says, I will
walk in my integrity.
Integrity is wholeness.
It means a person's life is unified.
My words and my deeds do not
constantly contradict one another.
My heart and my actions in a limited
way, those stumbling, they line up.
My prayer and my walk are bound
together because my life is in Christ
and Christ is training me, teaching
me to pray.
And the great day of judgment at the
end of this life and the great day
when the bodies of all the dead will
be reunited to their souls and all
will stand before God as judge.
You'll either be with him for all
eternity or you will be crushed by his
holy wrath and hate for sin for all
eternity.
This thought is so heavy, but it's the
focus of the psalmist in these verses.
We can't dodge it.
Thomas Boston commented that death is
God's gathering time wherein he gets
the souls belonging to him and the
devil gets the souls belonging to him.
They did not go long together, but then
they are parted and the saints are
taken home to the congregation of the
saints and sinners to the congregation
of sinners.
And it concerns us to say, gather not my
soul with sinners.
Whoever be our people here on earth on
this life, God's people or the devil's
death will gather our souls to them for
all eternity.
Every time we have the great joy, the
great privilege of calling a soul, a
person into membership of this church,
this little visible outpost of the
kingdom of heaven.
We are calling them out of the world
and into the church.
And all of eternity hinges on whether
you're united to Christ.
And if so, you'll be with his people.
Or have you rejected Christ?
And if so, your people are the world.
Even in desiring and pledging to God
that David will walk in integrity, in
these last thoughts, verses 11 and 12,
David confesses his dependence on God to
save and forgive him.
Look at verse 11.
David says, redeem me.
Redeem means to purchase back, to ransom,
to save something that belonged to someone
else.
Redeem me and be merciful to me.
To be merciful is to not give someone what
they do deserve.
Someone deserves punishment and wrath and
God's anger because of sin.
But mercy means to pass over, to not pour out
on them what they deserve.
And the final reflection that David gives us
in verse 12 is this.
My foot stands in an even place.
In the congregations, I will bless the Lord.
To stand before God on uneven ground
means that you are wobbly, you're unstable,
you're uncertain about your standing before God.
David is thanking the Lord for redeeming him
and trusting God's mercy to continue.
See, in the end, we can understand that
David had the same faith we have in Christ.
David was enslaved and hopeless on his own.
But God teaches him to pray to the Redeemer.
David was guilty, deserving God's great punishment.
But God teaches him to pray, trusting in God's
great mercy.
Redeem me and be merciful to me.
As believers, we also trust that our vindication
depends on God's constant upholding redemption
and mercy.
And we approach God in the same posture as David.
We pray in Jesus Christ's name
because Jesus' life
was the only life of seamless, unbroken integrity.
We pray in Christ's name
because he promises that he will gather
everyone he purchased with his own precious blood
into that great congregation of his people,
all who are united to him.
And he will vindicate everyone that he saved.
He will make our eternal redemption
by his mercy visible for the whole world to see.
And there in the presence of our holy God
before his throne,
your feet and mine will stand stable
on solid ground in the presence of God forevermore.
And we can sing what we sing now.
And now in him complete,
my robe his righteousness.
I'll rejoice with all my might.
I am now divinely blessed.
And when before the throne,
I stand in him complete.
Jesus died my soul to save.
My lips shall still repeat.
Jesus paid it all.
All to him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain,
but he has washed me white as snow.
Brothers and sisters and dear friends today,
make sure that you depend on Christ's mercy
as your redeemer.
In him alone can we ask God to vindicate us.
And we trust that Christ's prayers
for your vindication and mine,
God will fulfill.
Amen.
Let's thank him.
Father, we praise you.
You are our redeemer.
You're pleased to make visible,
make public to prove your great salvation.
We know you will do this one day, Lord,
for the whole world to see.
And we trust that that same reality
is our reality now,
though we trust this by faith and not by sight.
We pray, Father,
that you will apply the word
that was preached today
to the hearts and lives and walks
of everyone you brought
to hear your word today, Father.
We ask this for Christ's precious name,
for his sake alone.
Amen.