Psalm 101

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Good evening. Thanks so much for joining me tonight.
This is where every day we get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. It's really great to have you for coffee and devotions here. Tonight we're going to do Psalm 101. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your Word. We thank you for your rich love that you have poured out upon us, and we pray that we would be those who would worship you in spirit and in truth. In Jesus's name, amen. Why don't we go ahead and turn our Bibles now, Psalm 101, a Psalm of David. I will sing of mercy and justice to you, O Lord. I will sing praises.
I will behave wisely in a perfect way. O, when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not cling to me. Oh, pardon me. It shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me. I will not know wickedness.
Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him will I endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell in my house. He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early will I destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.
Wow, what an intense passage we have to go through today. So what is this A about? What's the best verse in C? What are we called to do in light of this? Well, what is this about? This is a Psalm of David. This is a Psalm of David, and what's going on? He's talking about himself, and then he's talking about those who are wicked. And this is one of these difficult ones, right? If you had to take a guess, you would probably say that David was probably singing this, well, before he sinned with Bathsheba. I mean, what does he say? I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not cling to me. Somebody might say, well, this sounds like David is kind of being prideful here.
We know what happens later on in his life. And so this is one of these instances where we're saying, David probably did mean these words. They were true of David's life for a while. And in his heart, he probably believed them to be true of himself. But David was just like us, a sinner, one who could fall away. And so how do we understand this? David is the king. David is the anointed one. David is the one who's supposed to mete out justice, and he's supposed to be the righteous king in Jerusalem. So, how do we take this? Well, this is where we believe that these are the inspired words of God, and that, yes, these were written by David. Yes, he's writing about them from his own experience, but he's a holy man being inspired by God, and I think David is speaking prophetically in Christ's voice. Think of this in Christ's voice.
Did Christ ever set anything wicked before his eyes? Did he ever let sin cling to him? Did he ever have a perverse heart? Did he ever know wickedness? The only one who could ever say these things perfectly would be Jesus Christ. It's Jesus. It's Jesus who is the one who will destroy those who slander secretly. It's Jesus who will not endure those who are proud in heart. It's Jesus. But then some people are going to have a problem, right? You might even have like, oh, that doesn't sound like the Jesus I know. Well, brothers and sisters, I need to encourage you. We think of Jesus as gentle and lowly, and that's true. Jesus is Yahweh who saves his people from their sins. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus is the one who is the great shepherd of his sheep. But he's not the shepherd of all sheep. He's not the shepherd of all people. He doesn't love every single person who has ever existed. No, quite the opposite.
Someday we'll go through the book of Revelation, and when we get to the book of Revelation, we see a very different picture of Jesus when he returns. A Jesus who comes back as the conquering king, the warrior king, the one who will judge the living and the dead. He is the one who will cast final judgment. So yeah, Jesus is merciful. He's merciful to whom He will show mercy, and He is gracious to those to whom He will show grace. But it's Jesus who is the one who says, my eyes shall be on the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me.
He who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell in my house. He who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy them. all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the evil doers from the city of the Lord." Even in the church, Jesus is someday going to separate the sheep and the goats. Someday he's going to separate the wheat from the tares. Someday he's going to come.
So the question you have to ask yourself is, Are you ready for the judgment of the Lord? Has your faith in Jesus Christ led you towards, or let me say it a different way. Have you thought about a false Jesus, a sugary gospel, a God who forgives all your sins so you can live a sinful life? That's not the true gospel. Or have you come to the living and true God, cried out, Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner, and repented of your sins? I'm not saying you're not going to slip up again. I'm not saying that you're not going to struggle with sin. Go read Romans chapter seven. But do you find yourself still as a slave to sin?
But more than that, do you trust in the righteousness of Jesus Christ? That is Jesus Christ, the righteous one who died for the unrighteous like you and I, you and me. He died for us. Do we trust in him? Do we follow after his ways? If not, well, it's appointed for man to die once, but after this, the judgment. Are you ready for the day of Christ?
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you warn us and you give us hard truths. Father, we pray that we would praise you, that we would love you with all of our hearts, that you would purge us with hyssop, cleanse us from our sins. And Father, we pray that we would walk in the spirit, enable us, empower us, strengthen us. to follow after you, to forsake sin, and to love righteousness. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord give you a good night's rest tonight. May you sleep well, trusting in Jesus Christ. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.