Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / A Song for Adults to Sing │ Msg 1516 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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A Song for Adults to Sing │ Msg 1516 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: I've observed over the years how God often is much
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Speaker 1: easier to get along with than his people. Sad I know,
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Speaker 1: but at times it's a very true statement. Live long enough,
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Speaker 1: especially as a part of the Family of God, and
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Speaker 1: you are going to get hurt by a fellow member
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Speaker 1: of the Family of God. Sooner or later, you'll find
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Speaker 1: yourself on the wrong side of a misunderstanding or disappointed
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Speaker 1: by a painful remark that when said stung deeply something
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Speaker 1: about the enemy of our souls, the devil. He thrives
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Speaker 1: on dissension and on his wily strategy of driving wedges
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Speaker 1: of bitterness between the members of the Family of God. Thankfully, God,
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Speaker 1: in his infinite wisdom and great goodness, foreknew the potential
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Speaker 1: for struggle and strife in the human experience, and so
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Speaker 1: he provided a path to redemption, a process where the
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Speaker 1: broken can be made whole, the wounded can be healed
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Speaker 1: and restored. Part of growing up in God's family is
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Speaker 1: learning the art of forgiveness and of overcoming an attitude
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Speaker 1: of resentment and bitterness. We're going to see that today
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Speaker 1: from a rather unlikely source, a Hebrew song. That's right,
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Speaker 1: one of the psalms where we'll hear not the petty
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Speaker 1: whining of a wounded saint, but the authentic and honest
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Speaker 1: prayer of a seasoned believer. Turn with me, please to
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Speaker 1: Psalm twenty six. This is a psalm of dat. I
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Speaker 1: like to begin the message by reading this ancient song
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Speaker 1: from the New Living Translation. Psalm twenty six in its entirety,
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Speaker 1: Verse one begins, declare me innocent, O Lord, for I
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Speaker 1: have acted with integrity. I have trusted in the Lord
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Speaker 1: without wavering. Put me on trial, Lord, and cross examine me.
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Speaker 1: Test my motives and my heart. For I'm always aware
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Speaker 1: of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to
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Speaker 1: your truth. I do not spend time with liars or
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Speaker 1: go along with hypocrites. I hate the gatherings of those
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Speaker 1: who do evil, and I refuse to join in with
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Speaker 1: the wicked. I wash my hands to declare my innocence.
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Speaker 1: I come to your altar, O Lord, singing a song
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Speaker 1: of thanksgiving and telling of all your wonders. I love
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Speaker 1: your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious presence dwells.
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Speaker 1: Don't let me suffer the fate of sinners. Don't condemn
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Speaker 1: me along with murderers. Their hands are dirty with evil schemes,
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Speaker 1: and they constantly take bribes. But I'm not like that.
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Speaker 1: I live with integrity. So redeem me and show me mercy.
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Speaker 1: Now I stand on solid ground, and I will publicly
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Speaker 1: praise the Lord. The longer I continue my walk with God,
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Speaker 1: the more I appreciate the importance of music in ministry.
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Speaker 1: I think Martin Luther was exactly write when he wrote,
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Speaker 1: next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.
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Speaker 1: God seems to have cast his vote in favor of
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Speaker 1: music by placing in his book the longest of all
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Speaker 1: the sixty six books as the one that is dedicated
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Speaker 1: to the hymns of the Hebrews, which is what the
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Speaker 1: psalter has been called for centuries. In the preface of
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Speaker 1: his book he entitled The Treasury of David, Charles, Spurgeon writes,
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Speaker 1: the delightful study of the Psalms has yielded me boundless
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Speaker 1: prophet and ever growing pleasure. He later calls the Psalms
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Speaker 1: the peerless book. But as is true of music today,
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Speaker 1: this great book of Psalms is is for people who
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Speaker 1: are serious students of the craft. If you like shallow
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Speaker 1: lyrics and easy to hum along with songs, then you're
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Speaker 1: not going to like the songs. The psalms are for
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Speaker 1: folk who have decided that music is an art that
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Speaker 1: requires of the reader discipline and keen thinking, a heart
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Speaker 1: that is right before God. It is what I have
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Speaker 1: called in this talk music for the mature. It is
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Speaker 1: not a superficial statement. There are a few that are popular,
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Speaker 1: some one Psalm twenty three, Psalm ninety one, Psal one
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Speaker 1: hundred and parts of Psalm one nineteen, But for the
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Speaker 1: most part, only the mature spend lengthy times in the songs.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I have observed among those
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Speaker 1: who are on their way to adulthood that they find
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Speaker 1: most often their repose spent in the psalms. Times of refreshment,
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Speaker 1: times of recovery, times in which emotions seem to be
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Speaker 1: getting out of line, and they come back to the psalms.
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Speaker 1: Listen to Campbell morgan great statement. The book of Psalms
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Speaker 1: is the book in which the emotions of the human
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Speaker 1: soul find expression, whatever the mood. And I suppose you
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Speaker 1: have changing moods as well as I do. If you
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Speaker 1: could tell me sincerely and accurately your mood, I can
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Speaker 1: find you a psalm that will help express it. Are
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Speaker 1: you glad, I can find you a psalm that you
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Speaker 1: can sing. Are you sad? I can find you a
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Speaker 1: psalm that will suit that occasion. Are you mad? I
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Speaker 1: do not mean beside yourself, but angry? I can find
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Speaker 1: you a psalm that will suit that occasion. The psalms
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Speaker 1: range over the whole gamut of human emotions. They were
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Speaker 1: all written for us in the consciousness and in the
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Speaker 1: sense of the presence of God. In every one of
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Speaker 1: these psalms, from the first to the last, the singer
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Speaker 1: is conscious of God. That gives peculiar character to the
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Speaker 1: book of Psalms. I don't know if you happen to
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Speaker 1: be a music lover as I am. I don't know
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Speaker 1: if you would call yourself a musician, But you know
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Speaker 1: there is something about a are an instrumentalist, a musician
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Speaker 1: who performs the craft as if for God alone. And
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Speaker 1: you can tell when it's going on, can't you. It's
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Speaker 1: something of a lift as you are sent from the
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Speaker 1: confines of this earth to the breadth of Heaven. And
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Speaker 1: it's beautiful something about it that just makes it like
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Speaker 1: nothing else. And so I commend to you and to
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Speaker 1: your study these one hundred and fifty songs, the best
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Speaker 1: ever written. They are profound. The one I want us
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Speaker 1: to look at talks about an emotion that is very
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Speaker 1: common in all of us, and it is the emotion
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Speaker 1: that comes when we have been done wrong. Had that
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Speaker 1: happened to you? When you have been, in today's terms,
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Speaker 1: ripped off? You have been taken advantage of, someone has
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Speaker 1: used you, someone has abused your friendship, and you are
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Speaker 1: wrestling now with the familiar and very human emotions resentment, confusion, disillusionment,
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Speaker 1: and maybe even rage because you have been hurt in
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Speaker 1: this experience. So this is a song that will help
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Speaker 1: bring back into balance your emotions. Find in your Bible
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Speaker 1: Psalm number twenty six, if you will please, Psalm twenty six.
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Speaker 1: I suppose if I were asked to give a popular
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Speaker 1: title to this psalm, it would be how to do
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Speaker 1: right when you have been done wrong? And David helps
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Speaker 1: us know how to do that. But before he gives
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Speaker 1: us these five or six guidelines to follow, let me
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Speaker 1: help you. Notice in the first verse his plea to
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Speaker 1: God that will kind of set the stage for it.
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Speaker 1: Vindicate me, O, Lord, for I have walked in my integrity.
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Speaker 1: I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Let me
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Speaker 1: spend a few minutes on this request. Vindicate me. The
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Speaker 1: English word means to exonerate, to absolve, to confirm. It
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Speaker 1: has in mind the idea of avenging being one's avenger.
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Speaker 1: You do that for me. The Hebrew word is a
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Speaker 1: lot more colorful. It has legal roots. It goes back
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Speaker 1: to the ancient courtroom scene where the victim stands before
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Speaker 1: a judge. The victim is unable to present his case
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Speaker 1: sufficiently or judge for the record the way the case
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Speaker 1: should turn out, and he looks into the eyes of
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Speaker 1: the judge and he says, to this one who has
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Speaker 1: the power to do all of that, do that for me.
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Speaker 1: The Hebrew word is a judicial term. Execute judgment on
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Speaker 1: my behalf. That's the idea. If you've ever been in
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Speaker 1: the courtroom, if you have ever been on trial and
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Speaker 1: innocently there but someone attempting to attack and prove that
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Speaker 1: which isn't true of you, you are, we say, at
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Speaker 1: the mercy of those who have the power to judge.
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Speaker 1: That's the term used here. This man is helpless. Perhaps
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Speaker 1: he could do some things in the flesh, but he
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Speaker 1: doesn't want to do that. He is the King, you know.
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Speaker 1: But he refuses to pull rank and to do it
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Speaker 1: lest he come out the winner rather than the Lord.
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Speaker 1: So he looks up in prayer and he says, with
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Speaker 1: beseeching tone, Oh God, judge for me. Now. There are
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Speaker 1: two reasons he feels comfortable doing that. Both are mentioned
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Speaker 1: in verse one. First because I have walked in my integrity,
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Speaker 1: and second because I have trusted in you. I'm not
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Speaker 1: asking you, God to do something that is inaccurate or unfair.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, I have been walking with you,
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Speaker 1: and these accusations are false. And even though I could
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Speaker 1: defend myself in the flesh, I also want to say
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Speaker 1: to you, I'm trusting in you. Ever been there, ever
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Speaker 1: done that? When you had the power and maybe even
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Speaker 1: the wealth, you had the brains to get back at someone,
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Speaker 1: and you just simply decided to walk in integrity and
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Speaker 1: trust in the Lord and let him speak for you.
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Speaker 1: In fact, the way this verse ends and the new
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Speaker 1: American standard is unfortunate. Literally it reads, I will not slide.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure the editors thought they were helping us with
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Speaker 1: rendering it. I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
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Speaker 1: I prefer the statement I do not slide. We have
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Speaker 1: an old time expression that's used in some churches to
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Speaker 1: this day called backsliding. It finds its origin in this
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Speaker 1: Hebrew word, I refuse to backslide. I'm not going to
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Speaker 1: move into the realm of selfishness or my own vindication.
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Speaker 1: I'm going to trust you, and I, in the process,
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Speaker 1: will not slide and do it in my own strength.
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Speaker 1: Before I go another step and point out these six
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Speaker 1: suggestions that David gives us on how to do right
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Speaker 1: when we've been done wrong, let me just directly address
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Speaker 1: you who are under the gun right now. I don't
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Speaker 1: know who you are, and I don't know what caliber
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Speaker 1: gun it is, and I don't know how severe or
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Speaker 1: how lengthy the test, but I have a feeling that
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Speaker 1: there are many of you who identify with the PSALM.
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Speaker 1: Already you have done right, but you are under attack.
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Speaker 1: You are being taken advantage of. If it's at all
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Speaker 1: possible for you to listen for the next twenty to
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Speaker 1: thirty minutes without without running away with your thoughts somewhere else,
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Speaker 1: I think you'll get counsel that will help you put
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Speaker 1: it into practice. It will make a difference, and your
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Speaker 1: whole attitude. What you were going through is a test.
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Speaker 1: It is a test that God knows about, and he
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Speaker 1: has approved for some mysterious reason. If it were not,
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Speaker 1: he wouldn't have allowed it. But it is one that
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Speaker 1: has struck you, and it has filtered through his hands,
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Speaker 1: and he has allowed it. He has permitted it so
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Speaker 1: that good will come and growth will occur in your life.
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Speaker 1: I love the poem When God wants to drill a man,
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Speaker 1: and thrill a man, and skill a man, When God
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Speaker 1: wants to mold a man to play the noblest part.
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Speaker 1: When he yearns with all his heart to create so
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Speaker 1: great and bold a man that all all the world
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Speaker 1: shall be amazed. Watch his methods, watch his ways. How
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Speaker 1: he ruthlessly perfects whom he royally elects, how he hammers
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Speaker 1: him and hurts him, and with mighty blows converts him
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Speaker 1: into trial shapes of clay, which only God understands. While
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Speaker 1: his tortured heart is crying, and he lifts beseeching hands,
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Speaker 1: How he bends but never breaks, when his good he undertakes.
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Speaker 1: How he uses whom he chooses, and with every purpose
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Speaker 1: fuses him by every act, induces him to try his
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Speaker 1: splendor out. God knows what he is about. That last
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Speaker 1: line is a comfort, isn't it? God knows what he
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Speaker 1: is about. Now. David, for what reason and whatever the circumstance, says,
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Speaker 1: I have come to you, Lord, and I could defend myself,
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Speaker 1: but I refuse. I am innocent. I have walked in
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Speaker 1: integrity and I will keep doing that. Verse eleven says
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Speaker 1: that I shall continue to walk in my integrity. So God,
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Speaker 1: while trusting you, take charge. Now, let's look at some
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Speaker 1: suggestions that are left for us to follow. What do
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Speaker 1: I do? Number one? Be open before the Lord? That's
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Speaker 1: verse two. What do I do when wrong happens to me?
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Speaker 1: I first open myself up before the Lord. See the
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Speaker 1: second verse, Examine me, o, Lord, and try me, test
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Speaker 1: my mind and my heart. I just don't go any further.
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Speaker 1: For a few minutes. He comes to the Lord in
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Speaker 1: prayer and he brings to the Lord this need for vindication,
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Speaker 1: and he says, in effect, I am open to you,
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Speaker 1: and I ask you to deal with me. He uses
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Speaker 1: three words that are worth a moment's notice. First, he
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Speaker 1: uses the word examine. It is the Hebrew term that
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Speaker 1: could mean scrutinize. It's the idea of searching and investigating
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Speaker 1: the inner being. He's open before the Lord. Wrong has
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Speaker 1: been done to him, and rather than putting on the
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Speaker 1: gloves to fight back, he opens his life and says,
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Speaker 1: search me, examine me. Second, he says, try me. It's
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Speaker 1: translated Psalm number one, thirty nine, verses twenty three and
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Speaker 1: twenty four. Search me, Oh God, try me, and know
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Speaker 1: my thoughts. This is in an intensive stem in the original,
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Speaker 1: and it suggests the idea of an intense time of proving.
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Speaker 1: Listen to the verse of in Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy eight two.
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Speaker 1: You shall remember all the way which the Lord your
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Speaker 1: God led you these forty years in the wilderness to
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Speaker 1: humble you, to prove you, and to know what was
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Speaker 1: in your heart, whether you would keep his word or not.
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Speaker 1: Moses says this to the people just before they enter
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Speaker 1: the land with forty years of wandering behind them. He says,
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Speaker 1: God led you through forty years for three reasons to
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Speaker 1: humble you, to prove that's this word, and to show
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Speaker 1: you what was in your heart. God knew what was
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Speaker 1: in the heart all the time, but it took the
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Speaker 1: tests of forty years to show the people what was
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Speaker 1: in their heart. There is nothing like being tested to
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Speaker 1: reveal the truth of a heart. Even the little tiny
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Speaker 1: corners that have been uh, well, we've swept things into
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Speaker 1: them and they've gotten clogged. And in times of testing,
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Speaker 1: we go right to the corners of our life and
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Speaker 1: we look under the rug as well. We ask God
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Speaker 1: to open all the closets and to reveal to us
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Speaker 1: what we need to know. Prove it, Lord, prove me,
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Speaker 1: show me. And it's an intense term. Expose to myself
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Speaker 1: for my awareness the condition of my heart. Third test
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Speaker 1: me Yet a third word sarrat. Interesting term. It's used
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Speaker 1: thirty two times in the Old Testament. Twenty two of
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Speaker 1: those times it's used of precious metals being refined. It's
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Speaker 1: the thought of smelting and refining so as to remove
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Speaker 1: the draws and the impurities. In my days in the
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Speaker 1: machine shop a number of years ago, while working my
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Speaker 1: way through school, I remember working in the heat treat
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Speaker 1: plant of this large machine shop. It was in Houston,
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Speaker 1: and the temperature outside was already desperately hot, the humidity
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Speaker 1: was high, and inside this heat treat plant it was unbearable.
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Speaker 1: We wore asbestos masks with little slits that we looked
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Speaker 1: through when we would put these pieces of metal in
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Speaker 1: the fire, the fire was as white as a piece
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Speaker 1: of paper. And you would push the metal into the
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Speaker 1: into the furnace, and by and by the metal would
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Speaker 1: become the color of the fire. And after a certain
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Speaker 1: period of time, you would reach in with tongs and
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Speaker 1: you would pull that metal out of the fire, and
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Speaker 1: then you would drop it in either salt bath or
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Speaker 1: an oil bath, depending on the purpose of that particular treatment,
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Speaker 1: so as to temper the metal. And when you would
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Speaker 1: stick that metal in the oil, it would scream. Shall
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Speaker 1: I illustrate it? No? No, I wouldn't want you to
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Speaker 1: wake up from your slumper there. But it would be
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Speaker 1: like a leopard screaming at his prey. I mean, it
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Speaker 1: was like nothing you've ever heard. But what is interesting
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Speaker 1: is that by and by, in this furnace area there
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Speaker 1: would be a pool of slag. As the metal got
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Speaker 1: hotter and hotter, the impurities from with in would just
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Speaker 1: ooze out of the steel. And then you could you
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Speaker 1: could sort of swab off the tops, wipe off the
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Speaker 1: top of this pool of metal, and it would be
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Speaker 1: nothing but slag and alloy and the impurities from the metal.
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Speaker 1: Oh Lord, vindicate me, show me what I am like,
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Speaker 1: Reveal the truth of my heart, and let me see
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Speaker 1: the impurities that are there. When wrong comes against you,
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Speaker 1: make an internal examination of your life. Allow God to
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Speaker 1: show you the true condition of your heart, and let
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Speaker 1: the examination melt away whatever impurities are there. Philip's translation,
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Speaker 1: I should say, paraphrase of James one, verse two and
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Speaker 1: three and verse four. When all kinds of trials and
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Speaker 1: temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don't resent them
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Speaker 1: as intruders, but welcome them as friends. Realize that they
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Speaker 1: come to test your faith to produce in you the
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Speaker 1: quality of endurance. But let the process go on until
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Speaker 1: that endurance is fully developed, and you will have become
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Speaker 1: men of mature character with the right sort of independence. First,
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Speaker 1: be open before the Lord second verse three, remembering God's love,
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Speaker 1: continue to obey him. For thy loving kindness is before
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Speaker 1: my eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. Let
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Speaker 1: me read that again, for thy loving kindness is before
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Speaker 1: my eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. Observe
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Speaker 1: what he is remembering as he praise this song to God,
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Speaker 1: he says, before my eyes is a reminder of your love,
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Speaker 1: Your acceptance your kindness, and I have no plans to
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Speaker 1: walk away from you. Two very subtle temptations occur when
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Speaker 1: we are unfairly attacked. One we doubt God's love. Two
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Speaker 1: we drift into disobedience. I've had both happened to me,
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Speaker 1: and I am encouraged to read that. David says, that's
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Speaker 1: not for me. I don't want that. By the way,
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Speaker 1: I have observed when people seek the counsel of other
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Speaker 1: people having been done wrong, most friends will tell you
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Speaker 1: how to get back. You know, the bumper sticker you've seen.
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Speaker 1: I don't get mad, I get even. I always am
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Speaker 1: uneasy driving behind someone with that bumper sticker. I never
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Speaker 1: like to run in front of a car like that.
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Speaker 1: I never know if it's time for that person to
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Speaker 1: get even. Most human counselors, most friends will tell you
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Speaker 1: how to get even, and they have a strategy that
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Speaker 1: is sure to work. David says, I have no interest
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Speaker 1: in getting even. I want, very much, however, to walk
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Speaker 1: in truth. If you have a friend who reminds you
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Speaker 1: of God's counsel, even though they may lose your friendship
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Speaker 1: for a while, you've got a true friend. I want
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Speaker 1: to illustrate it in a moment, in a very vivid manner,
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Speaker 1: which happened to me just this past week. But first
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Speaker 1: let me show you the next third piece of counsel.
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Speaker 1: Refuse to spend time with wrong associates. I do not
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Speaker 1: sit with deceitful men, nor will I go with pretenders.
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Speaker 1: The word means hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers,
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Speaker 1: and I will not sit with the wicked. In the
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Speaker 1: poetic form of this Hebrew song, he repeats the same idea.
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Speaker 1: I'm watching closely those with whom I spend time. I
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Speaker 1: won't sit with the deceiver, I won't run with the hypocrite.
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Speaker 1: I refuse to spend time in the assembly of evildoers,
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Speaker 1: and I won't identify with the wicked. Now is the
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Speaker 1: time for me to walk with you. Oh God, hold
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Speaker 1: your place here and turn back to First Samuel twenty six. Michhew,
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Speaker 1: you a perfect example of how David carried this out
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Speaker 1: on another occasion. When you turn to First Samuel twenty six,
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Speaker 1: you've got to understand you're in the context of a search.
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Speaker 1: Saul is searching for David. He hopes to kill him,
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Speaker 1: and he has made David's life miserable for years in
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Speaker 1: a vulnerable moment, the tables are turned and David has
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Speaker 1: a chance to get back at Saul. Remember now, David's innocent.
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Speaker 1: Saul is the guilty one, at least in motive. He
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Speaker 1: has no business wanting to kill David, but that's been
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Speaker 1: his plan. Now the tables are turned first Timeuel twenty
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Speaker 1: six six. David answered and said to a bemelect the Hittite,
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Speaker 1: and to Abishai, the son of Zeruiah Joe AB's brothers,
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Speaker 1: saying who will go down with me to Saul in
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Speaker 1: the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with you.
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Speaker 1: So David and Abishai came to the people by night,
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Speaker 1: and behold Ah Saul lay sleeping inside the circle of
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Speaker 1: the camp with his spear Ah stuck in the ground
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Speaker 1: at his head, and Abner and the people were lying
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Speaker 1: around him. How's my chance? And Abashai said to David,
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Speaker 1: listen to the counselor today God has delivered your enemy
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Speaker 1: into your hand. Now therefore, please let me strike him
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Speaker 1: with the spear to the ground with one stroke, and
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Speaker 1: I will not strike him the second time. All it'll
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Speaker 1: take is one stroke. You don't even have to get bloody.
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Speaker 1: Just get out of the way, David, and let me
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Speaker 1: at Saul. Now is our chance, David said to ABESHI
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Speaker 1: do not destroy him. For who can stretch out his
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Speaker 1: hand against the Lord's anointed and be without guilt? David said,
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Speaker 1: as the Lord lives, surely the Lord will strike him,
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Speaker 1: or his day will come that he dies, and he
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Speaker 1: will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid
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Speaker 1: that I should stretch out my hand against the lords anointed. Now,
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Speaker 1: please take the spear that is at his head and
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Speaker 1: the jug of water, and let us go. Huh, what
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Speaker 1: a great moment for David. What would you have done?
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Speaker 1: You say, well, it depends on who Saul is in
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Speaker 1: this case, I hope not. I got a call this
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Speaker 1: past week from a man I love very much, respect him,
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Speaker 1: admire him greatly doing a marvelous work in a parachurch ministry.
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Speaker 1: It so happens that in the last couple or three
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Speaker 1: weeks along his common individual who has for the longest
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Speaker 1: time claimed to be a friend. But now he's become
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Speaker 1: an adversary, and he's taking unfair advantage of my friend.
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Speaker 1: And if the truth were known, he is hoping to
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Speaker 1: undermine my friend's ministry, and it's getting very, very serious.
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Speaker 1: And as he spoke with me on the phone, his
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Speaker 1: voice broke a couple of times, and he said, Chuck,
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Speaker 1: I don't know that I can restrain myself. I am.
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Speaker 1: I am so distraught over this deceiver that has just
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Speaker 1: cut the rug out from under me. You know, I
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Speaker 1: was poring over Psalm twenty six at the time, and
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Speaker 1: I said to him, as I called his name, I said,
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Speaker 1: listen to these words. Then I read through the song
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Speaker 1: and I heard him on the other end of the line,
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Speaker 1: grown on occasion, just grown. And he said, where is that?
34:01
Speaker 1: I said, it's Psalm twenty six. I could hear he
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Speaker 1: was finding it in his Bible. And then I said,
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Speaker 1: you know how you feel. You feel like David when
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Speaker 1: he wrote in Psalm forty one point nine, even my
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Speaker 1: close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread,
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Speaker 1: has lifted up his heel against me. He said, that's it.
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Speaker 1: That's exactly what I feel. My good friend has lifted
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Speaker 1: up his heel against me. He said, of all the
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Speaker 1: people I've talked to, this is the first time I
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Speaker 1: had been taken to the scriptures. He said, all the
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Speaker 1: others have told me this is what you ought to do.
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Speaker 1: And they laid out a strategy that was wise in
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Speaker 1: human terms, but unwise before God. In his situation. The
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Speaker 1: best thing he can do is is examine himself before God.
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Speaker 1: Refuse to sit with deceivers and hypocrites, walk closely with
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Speaker 1: his Lord, and let God take charge. Let God vindicate.
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Speaker 1: His wheels grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine. All
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Speaker 1: others had offered horizontal counsel. And he said, I know
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Speaker 1: in my heart this is what I needed to hear,
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Speaker 1: and that's what I'm going to do. I anxiously await
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Speaker 1: hearing what God did on his behalf. Because the man
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Speaker 1: is walking in the integrity of his heart. It's beautiful
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Speaker 1: to see it. Now. Back to Psalm twenty six. Oh,
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Speaker 1: by the way, to whom are you listening? To? Whom
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Speaker 1: are you listening? Now that you have been taken advantage of?
36:02
Speaker 1: With whom are you spending time? Be careful about the
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Speaker 1: choice of your associates. Be open before the Lord, remembering
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Speaker 1: God's love, continue to obey him. Refuse to spend time
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Speaker 1: with the wrong crowd Number four Verses six and seven.
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Speaker 1: Maintain a positive attitude. I shall wash my hands in innocence.
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Speaker 1: I will go about thine altar, O Lord, that I
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Speaker 1: may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and declare all
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Speaker 1: thy wonders. What a response, Lord, I will continue walking
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Speaker 1: in innocence. Perhaps it is a reference to coming to
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Speaker 1: the laver and washing. Perhaps it is a time of
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Speaker 1: confession before God as he sustains an innocent walk, and
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Speaker 1: he says, I will come to your altar, O Lord,
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Speaker 1: I will stay close to you, And when I am
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Speaker 1: with people, I will proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving,
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Speaker 1: and I will be careful to declare your wonders. There's
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Speaker 1: something marvelously therapeutic about a heart of gratitude. It's so
37:17
Speaker 1: much better than a heart of resentment. I will when
37:21
Speaker 1: I am with one another, with other people, I will
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Speaker 1: be careful to speak of praise to you. I will
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Speaker 1: give you thanks for that which you have allowed me
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Speaker 1: to have. I thought of Acts Chapter five, remember it
37:39
Speaker 1: the apostles, God bless them. They had stood before the officials.
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Speaker 1: The officials Verse forty of chapter five of Acts called
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Speaker 1: in the apostles, and they flogged them, they beat them,
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Speaker 1: and they ordered them to speak no more in the
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Speaker 1: name of Jesus. And they released them. How's that for thanks?
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Speaker 1: These good men of whom the world wasn't worthy had
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Speaker 1: stood in their integrity before the officials, and they had
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Speaker 1: been beaten, and then they were threatened keep your mouth
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Speaker 1: shut regarding this Jesus. And then they were sent into
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Speaker 1: the streets. Look at the next verse. So they went
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Speaker 1: on their way from the presence of the council, rejoicing.
38:36
Speaker 1: Now that throws you a curve, doesn't it. You don't
38:39
Speaker 1: expect that verb. They went from the presence of the council,
38:44
Speaker 1: complaining that would make sense, disillusion that fits, but rejoicing
38:51
Speaker 1: that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for
38:55
Speaker 1: his name. And every day in the temple and from
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Speaker 1: house to house. I like the way Luke writes it,
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Speaker 1: they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
39:07
Speaker 1: Great people. Huh rare people, how much does it take
39:15
Speaker 1: to get your faith derailed? Are you tottering somewhere on
39:21
Speaker 1: the edge of giving up because you've been mistreated or
39:25
Speaker 1: treated unfairly by someone you trusted? It's easy to recoil
39:33
Speaker 1: to become bitter. Remind you again of John Henry Jowitz's
39:40
Speaker 1: words A ministry that costs nothing, accomplishes nothing. You want
39:47
Speaker 1: to know why I keep mentioning the importance of a
39:50
Speaker 1: mature response, Because the closer and the longer we walk
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Speaker 1: with God, the more we do battle with Him. I think,
40:00
Speaker 1: not with others, or not even with ourselves. I think
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Speaker 1: the real battles are with God. Came across this great
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Speaker 1: statement in the Commencement of the Spiritual Life, our hardest
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Speaker 1: task is to bear with our neighbor, in its progress,
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Speaker 1: to bear with ourselves, and in its end, to bear
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Speaker 1: with God. In the commencement of the Spiritual Life, our
40:31
Speaker 1: hardest task is to bear with our neighbor. That's at
40:35
Speaker 1: the beginning, in the progress, to bear with ourselves, and
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Speaker 1: in its end, to bear with God. That is the truth,
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Speaker 1: David says, in effect, Lord, my battle isn't with my neighbor.
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Speaker 1: My battle isn't even with myself. My real struggle is
40:59
Speaker 1: with you, and I need to stay close to you.
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Speaker 1: I need to work this through with you, because it's
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Speaker 1: you're allowing this that has that has caused the struggle,
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Speaker 1: and I want to stay in touch with you. I
41:16
Speaker 1: want to keep the channel open between you and me.
41:19
Speaker 1: Now back Psalm twenty six for the sort of a
41:22
Speaker 1: wrap up fifth verse eight, be faithful in public worship,
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Speaker 1: O Lord, I love the habitation of thy house and
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Speaker 1: the place where thy glory dwells. Remarkable statement. Amazing man
41:39
Speaker 1: is David, no wonder he came to be known as
41:42
Speaker 1: the man after God's own heart, even though taking advantage
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Speaker 1: of even though struggling with the impact of this mistreatment,
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Speaker 1: He says, I love the habitation of thy house, and
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Speaker 1: I love the place where thy glory dwells. In those days,
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Speaker 1: it was the tabernacle, it was the place of worship,
42:06
Speaker 1: and he says, I stay close to that. It is
42:10
Speaker 1: easy now by application, in the midst of an assault,
42:15
Speaker 1: to get distance between us and the place of worship,
42:18
Speaker 1: isn't it. It is easy for us to think what
42:23
Speaker 1: I need to do is just get away from all
42:26
Speaker 1: of that congregation, and I just needed to just get alone,
42:32
Speaker 1: just need to be quiet, just need to spend time
42:35
Speaker 1: away from all that to get my head together, when
42:39
Speaker 1: in fact that causes the head to come apart. Hebrews
42:43
Speaker 1: ten makes it very clear in an eloquent statement that
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Speaker 1: it is in the assembly of the worshipers that you
42:50
Speaker 1: are stimulated to do good deeds. It is in the
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Speaker 1: congregation of the righteous, that you are strengthened couraged. David says,
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Speaker 1: I love thy habitation, and I love the place where
43:08
Speaker 1: your glory twelves. Now, the sixth and final piece of
43:14
Speaker 1: advice is the most difficult of all. We've had five
43:19
Speaker 1: be opened before the Lord. Remember, remembering God's love, Continue
43:25
Speaker 1: to obey him. Refuse to spend time with wrong associates,
43:30
Speaker 1: maintain a positive attitude, be faithful in public worship. Now
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Speaker 1: the last section of the Psalm. Patiently stand and wait
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Speaker 1: for God to work, wait for relief Verses nine to twelve.
43:51
Speaker 1: Do not take my soul away along with sinners, or
43:55
Speaker 1: my life with men of bloodshed, in whose hands is
43:59
Speaker 1: a wicked scheme, whose right hand is full of bribes.
44:05
Speaker 1: As for me, he's still praying. As for me, I
44:09
Speaker 1: shall walk in my integrity. Redeem me and be gracious
44:16
Speaker 1: to me. My foot stands on a level place in
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Speaker 1: the congregation. I shall bless the Lord. I was intrigued
44:30
Speaker 1: by the twelfth verse level place. Very interesting term. It's
44:38
Speaker 1: from a word that has reference to making something smooth
44:42
Speaker 1: or flat or straight, like a plateau, and it's the
44:48
Speaker 1: idea of having a commanding view so as to see
44:53
Speaker 1: the whole scene from God's perspective. My footstands on a
45:02
Speaker 1: level place. I think it's the thought of getting an objective,
45:11
Speaker 1: panoramic view of what is happening, so as to maintain
45:16
Speaker 1: one's balance. I find that I fight dirty when I
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Speaker 1: lose that commanding perspective. I find that I return to
45:28
Speaker 1: my street fighting ways the flesh. I tend to deal
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Speaker 1: with others as I am dealt with, rather than God's
45:40
Speaker 1: way when I lose that commanding level head or level place.
45:49
Speaker 1: And I learned from verse twelve that this is the
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Speaker 1: place my foot is to stand. I am to keep
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Speaker 1: that perspective, and only the Lord can give it to
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Speaker 1: me when I wait patiently stand and wait for relief.
46:12
Speaker 1: I know that you've heard that before. It's hard to
46:16
Speaker 1: hear again, but it needs to be said, needs to
46:21
Speaker 1: be heard. A couple or three closing comments I want
46:28
Speaker 1: to make from First Peter Chapter two. Will you turn
46:34
Speaker 1: from Psalm twenty six to First Peter two last part
46:39
Speaker 1: of the chapter. Wonderful thing about the ministry of the
46:47
Speaker 1: Word is you never know to whom you're speaking for all.
46:54
Speaker 1: I know this is way off target for some of you,
46:57
Speaker 1: but there's another part of me that says, I can
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Speaker 1: hear your groan from where I speak. Can I think
47:05
Speaker 1: you and I are connecting, and I'm grateful for that
47:11
Speaker 1: one Peter two verse eighteen. Servants, be submissive to your
47:20
Speaker 1: masters with all respect, not only to those who are
47:23
Speaker 1: good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.
47:30
Speaker 1: For this fine's favor. If for the sake of conscience
47:33
Speaker 1: toward God, a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly,
47:42
Speaker 1: for what credit is there if when you sin and
47:45
Speaker 1: are harshly treated, you endure it with patience. But if
47:52
Speaker 1: when you do what is right and suffer for it,
47:58
Speaker 1: you patiently endure it. This finds favor with God. Look
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Speaker 1: at that first statement I want to make, is this
48:14
Speaker 1: as I close out our thoughts. The mature want to
48:17
Speaker 1: please God regardless. Adult saints want to please God regardless.
48:30
Speaker 1: The mature want that more than being happy. They want
48:34
Speaker 1: that more than having their family around them. They want
48:38
Speaker 1: that more than creature comforts. They want that more than
48:42
Speaker 1: financial security. The mature want to please God regardless. David
48:48
Speaker 1: is in that camp. Vindicate me, Oh Lord, I want
48:53
Speaker 1: to please you through this test. I don't want to
48:57
Speaker 1: have my way. I don't want somebody to look back
48:59
Speaker 1: and say, boy David, you fought a good fight and
49:02
Speaker 1: you won. You vindicate me. Lord, you be honored as
49:08
Speaker 1: a result of this mistreatment. The mature want to please
49:12
Speaker 1: God regardless. Second, the mature model the life of Christ.
49:20
Speaker 1: See verse twenty one. You have been called for this
49:23
Speaker 1: purpose since Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example
49:27
Speaker 1: for you to follow in his steps. The mature model
49:32
Speaker 1: the life of Christ. It's more important to the mature
49:38
Speaker 1: that the life of Christ be modeled than that the
49:40
Speaker 1: war be won, or that there be a good impression left,
49:46
Speaker 1: or that you make a prophet, or that you come
49:49
Speaker 1: out on top, or that people ooh and ah in
49:53
Speaker 1: your presence, or that everyone thinks well of you. You
49:58
Speaker 1: want to model the life of Christ. That will include
50:02
Speaker 1: being a servant, being taken advantage of Christ certainly was,
50:08
Speaker 1: and we are to walk in his steps. Look at
50:12
Speaker 1: verse twenty five. You were continually straying like sheep, but
50:17
Speaker 1: now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of
50:21
Speaker 1: your souls. Third, and finally, the mature see benefit in hardship,
50:31
Speaker 1: not just pain. You were continually straying like sheep. But
50:38
Speaker 1: now you've returned to the shepherd and guardian. I think
50:42
Speaker 1: one of the reasons they had is because they were suffering.
50:47
Speaker 1: They were hurting. I don't know of anything that brings
50:50
Speaker 1: us back to God like that. Aw Towser writes, it
50:57
Speaker 1: was the enraptured Rutherford who could show, in the midst
51:00
Speaker 1: of serious and painful trials, praise God for the hammer,
51:05
Speaker 1: the file, and the furnace. The hammer is a useful tool,
51:10
Speaker 1: but the nail, if it had feeling an intelligence, could
51:14
Speaker 1: present another side of the story. For the nail knows
51:17
Speaker 1: the hammer only as an opponent, a brutal, merciless enemy
51:22
Speaker 1: who lives to pound it into submission, to beat it
51:25
Speaker 1: down out of sight and clinch it into place. That
51:29
Speaker 1: is the nail's view of the hammer, and it is
51:32
Speaker 1: accurate except for one thing. The nail forgets that both
51:36
Speaker 1: it and the hammer are servants of the same workmen.
51:40
Speaker 1: Let the nail, but remember that the hammer is held
51:43
Speaker 1: for the workmen, and all resentment toward it will disappear.
51:47
Speaker 1: The carpenter decides whose head shall be beaten next, and
51:53
Speaker 1: what hammer shall be used in the beating. That is
51:55
Speaker 1: the sovereign right of the carpenter. When the nail has
52:02
Speaker 1: surrendered to the will of the workman and has gotten
52:05
Speaker 1: a little glimpse of his benign plans for its future,
52:09
Speaker 1: it will yield to the hammer without complaint. Now the
52:14
Speaker 1: file is more painful, for its business is to bite
52:17
Speaker 1: into the soft metal, scraping and eating away the edges
52:21
Speaker 1: till it has shaped the metal to its will. Yet
52:25
Speaker 1: the file has in truth no real will in the matter,
52:29
Speaker 1: but serves another master, as the metal also does. It
52:33
Speaker 1: is the master, and not the file, that decides how
52:36
Speaker 1: much shall be eaten away, what shape the metal shall take,
52:40
Speaker 1: and how long the painful filing shall continue. Let the
52:44
Speaker 1: metal accept the will of the master, and it will
52:48
Speaker 1: not try to dictate when or how it shall be filed.
52:52
Speaker 1: As for the furnace, it is the worst of all,
52:56
Speaker 1: ruthless and savage. It leaps at every combustible thing that
53:01
Speaker 1: enters it, and never relaxes its fury till it has
53:05
Speaker 1: reduced it all to shapeless ashes. All that refuses to
53:09
Speaker 1: burn is melted to a mass of helpless matter without
53:13
Speaker 1: will or purpose of its own. When everything is melted,
53:17
Speaker 1: that will melt, and all is burned, that will burn then,
53:23
Speaker 1: and not till then the furnace calms down and rests
53:28
Speaker 1: from its destructive fury. We tend to think of Christianity
53:34
Speaker 1: as a painless system by which we can escape the
53:37
Speaker 1: penalty of past sins and attain to Heaven at last.
53:42
Speaker 1: The flaming desire to be rid of every unholy thing
53:46
Speaker 1: and to put on the likeness of Christ at any
53:49
Speaker 1: cost is not found among us. The devil, things and
53:57
Speaker 1: people being what they are, it is necessary for God
54:01
Speaker 1: to use the hammer, the file, and the furnace in
54:06
Speaker 1: his holy work of preparing a saint for true sainthood.
54:13
Speaker 1: It is doubtful whether God can bless anyone greatly until
54:18
Speaker 1: he has hurt him deeply. That's why I call Psalm
54:26
Speaker 1: twenty six a song for adults to sing. May we
54:34
Speaker 1: vow for a few moments of prayer. Father, we have
54:38
Speaker 1: said quietly in your presence, and we have done our
54:41
Speaker 1: best to listen. Well, You know the full and very
54:46
Speaker 1: personal extent to which some of us are carrying deep
54:50
Speaker 1: wounds of a once trusted friend, or the silent burden
54:56
Speaker 1: of regret. In the mysterious wisdom of your grace, somehow
55:02
Speaker 1: we are learning from you that such heartaches can be
55:06
Speaker 1: powerful tools of growth in your gracious hands. For some,
55:13
Speaker 1: the hammer and the file and the furnace have never
55:18
Speaker 1: struck with such fury, and it seems as though the
55:22
Speaker 1: pain will never stop. How easy to run, to attempt
55:29
Speaker 1: to escape, And yet you Father, graciously set the hounds
55:34
Speaker 1: of heaven after us. You won't let us get away.
55:39
Speaker 1: Thank you for being more faithful than we could ever
55:43
Speaker 1: possibly be. Thank you for being so good. Thank You
55:50
Speaker 1: for your sovereign hand on that hammer and that file
55:55
Speaker 1: and in that furnace. Keep us listening, quietly, trusting, waiting
56:03
Speaker 1: in faith as you work on our behalf, just as
56:09
Speaker 1: the Psalmist has written, Vindicate us, o Lord, as we
56:13
Speaker 1: desire to walk humbly before you in integrity, and we
56:17
Speaker 1: will trust in you, and we will not slide. Thank you,
56:23
Speaker 1: Gracious Father. In the name of Christ Jesus our Savior,
56:28
Speaker 1: we pray Amen. The preceding message, A Song for Adults
56:35
Speaker 1: to Sing, was copyrighted in nineteen eighty five, and the
56:38
Speaker 1: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty sixteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
56:43
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.