Well, if you have your Bible with you this evening, please turn with me to Psalm 26. Psalm 26, and we are going to be considering the entire Psalm this evening, the first, well, and the all 12 verses. Psalm 26. Let's go before the Lord and ask his blessing on the reading and preaching of his word. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, as your word is now open to our ears, we do pray that your spirit would open it to our hearts, richly, Lord, and deeply, that we would see Christ, that we would praise your holy name for all of your wonderful works in David's life as well as in the life of your church. Lord, we pray that you would be with us and that you would press it deep to us today. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen. Well, Psalm 26, beginning in verse one. Hear now the holy and inspired and inerrant and infallible word of God written for you and for me today. 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 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. 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 in whose hands 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. Amen. Well, beloved, when wicked people make and spread false accusations against godly men, They are often trying to damage the good name and reputation of that man so that he'll be looked at and thought of poorly by those who listen to and know him. Listening to and acting upon slander is sinful. And yet people are often too trusting of evil reports and engage in it more often than you would think. Instead of telling the person speaking slander, who may very well pose as a light bearer to shut their mouths, and while they shut their ears and hearts from receiving it. Now, some of you can relate to the experience of being slandered against and the damage that it did. You can attest to the truth that some of that damage may not be able to be reversed, or healing in slander-damaged relationships may take a long time to recover, But Psalm 26 is another of King David's Psalms where this is the context and the backdrop behind his words. As we've studied before, Saul was the prominent and usual slander suspect, along with his subjects and friends. And now on the one hand, we can expect that our enemies are going to pull out all of the stops in their attempts to hurt and to distress us, We've seen time and again how Saul had David's number, so to speak, as he was effective in causing David distress. In 1 Samuel 21, excuse me, 1 Samuel 24, we find Saul listening to and acting on slander that was told to him about David. And hearing it, he took 3,000 men to search for David and his men. Remember also David's words in Psalm 7. as he sang to the Lord in his time of need, considering the slander of Cush against him. And so what was David to do? He fled to God to plead his innocence and offer his prayer for vindication. This evening, let's consider David's words regarding his desire for divine vindication and examination in verses one through five. His commitment to wash, go, and tell in verses six through eight, as well as his plea for redemption and mercy in verses nine through 12. But look at his plea in verse one. Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord, I shall not slip. Beloved, having examined his own heart and actions and believing that he was innocent of the charges that were leveled against him, yet also knowing that he was a sinner, like he did in Psalm 7, see that David comes again to the Holy One, the Eternal and Transcendent One, and he comes with humble confidence to be judged. This is what the Hebrew word for vindicate means. David desired to be judged and governed by God. He desires God to pronounce a divine sentence on the matter. Declare what is right, declare what is true, oh God. Lead me, oversee me, guide me, mold me. in the ways of your truth. This was David's desire. He desired that the fact and the matter would be set straight with divine authority and word. David desired God's justice, as we see in Psalm 10 verse 18. To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may oppress no more. Remember David's heartfelt humble plea in Psalm 7, beginning in verse three. O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, or have plundered my enemy without cause, let my enemy pursue me and overtake me. Yes, let him trample my life to the earth and lay my honor in the dust. Selah. This is quite a plea, is it not? We've considered it as we went through Psalm 7 in weeks past. But this is quite a plea. It's with confidence, but yet humility. Lord, if I'm missing something, If there's grave sin in my life that I have done in these ways, deal with me righteously. Even let them take my life. I don't deserve to be thought of honorably in that case. Lay my honor in the dust. But why did David desire such vindication? See his two reasons in Psalm 26. From his own view, first, he had walked in integrity, as well as secondly, he had trusted in the Lord. Now, as he talks about walking in integrity by the testimony of his own conscience, as well as his enemy's inability to prove his guilt in the crimes that they accused him of, David identified himself with the righteous and not the wicked. He was confident in his innocence. But secondly, he trusted in the Lord. David committed all of his life, all of his affairs to the just judge and his merciful father. And therefore, as his trust and hope was securely fixed on him, David knew that God would never betray his trust. And because this was true, David also knew that he would not slip. He would not slide. As if his grounding in God would make him unsteady or shaky, no. David knew the rock of his salvation. We've considered Psalm 23, similar language. Here he says, I trust in the Lord, I shall not slip. In Psalm 23, what does he say? And that the Lord's good and gracious care is his good shepherd. He shall not want. David was confident in the rock of his salvation. And speaking of the rock of our salvation, the same true and living God, considering this integrity and trust and innocence that David proclaims, know that he was a type of Christ here in this psalm, pointing us to him who was made a reproach of men and yet was truly the spotless lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. David points us to Jesus who taught and forewarned his disciples that they, that you and I will also have all manner of evil set against us falsely for his namesake. We see that in Matthew chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount. And so as you think about David's plea for divine vindication and judgment, would you, can you be so bold with such a request to your heavenly father? Can you be bold like David to the living God? Make such a request for vindication? Some of you may be thinking, no way, Pastor. I'm worried he'd strike me down if I pled for vindication. I'm concerned that I wouldn't be found innocent. Well, indeed, you're not innocent in and of yourself. You are as guilty as the worst offender. But yet, and but Christ. Jesus, who came, lived, suffered, died, and rose again for you and for your justification, for your right standing before God as he justly declares you to be righteous. And you are clothed in Christ's righteousness. Indeed, was David taking a risk in his plea? No. David had rightly placed confidence by faith in the God of his salvation and you too need to consider the fault of your fear when you are truly united to Christ and you are clothed in his righteousness. And therefore you can come before the Lord like David and plea to him, Lord, judge me, judge me in your righteousness. There's any sin in me, get it out. And as this is true, David goes on to make another bold and revealing request. Look at verse two. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my mind and my heart. Beloved, this request is much like the one that we find in Psalm 139, beginning in verse 23, where David cries out, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxieties. And if there is any wicked way in me, lead me in the way everlasting. In other words, beloved, search me and try me, oh Lord. Open me up and shine the pure light of your law, of your word in every crevice, in every nook of my body and of my mind and of my heart. Know my worries. Test me and prove me. Like metal going through the refiner's fire. Put me through that fire, oh Lord, because I desire to be pure. Beloved, being searched by God is good. That is something that the wicked will never know. but that you and I do. Being searched by God as good and by the work of his spirit and his grace, we desire it. We want it. Testing brings about the knowledge of what's there. And though David knew God knows everything, he wanted God's examination to be thorough. Again, he's standing, as it were, in the courtroom of God. He's calling upon the Lord to stand as judge over his life, to declare a sentence regarding these accusations that Saul and his enemies had laid against him. He wants the verdict. Take me through the ringer, Lord. Examine me from top to bottom, inside out. There's any wickedness in me. Get it out and lead me in your way, he says in Psalm 139. Notice David's desire for divine examination of both his mind and his heart. As we connect this with his plea in verse one, we see God's righteous evaluation was to be for his whole being. David's actions or his walk. along with his thoughts, his mind, as well as the affections of his heart. As we know, scripture teaches us which are where and from his mouth speaks. There was a good reason that David had peace with God's exam, wasn't there? Look at verse three of Psalm 26. For your loving kindness is before my eyes. and I have walked in your truth. David loved his Lord and was importantly loved by his Lord. And he was mindful and aware of his loyal covenant love for David and further David's view of God's love being before his eyes directed his walk. That needs to be true for us as well today. that the love of God being before our eyes would direct our walk. Remember Hezekiah's words when Isaiah came to him with the word of the Lord, speaking of his coming death in 2 Kings 20, beginning in verse two. We read there, then he turned his face toward the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I've walked before you in truth and with a loyal heart and have done what was good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And it happened before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him saying, return and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, thus says the Lord, the God of David, your father, I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Surely, I will heal you. David had been obedient, beloved. Not perfectly so, but by the grace of God, he was a repentant man, seeking the face of his Lord. And this was evident in his walk and both what he hadn't done as well as what he did. Look at verse four and five. I have not sat with idolatrous mortals, nor will I go in with hypocrites. I have hated the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. In essence, David proclaimed that he was a blessed man, and like the blessed man of Psalm 1.1, who didn't walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sat in the path of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful. No, he spent his time focused on living according to God's word instead of wasting time with those who were against God and his enemies who hated the God that he loved. David refused to join with the wicked in their sinful thoughts and actions. But David was also mindful and careful to prepare for participation in God's holy ordinances. Notice that in verses six through eight. Look at verse six. I will wash my hands in innocence. So I will go about your altar, O Lord. Beloved David was zealous to be holy. He was zealous to separate himself from the ungodly. He was zealous to continue to go to the temple of God and worship him with his people as God commanded it to be done. And he desired to do so and knew that he needed to do so with washed hands and a clean heart. Aaron and his sons had to engage in similar watching in preparation of approaching the altar. In Exodus chapter 30, beginning in verse 17, we read there, then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, you shall also make a laver of bronze, and its base also of bronze for washing. You shall put it between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it. For Aaron and his son shall wash their hands and their feet in water from it. When they go into the tabernacle of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the Lord, they shall wash with water lest they die. So they shall wash their hands and their feet lest they die. And it shall be a statute forever to them, to him and his descendants throughout their generations. We see this great significance in washing, don't we? Innocence is signified by the washing of hands, the washing of feet. And we find this true in Deuteronomy 21, verse 6, as the elders wash their hands over the heifer. But this washing also points us to Christ yet again and his love for us as he washed and cleansed us from our sins by his own blood. He has made you pure to be in his presence. Notice a couple of things here from Psalm 26 verse six. Notice how David not only refrained from the society of sinners, but kept himself clean from the pollution of sin with a particular eye towards God's worship. He carefully watched against all sin and kept his conscience pure from those dead works which defile it and forbid his drawing close to God and holiness. But secondly, having a pure heart and conscience, David wouldn't act like his hypocritical enemies who would wash their hands externally, who would look like whitewashed tombs and be whitewashed tombs like the Pharisees. But he wouldn't be like those hypocrites who would wash their hands externally, but their hearts and their lives remained filthy and unchanged in God's presence. But why did David do this? He would offer his sacrifices, approaching the altar with confidence, bringing his own thanksgiving in songs of praise. David knew that he couldn't do so if he were consciously guilty of the crimes that he was accused of. And so he says in verse seven, that I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all your wondrous works. Here is another mark of his integrity, beloved. Here's another mark of his integrity and justice towards men that was found in David's spirit wrought love for God's worship. He was mindful of these things. And therefore he guarded his heart and his mind by God's grace. He guarded his actions. In verse eight, he says, Lord, I have loved the habitation of your house. and the place where your glory dwells. You remember his words, I was glad when they said, let us go to the house of the Lord. The wicked don't want to be here, but God's beloved people do. We love this place, not because of these walls, but because of the church. of the Lord Jesus Christ that he has gathered and has knit together and calls us to worship him in spirit and in truth. And so we love his house. We love the place where his glory dwells. And there, as you remember, in the temple, in the Holy of Holies was where the special presence of the Lord dwelt, on the mercy seat, between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, And therefore, David pleads God's mercy. Look at verse nine. Do not gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands is a sinister scheme, and whose right hand is full of bribes. Beloved, David's prayer was that when God gathers the harvest, he wouldn't bundle David up with such wicked sinners, the sinners who will be cast into eternal fire. You know, we should all have a holy horror of the judgment of God upon sinners in hell. We considered some of that in Matthew 10 this morning as well, didn't we? And therefore, we make our calling and election sure here and now. We must have a spirit wrought fruitfulness. The horror of God's judgment against sin should cause us to cling all the more to Christ our Savior, like David did. And in verses 11 and 12, he ends this psalm by saying, 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 congregation. I will bless the Lord. And so we see, Some wonderful bookends here, don't we? First, whereas David began this psalm declaring to the Lord his past walk of integrity, he now ends committed to his future walk in the same. And therefore he beseeches God for deliverance by his divine mercy. And secondly, as David began the psalm declaring his faith and trust in his God with confidence that he would not slip, He now ends with the confidence that he stands on level and solid ground in him. And therefore he was committed to continuing to worship and praise his Lord with and among the congregation of his people. David was not an isolated worshiper. He worshiped in private, sure he did. But he also took great joy in worshiping in God's presence with his people. So as we consider this psalm tonight, beloved, see the person and work of the Lord Jesus and his redeeming work for you, his beloved people. See his work for you and God's call to you who trust in him to walk a consistently godly life, a life of integrity before him. a life that we are mindful of daily in all of the struggles. We have countless opportunities with temptation to not walk in integrity each and every day. And neither are we perfect in doing so, but we praise God for his grace and the forgiveness that we have in Christ and the work of the spirit that sanctifies us and makes us more and more obedient to him as he conforms us to the image of Christ but walk a consistently godly life. When you're tempted with various things, with various thoughts and emotions, stop and think before you open your mouth. Stop and think before you take a step. Stop and think. Go before the Lord and seek his grace and help that your response, that your words, that your actions may be that that continue that integrity within you. And yet as sinners who are all the more aware of the deceitfulness of your hearts, even as you have a clear conscience in the midst of accusations from men without, or even Satan, and as he is the accuser of the brethren within, like David. Be fully willing not only to examine yourself, but also to call upon the great divine searcher of hearts to examine you. All of you. All of you. We all have what we may refer to as skeletons in closets. Things that we try to keep or manage or keep away from other people to know about. Maybe some of us more than others. Yet God knows you from head to toe. God has numbered the hairs on your head. God doesn't miss anything. You're not hiding anything from him, even though you think you may. You need to be examined regularly. You need to be searched by the living God. and brought into alignment in accordance with his word in the paths of righteousness. Pray that he would judge and vindicate you, knowing that it will not be unto condemnation as you are in Christ, but that his judgment would draw you to repent of sin and turn you to walk in the paths of righteousness for his glory and for your good. And for a glorious witness of Christ. But also see Jesus in this psalm as David's commitment to walk with integrity points you to Christ's perfectly holy and righteous life as he avoided all sin. Though Jesus loved sinners, he kept himself separate and unstained from their corruption. He has done what was necessary to wash you from your sin and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Praise the Lord for that. Praise the Lord. I'll leave you with a passage from Hebrews 7 regarding our Lord Jesus Christ. May it comfort and bless your heart tonight. Hebrews 7, beginning in verse 26, for such a high priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. who does not need daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once for all when he offered up himself. This is your savior. This is your judge. This is your redeemer and your friend. This is the lover of your soul. Seek him, call upon him, to vindicate and examine you. Amen. Praise the Lord. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful word in Psalm 26. We thank you for your grace to David. We thank you for your grace to all of your people, including us here tonight. We pray, oh God, that you would work in us that we would have such a mind such heart to seek you and not run from you, to seek you and desire for you to judge and to cast the sentence, especially in light of what others may have said about us and against us, but to seek you and to be examined and searched and cleansed. We praise you, O Christ, for the washing that you have done. for the cleansing that you have done of our sin-stained hearts and souls. We praise you that we stand in you as righteous. No condemnation will ever come to us, even on that great day, but we will stand in your presence with full joy, knowing the love that you have for us that you've demonstrated for us and that which is ever to be made more clear, even for eternity. Oh Lord, thank you for your sacrifice for us. Thank you for the riches of your mercy and your grace. Now cause us, oh God, to be men and women of integrity, to be men and women who are faithful servants and obedient to your holy will who have a target on sin and temptation and have commitment to stand against it and to flee from it. Oh, Lord, please, by your Spirit, work such things in us for your glory. We pray these things in Christ's name, amen.