Thank you for listening to the media ministry of the Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church in San Diego, California. If you are blessed by what you hear and would like to help keep our little church going as a ministry partner with your cheerful gifts, please listen for instructions at the end of this message. Beloved, we return to the Psalms as we return to this series about how to wait on the Lord, again, knowing we are to wait on the Lord. but giving our attention to the fact that there are different things we're told and how we should wait for the Lord. So, how we wait the Lord is the series. And tonight we're gonna look at another aspect in Psalm 21, verse 21, as you just sang. We'll give our attention to it. Psalm 25, verse 21. Hear now the word of the Lord. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee." Again, how to wait on the Lord, since it has been a little while earlier this year when we had the first three sermons, let me review going into what we study tonight. We are to wait on the Lord patiently, We are to wait on the Lord quietly. We are to wait on the Lord seeking his presence. And as we did study this morning, we are to wait on the Lord in hope. In hope. Tonight, We are to wait on the Lord in integrity and uprightness. And really, those are synonyms, essentially. You see, we who watch for the Lord will want to be watched over by and witness in righteous integrity. There's an aspect of keeping our integrity that watches over us in our waiting and how we are to be. It's also something that has something to do with how we are watched and give a witness. We who watch for the Lord, I submit to you as the idea of our text, we who watch for the Lord will want to be watched over by and witness in righteous integrity. You know, there's a temptation while having to wait, especially in the context of what we'll see in this psalm briefly and other psalms, including revisiting our morning psalm, when we are not being treated well, and perhaps even being mistreated and misrepresented. There is a temptation to begin to justify unjust ways, unjust responses. We can tend to try to justify to ourselves loopholes, cutting corners, compromise, or Discourtesy, impatience, lack of proper respect and dignity, good manners. Instead, wait on the Lord in your integrity, your uprightness. Or as we sometimes say to our children, we're going to be better than that. Whatever that happened to us, we're gonna be better than that. Or as Paul says, don't be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. Wait on the Lord in your integrity. That's the how. That's the message for you this evening. That's the next how to wait. We know we're called upon to wait on the Lord. Tonight, wait on the Lord in your integrity. How are you going to wait? In your uprightness. in your moral fortitude, in your unwillingness to make excuses based on what's happening to you and wait in a way that dishonors Christ. Now God's word, excuse me, God's word calls us to not veer to the right or to the left from his laws. Jesus says, enter the straight gate and follow the narrow way. One might say while we are waiting for the Lord, we must wear biblical blinders at all times. You know, as we sometimes see, Maybe not too often these days, but certain horses, especially drawing carriages, have blinders on the sides of their eyes to keep them focused straight on where they're going, to not get easily spooked or distracted and go the wrong way and get off the way. We need our biblical blinders on at all times to avoid backsliding, to avoid side tracks, to avoid tempting detours from discipleship. to avoid killing time with unholy living while we wait. Lord, he says, I wait for you. Let it be in my integrity. Let that preserve me in my waiting. It's the actual integrity that gives a witness and watches over us in our waiting. so that we continue to wait patiently, continue to wait with hope, continue to wait quietly, continue to wait seeking the Lord in the midst of it all with us. Integrity. Lord, let me wait in integrity and let it watch over me in the waiting. That word integrity has the idea of being trustworthy, having moral rightness, Now keep in view, as we sang in Psalm 119 this evening, there is a concern twice communicated about what it will be to look at me by others in the faith that fear the Lord. What will my waiting on the Lord look like? How will that impact them? It needs to be a righteous, upright waiting of integrity. Hebrew's strong dictionary tells us that the idea of integrity in the Hebrew means to be complete, Usually it means morally pious. Keep that in view with the name of our church and the movement of the Puritans. There is a concern that as we wait on the Lord's return that it would be more and more of a holy, righteous waiting in our behavior and self-conduct as well as conduct as a church and state. The NAS Hebrew Dictionary says this word integrity means blameless, again complete, guiltless Now if you're concerned, this is going to talk about a works righteousness stay with me, you know, that's not what it's saying But the concern is that the Lord would help us be growing in our sanctification, progressing more and more, and giving the kind of witness that includes even our willingness to repent and ask for forgiveness and be reconciled with the ministry of reconciliation. That those who turn to us would see that we are easily entreated, right? You see, he's concerned that while enduring suffering, he would not sin, but he'd have a sanctified witness in the midst of it. How will my covenant children, how will my church, how will my brothers and sisters in the Lord, how will my brothers and sisters in the Lord elsewhere outside the walls of our church, how will they Be touched and moved and directed in how I handle this and how I handle myself. Do I come across childish, foolish, immature, discourteous, alone? You know, and I do want to say here, it's not just sin. How do we handle the sins of others, we'll see, but also how do we handle the stupidities of others? Do we let them distract us and affect how we worship? Do we let them distract us and cause us to become grumps and foolish and uncharitable? When love is said to be wise and cover a multitude of sins? Let's start there. As Charles Jefferson says, I've brought it to you many times over the years, if we are called to forgive one another's sins, then how much more are we called to overlook one another's stupidities? But how stupid of us that we often focus on them. And that's not maintaining a witness of integrity, is it? And when we're annoyed and struggling just in the marketplace, how do we handle things? How do we handle ourselves? Lord, let integrity, mine integrity, my uprightness, preserve me as I'm waiting on you. That is, and preserve my witness to one another and to others in waiting on you. Look also at verse three of our text, Psalm 25 verse three. Yet let none that wait on thee be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. So you see, there's that concern. Let those who are waiting on you and concerned to maintain their integrity and their uprightness and to be maintained in their integrity and uprightness in the waiting and in their witness in the waiting. Lord, let them not be ashamed. Vindicate them in due season. Rather, let those be ashamed who transgress without cause. Let those who cause problems, let those who sin, let them be ashamed. Who will not wait on you. Or who give up waiting on you. And that shows in their behavior and a lack and a downgrading of integrity and uprightness. Let them be ashamed. But not me, Lord, not us. But you see, that's the concern. Help me as I endure suffering for you, Jesus, because you tell me I will, and that we will. For your righteousness, you say, Jesus. For your name's sake, you who are the Lord our righteousness, Let me not sin. There was even that warning in Galatians 6 to the elders as they would be correcting, I suppose not just the elders, but the warning as you might need to correct another in the sin, be careful that you don't end up sinning in it. and you're waiting on the Lord to work it out, don't lose your righteous, upright witness in it, your integrity. Don't lose your integrity in how you handle the trouble. And of course, as it relates to those in higher offices, people are just waiting for that to take you down. Don't give them an inch. Now, verses 15 to 21 of our immediate context in Psalm 25 is talking about troubles, talking about trials, and requesting to be delivered righteously intact in our verse. If you see what leads up to it, the unrighteous are bearing false witness against me. They're giving me difficulties. They're trying to take me down. Let me not go down with them. Maintain me righteously intact, O Lord, in how I'm waiting on You to deal with this, to work it out, which I often have no clue other than Your promises. It's not that he earns anything. He's not saying, reward me for my integrity in the sense of I'm perfect, you owe me, covenant of works. That's not it. It's in the context of the covenant of grace. Verse 18 will easily bear this out. Look at Psalm 25, verse 18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins. You know, often the Puritans will say, When people are accusing you falsely, be thankful that people are not accusing you truly and bringing up sins that would embarrass you and shame you. And so there's probably this aspect of, I know whether I deserve this or not, I deserve it ultimately. Forgive me of my sins, forgive me of my sins. And perhaps, Lord, I didn't wait as well as I should. Turn me around, bring me back down, forgive me for my sins, maybe in how I haven't been waiting on you. I haven't been responding well to this. Lord, give me my integrity in Christ. Give me my uprightness in Christ and lift me up on eagle's wings. Help me to run and not be weary, walk and not faint in being righteous in the Lord's righteousness. because the immediate gratification is to go the way of the world, to excuse yourself to impatience, to excuse yourself into cursing, to excuse, just think any, I guess, you know, I'm driving every day now for an hour. I'm hearing and seeing all kinds of stuff. You know, I'm hearing a lot about how people are acting at Costco gas station right now. I haven't witnessed it, but I've heard several others at different cost goes talking about it. This is no criticism of Costco. But maybe it's that time of year that's supposed to be a time of peace, but it really isn't. And then it's just, there's this growing friction, right? And kinetic energy and sinfulness. Lord, help me maintain my integrity and my uprightness as I'm waiting in line for gas. as I'm waiting in line to get on the highway, as I'm waiting in line to check out, that alone, Lord, help me to wait on you in my integrity. And sometimes the easiest little thing can get us... Of course, this is much more, I think, serious of a context, but we can start there. He wants to be saved, not only from sin's guilt, but sin's grip. What tends to grip us most in such situations, we don't want to have to wait on the Lord through these things. We tend to complain against his providence, murmur against his mercy, forget the only thing we deserve is hell. And now that we've been saved and given righteousness and eternal life in Christ, our concern should be to be good witnesses as the citizens of the kingdom of heaven, wherein righteousness reigns. He doesn't want to waste his waiting, you see. You know that if you do the studies, how much time, whether it's the bank or whatever it is, do you know how much time of our lives we spend waiting in the marketplace alone? Don't waste it. We often are like, oh, this is a waste of time. Don't waste it in how you wait and maintain your integrity in it. When are we gonna get served? When am I gonna get the bill? How do we handle ourselves in these things? Let alone the big things. Lord, help me not waste the waiting. And I think it's John Piper that has a book reflecting on his own bout with cancer. Don't waste your cancer. That is, how are you gonna use this to glorify God? And often for most, dealing with that is a whole lot of waiting on a whole lot of pain and difficult things. How are you going to wait? Lord, when I am tempted to cry out in a sinful way, let me cry out in a righteous way that praises you and shows I'm waiting on and trusting you. Give me a witness to the nurses. Give me a witness to the bank tellers. Give me a witness to guy that just cut me off on the highway. Even when I'm wrongly accused, and that's the context, One of the commentaries says this, In conscious innocence of the faults charged by his enemies, he confidently commits his cause to God. Again, Lord, don't let me waste this waiting. Don't let me lose my witness. Even when others are bearing false witness against me that tempts me to give up. Don't let me lose my righteous witness in the waiting through it. Don't let the low blows cause me to be a low-down coward and cursor. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord, makers of heaven and earth. Help me maintain my integrity in the waiting, and also a synonym, help me maintain my uprightness. One commentary speaks of this uprightness as morally straight. Straightness. Or another way it could be said, the lexicons tell us, is not crooked. Right? Crooked is kind of like we studied in the scripture today. Keep the simplicity of Christ, don't let the devil complicate things. Next thing you know, you're on all these crooked ways. You're off the straight and narrow way that leads to life. What do we often say of someone? What have we often heard said of someone if they're not considered to be righteous and upright people? They are a crooked this or that. They're a crooked man, a crooked woman, a crooked this or that in terms of profession. Right? We know what that means. Crooked is bent, distorted. from what it's supposed to be. You've been made straight in Christ. Have a witness that is straight, not crooked. That is, let it be upright. And what do both do? He says, let me have this integrity and uprightness that preserve me. I wait on you. So it's the description of his waiting, but in this case, what does righteous, upright waiting in the Lord do? It actually preserves him. The Hebrew word for preserve in our text, let integrity and uprightness preserve me. You could translate it, let it keep me or let it watch me. Like a guard to my mouth, a guard to my heart, a guard to my actions, a guard to my response. You ever said I wish I would have held my tongue? Have you ever said as I have and Not so long ago, Lord, if I'm tempted to say that again, would you please staple my tongue with my teeth? Maintain my righteous, upright waiting and witness. Because they actually watch over us. They're the way we should be watching on the Lord, but such watching of integrity watches over us and makes us better, and gives us a better witness to others. That they might say, maybe there's something to this Christianity. Look how they wait on the Lord, and they can't be kicked off the straight and narrow in the waiting, when everyone's trying. Yes, by God's grace. Yes, by the Spirit of Christ. Also how he is watched. Losing his watching and how he is watched is his concern. He wants to maintain his witness and he sees this as something that should be the result of waiting on the Lord and going along with waiting on the Lord or watching for the Lord is that righteousness or integrity and uprightness would be watching over him. the Lord our righteousness, and the qualities, the characteristics of the Lord our righteousness. That they would more and more be of us, and be coming to others, and glorifying to the Lord, till we get through. And even after, how we don't seek vengeance, and we offer forgiveness. Which as you know from other sermons is real power. to forgive is extremely powerful. He sees this as something that, again, should just come out of the waiting and watch over the waiting and affect how we're watched in our waiting. In the Lord our righteousness, who has made us righteous. You see, thinking of the earlier studies we've had on how to watch, impatient, unquiet, waiting in despair, that ignores God's providential presence, we'll do wrong by him. And wrong by ourselves, and wrong by the church. David prays that in his waiting he will do right by God who has done right by him and will do right by him and is doing right by him. Let me respond in kind. Let me love you who first loved me. And loving God is the keeping of his commandments. Loving Christ is the keeping of his commandments. Pardon me. I'd like to revisit this morning's text with you to see a similar thought in the context of waiting even with hope. Would you turn ahead with me to Psalm 39 verse 7, our scripture this morning about waiting on the Lord in hope. Psalm 39 verse 7. Psalm 39.7, our text this morning. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Wait on the Lord in hope. You can go back and think about this morning's message. I'm not gonna do that as I might sometimes give you a bit of a review. What I want to recognize is there's a similar concern that that would include waiting in integrity, in our own integrity and righteousness. So look with me at the context, verse one. I said I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. While the wicked's around me trying to influence me, probably saying all kinds of things against me for Christ's sake, I will take heed to my ways. I'll be less concerned about their wicked ways. My concern needs to be with my upright ways of integrity, that I will lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in however I respond in what is happening. While the wicked is before me, I'm going to give a witness to the wicked, let alone the righteous, let alone to the Lord Jesus, and to myself. I will take heed that I don't sin, It's the same idea, I want to wait in integrity. I want to wait in uprightness for you, Lord. I don't want to sin in the waiting. And again, beloved, so much of waiting is a temptation to sin, having to wait, especially through difficulties. So much temptation to wait wrongly. Verses 2 to 6 of this section of the psalm requests to be reminded of our temporary times. So we do not fritter them away in how we wait and forfeit our witness now and at the resurrection. Now, similarly, I want to ask you to turn back with me to another psalm we've given ourselves too often. Psalm 37. I'm going to look at a little bit more of this with you. Verses 7 through 9. Psalm 37, verses 7 through 9. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and forsake wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off, but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. Careful how you wait he sees patiently there. That's where we had our other message, but in integrity Not giving over to the behavior of the wicked Now look ahead to verses 28 to 34. And I'm just going to mostly read this and pray it sinks in. I won't get into the details too much other than to say recognize as we're told to wait on the Lord. It includes when you look at verse 1 and these other verses that we would wait in our integrity, that we would not be sinful in how we wait. Verses 28 to 34. For the Lord loveth judgment and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein forever. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom. And his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. Wait on the Lord. and keep His way. And He shall exalt thee to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it. Wait on the Lord the right way, you see. Don't be tempted to follow the wicked in the waiting. Or as Paul says in our other series, how to follow? Follow after righteousness. That's what he starts with in 2 Timothy 2, verse 22. But he actually says it also in 1 Timothy 6, 11. Not everything is overlapped and doubled. Love is, charity, love. But there are new elements, or different elements, in 2 Timothy 2.22 and 1 Timothy 6.11, but righteousness is in both. Follow after righteousness. And then you see Paul talking about his circumstances and what he's calling Timothy to get through in his circumstances. There's a sense of, Lord, help us, wait on you in our integrity and uprightness. Whatever is said about us, whatever is done to us, And in First Sympathy 611, it also says, follow after godliness, or that is holiness. Let it be said of you as is said in Job 2 verse 3, and the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and askeweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause? May you be able to say and how you wait on the Lord. Psalm 7 verse 8. The Lord shall judge the people. Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me. Or Psalm 26 verse 1, Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord. Therefore I shall not slide. Later on in Psalm 26, But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity. Redeem me and be merciful unto me. You might say, Lord, help me to keep my hand to the plow and not grow weary in well-doing. For I trust we shall reap if we faint not. Oh, Lord, establish the work of my hands. Or Psalm 41 verse 12, And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face forever. You know, you will be tempted to complain. You will be tempted to compromise while you wait for the Lord in your wilderness. There are plenty of excuses that you'll offer up, some of them quite stupid and foolish, but everyone says them, even in the church, to excuse ourselves of quitting ourselves like men and women of God. You'll be tempted to compromise while you wait for the Lord in your wilderness. all the while facing the danger of giving in to making your golden calves in the meantime. And it won't take much time. It won't take much waiting. Remember the Lord, our righteousness. Follow after His righteousness. Keep your patience, quietude, fellowship, and certainty in your waiting. Don't lose your witness in your waiting. Call upon God in faith, love, and hope that you would wait on the Lord in your integrity. That is the message for you this evening. Wait on the Lord in your integrity. Psalm 25 verse 21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on thee. Beloved, for your own sanctified self-preservation as well as your witness as a Christian. Wait on the Lord in your integrity. Let us pray. Oh Lord God, by the Spirit of Christ, under the blood of Christ, the everlasting covenant, to hallow the name of our Father in heaven. Help us to wait on you patiently. Help us to wait on you quietly. Help us to seek you in our midst, with us in our waiting. Help us to wait on you in hope. And help us to wait on you in our integrity. Through Jesus Christ, the Lord, our righteousness. We pray in his name, the author and finisher of our faith, and all your people waiting on you said, amen. Thanks again for listening to the media ministry of the Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church in San Diego, California. If you are blessed by our sermons and would like to help keep our little church going as a ministry partner with your cheerful gifts, please click on the Give button at the top of any of our sermon audio pages to support us with your online donation. Or visit our website at puritanchurch.com and click through the Give button at the top right of your screen. And if you prefer to send your support through the mail, please make your check out to Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church and send it to Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church, 6374 Potomac Street, San Diego, California 92139. Thank you.