I'd like to welcome you to our Wednesday night service. If you'd like to find your place in Psalms chapter 101. Past few Wednesday nights, outside of our Thanksgiving revival, we spent some time in the book of Psalms and looking over various chapters there and how the Lord has surely met with us and helped us there. And we're to admonish one another with hymns and Psalms and spiritual songs. And may the Lord help us to get much out of his word tonight. The title of the message is, What Will You Do? What Will You Be Known For? What Have You Decided To Do? And here we have a Psalm of David. And David decided to do some things. And he's done many things. And things that he's not proud of, things that brought much honor and glory to the Lord. But right here we see that David says, I will. And there are several things that he's going to... this purpose to do in his life. And we need to take note of these things and apply them to our life as well. In Psalms chapter 101, We'll begin reading in verse 1. And note each time he says, I will, and what he's going to do. I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me, I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord." This is a psalm of David and all throughout this psalm, David vows to do some things six times. You're going to read here, as we just read through these verses, six times David says, I will. David had failed in some of these areas, but now he has a resolve to do better. There's been an evaluation, if you would. He's taken some time to evaluate both sides of things and he's looked at the positive. He's also looked at the negative and David has said this, I've chosen to do what's right. I've chosen the Lord's side on all things. That reminds me of Moses when Israel had sinned and they got impatient and they made that golden calf there and Aaron had led the people of Israel into sin and Moses in Exodus 32, 26, he said, Then Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, is on the Lord's side. Let him come unto me. Moses had made a choice that he wasn't going to side with family. He wasn't going to side with friends. He wasn't going to side with the crowd. He was going to side with the Lord. And the Bible says that all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. You got to understand that in that verse Moses is talking to his very brother Aaron. He's telling Aaron, hey, who is his own brother? He said, Aaron, you've made a mistake here. You've done some bad things, but Aaron had made some terrible decisions. He had led Israel into sin, but Moses said, Aaron, I choose the Lord. And you see, Aaron had to make the same choice as Moses. We should always choose the Lord's side in every aspect of our life, no matter what it is. If it goes against popular opinion, if it goes against family, if it goes against friends, there ain't but one side that's gonna be pleasing unto the Lord, and that's his side. Aaron made the right choice. He got on the Lord's side. More than once, Good Christians have erred from the Lord's side because they thought that they had lost some type of temporal connection or some kind of family connection. Moses just simply said, who's on the Lord's side? You know, had Aaron stayed with the others, he would have got what was coming to him. But Aaron chose the Lord. Aaron had messed up, that's for sure. I'm sure he felt much regret for the decision that he had made, but he never regretted choosing the Lord's side. And here David is choosing to do what's right, what's honoring unto the Lord, and he says, He's making a purposeful choice, if you would, to honor the Lord in all things. Let's start with verse 1. It says, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord. Well, I sing. You see, David had been on both sides of this equation right here. He had seen both sides of the same coin mercy and judgment met each other, and he's been on both sides of this thing. He's been on that judgment side, but he's also been on that mercy side. When David had sinned with Bathsheba, and now his child was to be taken from him because of his sin, what did David do? David said in 2 Samuel 12, 22, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live? God was right in his judgment toward David. David never blamed God or said that God was not being fair with him. David just appealed to the mercy of God. In Psalms 89 14, it says, Justice and judgment. or the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face. Hey, there's mercy with the Lord. David said, I'm gonna sing of both. I'll sing of mercy when God does not give me what I deserve. And I'll sing of the Lord when I do get what I deserve. In judgment, God will be merciful. In Isaiah 54, eight it says, in a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. In Isaiah 60 in verse 10, it says, and the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls and their kings shall minister unto thee, for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee. In Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 2 it says, Oh Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make known in wrath, remember mercy. You see, God's judgments are always right. a holy God, but he's also a merciful God. The psalmist said in Psalms 119, 71, it is good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. In God's judgments, we also see his mercy time and time again. When God brought judgment upon Israel, he also showed them much mercy in the process. In Psalms 103 in verse 10 it says, He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. We can sing of the mercy of the Lord forever. We can all testify that we have not gotten what we deserve. We can all testify and sing with David of the mercy and of the judgment of the Lord. Number two, we see here in verse two, Davis says, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. You see, there's two ways. There's the perfect way, the right way, and then there's the wrong way. There's a broad way and then there's a narrow way. That broad way leads to destruction, the things that are not good, but that narrow way leads to life everlasting. It leads to something good. There is the way of the righteous and there's the way of the ungodly. And David says, I've chosen to behave myself wisely in a perfect way. He says, I've chosen that right way, but even in the perfect way, we must behave ourselves wisely. There are a lot of people who profess to be in the right way, but they don't act like they're in the right way. They say that they're saved, but they don't act like a safe person. Hey, that perfect way is far from them. Hey, most of the time you're going to find them on a different way. They want to indulge in the ways of the world, but they also want to partake in the perfect way of God. But my friend, that cannot be. I'm going to go back to Moses' question. Who is on the Lord's side? Are you on His side tonight? Are you with David? Are you in that perfect way and are you behaving wisely in that perfect way? You can't straddle the fence. You can't walk in both ways because before long you're going to be separated about like this and so spread apart that you can't move no more. You're going to come to a standstill in your Christian life. You know, we've done true Christianity a big disservice by not drawing clean lines and clear lines when it comes to walking in a perfect way and behaving ourselves wisely. And unfortunately, it's in the home. It's in the homes where the lines are the most blurry. In verse 2, it says, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. We allow things in the home that become a snare to those who are in the right way. Do you see where it said in verse 2, it says, I will walk? That speaks of a steadfastness. It speaks of a determined and a deliberate pace. Why walk? Well, it's so everyone in the house can keep up. You see, our first duty is to the home. We must lead within our home with a perfect heart. The hardest people to win over, the hardest people to influence for the Lord is our family. That's why it's so important that we walk within our house in a perfect way. I think David understood that. David messed up big time when it came to his children. David had made a mess with his children and he understood this. He said, oh my, how important it is that I walk in my house with a perfect heart. Oh, I've got to behave myself wisely. in a perfect way. You see, you can't be one way at home and another way at church and think that it won't have an impact on those that are in the house. You can't fuss and cuss Monday through Saturday and then cuss and fuss all the way to church on Sunday and jump out in the parking lot when you pull in at the church parking lot Shout and praise Jesus and, hello everybody, how you doing? Man, it's so good to see everybody. I'm so glad to be in church. You can't do that because there are these little children. There's a wife or there's a husband there that's going to see this. And I'm going to tell you, it's not going to influence them in the right way. Let me read you this quote. Piety must begin at home. Our first duties are those within our own abode. We must have a perfect heart at home or we cannot keep a perfect way abroad. Notice that these words are a part of a song and that there is no music like the harmony of a gracious life. No psalm so sweet as the daily practice of holiness. Reader, how fares it with your family? Do you sing in the choir and sin in the chamber? Are you a saint abroad and a devil at home? For shame! What we are at home that we are indeed. He cannot be a good king whose palace is the haunt of vice, nor he a true saint whose habitation is a scene of strife, nor he a faithful minister whose household dreads his appearance. at the fireside. God help us to walk in that perfect way with a perfect heart. Just because you show up on Sunday to church does not mean that your heart is perfect toward God. We need a revival of just walking in the right way and being right in the way. If we want God to show up, then we'd better be right. Or else God's going to show up, but he's not going to show up in the way we expected. He's going to show up with judgment. In Psalms 101 and verse 3, David says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave. to me. If we're going to keep our hearts perfect toward God, then we must not have any wicked thing before our eyes. Because what fascinates the eye is very apt to gain admission into the heart. That forbidden fruit first pleased Eve's what? Her eyes, her sight. And then it prevailed over her mind and hand. In Genesis 3, 6 it says, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. The sight of wickedness is to be avoided. I will set no wicked thing Nothing before my eyes, because when I see it is to be loathed. I hate, I hate the work of them that turn aside. Oh, when felt, it is to be repudiated. It may touch me, but it will not cleave to me. Man, it's like when you get some dirt on your hand or you get something on your hand and, man, you want to get it off real quick, especially if you got a suit on, a white shirt and nice pants on or something like that, and you get your hands dirty, you're not going to want it to stay on you. You're going to want to get rid of it, and that's how we ought to feel toward everything that is wrong. We ought to want it gone. It shall not cleave to me. Let me read you this. On one occasion, Sir Thomas Lawrence, the great painter, then president of the Royal Academy, visited the studio of a struggling young artist. He had noticed the young man's work and thought it had some promise. But when he saw the sketches tacked up on the walls of the bare little room, he shook his head. They were rough, clever examples of the Flemish school, striking but coarse. He said this, "'If I were you,' said the great painter to the beginner, "'I would not allow my eye to be familiarized "'with any but the highest forms of art. "'If you can't afford to buy old paintings, "'buy good engravings of great pictures. "'If you allow your eye to become familiar "'with what is vulgar in conception, "'however free and dashing the handling, "'and however excellent the feeling for color, "'your taste will insensibly become depraved. Whereas if you habituate your eye to look only upon what is pure and grand or refined and lovely, your taste will insensibly be elevated. It was sound artistic advice and the young painter profited by it. It remains also sound moral advice for all people. Our mind's eye needs training just as much as our physical vision. If we hang pictures in the halls of our brain that are not elevating, then our moral perceptions are going to be lowered. Every time that we put an undesirable picture in our mind's eye where it will often be in view, we deprave our own understanding. Proverbs 23, 7 says, For as he thanketh in his heart, so is he. If we wish to elevate and strengthen our souls, we must be careful in our choice of habitual faults. In Philippians 4.8 it says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. You know, we teach our children the Bible song, oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see. Oh, be careful, little ears, what you hear. Be careful, little tongue, what you say. Little mind, what you think. Little heart, whom you trust. Little mind, what you think. For there's a Father up above who's looking down in love. Oh, be careful, little eyes, what you see. How many people? have missed heaven and busted hell wide open because their eyes were set on the temporal. Jeremiah said in Lamentations 351, mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. So many Christians dabble with the world They try to see just how close they can get to the world in all areas of their life, but they don't even realize that what they're setting before their eyes is going to have an impact on their heart. Where David, he saw Bathsheba. Who suffered from what David saw? It was his children. Four little lambs were taken from him. Better be careful what you listen to, what you put in your mind, what type of music you fill your mind with. Because if you're listening to it, other people are listening to it as well. Your children, your grandchildren are listening. My pastor, Tim Cruise, has quoted this many times over. What a parent allows in his life in moderation His children are going to do in excess. I ask a lot about that. The Bible says that his righteous soul was vexed daily by the filthy conversation of the wicked. He was vexed by their lifestyle. He was vexed by what he saw and what he heard. But my goodness, look what it did to his wife. She could not turn away from it. She just had to look back. That world had a pull on her. And then his two precious daughters committed that terrible great sin that they committed. Here's the danger for the Christian today. That contemporary worldly Christian music of today is taking over the minds and the hearts of good Christians. They have allowed this before their eyes and their ears and they listen to it at home and now it's taken over in the churches. Christians have become enamored with entertainment. They feel like they have to be entertained and that southern gospel groups have cashed in on this. It's all become a show. I saw one group that, I mean, their songs are good. I mean, they sing right. They sound right. They use a piano. They don't use drums. They don't use anything else that would even resemble a worldly way, but they've become a source of entertainment. They was at this church in a church setting and they said, aren't you glad to see us tonight? Aren't you glad you came to see us? My goodness. There's no worship going on. If there is, it's man worship. May the Lord help us. The music has to be entertaining now. The emphasis is on the theatrical and on the performance and not the message. It's sure not lifted up to the Lord in worship. The words of these contemporary songs are fleshly. The music is fleshly. It appeals to the emotions and to the flesh and it does nothing for the soul. We were going through the stations there in the car And we came across a Christian station there and can I just say, me and my daughter, we didn't even know it was a Christian station. Because of the words and the music and the words of the song did not resemble a hymn or a psalm or a spiritual song. It sounded like the world's music. The words didn't even have anything that would minister to our soul. And even listening just to the words, trying to pick out the words from that song, there was nothing there. We better be careful what we allow ourselves to listen to. I'll put no wicked thing before mine eyes. Just because it says Christian does not mean that God approves of it. Right here's the questions you need to ask yourself when it comes to music. Does it measure up to God's Word? What in that song is going to nourish my soul? Is it going to cause me to want to worship the Lord? Does it measure up to God's standards of music? Hymns, spiritual songs and psalms. Does it speak to your soul or does it speak to your flesh and your emotions? In verse 3 it says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. You better not stay too close, too long in front of that stuff. That's what happened to Eve. She sat there too long and started looking at it. Man, that fruit looks good right there. She was there way too long. Adam was there way too long. You better be careful and it will not cleave unto me. You better get rid of that stuff as quick as you can. My daughter and I, we turned that as quick as we could. And both of us were just disgusted and said, my goodness, that's not Christian at all. Right here it says, I hate the work of them that turn aside. What have they turned aside from? They've turned aside from that perfect way. They've turned aside from that perfect heart. They've literally taken a different path. And David says, it shall not cleave to me. That psalmist chooses to separate himself from those that take another path. He said, I'm going to wash that off real quick. He chooses the Lord. He chooses that perfect way. Let's keep reading in verse 4. It says, a froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbor, him will I cut off. Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. I'm not even going to get into this. I'm not even going to touch on this, but say this. You better be careful. When somebody comes up to you, say, have you heard? Can I tell you this? Can I tell you that? You better be careful. Better be careful. I'm just going to tell you what I think about that person." David says, I'm not going to know those people. I will not know a wicked person who privily slandereth his neighbor. Him will I cut off. Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. David said, I'm going to just get that away from me. Why? Because you're going to get drawn in. mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land." That's who I'm going to look for. "...that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord." The psalmist chose to separate from all those who do not walk on that perfect way. That's not an easy thing to do. You think that was easy for Moses? It was easy for him to choose the Lord's side, but it wasn't easy to take that stand. His family was over there. There was people that he knew that was on that side. He said, you better choose the Lord because that's whose side I'm on. The psalmist chose to separate from every person that did not walk in that perfect way. He chose to focus on the faithful of the land. He says, I'm not going to rub shoulders with anybody that gets on a different way. There's not many ways, by the way. There's only one perfect way and it's God's way. It's the Bible way. It's the way of the righteous and it's a very narrow way. Jesus says that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Here the psalmist made no excuse for anything that was not in that perfect way. What will we be known for? David is known for what he said right here, I will. What are we going to be known for? David was known for what he would do. He had made plenty of mistakes, but he had also made up his mind to serve God and to serve him God's way. Can I ask you tonight, what will you do? All the saved are going to have to appear before Jesus one day and He's going to open up His Word and we're going to have to give an account as to what we did with the Word of God if we walked in that perfect way with a perfect heart. I'm glad the inscription above this psalm says, a psalm of David. I'm so glad of that. Why? Because that gives me hope. Because David was not a perfect person, but he was a perfect repenter. He was a man after God's own heart because he wanted to do right. And when he did wrong, he repented of it and he got right back on track and he did what was right in the eyes of We too can walk in that perfect way. The only reason we don't is because we choose not to. We can have a perfect heart. What we do and choose will have an impact on us and on all those in our area of influence. May the Lord help us to be found faithful.