Precious name. Amen. Let's turn to Psalm 26. Psalm 26, we'll read the psalm together. It is the psalm of David. And David makes this request in verse number one. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord, therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins and my heart, for thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. I have hated the congregation of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. I will wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord, that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works. I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men, in whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity. Redeem me, and be merciful unto me. My foot standeth in an even place in the congregations will I bless the Lord. Amen. May God bless even the reading of his word. Now, admittedly, all of us would rather have others to look at our lives through a telescope rather than through a microscope. I say that because the microscope can show up the smallest of blemishes and can reveal to us the littlest of inconsistencies within our lives. Whereas a telescope, well, it has a much broader view. It can be less discerning when it comes to our faults and to our failures. examination none of us like them and yet here we find david going a little bit a step further in things within the psalm because in verse number two he asked god to examine him examine me he said oh lord and prove me try my reins and my heart it was a most certainly a daring request on the part of the psalmist David, because David would have been fully aware that an omniscient God would have saw him as for who he was and not as his fellow man. God's examination of David would have been precise, his examination would have been true, and most certainly it would have been comprehensive. And yet David comes to make this request. Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins and my heart. Why did David make that request? Well, I believe the reason David made such a request was that David would rather know how God saw him than how his fellow man saw him or how he saw himself. David would rather have God's eye penetrate into the depths of his nature and to look what was concealed beyond the guise of a holy life rather than simply live a life of hypocrisy and a life of pretense. David needed to know his true state before God and therefore he comes to ask God to examine him and to prove him and to try him. I wonder, brethren and sisters, at the commencement of this meeting and at the commencement of this message, I wonder would we be so daring to ask God tonight to do the same in our lives. Lord, examine me. Lord, prove me. Lord, try my reins and try my heart. Would we be as keen to say as the Psalmist said over there in Psalm 139, the verses 23 and 24, search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. We always like to examine others, but what about our own hearts? What about God examining us tonight, putting us under, as it were, the microscope, showing all of the little blemishes and inconsistencies that we have a blind spot to and yet are present within our lives. I wonder if God was to examine us tonight, I wonder what such an examination would show us, brethren and sisters. What sins would God bring into the light? What jealousies, what envies would He expose? What backslidings would He reveal to us? What worldliness would He bring to our attention? What gods would He show to us, have been secretly erected in our hearts again, having been brought and dethroned, have been secretly erected once again in our hearts? What petty squabbles would He remind us about? regard to others within the family of God, those squabbles that often hold back the blessing of God in our own lives and in the work of God. What private conversations about others would he put his finger on that would be nothing short but slanderous and defamatory? What hypocrisy would he disclose to us if God was to examine us tonight? I think all of us would come away from such an examination thankful for the blood of Christ and for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I suppose, brethren and sisters, we need to remember something. We need to remember that there is a day of examination ahead for each and every one of us. There is a day of examination that's still ahead of each and every one of us. It is a day when all of us will stand as individuals before the judgment seat of Christ. We will give an examiner or we will give an account of our lives. An accounting that will reach even to the smallest detail to the idle words that we have said to people and the idle words that we have said about people. It's going to take place. But I suppose It would be better for it to take place now, this examination, so that we can then rectify what needs to be rectified and to amend our ways that need to be amended. Better for that to happen now in this life, for us to be confronted with them on the day of final examination. We stand before God and give an account of our lives. And so David, he asked God, examine me, examine me. not my brother not my sister not someone else in my family but lord examine me examine my heart examine me well as david considers this perspective examination of his life by god he comes to list some characteristics that marked his life i don't believe David's doing that in a boastful way, but rather he's simply stating fact as he comes to self-examine his life before God comes to examine it. And he presents to us in this psalm a number of godly traits, godly traits that we should strive to see outworked in all of our lives. David takes to examining himself before God takes to examining And so he comes to speak of a number of traits. I want you to notice the first trait that David speaks of in this psalm is that of integrity. Integrity. Notice verse 1, And then in verse 12 or verse 13, Redeem me and be merciful unto me." Now, integrity is one of those words that we often employ, and we have a kind of idea what it means, but when it comes to putting a definition down on paper, well, that's a different matter. Integrity is defined as the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. We would say the following about a person of integrity. They're a man of their word, or we would say they're a woman who lives according to their strongly held convictions or principles. Integrity is having an untarnished moral character, both publicly And whenever no one else is around or no one else is watching on. Warren Wiersbe said, a person with integrity is not divided. That's duplicity. Or merely pretending, that's hypocrisy. He or she is whole. Life is put together and things are working together harmoniously. Now integrity, brethren and sisters, is one of those indispensable attributes of a Christ-like character. As vital as it is to be sound in doctrine, it is by no means less critical for a believer to be upright in heart and consistent in their obedience to the moral and to the ethical principles of God's law. You know, we find in Scripture men of integrity. We think about Joseph. and Daniel. We think about women of integrity, people like Esther and Abigail. Individuals who were people of integrity. Though the outside world tried to conform them into the world's ways and to press them into the world's mold, these Bible characters, they stuck by their Biblical principles and convictions and they refused to succumb to such pressure. They were people of integrity. So whenever they were asked to do that which was against and contrary to God's law, they said no, because they were people of integrity. Joseph, whenever he was approached by Potiphar's wife to commit adultery, he said no. When Daniel was asked to eat of the king's meat that had been offered on to idols, he said, no, these are men, individuals of integrity. Their inflexibleness when it came to the teaching of scripture evidenced that these were men and women of integrity. A young man had graduated from college and he was accepted to train as an Air Force doctor. A week after his arrival at medical school, he phoned his parents to confess to them that he had not been completely honest on his Air Force entrance questionnaire. Having been asked in that questionnaire whether he had ever used illegal drugs, he indicated that he had never. And yet his conscience over the next number of weeks and months started to disturb him when he started to recall that several years previous to that, he had experimented once with mushrooms and others and another time with nitrous oxide. Despite his knowing the grave ramifications of his confessing to the Air Force authorities, he was determined to do so. And as he confessed his lie, the young man was suspended from the combined officer training. In a letter he wrote at the request of his training commander, who was really gathering evidence or materials to support this young man of integrity remaining in active duty, the young man expressed himself in the following way. He says this, I want to express my regret for the mistakes in my past that have brought me to where I am today. My disenrollment from the COT program is an immense disappointment. It's not disappointing in the sense of it being a surprise or in the sense of it being unfounded. It is a disappointment in the sense of me losing an opportunity that I have begun to cherish. I realize when I made my decision to admit my experimentation with mushrooms The consequences to my Air Force career could be high, but I also realized that if I did not admit this, the consequence to my character could be higher. I was faced with a decision of right and wrong, and I have failed at the crossroads in the past. Thankfully, my character is now that which will no longer settle for failure at this crossroads. of right and wrong. He was a young man of integrity. He realized that he had lied and he came to confess and admit his wrongdoing. Now such integrity is rare these days. The young man realized, he realized that it was far more important that he maintain a clear conscience before God And he would advance on the basis of a lie that he had told on his application form. Beloved, I wonder how does it come or how do we fare when it comes to our integrity? How is my integrity as a minister of the gospel? How is your integrity as a Christian? Brethren and sisters, by the grace of God, we must live lives that are above reproach. lies of unquestionable integrity. What damage is done to our own testimonies and to the testimony of Christ and his church when a Christian's integrity is in some way compromised? We must be careful at all costs to protect our personal integrity. And if we have failed, then we must quickly confess our sins and seek cleansing in the blood of Christ for it. David was a man of integrity. May God help us to be men and women of such a Christian trait. The second trait that David speaks of in the psalm is that of truth. In verse number three we read that David said, I have walked in thy truth. David did not walk or live his life according to his truth. but rather he walked or he conducted his affairs in accordance with God's truth. Having been exposed to the truth of God and having embraced God's truth, David now embarks to walk in that truth. Now today many people claim to be custodians of truth. President Donald Trump has set up his own social media platform. He was cancelled from Twitter and he set up his own social media platform and he called it Truth Social. Truth Social. Whether truth is propagated on such a social media platform, I'll leave that for other people to decide. But Donald Trump claims to be the custodian of truth. And then we have other world religions and they claim to be the guardians and to be the propagators of truth. But, brethren and sisters, we know that there is only one source of truth, and that source is none other than God Himself. In Deuteronomy 32, verse 4, we read that God is a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He. In his commentary in Titus 1, verse 2, John Calvin wrote, all truth is of God. Herman Bavnick, he wrote, God is the truth in its absolute fullness. He, therefore, is the primary, the original truth, the source of all truth, and the truth in all truth for our benefit God has placed his truth in the scriptures of truth and then it is for us brethren and sisters if we are to be men and women of truth then we are to live according to the truth truth of God as is recorded in the scriptures of truth. The sad thing is that the times we do not live according to that truth and as a result of that we find that we're led into all kinds of problems and all sorts of trouble. Just ask the writer of this psalm, David. David on one stage in his life failed to walk in God's truth with regard to another man's wife and as a result it brought all kinds of heartache and sorrow into his life and into his home and then to his family. You know there's some people and they love to talk about truth but beloved it's better to walk in truth. Not to talk about it but to walk in it. In 3 John 1 verse 4. The apostle John wrote, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. As we examine our lives tonight, we need to ask, are we living according to God's truth? Are we walking in God's truth? Are our lives being governed by truth? You know, walking in the truth, it isn't rocket science. It's simply living out the truth as you find it in the scriptures of truth. Whatever issue you want to think about, whether it be marriage, salvation, sexuality, money, baptism, church membership, sodomy, abortion, your relationship to the civil authority, money, raising a family. We are simply to align our lives with God's truth as it is expressed in the truth, the scriptures of truth. J.C. Ryle wrote, walking in the truth means walking in the ways of true Bible religion. not in the bad ways of this evil world. Let us be men and women and young people and older people who walk in God's truth. David said, I have walked in thy truth. I wonder can we say that this week? Did we walk in God's truth this week? Have we walked in God's truth this week? Is this our desire to walk in the truth of God as he has revealed it in the word of God? Here's a man with regard a man of truth but there's a third trait that david alludes to in the verses of the psalms namely that to do with the subject matter of separation separation look what david writes in the verses four and five he says i have not sat with vain persons neither will i go and neither will go Neither will I go in with the assemblers. I have hated the congregation of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked." You know, there are certain people that David disassociated himself with. People from whose company David withdrew himself. And you know, there are people and their bad company. They're individuals. that you need to avoid as a Christian. Just like David did, separating himself from such people. Who are these people? Well, notice the first person, they were vain persons. I have not sat with vain persons. The word vain is really in contrast with those who were sincere or those who were true. The word vain means false, lying. David avoided the company of such people, and so ought we, those whose thoughts and words and actions are vain or to be avoided by the Christian. Such a person might be Mr. and Mrs. Popular at school, or at work, but such are to be separated from. In Proverbs 12, the verse 11, we are told that he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. To follow a person is to reveal. And I suppose we could say you would be classified as being stupid, void of understanding, no understanding. We rub shoulders, yes, with the people every day of our lives, but we're not to make them our close companions. We're to separate ourselves from them. David also separated himself from dissemblers. Now, that's not a word that you often hear people using. What's a dissembler? Well, a dissembler is a person who is hidden or a person who is concealed. They're an individual who conceals their true character or their true intentions. They are people who put on a false show. They're pretenders who conceal the real facts and their true intentions and their genuine feelings. And the Christian is to avoid such people, for such is our susceptibility to become like those we keep company with, that we could become like them. We are to separate from dissemblers. We are to separate ourselves from evildoers. The term is self-explanatory. Those who do evil, those who commit sin with a holy hatred. David hated the congregation of evildoers. Again, we cannot escape from living among evildoers, but that does not mean that we make such people our closest friends or our trusted counselors. We're to avoid such people. I and we are to avoid the wicked. The Hebrew word means those who are morally wrong, from such people David withdrew himself. You see the words 2 Corinthians 6 verse 14 come to mind. What fellowship of righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness? Can two walk together except they be agreed? Why we are to be witnesses to such people in the hope that our witness will see them coming to faith in Jesus Christ. We're not to walk with such people. We're to witness to them, but not to walk with them. Be careful of the company you keep, child of God. Be discerning when it comes to who you let into your circle of friends. And from whom you get advice from, make friends with God's children, follow the example of the blessed man in Psalm 1, who said that he walked not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Here's a man who separated himself, took himself away from such people. So we are to be discerning when it comes to whom we keep company with. David avoided such individuals. There's a fourth trait that David alludes to within the psalm and with this I close. I want you to consider David's personal engagement in worship. He's asking God to examine him. Now here he comes to speak about his worship and his own personal engagement in worship. You see the Christian is one who engages in worship. You can't be a Christian and not worship. verses 6 through to 8 and then verse 12. Let's read them again. I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord, that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works, Lord. I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth. Verse 12, my foot standeth in an even place in the congregation, will I bless the Lord. There's five things I want you to notice very quickly. with regard to David's engagement in worship. I want you to notice, first of all, the purity of his worship. The purity of his worship. David understands that to worship God, the one who worships God must do so in purity. And therefore he says, I will wash my hands in innocency. Before he comes to worship, Cleanses his hands. Hands are the object, the instruments of that which we do. David understanding that his hands had been soiled by being in the world, he comes to wash his hands. You see, beloved, we cannot worship God aright if we are practicing iniquity or cherishing sin in our lives. There needs to be a putting away of sin by the blood of Christ if our worship is to be accepted by God. Who shall ascend into the hell of the Lord? Who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands. hands, he that hath a pure heart. I wonder, are our hands clean, and is our heart pure? The purity of his worship. Notice, secondly, the primacy in his worship. Notice the place where David turns to as he engages in worship. He said, So will I compass thine altar, O Lord. Verse 6, I'll wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord. The altar was the place of sacrifice. The altar was the place where the Lamb was slain and the Lamb was offered. Need I make the application? The primacy of worship. is to bring the worshiper to the place of sacrifice. to bring the worshipper to the cross of Christ. For herein lies the power of the gospel. At the altar we come to see that another has died in our place. Someone else has stood in our room and taken our guilt and our shame and our sin. And so David, as he comes to worship, he finds the primacy in worship is the cross. The cross. And it's always the cross. The cross is the answer for the sinner's sin, and the cross is the answer for the saint's sin. The cross is the answer. The cross is the place of victory. And so, David, he comes to consider the cross, the altar, the place of blood sacrifice. The primacy in worship is always the cross. Thank God for the cross of Jesus Christ. Something else regarding David's worship that needs highlighting, namely the product of his worship. What was the fruit of his worship, the product of his worship? Verse number seven, that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works. As David gazed upon the sacrifice, as David looked at the altar, as he cast his eye, as it were, on the sacrifice lamb, Such a sight then inspired him. Such a sight stirred him. Such a sight motivated him to go out and to publish to others the wondrous works of God. He's been at the altar. He's been at the cross. He's remembered the sacrifice. And as a result, his heart is ablaze with Calvary love. And so he goes out and tells others about Jesus Christ and his wondrous works. Wondrous works of redemption. You see, worship of God ought to lead to that, brethren and sisters. It ought to stir our hearts to tell others of Him. It is the byproduct of our worship. the quickening of our hearts to inform our loved ones and our friends and our workmates of the wondrous works of God, especially the work of redemption. We see it. Here he is, having compassed the altar, he says that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving. How glad we are for the cross. How glad we are that the price has been paid. How glad we are that the Christ has died. How glad that we are that our sins are gone. What is the result of that, brethren and sisters, seeing again the cross and redemption's plan and the whole scheme of redemption, the whole outworking of that, brethren and sisters, should be the stirring of your heart to tell others. Who did you tell this week about the Savior? Who did you witness to this week about the cross? Did you see the sacrifice? Did you look upon your Savior, what He did for you, the product of His worship? Notice a fourth thing. Notice the place of His worship. In verse 8, David did not abscond from the place of public worship. did not worship at home like some today. But David got himself to the house of God. He got himself to the place where God's honor dwelt. I wonder, do we love the habitation of God's house? Do we miss it whenever we're not here? I tell you, Sunday's a very long day if you haven't been in God's house. I don't know how people do it. I don't know how they do it. To be out of the house of God on the Lord's day and not being present, I do not know how they do it. It is a long, long day. You miss the saints. You miss the singing. You miss the preaching. I wonder, do you love the habitation of God's house? I say by your presence here tonight, that the appointed times of public worship evidence is that you do love the house of God. Thank God for that. Thank God that you love God's house. That's grace. That's grace, the place of worship. And then we think about the praise of his worship. Verse 12, my foot standeth in an even place in the congregations will I bless the Lord. The word blessed there is the word praise. You can translate it, praise. I will praise the Lord. While Stephen comes to gather with others in the public place of worship, he comes in to publicly praise his God. And what does he praise God for? Well, does he not praise God for redemption? He says in verse 11, redeem me and be merciful unto me. He praises God for his wondrous works. He praises God for his mercy. Oh, let us not be slow in praising God. He himself is worthy of praise. Alongside all that he has done for us, that's worthy of our praise tonight. And so he comes to praise in his worship. Oh, that we would be a praising people, not a murmuring people, but a praising people. May God help us to bless the Lord. Integrity, truth, separation, worship. They all mark David's life as a Christian. What about us? Do such things mark our lives? May God examine us. May God prove us. try us, and if there be those areas in life that are found wanting, may we be willing to admit that there are, and may we see to the putting of things right. I wonder if God was to examine us tonight. What would He find? What would He find in this preacher? Would He find integrity? Would he find truth? Would he find a heart ready to worship him? Would he find a life that separates itself from ungodly man and separates itself onto God? What would he find? What would he find in your heart? There is a day of examination that's ahead of us, brothers and sisters. better be examined in time and all matters rectified before we stand before God. We sadly have to say, I wish I had taken on board the word. I wish that I had put things right in my life. May God help us all. Thank God for the blood. Thank God for the sacrifice. Thank God for the forgiveness that is found in Christ. Thank God there is cleansing. There is a place where we can all be right with God again. May God bring us to this place of sacrifice, to the cross, and there find the victory, the pardon, the forgiveness that we certainly all need. May God bless His word to our hearts. Let's bow our heads in prayer together. Our gracious Father and loving God, thou dost know us, thou dost see us, Lord. Nothing hidden from thine eye, all things are seen by thee. And pray, Lord, that even tonight that thou wilt search me, O God, and know my heart, and try me and know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked way in me, or be fear that you wouldn't have to look too far to find that which is grieving to thee. Oh, pardon my sin, I pray. Wash me. Lord, bring us to that position where we can walk in truth and walk in integrity. May God help us, Lord, not to be like others, But may we be man and woman, O God, who walk according to Thy word. We pray these, our prayers, in and through the Savior's presence.