WWUTT 979 Righteousness from the God of Our Salvation?

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One of the requests that comes up continually in the Psalms is the request for holiness, for sanctification, that David would be more righteous today than he was yesterday.

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And that's a desire that we should all have when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text, studying

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God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing, and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We come to our study in the Psalms. Today we'll be looking at, we'll see if we get this far,

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Psalms 24, 25, and 26. I'll begin by reading all 10 verses of Psalm 24.

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The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.

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For he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the

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Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully.

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He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the

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God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up,

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O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this

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King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.

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Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

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Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the

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King of glory. So at the start of Psalm 24, we read that the earth is the

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Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.

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Have you ever heard in some sort of evangelical presentation, the evangelists say that you need to make

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Jesus your Lord? Have you ever heard an evangelist say that before? Well, it's a nonsense statement, because the fact of the matter is,

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Jesus is your Lord. Whether you make him Lord or not, whether you acknowledge that he is the

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King of kings and Lord of lords, he is your Lord. You don't make him Lord, you submit to him as Lord.

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And the person whose heart is contrite and broken over their sin, who knows that they need a

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Savior and Christ is that Savior, they will come broken before God and humble themselves before him as Lord.

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Not making him Lord, for he already is Lord. It doesn't matter if a person is a believer or an unbeliever,

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Christ is King over them. Psalm 24 verse 1, the earth is the

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Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell within, not just believers.

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It's not just believers who belong to him. Everyone is in submission to the rulership of God.

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And there is not anyone who is out from under his rule. He reigns over all creation and over all people, for he has founded it upon the seas, founded the world upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

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God is the one who has created all things. This is sort of metaphor. It's not that he's literally set the world on top of seas and on top of rivers as though our foundation is water somehow, for there are other places where it says the foundation is rock and it sets upon a foundation of pillars.

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But here is simply saying that God has created all things, whether water or land, it all belongs to him.

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So he is the rightful governor over all of this. Verses three through six, who shall ascend the hill of the

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Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

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So again, God is the one who reigns over all and every single person is under his rule.

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But who is it that can ascend his holy hill and be in his presence?

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It is only the one who has clean hands and a pure heart. And how do we have clean hands and a pure heart?

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It is only by Jesus Christ, our savior, by faith in Jesus. We are cleansed of our sins and all unrighteousness and can come to the place of God, can pray to him and know that our prayers are being heard by him.

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We can speak his name and it not be received blasphemously, but is spoken in love and admiration of God.

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And he receives it from us because of the righteousness of Christ that clothes us.

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He will receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the

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God of his salvation. We receive righteousness from God.

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We don't achieve righteousness on our own. We cannot because our hands are filthy.

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We are sinful creatures before God, worthy of judgment and wrath. But it is because he is gracious toward us and has given us the righteousness of his son that we may receive the blessing of God and know him as savior.

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Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

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Now of course, we read in Romans chapter three, verses 10 through 12, that no one seeks after God.

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So how is it that the blessing of God is upon the one who seeks him? Because the one who seeks

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God has been turned by the Holy Spirit to seek after him. It is because the

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Holy Spirit has done a work in our hearts. Otherwise, we would not be seeking after God.

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We seek him because he draws us to him. And that grace that he draws us with is irresistible.

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Praise God for the favor that he has shown to us in his son. Verse seven, lift up your heads,

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O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in.

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Now what does this lifting up your head, O gates and O ancient doors, what does this mean?

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Well, remember when we began our study of the Psalms, I had mentioned to you that there's a lot of personification that happens in the

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Psalms, like personification with creation in particular, inanimate objects that are given personal qualities.

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One of the first places that we see this, the early places in the Psalms is in Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God.

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The sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech.

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And so here the doors and the gates of Jerusalem are being personified as though they were watchmen, as though they were looking out over the land that is in front of the doors and the gates of Jerusalem.

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And what would the doors and gates see? But they might see the procession of Israel coming toward them with the ark of the covenant of God out in front.

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Remember it was David who brought the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem. First he tried to do it on a cart.

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That was a bad idea for Uzzah reached out and touched the ark of the covenant, trying to protect it from falling in the mud.

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And he was struck down dead because he touched the ark of the covenant of God. So then you've got the priests who are carrying it the proper way, the way that God instructed for this to be done.

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The way that he has commanded the worship of him to be conducted.

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And so you've got the priest with the ark of the covenant walking ahead of the procession of Israel, singing and dancing behind, and they're coming toward the gates of Jerusalem.

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So if you picture the gates or the doors like watchmen, and here comes the procession of Israel in praise, well then they're going to lift up in praise and open up to receive the presence of God in the ark of the covenant, that he would come into the city of Zion.

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Once again, lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in.

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It is, it is God in the ark of the covenant coming into the city.

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But we also know that this is prophetic in the sense that Jesus Christ himself was going to be coming into Jerusalem on that day of procession that we call today

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Palm Sunday. It is the triumphal entry. And so there's a prophetic measure that's happening in this as well.

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Who is this king of glory? Verse eight, the Lord strong and mighty, the

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Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up,

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O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in. We have that said twice. Who is this king of glory?

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The Lord of hosts, the one who sits enthroned above even the angels. He is the king of glory.

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Now as you can tell here as we've been doing this, my voice is kind of cracking. I've been struggling to hang on. I didn't realize my voice was so weak when we started this, but we'll see how far we can get here.

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I'm going to start in Psalm 26, beginning in verse one. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

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O my God, in you I trust. Let me not be put to shame.

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Let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame.

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They shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways,

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O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the

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God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. David begins this psalm with a personal appeal to the

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Lord. He has lifted up his soul. He puts his trust in God. He does not trust in man.

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He doesn't trust himself. And the one who trusts in God will not be put to shame. He first says, let me not be put to shame and let not my enemies exult over me.

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Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame. They shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.

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In other words, the wicked are never going to get away with this. David says, make me to know your ways.

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The wicked are not walking in the ways of God. But David knows that walking in the way of the

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Lord will be his success. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the

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God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. Remember back in verse three, indeed, none who wait for the

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Lord shall be put to shame. Verses six and seven. Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

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Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions. According to your steadfast love, remember me for the sake of your goodness,

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O Lord. Think of how impetuous you were in your youth, how uncommitted you were to things.

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And so David contrasts his ways, his sinfulness, when he was in his youth with the steadfast love of the

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Lord. In his youth, he's all over the place. He's uncommitted. He's driven by the wind.

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He's carried along by his own sinful desires. But God, meanwhile, is steadfast. From everlasting to everlasting, he is

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God. He is unflinching and unchanging. So though we go astray,

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God will not desert us. He will not disown us, for he cannot disown himself.

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Consider what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 11.

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The saying is trustworthy, for if we have died with him, we will also live with him.

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If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us.

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But if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

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Later in the same chapter, Paul told Timothy, verse 22, so flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the

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Lord from a pure heart. Given these words that he shared with Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, just that chapter alone,

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I'm curious to know if maybe Paul had Psalm 25 in mind, where David says, remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions, but according to your steadfast love, remember me for the sake of your goodness,

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O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

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He leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the

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Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

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For your name's sake, O Lord, verse 11, pardon my guilt, for it is great.

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Who is the man who fears the Lord? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

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His soul shall abide in well -being, and his offspring shall inherit the land.

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The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.

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My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

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Jesus said to his own disciples that he has called them friends, for a master does not share with his servants what the master is doing, but he calls his disciples friends, for he has let them know the will of the

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Father. That comes right out of Psalm 25. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.

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God is more than just our God. He is certainly our God, but he is also our friend.

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God has come down to us. We could never ascend to his level, but in love and compassion for us, he sent his

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Son, that he may become like his brothers in every way, as it says in the book of Hebrews.

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Though tempted, he was without sin, but being found as a man, he called us to himself and made us his friends.

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We have friendship with God, fellowship with him through our Lord Christ. David says, turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.

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The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.

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Consider how many are my foes, and with what violent hatred they hate me. O guard my soul and deliver me.

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Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you.

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Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. Here is

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Psalm 26, and we will conclude with this one. David says, vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the

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Lord without wavering. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind, for your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.

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David is asking here that he would become even more holy than he already is, that he would have an opportunity to walk with the

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Lord in his statutes, that the secret sins would all be rooted out, that there would be no wicked way in him, but that the

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Lord would continue to sanctify him, that he would be grown in his holiness.

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Consider what we read again in Psalm 19, as I quoted from this psalm once already.

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David says in verse 12 of Psalm 19, who can discern his errors?

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Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins.

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Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

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And just as David prayed that in Psalm 19, he's praying that again here in Psalm 26.

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Same sort of a thing, just worded differently. He says, vindicate me, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the

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Lord without wavering. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind, so that he would be grown in holiness.

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And may we desire that day by day. How can I be more righteous today?

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God sanctify me today, that I may know your righteousness, your precepts, and walk in your truth.

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Psalm 26 verse 4, I do not sit with the men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites.

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I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. Very similar to the way the

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Psalms began in Psalm 1. I wash my hands in innocence, and go around your altar,

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O Lord, proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds.

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Now you might consider that David probably literally did this. You know, there wasn't the temple, he didn't have the pleasure, the benefit of building the temple, that would go to his son.

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But nevertheless, there were altars upon which sacrifices were given to God, and he probably literally washed his hands before offering sacrifice, and danced around the altar of God proclaiming thanksgiving to him.

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But there is also a spiritual sense to this, that we must follow as Christians and do this day by day.

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May our hands be committed to doing the works of Christ, and not to doing sinful things.

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May the very way that we live be as though we were going around the altar of God, presenting ourselves as living sacrifices unto the

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Lord. This is your spiritual act of worship, that's Romans 12 .1. And may we proclaim thanksgiving aloud, for we should always be thankful unto

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God with every word that we speak, and telling of his wondrous deeds as we praise him.

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Verse 8, O Lord, I love the habitation of your house, and the place where your glory dwells.

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Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men.

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For David knows that his heart is just as capable, just as inclined toward sin. So he's asking, don't let me fall into their ways, and thus be swept away with them.

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In their hands are evil devices, in whose right hands they are full of bribes.

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But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity, redeem me, and be gracious to me.

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My foot stands on level ground. In the assembly, I will bless the

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Lord. So I encourage you the same, that you will come to the assembly, and praise

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God together with his saints, the church, and I hope that you have a good church to worship with this weekend.

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Join us again on the podcast tomorrow. As God willing, my wife will be joining me, and we'll have our

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Q &A. You can submit questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. Thank you for listening.