The Devotion of David

Well go Over to the book of Psalms this morning. Yeah. Actually, I have completed my study.

Well, almost completed. A little fine-tuning in the next. Section of Malaka. Chapter 3, but I'm not going to Malachi this morning. I began to look at Psalm 141 and thought, I'm going to preach that.

So that's what I'm going to do. And then next week, is it Mother's Day already? Is that what I hear?

Next Sunday, rather, I I uh will probably preach something on Mother's Day and then We have the obligatory, no exception, family vacation for us the next week.

So I don't know that I'll preach at the end of that. And then my 45th anniversary is this month, and I've been told by my senior associate pastor that I'm not preaching on that day. Because of that, and so we may never get back in Malachi again, who knows. But I have richly enjoyed studying it. And look forward in God's providence to be there when He wants us there.

Psalm 141, we're going to talk about the devotion of David. which should be all of our devotion. And how this book is one book. What a clear word for us. For the New Testament church comes out.

In this Psalm of David. Let's read it right quick. Psalm 141, beginning in verse 1. O Lord, I call upon you. Hasten to me.

Give ear to my voice when I call to you. May my prayer be counted as incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing.

to practice the deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity. and do not let me eat of their delicacies. Let the righteous smite me with kindness. and reprove me. It is oil upon the head.

Do not let my head refuse it, for still my prayers against their wicked deeds. Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. And they hear my words, for they are pleasant. As when one plows and breaks open the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of seol. Verse 8: For my eyes are toward you, O God, the Lord.

In you I take refuge. Do not leave me defenseless. Keep me from the jaws of the trap which they have set for me, and from the snares of those who do iniquity. Let the wicked fall into their own nets while I pass by safely. Early as a Christian, I was challenged as a Daily practice to read one psalm a day, I read rather one proverb a day.

And you ought to try that if you're not. Young people, I really charge you to consider doing that. Read the proverb of the day. If it's the fifth day of the month, it's the fifth proverb, and so on. And then read two, three, four, five psalms a day.

And the man challenged me and said, Proverbs will teach you the mind of God, and Psalms teach you the heart of God.

Well, that's a little simplistic, but that's a good thing. And so I did that for many, many years. And it was a rich, rich practice in my Christian discipleship.

So we're looking at something where David is pouring his heart out in his particular dilemma.

Well, let's hurry and get to point one because that sort of introduces all that we're about this morning. First of all, David is wholly devoted to God's purpose and glory. Those really go together, purpose and glory. God's purpose is to glorify Himself. And if you're going to glorify God, you've got to know what His purpose is.

You do not get to choose how you're going to glorify God. This whole thing is not about you. You come to God bankrupt and with a blank slate and say, Oh God, how can I glorify you? Got to be real careful because I could get off on some things here and never get back to my notes. But the will of God is simple, it's so simple.

And people want to make it this and that. You know why? We want this special, unique, designed will of God for us. I can't tell you that. But if you'll do the main things that are the will of God for all Christians, you'll find the specific things that's the will of God for you.

Get saved. Join a biblically and spiritually healthy local church, serve there faithfully, and you'll find all the particulars about the will of God. It's not hard. It's not hard. Well, what is the context here?

David is wholly devoted to the purpose and glory of God, and the context is that David is in trouble with King Saul. King Saul is growing older. And King Saul is an egomaniac. He's become demon oppressed. He's delusional and paranoid at times.

Generally, he has a good relationship with David, but that's about to change. Under King Saul, the nation is in trouble. They're in debt. Outlaws roam the rural areas, and the people are desperate and discouraged. Discontentment abounds.

But David has risen up in the ranks in the nation of Israel. He's become a part of Saul's court, I guess you could say. He's Saul's servant. But there is a unique blessing upon David. You see, in a private ceremony that almost no one knew about.

The prophet Samuel comes to the household of Jesse. And there anoints the youngest boy of Jesse's household as the next king of Israel. David knows this. His brothers, his dad know this, but almost no one else knows this.

So here David is anointed with this unique blessing of God. As 1 Samuel 16:13 says, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David.

So, David knows he's going to be king. David knows that Saul is getting older. David knows that Saul is a miserable king. An ungodly man, a sinful man. But David knows that God's choice.

is holy But also God's timing is holy. David knew he couldn't just become king when he wanted to. Matter of fact, he was convicted he had to honor King Saul.

So here David is in Israel. He's rising up through the ranks. When he would lead part of the military, he would be wonderfully blessed and successful because the Spirit of God was mightily upon him.

So he's an effective leader. He's an effective warrior, and the people begin to say that Saul has gone out with the army and he's killed his thousands, but when David goes out with the army, he kills his tens of thousands. Yeah. So, though Saul received nothing but loyalty from David. Saul became jealous.

And thought, what's going on? This boy is gaining all the reputation and the praise and the attention, and the people love him.

So Saul was paranoid, and so he decides David has to go.

So he plans to murder, assassinate David. But David was convicted. That though Saul would try to do this against me. God chose Saul. God anointed Saul as king before me, and I will not come against him.

I will not lay my hand against God's anointed. You see, David. was a godly man. He believed in God's word. 1 Samuel 24:10, on one occasion when David's running from his life, and Saul, and he could have easily killed Saul, David says this to Saul.

Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord had given you today into my hand in the cave. And some said to kill you. But my eye had pity on you.

Now this is to Saul from David. And I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord. for He is the Lord's anointed. As rotten as he may be, God put him here, and God's going to remove him. That's not my job.

I must honor the Lord.

Now, here's where I come to something that's very foundational to all that we're going to say. How did David get there? How did he get to that place? of total dependence on God like that. Having that kind of insight.

Here's why. Because David was wholly devoted to God's purpose and God's glory. And he knew that you only glorify God by doing things God's way. You've got to be careful sometimes with so-called human logic, and you've got to be careful with opportunistic thinking.

Well, this is the time to strike, this is the time to get this or that done. Be careful, there's a good time for that, but sometimes it violates God's truth.

So, David, even though he could have taken over the throne much earlier than he did, gotten rid of Saul, he knew, nope, that's not my job. I've got to honor the anointed of God.

Well, David knew the purposes of God very thoroughly, and he knew what God was up to, and God was going to do those purposes. Let me give you some verses that show you what's on David's heart. Psalm 18, 49, David writes. Therefore, I will give thanks to you among the nations, Lord, and I will sing praises to your name. Among the nations, he says.

He wants God to be glorified among all peoples. Psalm 22, verse 27. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to you, Lord. All the families of the nations will worship before you.

So David says, I know the purpose of God is to use me, to use this nation, Israel, to bring all the nations of the world to praise, honor, love, and glorify Yahweh, the God of Israel. Psalm 57, 9 and 10. I will give thanks to you, Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to you among the nations, for your goodness is great to the heavens and your truth to the clouds.

So, this purpose of God that he must receive global glory. It's the purpose of David.

So David's not about himself. He's not about being king primarily. He's not about being in charge. He's not about taking Saul's place as the main thing in his life. The main thing in his life is the purposes and glories of God.

And you achieve them by honoring God's word. He knows God's word, does not allow him to take it into his hands to get rid of God's choice of Saul. God will do that in his timing. Because not only is God's choices holy God's timing. is holy.

So, David is out there hiding from Saul in the wilderness, running for his life. Because he But let me say it this way: he's hiding in the wilderness not because he could not kill and defeat Saul, but because out of reverence for God's ordinance. He would not kill and defeat Saul.

Now, here's the complication I think that we get that Uh sets the tone for this particular Psalm David wrote. Very wicked men, very base men. are being drawn to David. Not because they love David, not because they love the glory of God, not because they love the purposes of God like David did. These are advantageous men.

So they're going to try to amuse David and play on David's fears and on David's ambitions. They think we can align ourselves with David's movement. And I don't think David even had a movement. He was just so popular it became one. But anyway, if we can align ourselves with David, he's our ticket.

to power and control and wealth in Israel.

So they want to ride on the back of David's wisdom and David's virtue and David's popularity because they didn't have any. And by doing that, they thought they could advance themselves. But then, of course, at the right time, after they used David to get rid of Saul, then they would quickly. Get rid of David. put one of their puppets.

in place as keen. Use David as their pawn. To get their devious, opportunistic, parasitical, exploiting work done in the nation of Israel.

So, David here, now you can imagine the pressure and the demand. He's running for his life. Saul is wicked. Saul is trying to kill David. David has done nothing but be loyal to Saul.

Saul just got paranoid and jealous. And so these wicked and evil men are all over David. Come with us, join up with us. David, it's right. It'll please God to do this.

On and on the arguments go to get David to do what's unscriptural, what's dishonoring to God.

So, in that kind of situation, David begins to Cry out to God in this dilemma, if you will. Look at it there in verses 1 and 2, and then verses 8 and 9.

So, in that context, all these voices, all this pushing and opportunistic workings around him to get him to violate the word of God and take things in his own hand, he says, Oh, Lord, I call upon you, hasten to me. Give ear to my voice when I call upon you. May my prayer be counted as incense before you, the lifting up by hands as the evening offering.

Now, this is a quite bold and direct prayer. There's boldness here. Intensity here, but there's also Great dependency here. David, in effect, is saying, God, I'm all about you. I'm all about your great purpose to glorify your name through Israel.

So, therefore, since you made me king, and I'm not king yet, but you've anointed me to be king. And since I'm about your purposes, I ask you to come and help me get through this dilemma. By the way, are you listening to me this morning? You can go to God with bold authority in your request if your purpose is the biblical purposes of God. Did you hear that?

If your purpose is the biblical purposes of God, I can go to God boldly for my ministry at Grace Life Church of the Show saying, God, bless us here that the ends of the earth might fear you. That's a biblical purpose. I can go boldly with that. And so David says he uses the metaphoric phrases of the priest at the temple offering up his incense and bringing the prayers before the people. And then the priest would raise his hands and proclaim a blessing over the people.

David, in effect, he's hiding in a cave praying this prayer, but he says, My prayer is the reality, not just the ritual. It's coming from a heart that loves you. And wants to advance your cause in the earth.

So here we see this. Faith dependency upon God. He knows God's will that he will eventually be king. But he has to honor God's choice of Saul for the intervening time. David knows God's will and he wants God's will.

And also, he trusts God's wisdom that God will answer and God will bring things to a righteous conclusion his way and in his timing. Oh, that Baptists and all that evangelicals would quit trying to help God out. They would have killed Saul a long time ago. Started some silly program that's mildly biblical, but. humanly impressive.

It's just staying with God and His truth. Letting God work it out his way and his timing.

So David knew God's will. He trusted God's will. He knew God's wisdom. He trusted God's wisdom. And even though he knows he doesn't deserve to be heard, since God called him and God initiated the relationship and God's anointed him king, and God's got a timing for that, David says, I'm going to come boldly and say, Keep me, God, keep me, help me.

Don't let me mess this up because I'm about your glory and your purposes. Is that what your marriage is about? God bless this marriage. Why? Why should God bless your marriage?

Is your marriage dedicated to the purposes and the glory of God? Then ask God to bless it. God bless this education and show me where to go and a good job. Why should God bless that request?

Well if you're Quest to have a good job, the purposes and the glory of God as He's revealed in Scripture, not according to what you think. The last thing we need in Baptist or evangelical life is some other smart, clever, crafty guy coming up with his own ministry. As if all the scriptures that give us all the information about how God wants his ministry done didn't matter. God's given you the whole Bible to show you what to do. Again, find the church.

Get in that church. Make sure it's biblically and spiritually sound, and give yourself to the advancement of that church to the glory of God among all peoples. That's God's will. Dedicate your business to that, dedicate your marriage to that, dedicate your children to that. I'm telling you, then you can go bowling and say, God help me.

Because I'm about your purposes and your glory. That's where David is. That's where David is. Are y'all getting this? This isn't new for you, is it?

No, I think we've been saying this a lot over the years, have we not? Yeah. Now So, David begins with, kind of like this morning, I don't know why. I hate to call attention to my shoes. But maybe from the distance, you won't notice that I didn't polish them this week.

I think I did polish them three weeks ago. But I thought shoes are good things. Shoes. Protect your feet. Shoes.

Maybe give you a little style? Little flare?

Some of you young people, you like to have a little flair, get good shoes. Yeah. The um They even help your knees, they help your hips, they help your back if they support you right. Pam and I were shopping the other day.

Well, she was shopping, and I was following her around. But I have a deteriorating disc disease. Isn't that a fancy medical word? It just means my lower back's wearing out. Been going on for a long time, but I've earned it.

I've worked hard to get here. Yeah. And I went and bought some insoles at an athletic store and put them in my shoes and thought. It doesn't hurt any more.

So, shoes are good things, but you know what I found out? If the shoelaces won't stay tied, they're just worthless. And again, this one over here is already trying to come untidy. This is the third time this morning. That's the way this first point is about everything we're going to study in this text: if the purpose and the glory of God is not the center of your heart, nothing else works.

Because we're not a self-help society.

Now, the things we do as we are pleasing God and honoring His Word does help us in thousands of practical ways. It helps us to raise our children better and have better marriages and run businesses better. There's all kinds of principles in God's Word that helps us in these ways. But if you don't have the right shoelace holding it together, that is, the purpose and glory of God is the driving focus of your life, then the rest of it matters anyway. Folks, I don't know who God is to.

He's not just one part of the pie piece in the pie of your life. He's this slice of my life. No, he's everything. If you don't realize it, you're going to realize it soon.

Well, Roman numeral 2. Not only did David be so fully devoted to the purposes and the glory of God, and though it's not stated specifically in the text, it's thoroughly taught in the life of David and in the canon of Scripture. Secondly, He's passionately dependent upon the protection of God. passionately dependent upon The protection of God. And he's saying, God, in this dilemma, Saul is a maniac.

Saul's trying to kill me. I've done nothing but be loyal to Saul. I have not put my hand against him when I could have taken him out. Because that God is your job. You anointed him.

When you're ready to get rid of him, you're ready to become king. You'll fix all that. I'm not going to, in the flesh, try to advance that. But, God, all of these evildoers are tempting me. All of these evildoers are trying to play on my emotions.

All of these evildoers are boosting me up. David, you're great. David, you're wonderful. David, you're godly. David, start a movement.

We'll help you. We'll overthrow Saul. It's going to be wonderful. And David says, no, no, no. That's not pleasing to God.

He knows what these rascals are up to. You pastors out there, especially younger pastors, you better realize something. And I had to realize it fairly early on in my ministry. There were a number of men who had attached to my ministry. Because they maybe liked my leadership skill or whatever it might be, but they did not love my God or my doctrine.

That's where David is. They're impressed with David. But they don't love Ga David's God. They don't love the purposes and the glory of God that David loves. And so David wants to be guarded from them.

And in this setting, he says, I'm tempted to let... Myself flows with them.

So, God, first of all, you better guard me. You better protect me. First of all, put a guard over my mouth.

Some point A.

So, guard my mouth, God, in this context. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. See, all these voices, all these mouths were talking. Building David up.

David was wise enough to know they're not really with me. They're using me. David didn't want to fall into the temptation of joining the ranks of the verbally unrighteous. Probably just running down Saul, and David didn't need to hear any more people running down Saul. He was trying to protect his own thinking and art.

from doing that himself. You know, the tongue is hard to hold. Have you ever found that out? James said if a man can control his tongue, he's perfect. Uh Because it's kind of rhetoric, isn't it?

You can't control your tongue and you're not perfect. David's enemies and our enemies will try to seduce us into unrighteous torment. Ok So we're just going to have to trust the Lord. Cry out to the Lord to protect us from our tongue. You know when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden?

We all fell with them, and everything about us is fallen. It's corrupted. Everything about us. Everything is defiled. Our spirit is fallen, our soul is fallen, our body is fallen, our feet are fallen, and our hands are fallen, and our eyes are fallen, and our tongue.

Is fallen, but when man fell, nothing fell further than our tongues. Tongues can do the most vile and vulgar things. Tongues can announce the most dangerous and damaging things. Tongues can spout off the most seductive and searing things. Tongues can spew the most poisonous and piercing things.

Tongues Let forth the most horrible and hurtful things. Of all of the members of our bodies, the tongue has the most potential for God and for good, but also the most potential for evil. With a few swipes between the teeth, we can permanently wound the innocent, we can destroy a reputation, we can maim a good name, and we can destroy a man's work. One of the early divines says We are in danger from the frequency of speech. In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin.

We must of necessity speak often. But we often speak without necessity. Duty calls us to intermingle much with our fellow creatures. but we are all too little in the closet and too much in the crowd. And when we are in company, we forget the admonition: quote, let every man be swift to hear, and.

Slow to speak. A philosopher was asked one day why he was holding his tongue. Was he a fool or was he just. Didn't have nothing to say. The philosopher said, Well, a fool can't hold his tongue.

Isn't it true? My friend, if you'll give the devil your tongue, he'll ask for nothing more. He's got all he needs to make you devastatingly dangerous and destructive for his causes. David says, oh God. Protect my tongue.

I'm tempted. All these voices. I want to join in, but I know it's not right to join in. You find yourself in Places like that at times. Maybe it's in a family setting.

Everybody's joining in, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit says, don't get in that. Friends at school? God in the office, work, ladies. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And all of a sudden, God's spirit says, don't join that. God help me. No one this morning Should leave. without repentance. If you do, you're lying.

to yourself and to God.

Well, David didn't end there. He said, God, the temptation is strong.

Now, David's not saying he's batting a thousand. I think for the most part, he's living in victory, but I'm sure he stumbled. But he said, God, you're going to have to help me. And all of this temptation to do what's wrong, David said, Secondly, you're going to have to protect me from my heart, guard my heart. Verse 4: Do not incline my heart to any evil thing.

You know what a good confession is to God when you have desires that are unwholesome, unholy, unpleasing to the Lord? The first thing should be: God, that's just like me. That's just like me. That's why you went to the cross because I'm that sorry. But God, I don't want to stay here.

I don't want to live like this. Guard my heart. Of course, the heart's the root of all the rest, is it not? Matthew rather 12, 34 says, the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. But fortunately Dr.

Jesus still does heart transplants. You know what you have to do to fill your heart with evil? Nothing. You were born that way. The vile, corrupted, evil heart.

Okay. All this Foolish. Wicked nonsense about teaching your children everything so they can choose what's right for them. I'll tell you what, they'll choose, they'll choose wickedness. We have to raise children to get them reprogrammed.

Unto holiness. And of course that starts with the new birth. We don't need a lot of robotic little Pharisees running around here because they learned a lot of rules. We want children that have hearts changed by the gospel and the Spirit of God.

So there's not coercion to make them do right. There's a seed of a desire that the new birth put in there where they want to do right. But like David, they'll struggle. Like David, we struggle. We need God to protect our hearts.

You know, isn't it interesting that Everyone wants our heart. Everyone says, give me your heart. Lust says, give me your heart. Pleasure says, give me your heart. Money says, Give me your heart.

The love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. Religion says, Give me your heart. The Pope says, Give me your heart. We must give it to someone, but that someone must be God. He's the only one that can handle it.

Another Puritan father says. Yet it is thy heart that is a vain heart, a barren heart, a sinful heart. Until you give it to God. Then it is the spouse of Christ. the temple of the Holy Ghost.

And the image of God so changed, so formed. And refined that God calls it a New heart.

So, David asked God to guard his heart, as Jeremiah reminded us. The heart is desperately wicked and deceitful. Beyond all things. David, a man of God, David, whose faith is looking forward to the Savior, just like our faith is looking back to the Savior. He's saved.

He's walking with God, but he says, Oh, God, you've got to help me stay on this track of having your purpose and your glory as my only real mission in life. Being a king is secondary. To be a king that's about your purpose. And your glory.

Well, thirdly, he says, God, you're going to have to protect me from my feet. My deeds. Last part of verse 4: To practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity, and do not let me eat of their delicacies. He said, These guys are so sharp. They speak to me and they flower this thing up and they spin it around and they give me such praise and commendation, and it looks so alluring.

It's like a delicacy. I want to go with them and speak with them and take this narrative and go on with it. But God, it's wrong. And I don't want to walk in those kinds of. Behaviors.

Are you seeking God to guard your feet? What kind of People, do you hang out with? Who are you running with? What group? Do you belong with?

I'll tell you what group you belong with, the Church of God. That means some other groups, though, you should be kind to all people. You shouldn't be harsh and rude to people, generally speaking. There's a place to be bold and firm, but that's rare. But there's some people, and some groups, and some things you cannot be a part of.

And be God's man or God's woman in this world. God. Protect me from my feet. Of course, these guys wanted Paul to Walk in step with them, these schemers, these parasites, these opportunistic fellas. They wanted to kill two birds with one stone.

We'll tell David all about him. As soon as David kills Saul, then we'll get rid of David. They wanted Saul dead because he was too bad. They wanted David dead because he was too good. They thought they could use David to get to this end.

David says, guard me. Guard me.

Okay. Well In 1 Samuel 23, we see an installment of answer to that prayer. In 1 Samuel 23, Saul's trying to murder David, and David flees to the wilderness. But that was a blessing in disguise, because running to the wilderness means he's running away from all these schemers. Running away from all these evil-doing seducers and opportunistic.

Wicked men who are trying to t trip David up. Yeah. You know, it's kind of interesting if you're trying to be a pastor, a man of God in some way. And you begin to lead the people into a place that's difficult. Where there's suffering, where there's some persecution, all of a sudden, there's a crowd that decides: you know, that's not my kind of Christianity.

To your commendation, you followed me through a lot of that. Lord knows we hadn't suffered like many have suffered for the faith, but we did take a lot of blows in those early days. And there were a lot of people that decided this just isn't for me. There's an easier version of Christianity. There is an easier version.

It's called false Christianity. Lokes, we don't go out looking for a fight, but we're not going to dishonor God. to try to find the easy road. God, guard me. Guard my mouth.

Guard my heart. Guard my feet. from falling in. with those who would take an unbiblical and ungodly course. Proverbs 13:20 reminds us that the companion of fools will suffer harm.

That's still true.

So David fled from Saul, and ultimately the wicked words and the schemes of the evildoers was left behind. You know, our hearts are wicked enough by themselves without having a band of evildoers around us.

Sometimes the waiter or the waitress will come and say, Would y'all like a cocktail? Would y'all like a whatever? And sometimes I'll say, you know, I don't drink that because the Bible says when you drink that stuff, it causes you to act like a fool. And I'm foolish enough already. Can I get a man there?

If we know our own hearts, why do we need any help? That's pretty much where David is. God help me. I don't need these outside influences. You know, but it all really begins with the heart, doesn't it?

We talked about the mouth, the heart, the feet, but it really all begins with the heart, the fountain of our lives. Then it streams out through our lips and through our lives. And if the fountain of the heart is not kept pure, all the streams are polluted. Roman numeral three. David fully yields to God's agents of protection.

Now, getting down to brass tacks here, getting down to where the rubber meets the road, just how is God going to protect you and help you? To stay on the track. Just take glory of God focus and purpose of God centered in your whole life. To make sure your family, your marriage, your business, whatever it is, is focused on the purposes and the glory of God. And the totality of how you raise children, whatever it is.

How are you going to stay there?

Well, you need to fully yield to the agents of God's protection. What is that? That's the fellowship. Of a sound local church. That's why you come to church.

That's why we have small groups.

So that we can learn how to help each other. Help each other watch our mouths. Help each other watch our hearts. Help each other watch our feet. Because, how does David put it here?

Look at it there. Look at verse 5. Let the righteous Not just a fellow member of Israel. A lot of Israel was wicked and corrupt. But there's always been a remnant that's really the true Israel.

A very, very small group, according to the Old Testament text, from time to time tells us that. A very, very small remnant.

So David said, let this little small, righteous fellowship remnant. God used them to help me stay on track. How did you say it here? Let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me its oil upon the head. Do not let my head refuse it.

That's a picture of the local church. This is one book. What's the in in the Old Testament, it was Israel? That it was the center of God's purposes in the earth. And for his glory, but they failed miserably, so God used a remnant of Israel to do that.

But you come over to the New Testament, and we have local churches. People are saved, we come together, we baptize one another, we belong to that fellowship, and we agree to have encourageability among one another. Encouragement and accountability. I created that word. Encourageability.

And primarily that happens through small groups.

Well, you get to know each other, you learn each other. There's bonding, and there's transparency, and there's genuine concern. And occasionally, a sister about telling another sister, you really shouldn't say that. She's helping you guard your mouth. One brother might say to another, Brother, Brother, I'm as bad as you and I'm struggling, but.

Don't let your heart go there. Our brother says to another brother, You know, you know, for the glory of God, Maybe it's not evil, but you don't need to go to those places. You see, you got that freedom in a small group.

Well, we're all committed to the purposes and the glory of God out of the fellowship. Out of our lives. And that's what David's asking for. I want that righteous remnant, that fellowship of true saints of God to help me. Bye.

Smiting me, the word smite. Can't have the idea of crushing me. It may not be fun to hear the corrections I might sometimes hear in the righteous fellowship in the local church, but I need them. I would not go to a church that would not correct me. And you should not either.

Well Where is there a fellowship of the righteous in the earth today? It's rare, it's far too rare. than a decently healthy local church. We need a place of healthy reproof and correction. I need to be reproved and corrected because, brothers and sisters, the wages of sin is death.

And if I go on in sin and you don't help me, then you'll help me dishonor God. You'll bring death to my witness. And if I keep going on in sin, it can bring death to my emotional well-being and death to my mental well-being. It could bring death to my marriage and death to my relationship with my children. It could bring death to my employment opportunities.

Sin always destroys. Love each other enough to help each other, not ruin our witness and ruin our lives. That's where David is. God help me. Help me.

Mm.

Well, God says, well, here's how I help you. the fellowship of the righteous who can reprove you. Reproofs and correction is the normal practice of members of a solid church. i.e., particularly in small groups.

Now he says it interesting. He says, Let the righteous smite me in kindness. It means loving kindness. Oh, my goodness. This is a whole sermon or two by itself, but when we correct another brother, it should be with the utmost humility and kindness.

Get a good amen. Because next week it's going to be reversed. And that's the way we would want it.

So, David says, I need some correction, but God, please help guys come that are. Decently kind about it.

Now look. Get off of any hobby horse that you are the correction police for Grace Life Church. What you should be looking for is not to have to do it. Amen? But to love God and love the brother or sister enough to do it if it's necessary.

David said here, it's like oil. And he's using the image of the king, or the priest was anointed with oil. And the oil was a beautiful thing and a blessed thing in that culture. It smelled good. They would put costly perfumes in the anointing oil.

It was medicinal. They used oil and rubbed on their bodies and joints for medicinal purposes. It was healing. And it symbolized the blessings and nearness of God. David says, Man, it's just a good thing for somebody to help me guard my mouth and guard my heart and guard my feet.

Because I'm just capable of ruining my whole life and ruining my witness for God, ruining my potential to be in on the purposes of the glory of God through Israel as the king, if I don't have some righteous men around me. Because David did realize this later on, when he probably needed some men closer to him when he looked out the window that day and saw Bathsheba. He'd gotten a little bit away from the fellowship of the righteous. And drifted off too far into his flesh. Of course, God kept up his end of the deal because.

The prophet Nathan comes in and points his finger at David, accuses him of the sin, even killing Bathsheba's husband. and says, thou art the man.

Now that was a crushing rebuke. But the text goes on to show us it was a healing and helpful rebuke. Real real quick here as we are Thinking about these are the protections, God's agents to protect us are our brothers and sisters in Christ. If we're functioning biblically in a healthy church. Most of the time, you should let something go if you see it.

Most of the time, you should let something go. Don't run to correct someone, just pray for them, put it on a shelf. If something becomes a real pattern and it's obviously you can't just let it go on because it's clearly dishonoring God, it's clearly hurting the local church. Others are going to excuse sin if they keep doing what they're doing. And obviously, it's beginning to hurt them.

Sin always destroys the one committing the sin. But remember when you have to deal with something, you do it. With kindness the text says. Loving Can this Loving humility. If you correct a brother out of proud arrogance, then you're not qualified to correct anyone.

The Christian rebuke should fall like the dew, not a raging hailstorm.

Someone said, and again, the nail of rebuke must be well oiled before it's driven home. But David Going to be king of Israel. Just, God, I'm tempted because these clowns, these deceivers, these opportunistic people, they're spinning this thing. They're dealing with my ego. They're up to no good.

I know they are. Don't let me listen to them. Guard my mouth, guard my heart, guard my feet. And I need a righteous fellowship to help me. Did they help me?

Well Roman number four, we're about done. David also Was fully convinced of God's eventual humbling of the wicked. You think the wicked are getting ahead? You just keep living. Their end is not going to be good.

And we don't want to run with them. We don't want to run with them. Look at verses six and seven. In our text. Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock.

What David says, this is what they're coming to. That's a statement often used of an execution. They're leaders of this whole group. Are going to be executed. It means the people are going to finally see through this crowd and they're going to deal with it.

They're going to be just deposed. Thrown down. Then the last part of verse 6, and they hear my words, for they are. Pleasant. Finally, when their crushing comes.

Those that are not. Removed from the earth, that is, they will finally have ears to hear when their plots are exposed and their little kingdom comes crashing down. All of a sudden, they'll say, Preacher, I need to talk to you. My life ain't working. It's because you've been running with the wrong crowd.

Thinking they're all things. Having the wrong goals in life. Doesn't that remind us of our own salvation? God brings us crushing down, and we look to Jesus. But we don't cast our pearls before swine.

David said, They wouldn't listen to me, they wouldn't hear my words and view them as pleasant until they came crashing down. Verse 6, last part. And they hear my words, for they are pleasant. They're humble now. They're ready to hear.

David did not need to resort to evil men's schemes to defend himself from Saul. David knew God had a plan for Saul, and he didn't need to follow all that crowd because God was going to bring them down anyway.

Now look at verse 10, if you will. Let the wicked fall into their own nets while I pass by safely. Their arguments seem so wise and so good. Their schemes seem so on target. And they're talking about loving God and they're talking about sound doctrine in Israel.

They're talking about me being king. But I know what they're up to. And I know what their end is going to be. You know, the long road of human history is that God has a pattern of trapping the wicked in their own traps. You give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves, and God often does that.

So, David feared not so much the open attacks of fighting a valiant enemy. What David was fearful of is the secret attacks. He was struggling with.

So Spurgeon said, Brave men, don't fear so much the battle, but the secret attacks. Fall into their own traps. God has built into the wicked a self-destruction mechanism. Don't follow with them. Don't join up with them.

Even if they come out with a cloak. of God-centered devotion. John Phillips said in his commentary: Men and nations lay down with their own hands the paving stones on which retribution travels. And he does. The Devotion of David.

David? Going to be king, but way before that. David set out in the mountains there around Bethlehem. While his older brothers did the more notable esteem jobs in the family, David would sit out there and watch the sheep. and play music.

And get in touch with God. Then God called him to be king, and David said, That's incredible. That's amazing. That stirs my ego, but... The main thing is God's purpose and God's glory.

I wanted God glorified as a shepherd, and I want God glorified when I become king.

So I'm going to stay with God's word and not listen to all the crowds. Because all that wicked scheming, whether it's Saul and his band or those opportunistic people who tried to lead David astray, either one, it's going to come to a crushing end. We need to have The devotion. of David. Yeah.

We don't ever arrive, do we? We don't arrive as individuals. We don't arrive as a church. But you know what you can do? You can keep repenting and keep realigning.

I'm going to preach on. I've been telling you for a lot, I'm going to have to preach on the Lord's Prayer, which is called the model prayer, which I'm calling the realignment prayer. Because what the model of prayer, the Lord's prayer, the realignment prayer does, it gets you back in line with heaven. You start with our Father who art in heaven. That's where you start.

I'm yours, and you're from heaven. I'm not of this world. My citizenship is heaven. My fellowship is with the church, and my headship is. You, my father, my king, my master.

I want to get things realigned. That's where David lived before he was king, and how David lived as he was becoming king, and how David tried to live as he was king. Failed sometimes, yes, but that was the core of his heart. And when you're there. Eventually, everything else works out.

But there are difficult seasons, amen? Trouse. Heartaches. Situations we just don't understand. Do not listen to the lies of the enemy during those difficult seasons.

Have the devotion of David. Yeah.