Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] All right. This evening we're going to be in Psalm number 26. Psalm number 26.
[00:00:18] Psalm 26.
[00:00:22] Let's read the Psalm together.
[00:00:25] Verse the subtitle says the Psalm of David, like many of them. Verse 1. Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord, therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O Lord, improve me. Try my reins and my heart, for thy loving kindness 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. Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor 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. Would you pray with me?
[00:01:47] Father, thank you for the time to get together with your people, the saints of God, in the assembly. And thank you for your people being able to be here tonight for coming out in the weather. Thank you for those as well that can't be here, but are listening in faithfully. Thank you for that. I pray that you would give them a great blessing as we look in your Word together. Also guide us, Lord, as we look in your word in Psalm 26. There's so many good things in this Psalm and so many ways that we can be blessed. We can be encouraged. We can be reminded of the truth. So, Lord, guide us and bless us and teach us as we study your Word. And help me, Lord, to say just exactly what you want me to say, that your people might be benefited in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:32] In Psalm number 26, this is a rather familiar prayer of David. Just another one of those psalms that is a prayer. And we've heard this, I think it was in Psalm 7 we've heard, where we heard something similar to what we see in verse number one, which is where David asks God to judge him, which is an interesting thing. It's not something we ought to do lightly. In Matthew chapter seven, as we've gone through Matthew chapter seven on Sunday, we've seen that the judgment of God is a very serious matter. And when we say God, judge me, that's quite a statement of confidence that as far as we know and as far as we're concerned, our account is right with God.
[00:03:20] But it's not just that. The psalmist says. Notice what he says in verses 1 and 2. He says, 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. So you have judge me, examine me, prove me, try me, and I'll be honest with you. Some of those things I just don't know if I really like all that much. How many of you like to have your faith tried, put to the test?
[00:03:56] That's not something we would kind of run at. But here David is asking God to do this. But notice what David is specifically asking God to examine. He's asking God to examine a particular part of him that is really inaccessible to any human being. Notice he says, judge me, for I have walked in mine integrity. Integrity is an inward characteristic, right? In other words, it's an inward characteristic that manifests itself in the outward conduct. But integrity is inward. And then he says in verse number two, examine me, O Lord, improve me. He says, try my reins and my heart. So the thing that he is asking God to examine and to prove and to try and to judge, if you will, is primarily his inward part, his inward part. In other words, he wants. David wants to be pure, not only outwardly, but inwardly. In other words, he wants to walk the right walk and live in the right conduct. But he wants to do it with a heart and with reins that are also righteous.
[00:05:19] And, you know, it's not enough for David, at least, it was not enough that others viewed his outward walk as righteous. He wanted his inward walk, his inward disposition toward God, to be upright as well. And that actually, of course, goes right back to Matthew, chapter seven, which is, are we only concerned with other people thinking well of us outwardly, or are we. Ultimately, I'm primarily concerned with what God knows and thinks of us inwardly. Because remember, whatever it is, whatever a man is in his heart, that is the way he is. And whatever is in his heart will absolutely be manifest on the outside. That's why when we concentrate, you know, even when you're raising your children or you're trying to guide them, or in whatever kind of leadership capacity that you might have and whatever degree that might be, concentrate on the heart, because out of the heart are the issues of life.
[00:06:21] Don't Just try to listen as a believer, as a member of a church, as a part of a body, as a part of your family. Do not be concerned only with outward conformity. David is not. He's saying God, and he does mention the way he walks and walking in the truth and those things in the psalm. But he says, God, look at my inside, my reins, in my heart. I want that to be right, too. Judge that. Examine that. The idea being, if there's anything there, if there's anything there, Lord, show me. Show me now. The reins is interesting. The word reins in verse number two is not this kind of reins. You know, it's not like a, you know, not riding a horse kind of reins. It actually literally means kidneys. That's what it means, kidneys, which is kind of unusual for, in other words, to our mind. But the kidneys is considered the region as the seat of the feelings or affections. Again, inward, right? So the reins, whenever you see rains in the Bible, it's not referring to anything outward, but something inward. The affections, the heart. That's why it's often paired in Scripture with the heart. Like in this verse, Jeremiah 17:10 says, God speaking, I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. So you see, they're paired together. But notice what Jeremiah the Lord says. Through Jeremiah, I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. Let me ask you. God says, just like we see here, God searches the heart. He tries the reins. Is that inward or outward?
[00:08:06] That's inward, right? But notice what he continues to say, even to give to every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. You notice that, in other words, God says, I search the heart and try the reins.
[00:08:24] But then he pivots straight into the deeds. You know why? Because they're connected.
[00:08:31] What's inside of us is indivisible from what comes on the outside of us.
[00:08:39] You cannot divide them.
[00:08:42] There is a connection, an inseparable connection between those two. So here's the point. We cannot walk wrongly without also having a heart and reins that are likewise evil. This idea that somehow we can walk evil, but somehow we have a good heart about it, that's a very common philosophy in the world, you know? Yeah, yeah, he killed his family, but, you know, he's got a good heart sometimes. You hear that? I've actually, I'm kind of a. I like to watch, like, court, court cam and court, stuff like that. And police shows. I like that kind of stuff. All right? And you know what? I. You know what? I found them saying a lot. Especially these guys that are incarcerated stand before a judge, they will actually say, this is their opportunity to speak. You know what they'll say?
[00:09:29] Your honor, I'm a good person.
[00:09:34] Okay, then why are you standing there? Are you facing some sort of persecution?
[00:09:40] But see, people have it in their mind, this disconnect, that even though they do evil outwardly, somehow inwardly they're good, they're righteous. But actually what God is saying is, you do evil and it comes out of evil within.
[00:09:57] So the answer is, what purify the inward and the outward also becomes pure. You see, God, search me, look in me in the depths. Because the truth is, if you're honest, I'm honest.
[00:10:12] We often don't even know our own heart, right? Sometimes we think it's pure and it's not. So what we're saying is, God, you know, you need to look, Lord, please look. I might not see something.
[00:10:27] Not only that, but David's request. The second thing from these two verses is David's request for God to search his heart and his reins and to examine him. It reflects the desire that every true child of God has.
[00:10:46] Every true child of God has this desire.
[00:10:49] Every true child of God sincerely desires in his heart of hearts to be clean from sin.
[00:10:58] This is why he's asking God to examine him, because he doesn't want it there.
[00:11:04] He wants to find out any part that's not right. You've heard this Psalm, Psalm 139, verses 23 and 4. Say this. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me. Notice heart is in view. Try me and know my thoughts again inward and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Do you see? This is a fundamental difference between a man or woman that does not know God, and one who does know God is the man or woman who does not know God does not want to be clean.
[00:11:39] Now, he might tell you he does.
[00:11:42] What he really wants, however, is some excuse or some pretext to sin.
[00:11:48] Well, that's a really dim view of mankind. This is a fact. He's looking for an excuse.
[00:11:56] But for a believer, a child of God who has been born again, despite the fact that he fails, he really and genuinely does want to do righteousness and be righteous. Inwardly, there is a deep seated desire in him, in his very soul that God has put there that wants righteousness.
[00:12:21] But those without God are not. So they're looking for every way to get away with doing evil. You know, what if they could do Evil with no unhappy or no ill effect.
[00:12:34] They would.
[00:12:37] And you know, you don't. You don't have to go very far to prove this. You think about Nazi Germany, when the laws of the land were such that people could, with freedom and without judgment, without punishment, without retribution, they could indulge their hatred.
[00:12:58] What'd they do?
[00:13:00] They did.
[00:13:02] You think of the Cambodian genocide. They call it the Cambodian Holocaust, which is lesser known than the Holocaust of Germany. But the Cambodian Holocaust was also that way. Whenever someone got a place of power and they wanted to, they had an opportunity that they knew they would never be touched. There would be no retribution. They would vent that anger out.
[00:13:25] And that's a really terrible thing about humanity, is if humanity believes he can get away with sin, he will do it. He will throw himself at it. Not so with a child of God. Why? Because he has been born again.
[00:13:42] You've heard this verse.
[00:13:46] In fact, let's take a peek at this. Jeremiah 31. Let's look at it real quick, if you would.
[00:13:51] Jeremiah 31, Jeremiah 31, verse number 31.
[00:14:04] This is a prophecy. Now, Jeremiah 31, verse 31, it says this. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they break, although I was an husband to them, saith the Lord, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
[00:14:56] Now, this was spoken at the time future.
[00:14:59] This is of course fulfilled in Christ. Hebrews 8 tells us that we live in this time, the new covenant. You know what God does when he saves a sinner?
[00:15:08] He writes his law in their heart.
[00:15:11] What effect does that have? That means the law that they fear is not from the outside anymore. The fear of retribution, that's the problem with humanity now, is if that law is not present, that fear is not present, they will throw themselves at sin. But what do you do when the law is on the inside?
[00:15:31] The result of that is what's happening with David, something similar to that. David's heart, he wants to be clean. He doesn't want sin. He doesn't want to do it even if he had perfect liberty. Because the law of God is. Is in us.
[00:15:48] It's in us.
[00:15:50] We really do want to be righteous. Now go back to Psalm number 26, verses 1 and 2. Once more, one more thing to say from these couple verses and then we'll move on.
[00:16:01] Notice he says, God, judge me, examine me, prove me, try me. You know what he's doing? He's inviting examination.
[00:16:11] So I just want to make this one point.
[00:16:14] The tendency or an attempt to hide oneself from scrutiny, from examination or from accountability, which is, David is not doing. He's not hiding from it, he's inviting it.
[00:16:31] But the tendency to hide from it or avoid examination or accountability is usually an indication that something has slipped.
[00:16:43] But the psalmist David here asks for examination. He does not seek to avoid it. And think about, think about in the context of sin and righteousness, which is what we're talking about, think about the context of our relationship with our family or our relationship with other believers in the church. You know what? You know what? We should welcome accountability.
[00:17:04] Often those who avoid accountability and examination are those who have something to hide.
[00:17:13] Now, I say that, and I hasten to say, we're not including the government. The government has no business in our business.
[00:17:19] But in the context of family, in the context of church, in the context of sin and righteousness, we should invite examination. And listen just as a note. Anybody who doesn't and who recoils or seeks to, seeks to avoid accountability, just watch out, stand by, note that person. Something's, something's up. Something's up. That's not what we see with David. You think about a church, the money matters in this church should be an open book, right? Should be an open book for anybody. You say, well, I only want the members. I don't care who knows. I don't care who knows. Member, non member, public, I don't care. I don't care that people know that we're, you know, we're going to Send brother Akbar 1500. I don't care.
[00:18:08] That's the point is we have to live in such a way that we invite accountability. Well, you think, well, the pastor, the pastor's not accountable to anybody. Well, he should be.
[00:18:18] He definitely should be.
[00:18:21] And if, you know, if there's a pastor or there's a, you know, a preacher who is, is beyond accountability and nobody can ask him questions and nobody can examine what's going on, that's a bad situation.
[00:18:33] That's a bad situation.
[00:18:35] But that goes true for all of us as the people of God. What about accountability? In our search history, in our web history, in our use of social media, that ought to be an open book.
[00:18:47] Now, you might not like the kinds of goofy things that my wife sends me and funny little, you know, stuff that. You guys know what I'm talking about, those funny things and memes and all that.
[00:18:59] But it ought to be, you know, whatever our activities, our music playlists, all these things. Look, Lord, examine it. Lord, examine it. But the principle here is it's not just the Lord, you know, we like to hide behind that. Well, God knows, you know, well, okay, what about everybody else?
[00:19:17] You think it's okay, you know, if there's something in your life, and that's the amazing thing, do not we deceive ourselves. We think if there's something that's not right in our life, we say, well, God will judge me. And we think that's better than if other people see it.
[00:19:31] What's wrong with us? That's no better.
[00:19:35] And you know what? Having accountability with others and allowing them to examine and ask questions will actually protect your relationship to the Lord.
[00:19:45] It's a good thing.
[00:19:47] But the key thing is having the heart where it's like, lord, examine me, brother, sister, mom, dad, whatever. Examine me, examine me, Keep me accountable. Look at verse four and five.
[00:20:01] Notice, David says, I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. Dissembly is. This is not the word disassemble. This is dissemble. Dissemble means to fake, to put a fake, a guise on, to hide one's true feelings. He says, 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. Isn't that a powerful statement in the end of verse 5? And will not sit with the wicked as an act of the will, a decision David says here. So in the first couple verses, we see David's desire for righteousness. But I want to show you something.
[00:20:43] There is something to be said for what a godly man will not do, not just what he will do, what he refuses to do, not just what he does do. Does that make sense?
[00:21:00] A godly man is often described, is he not, as all the godly things that he does, but part of a godly man's character. In this case, a righteous man like David is defined by what he refuses to do.
[00:21:16] Should listen as a believer. Are there things in your life that you should absolutely refuse?
[00:21:22] And you shouldn't feel sad about that. That doesn't mean you have to be a jerk. Doesn't mean Your attitude has to be sour and bad and arrogant. But there should absolutely be things in your life that you say, no, we're just not doing it.
[00:21:37] And that.
[00:21:39] That is a reference to our righteousness. It's not just the righteous things we do, it's some things we don't do. In this case, a godly man, David here recognizes evil men. He is not okay with them.
[00:21:56] He is not, we might say, he is not passive at their evil.
[00:22:02] A person who is passive at the wicked is. Is actually making a statement about his own view of evil, right?
[00:22:12] David says, no, I will not sit with the wicked. You say, well, how are you going to witness to him? That's not what we're talking about here, okay? Oftentimes we say, well, how are you going to witness to them if you never talk to them? Nobody's saying you never talk to them. Nobody says you never witnessed to them. This is beyond that. The idea of sitting, you know, Psalm 11. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners. You notice how he's slowing down. Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. The idea is an idea of fellowship, where you wink at the evil, you're passive at it. You don't really take a firm position on. You know, you just want to kind of play the middle ground when it comes to evil. That is not right. And it reflects upon one's own character.
[00:22:57] A man who claims or has a reputation for being a righteous man, who will not definitively state and take a side against something that is ungodly, is not a righteous man.
[00:23:14] And you know what? In our day, compassion and love are the excuses.
[00:23:23] People on the. With using the ideas of compassion and love. People look at verses four and five with disdain.
[00:23:34] That's what happens.
[00:23:36] So they waltz into the bar and they'll plop themselves down beside someone who's sloppy drunk, who's committing adultery with another man's wife.
[00:23:48] And they think they're being compassionate and relevant.
[00:23:53] Now what you're doing is you're demonstrating that you do not have the view of righteousness that you claim.
[00:24:03] Because verses 4 and 5, verses 4 and 5 tell us from a scriptural perspective how a righteous man responded to the evil in those around him.
[00:24:18] Now we know. I mean, do I even really have to say this? But I'm going to say it anyway. We know that as a believer, we have to reach out to and have compassion and give the gospel and sometimes rebuke A wicked man for his soul's sake, of course.
[00:24:34] But David, as a matter of fellowship, as a matter of. As a matter of overlooking someone's sin. In fact, yesterday in my Bible college class, we were talking about mental health issues. And one of the issues that came up in the book we're looking at is homosexuality and how that progresses, often from children from dabbling in, you know, fornication and things like that. And it progresses and gets to the point where it becomes a habitual lifestyle.
[00:25:06] And so one of the students asked me, well, what should you do if you come across someone who is that way and they ask you about their lifestyle? Because that's happened to me, David. I'm sure it's happened to you. People walk up to you and say, oh, you're a Christian, I'm gay. What do you have to say about that?
[00:25:24] You know what you don't say? You don't say, God loves you.
[00:25:31] No, what you say is, it's an abomination in the sight of God. It's a sin.
[00:25:38] Christ died to save sinners. You're one of them. But yes, it's a sin.
[00:25:42] To do anything else is to betray the Lord is to betray a righteous standard, right? And a righteous man can't do that, David. He cannot do it. He cannot do it.
[00:26:00] So that's what you have in verses 4 and 5. Listen to these verses here. Psalm 101, verse 4. A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. Jeremiah 15, 16, 17. Say this. Thy words were found, and I did eat them. Notice the word of God got in his heart. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. For I am called by thy name, O Lord, God of hosts. I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced. He says, I sat alone because of thy hand. For thou has filled me with indignation. He says, listen, he didn't have anybody to hang out with because everybody around Jeremiah was wicked. He said, so I sat by myself as a righteous man, as a righteous woman. It's better to sit alone than it is to fellowship with wickedness.
[00:26:58] It's better to sit alone. And that's what Jeremiah did. Look at verse six.
[00:27:03] He says, I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord. Here's the principle. In this verse, David is describing the cleansing of himself. How do you as a believer, how do you cleanse yourself first? John 1:9, right? If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, I mean, you can go, listen, it's like cleansing yourself.
[00:27:37] Are you actually cleansing yourself? Well, God's cleansing you, but it's like this. You go to the faucet, you get the soap out and you turn the faucet on, you wash your hands. Are you washing your hands? Are you cleansing your hands? Or is the soap.
[00:27:51] Yes, right. When you go to God for confession, it's like walking up to the sink. God's doing the cleansing, but you got to walk up to the sink, Right? That's what David is saying. He cleanses himself. It's not like, you know, he has some ritual. No, he's going to God. He's making confession of any known sin before he says, before he compasses God's altar, the place of worship.
[00:28:18] You know, it is a requirement.
[00:28:23] It is a requirement to rightly render worship to God, to first be clean of sin through confession. You know that God does not accept worship when we come to him dirty, knowingly dirty. Of course, everybody has sin in our. Every one of us in this room has some sort of sin on our account that we have forgotten about. We didn't know. But I'm talking about knowing sin. And you know what, as a practice, David is saying, I wash my hands.
[00:28:52] I confessed everything I knew that was not right in my life before I approached the altar.
[00:29:01] Remember the altar? What's the altar as a place of worship?
[00:29:08] Of course, this is where they worship, but this is also the altar. In, in our study of the law showed that the altar was a place that foreshadowed the cross of Christ, was it not? Because that's where all the sacrifices were done, at the altar. So David is saying, listen now, before he approached the altar, he confessed he got his heart right, got his life right with God. He searched his heart before he went to worship God.
[00:29:36] You know what? You think about what the what, and we saw this already, but you think about what that altar represents. It represents the cross, but it's also the place of worship. And that shows us that there is no worship that's acceptable to God without the cross, without the Lord Jesus Christ. Our worship is only acceptable to the Lord in the context of and upon the basis of the Christ's sacrifice for us. And no sinner is accepted by God apart from him.
[00:30:07] You know, you think of all these people, you know, one of the five pillars of Islam is the call to prayer and the worship, right?
[00:30:14] Five times a Day I think it is.
[00:30:16] God accepts none of it. You know why?
[00:30:21] Because none of it is done through the cross. None of it.
[00:30:29] Knowing these things, how improper then would it be.
[00:30:35] We might even say how insulting it would be to God to approach the Lord to the altar.
[00:30:42] The cross which our worship is based on, that with a dirty life that's tainted by sin, that Jesus himself, which is what that represents and by whom we worship, he died for that sin that we refuse to confess. Here's the point. Well, let me show you a verse first. Real quick. Look at Exodus chapter number 30. Exodus chapter 30, verse number 19. This principle is found throughout the Bible, but in the Old Testament in particular.
[00:31:20] Exodus 30, verse number 19 says this for Aaron.
[00:31:29] Exodus 30:19. For Aaron and his son shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. Which is the laver in verse 18.
[00:31:39] When they go in, notice what they're doing. When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water that they die not. Or when they come near to the altar. That's what David said to minister.
[00:31:55] Now listen now David was not allowed to minister at the altar because he was of the tribe of Judah. He was not a priest.
[00:32:02] But yet he talks about washing before he goes encompasses the altar. What is he talking about? He's using the. Even though he was not personally allowed in real life to handle the sacrifices at the altar, yet he's using that as an illustration of worship. Before he went to worship, he confessed and got right with the Lord. That's the point.
[00:32:23] It says here they shall wash with water. Or when they come near to the altar to minister to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord. So they shall wash their hands. David mentioned the hands, right? And their feet that they die, not the principle.
[00:32:40] Do you cleanse yourself by heart searching and confession when you go to prayer?
[00:32:51] Do you cleanse yourself before you come to the assembly of the saints?
[00:33:00] You should.
[00:33:03] This is a place of worship, right?
[00:33:09] Do you cleanse yourself before you venture out to serve the Lord in some capacity?
[00:33:18] You should.
[00:33:20] You should look at verse seven that I may publish. Notice. He's clean. Now he's worshiping. Now he says that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works. Think about the wondrous works of God.
[00:33:43] There is no work of God more wondrous than his sending his son into the world to save us.
[00:33:51] There doesn't exist anything more wondrous than that. You know, when we give the gospel to others, we're actually fulfilling this verse and tell of all thy wondrous works. We're fulfilling this verse, indeed we are fulfilling this verse in a much more marvelous way than David himself could fulfill it. Because David maybe understood the gospel in type or in foreshadow. We understand it fully.
[00:34:17] If David knew the gospel, you better believe this is what he'd be telling people.
[00:34:22] In verse number seven, we can tell others of God's delivering of David, like Goliath as an example, we can tell of God's parting the Red Sea. But there is no story of God's wonders that is greater than the story of his Savior that he sent for us.
[00:34:43] So when we say we cleanse our hands, we worship that we may publish and tell of God's wondrous works. As a believer, this perfectly applies to us. When we give the gospel to somebody, there's no greater work we can tell. But how should we tell it?
[00:35:00] With the voice of thanksgiving?
[00:35:05] Not with dryness, not as a matter of duty, but with rejoicing, with awe, with thanksgiving. Because you know what? Our tone says a lot about our message, does it not?
[00:35:21] But if we're going to tell other people about Jesus with thanksgiving, with joy, with rejoicing and with awe, that means we have to stand in awe of that truth ourselves first.
[00:35:35] Isn't it so sad how quickly the greatest wonder that God has ever performed becomes so quickly stale to us?
[00:35:48] It shouldn't. But does it not?
[00:35:53] We really should meditate on this thing so that when we go and tell people the gospel, it comes out as a matter of thanksgiving. Lastly, verse number eight.
[00:36:03] Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. Take a peek at Ephesians, chapter 2.
[00:36:21] Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 19.
[00:36:27] God's house throughout Scripture is the place.
[00:36:31] I should say God's house throughout Scripture is where God's presence dwells permanently.
[00:36:38] Is where God's presence dwells permanently. In the Old Testament, that was obviously in the tabernacle and then in the temple, right? God's presence dwelt there permanently.
[00:36:50] But in the New Testament, where is the house of God? Where is the place where God's presence dwells permanently? It's certainly not in the building as in a building as in the Old Testament, but it's in the believer.
[00:37:05] And Ephesians 2, among other verses, proves this. Verse 19. Now therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. And are built.
[00:37:16] That sounds like a building Right upon the foundation, like a building of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy what temple in the Lord in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit? In other words, the people of God. The people are the temple of God are the place of God's permanent dwelling.
[00:37:55] And this is true. No matter if you're here or you're there, you're at the assembly or on vacation or at work, you are the temple of God. You are the place where he permanently dwells.
[00:38:10] He says. Further in Psalm 26, he says, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. Where does God's honor dwell in this world?
[00:38:21] I'll tell you the place where it dwells.
[00:38:25] It dwells among his people.
[00:38:28] God's people. You, all of you. You are God's praise.
[00:38:33] You are those who speak his praise. You are they who love him.
[00:38:39] You are trophies of God's grace. You are examples. Living, breathing examples. Actually, Second Corinthians says you are an epistle, a letter written by Christ. You are the place where God's honor dwells. That's you.
[00:38:59] So you read this. I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth. David's talking about the temple, but there is no temple anymore, not in a sense of a building. You and I, we are the temple of God. We are the place where God permanently dwells. We are the place where God's honor dwelleth. Do you love.
[00:39:27] Do you love that place?
[00:39:30] Do you love the assembly of the saints like David did?
[00:39:40] I bet if we love the assembly of the saints, we would not find it difficult to be at the assembly of the saints, right?
[00:39:54] I bet if we love the assembly of the saints, it would not be a matter of duty to be among the assembly of the saints, but it would be a matter of joy.
[00:40:04] It would not be something we dread that's going to take up our TV time, but it would be something that we look forward to.
[00:40:12] It would be something we desire.
[00:40:16] David says, hey, what I'm saying to you is nothing but a, you might say a hermeneutical application of this verse. Verse 8. In the New Testament, the believers, the assembly of the saints is the temple of God.
[00:40:31] David said he loves the temple of God.
[00:40:34] Do you love the temple of God? Do you love the assembly of the saints? You should. They. There are incalculable blessings that come from being among God's people. It is not to be looked lightly upon. It is not just a social club. It is not just something to do.
[00:40:51] We need each other. We need each other. God has made us that way. Let's pray.
