Keeping Integrity by Resisting Evil

Psalm 101. We have looked at the first two verses

the last couple of weeks. And we might finish

the whole thing tonight. We might just go all

in. We'll see if we can make it through it. Psalm

101. This is a Psalm of David. We don't really

know exactly when he wrote it. It is suggested

by some that it may have been toward the end

of David's life. It doesn't really matter too

much when he wrote it. But if you were wondering,

we really, really don't know exactly when it

was written. Psalm 101. We'll pray, then we'll

get started. God, we come to you tonight. We

thank you for the freedom we have to study your

word. We thank you for being good to us. I pray

that your Holy Spirit would be among us tonight,

God, that you would help us to focus on you,

to be free of the distractions and the worries

and the aggravations and the stresses and the

things that we just encounter in our life. God,

maybe there are just some things in our spirit

and our attitudes and our hearts that just aren't

right. And I pray, dear Lord, that you would

just help us to... grow in you tonight, that

we would repent of those things, that you just

bring healing to our hearts, to our souls, that

you would just help us to rejoice in you tonight.

I pray that you just bless these words as we

read them, that it would be what we need to hear.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

The first couple of verses that we looked at

of this psalm really... are kind of the main

point of the psalm and that is it's really a

psalm of integrity that david is saying that

he's a man of integrity that he praises the lord

that he is a man that is serving the lord and

following the lord and wants to live in obedience

to the lord and that's what we see in the first

two verses and and as a result of being a man

of integrity What we see in the last few verses

is David's desire to separate himself from evil,

to not associate with evil people, to not associate

with those who are disobedient to God. And that's

what we see starting in verse 3. He says, I will

not set anything worthless before my eyes. I

hate the practice of transgression. It will not

cling to me. A devious heart will be far from

me. I will not be involved with evil. So if we

are seeking to be men and women of integrity,

and if we desire to be like David, as he was

in the first couple of verses, then what are

some things that we need to do? How do we need

to go about that? Well, David tells us here.

He says at the end of that fourth verse, I will

not be involved with evil. Now, if we want to

be men and women who are obedient to God, then

it's best for us to flee from evil and to try

to avoid putting ourselves in situations where

we may be around temptations and around evil

that may cause us to live in a way that is disobedient

to what God calls us to. Perhaps there are times

that we are in conversations or disputes or having

arguments with somebody else and maybe... Boy,

that evil is right on our tongue, a word that

we are about to say. And maybe we need to take

a step back. Maybe we need to clench our lips

extra tight. There are plenty of opportunities

for us to do evil in our life, but we're better

off if we flee from that evil and we try to get

away from that temptation. And sometimes we may,

but like David, sometimes we do not. Now we talked

about David being a man of integrity. To be a

man or a woman of integrity does not mean that

we are perfect. We are not perfect. The idea

that someone could be perfect and some would

hold that view when it talks about perfection

or men and women of integrity, Job being a good

example. I don't believe for a second the scripture

is implying that David thought that he was perfect

or that it is implied that Job was perfect. They

certainly sin. David had temptation that he gave

in to. He saw Bathsheba bathing on the roof.

What should he have done? He should have turned

his head away and went about his business. But

that temptation was there. And instead of fleeing

from that evil, he gave in to that temptation.

Now that doesn't mean that David wasn't a godly

man. The scripture says he was a man after God's

own heart. Even men and women who seek to do

God's will, who may ultimately be men and women

of integrity, it doesn't mean that there is not

some sin in our life. But the real question is,

is there a pattern of sin? Is there continual

sin? Or is there a heart that we are grieved

by our sin? Godly grief leads to repentance.

Godly grief is good grief. There is such a thing

as good grief. If you don't believe me, ask Charlie

Brown. He knows it. Lucy tells him all the time,

good grief, Charlie Brown. The Bible says godly

grief leads to repentance. And so even when we

do sin, and we will, how do we respond to that?

If we respond to that with repentance and a broken

heart, as David did, then it doesn't mean that

we can't be men and women of integrity. It just

means that we have sinned. But David also recognizes,

and his goal and his desire is, God, I want to

please you and live in obedience to you. And

even David, if indeed this was written at the

end of his life, he knew that he had fallen short,

but there's still that desire. that he wants

to live in obedience to God and separate himself

from that evil. And that should be our desire

too. Not that we seek to live a perfect life

and then we just are devastated and say, woe

is me, I've sinned, it's over for me. Well, no,

there's grace and there's repentance, praise

the Lord. But we don't want to live in our sin.

And if we want to seek to be men and women of

integrity, we have to flee from that. He says,

In verse 3, backtracking a little bit, I will

not set anything worthless before my eyes. Okay,

well that's good instruction. If we want to be

men and women of integrity, he says I'm not going

to set anything worthless before my eyes, anything

sinful before my eyes, anything that my eye will

seek and look at and focus on more than it will

focus on God. So what's in our vision? What's

before us? What do we see? Do we see the will

of God? Is that what we see clearly? Is that

what we desire? Is that what we look for? Is

that what we look to? Or are there worthless

things in our life, worthless things before our

eyes? He says, I hate the practice of transgression.

Do we hate sin? Maybe we do sometimes. We hate

other people's sin. It's easy for us to see other

people that are living in sin, and boy, we hate

that sin. That is so evil. But do we hate our

sin? Well, maybe sometimes we do. And maybe we

don't. If we hated it enough, we probably wouldn't

keep doing it. But there's something that's tempting

about saying, there's something that seems really

good about that. It's just the same way when

Adam and Eve were in the garden and the devil

came to them. There was something tempting that

tempted them, that seemed good about what he

was offering. Now, God had given the command,

don't eat from the tree. And the devil comes

in and he says, hey, you need to eat from this

tree, you know. Eat from it. You're going to

be like God. There's something appealing in our

sin that we think is going to satisfy us or make

us feel better. And so we have to be careful.

Our sin is appealing. If it wasn't appealing,

we wouldn't give in to it. But sometimes we do.

But David says here, I hate the practice of transgression.

I hate those evil things. I hate that sin. He

says, it will not cling to me. Now, one good

way for us to have sin not cling to us is, as

I've already said, to keep our distance. The

closer we run with the wrong crowd, the closer

we run with things that are a temptation, the

more likely we are to give in to those things.

It's easy for us to look at other people and

say, I don't know how they could do that. Well,

I know because they're human. And guess what?

So are you. And so we never want to let our guard

down and say, I would never do something like

that, whatever it may be. Maybe we wouldn't.

I hope we wouldn't. But they may have said the

same thing in their life. And then all of a sudden

they did something they said they would never

do. So we have to be on guard and not get ourselves

in those situations. Don't put ourselves in the

midst of those temptations, whatever they may

be. And he says, I hate these things. They will

not cling to me. I thought about plastic wrap.

Everybody's used that before to cover some food

up, right? You get it off the roll, and man,

you got to be real careful with that stuff, right?

You got to tear it just right, because if you

tear it too quick, man, it's going to suck to

your arm, or it's going to suck up on itself,

and then you got two foot of... plastic wrap

and you got to rip it off and throw it away and

if you go by too close to anything else along

the way it'll suck to the refrigerator or suck

to something else and it's real staticky and

anything it goes by it wants to cling to and

that's kind of how sin is in our life if we if

we get too close to that it wants to cling to

us it wants to wrap itself up all around us so

david says i'm going to keep my distance so that

sin does not cling to me He says in verse 5,

No one who acts deceitfully will live in my palace.

No one who tells lies will remain in my presence.

Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of

the land, eliminating all evildoers from the

Lord's city. Now this is some pretty strong language

to close out the verse here. Not only does he

say he wants to be a man of integrity and he

wants to stay away from sin and evil, but also

he says, look, I'm going to destroy anybody who's

living this way. Anybody in the kingdom, anybody

that's in my palace, I don't want evildoers around

me. Now, my translation here says destroy. Your

translations may say something a little different.

To silence those, maybe yours says something

along those lines. The Hebrew words that are

used there have different meanings. And it could

literally mean that he's going to destroy them.

And as the king, he has the ability and the authority

to do that. If there's somebody in the kingdom

that is doing something that is not right, that

is breaking the law, that is sinful, David has

the authority. If he desires to destroy them,

he could do that as the king. And it could mean

that, but it could mean something a little less

drastic. It could just mean... I'm going to banish

them from the kingdom. Not by death, but I'm

going to get them out of here. I'm going to separate

them from the rest of us. I'm going to silence

them. I'm not going to allow them to speak. Ever

how he is going to deal with it, the point is

this. He is going to deal with those who are

sinners. He says, I want to be a man of integrity.

I want to stand for God. And everybody else in

the kingdom should desire to stand for God too.

And I'm not going to put up with any junk from

anyone else. And so he says in the last verse,

Every morning I will destroy all the wicked in

the land, eliminating all evildoers from the

Lord's city. So David is getting serious with

evildoers. He's getting serious with sin. Not

just his sin, but that of the whole kingdom.

Because he wants to be a leader who's going to

lead people. toward God and toward obedience

to God. So what about us when we look at this

psalm? Short psalm. What about us? Are we men

and women of integrity? Do we rejoice in the

Lord and His faithful love and His grace and

His mercy and His justice? Are we like David

and rejoice in the Lord? Or are we those maybe

who have not separated ourselves from evil? But

maybe our eyes are on things that are worthless.

Maybe we do walk a path that's been a little

too close to those temptations and those sins

that are ever before us. And maybe some of those

things have clinged to us. Maybe we are those

that David is talking about. Maybe we are living

in our evil deeds. Well, praise the Lord, God

is good. Just as David had committed great sin,

committed adultery, committed murder to cover

it up, I mean, that's pretty bad. That's about

as bad as it gets. But even still, there was

grace for David. And even still, at the end of

his life, he's considered a man of integrity.

And that should be our desire. Maybe there's

sins in our life right now. Maybe there's sins

in our past. Well, David tells us what to do,

and that is we humble ourselves before God, and

we ask him to forgive us, and we repent. That's

what David did after his sinfulness. And God

hears those prayers. And God can restore us.

And even though we've made bad choices and walked

our own path, and even though maybe there's sin

even today that clings to us, Jesus Christ can

rip that off and forgive us of that sin. And

the only way that we can be men and women of

integrity is by walking in the ways of the Lord.

Let's pray. God, we come to you. We thank you

for these good and simple words. And I pray.

that our desire and our heart would be that of

David. That whatever sins may be in our past

or may be even in our present, dear Lord, that

we would turn from those things, that we would

repent of those things, dear Lord. That we wouldn't

desire to keep living in sin, but that we would

desire to live in accordance to your will. That

we would be those tonight, God, that would rejoice

in you. That we would seek to be men and women

of integrity. Whatever sin may be before us tonight,

God, I pray that you would free us from it. I

pray that if there's anything that may tempt

us, anything that we know is a weakness, that

we may watch ourselves. That we may watch where

we go and watch what we see and watch what we

say, dear Lord. To try to avoid those situations,

God. we may be tempted to fall into sin. God,

I pray that you free us from those things, help

us to have the strength to avoid those things,

and lead us not into temptation, but God, deliver

us from evil. And I ask these things in Jesus'

name. Amen.