The Ideal King

Psalm 101

Superscription of the psalm says a psalm of David

The eight verses I love

But actually let me pray before

Heavenly Father we have gathered once again

In your presence as your people

To seek your face

Because we want to hear from you

Because we want to be people who become more and more

The citizens of your kingdom

Will become more and more like our king

We want to be able to represent you well

We want to know your voice

So we pray God that you would speak to us

That you would hear us as we pray to you

So that we might

So that we might be able to serve

And glorify you

In the power that you provide

Make us people who seek good

Righteousness

Justice

Do that even now Lord

As we go through Psalm 101 together

In Jesus name we pray

Amen

Psalm 101

A psalm of David

I will sing of steadfast love and justice

To you oh Lord I will make music

I will ponder the way that is blameless

Oh when will you come to me

I will walk with the integrity of heart within my house

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless

I hate the work of those who fall away

It shall not cling to me

A perverse heart shall be far from me

I will know nothing of evil

Whoever slanders his neighbors secretly I will destroy

Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure

I will look with favor on the faithful in the land

That they may dwell with me

He who walks in the way that is blameless shall minister to me

No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house

No one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes

Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked in the land

Cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord

I don't know if you guys have ever thought about

The merits of different systems of government

That's kind of a hot topic right

But in his essay entitled Equality

C.S. Lewis kind of talks about democracy

And kind of weighs the merits of it

He's a supporter of democracy

But for kind of a reason that might be different from most people

Why they support democracy

And he writes this

He says, I am a democrat because I believe in the fall of man

I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason

A great deal of democratic enthusiasm

Descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau

Who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good

That everyone deserved a share in the government

The danger of defending democracy on those grounds

Is that they're not true

And whenever their weakness is exposed

The people who prefer tyranny make capital out of the exposure

The real reason for democracy is just the reverse

Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows

Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves

I do not contradict him

But I reject slavery because I see no man fit to be masters

So since human beings are selfish

And democracy is founded on the belief that every man or woman will seek selfishly their own welfare

Giving them the power to elect their own rulers and leaders

Kind of provides a natural check on the leader's power

So I think that's an accurate assessment

And it really highlights the genius of democracy as a system of government

Because it takes into account the sinfulness of man

The fact that power corrupts people

And it provides checks and balances to protect us from tyranny

So that's why democracy works

But what if in an ideal world

We could have a just, totally trustworthy, incorruptible ruler

All wise, all known

I mean that's the ideal scenario

Wouldn't it be nice to not have to worry about being involved in politics

And having to know what's going on all the time

So that you can be an informed voter

To make sure that

It's like to be able to trust somebody completely

And to have a benevolent ruler

And Psalm 101 is really a picture of that kind of reality

Where there is a picture of an ideal king

Who rules in God's stead

And it teaches us that

God will come to the aid of his people

Whose king rules with steadfast love and justice

So in verse 1 it talks about the character of God

Verses 2-5 it talks about the character of the king

And in verses 6-8 it talks about the character of the king's servants

So let's look at that

Look at verse 1

It begins

I will sing of steadfast love and justice

To you, O Lord, I will make music

So I will sing parallels

I will make music

So the steadfast love and justice

They're not

It's not talking about the king here

But the psalmist is singing of the attributes that belong to God

He's singing of God's steadfast love and justice

And steadfast love refers to God's loyalty

And his commitment to his people

His unchanging love for them

And justice refers to God's just rule and judgment over his people

And so this verse really kind of serves as a foundation

Kind of for the rest of the psalm

Because the character of God is the basis for the character of the king

And following

So because God relates to his people in steadfast love and justice

It's necessary for his king

Who rules in his stead as his representative

To live blamelessly

And to rule with justice and integrity

So the supercription of the psalm said that it was a psalm of David

That could mean that this is a psalm that was written actually by David

Or it could mean that it's a psalm of David

Like about David, concerning David

And either way, these verses are words of a righteous king

And it says in verse 2, Psalm 101

I will ponder the way that is blameless

Oh, when will you come to me?

So this is kind of the main

Kind of prayer that carries the psalm

Because the king is crying out for God's help

So we don't know what the occasion is

But he needs God's help and deliverance

So he's crying out to him

He's saying, come to me

But the basis for this is that he is a faithful king

He represents God

He's blameless in the way he has been serving him

So he continues in verse 2

I will walk with integrity of harvest in my house

So not only does he ponder what is blameless

He thinks about what's blameless

But he also walks with integrity

His actions and his thoughts

They pertain to God and his will

So it's a picture of complete faithfulness

And devotion to God

And loving good also means hating evil

Necessarily so

So it says in verses 3-4

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless

I hate the work of those who fall away

It shall not cling to me

A perverse heart shall be far from me

I will know nothing of evil

Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly

I will destroy

Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart

I will not endure

Notice how just categorical these resolutions are

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless

I will know nothing of evil

So it's a picture of complete devotion once again

And so it's a good helpful teaching

Because if we truly love God

And seek the good of our neighbors

It's not enough to just try to do good

We also must fight against evil

We must hate wickedness

And we can't condone evil and be neutral toward that

That's because to love good means to hate evil

And so that's what we see here

The king is walking with the integrity of heart

But he keeps those with a perverse heart far from him

And this doesn't mean that we shouldn't love and seek sinners

To draw them near to God

But it does mean that we should never participate in sin

Or let our hearts be perverted by their influence

So the psalmist says

He will not even set before his eyes anything that is worthless

So that's a great question

Is that not only what we think about

Not only what we do

But also what we set before our eyes

Is there

Is everything that you set before your eyes

Whether you're walking down the street downtown

Or whether you're sitting in front of your TV

Or a laptop screen

Is everything that you set in front of your eyes good and worthwhile

Or is it worthless

Worthless can be translated wicked as well

Which is an interesting insight as well

That what is wicked

Even though it might seem useful

Is actually useless

It's worthless to do evil

Because whatever we set before our eyes

Whether we know it or not

It affects us

If we consort with people who have perverse hearts

It affects our hearts

If we listen to people who slander their neighbor

It affects our ability to love our neighbor

That's what this is talking about

So that's the character of the king

And in verses 6 to 8

We see the character of the king's servants

And because the king's character is good

He's upright

He's just

The same words that are used to describe the king

Will be used in verses 6 to 8

Because he appoints people to serve in his courts

That also exemplify that kind of blamelessness

So read verses 6 to 8 with me

It says

I will look with favor on the faithful in the land

That they may dwell with me

He who walks in the way that is blameless

Shall minister to me

No one who practices deceit

Shall dwell in my house

No one who utters lies

Shall continue before my eyes

Morning by morning

I will destroy all the wicked in the land

Cutting off all the evildoers

From the city of the Lord

And this psalm

The entire psalm

Is really fulfilled

Ultimately by Jesus

In that sense that he is

The ultimate Davidic king

Right?

This is David

Possibly writing this

Or at least it's about a Davidic king

Who's supposed to rule in this kind of way

But everybody among Israel's kings

And Judah's kings

Failed to do this

Right?

Because if you look at 2 Samuel 24

Even David

Who is supposed to be this ideal king

Fails

He takes a census

Right?

Of Israel

Which he is not supposed to do

Because in doing that

It shows that he is not depending on God's power

But he is depending on his military prowess

Or the size of his kingdom

So that led to God's judgment

Leading to 70,000 people being killed in Israel

Right?

And that's the

It's because of a pestilence that God sends

And so even he didn't represent his people well

He did not

He would not blame us

He did not walk with integrity

In a complete way

So but because he was only a shadow of the reality

That he was pointing to

And that was Jesus

Because he came

And as Hebrews 4.15

He says

We do not have a high priest

Who is unable to

And sympathize with our weaknesses

But one who in every respect

Has been tempted

As we are

Yet without sin

Right?

So Jesus is the ultimately blameless king

And because he is the blameless king

That represents us

As the psalm talks about

When he intercedes for us

When he cries out

He calls for our deliverance

God delivers

He comes to save

And that's why

That's why we can rely on

On the promise

That is implicit in this psalm

That those who

Those who have

That God will come to the aid

Of the people

Whose king rules

With steadfast love

And justice

Because we do have a king

Who rules with steadfast love

And justice

And that's Jesus

But there's also an application

For us

In terms of how we

How we ought to live as well

Because as those who serve the king

Who is characterized

By steadfast love

And justice

We too

As his people

Should exemplify that

And show that

But we fail

Because Christ died for our sins

And gives us a spirit

We can now obey him

And love him

And serve him

In that way

And

Yeah

That's the song

Let's sing

A song and pray

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you

Thank you