The Bible Study Hour

Guest (Male): Today on the Bible Study Hour with Dr. James Boice, we'll continue with our study of the Psalms as David reminds God that he's been following God's instructions and walking a righteous path. David isn't justified by his own merits but only through God's faithfulness. He asks God to remain faithful and to keep him set apart from the wicked.

Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, a radio and internet broadcast with Dr. James Boice, preparing you to think and act biblically. What are some practical steps we might take in order to walk in the ways of the Lord? Let's listen together to learn which choices David made and how David's life can be an example of following a blameless path that is pleasing to God. If you have your Bible, turn to Psalm 26.

Dr. James Boice: I'm sure you've noticed in your own study of the Psalms that in some ways they are very much alike. They have what we would probably call a relatively limited vocabulary; they repeat the same phrases often, sometimes again and again in the same Psalm, and the ideas are often quite similar. And yet each of the Psalms has its own distinct emphasis and message, and the task of interpreting the Psalm really is the task of uncovering what that message is.

I try to do that as I look at them, and as I have been studying Psalm 26, I find two phrases in the English translation of this Psalm that I would like to put together because I think the two phrases give us the gist of the Psalm. The only problem is the two English phrases come from two different English translations of the Hebrew text. One is in the New International Version and it's the phrase that I've taken as the title of this particular study, "standing on level ground." It comes at the very end in verse 12: "My feet stand on level ground."

The other phrase comes from verse one, but it's in the King James translation. Many of you are using the older King James Authorized translation, and you'll see it there. David says in what is the last phrase of verse one in our translation, "therefore I shall not slide." You can see at once why I'd like to put them together because they bracket the Psalm, one at the beginning and one at the end. What they say when we combine them is that if we do what David is recommending to us in the Psalm and what he's trying to do, then we will find ourselves standing on level ground, secure in our confidence in God.

But if we don't do that, then we will find ourselves on what we sometimes refer to as the slippery slope of immorality and disobedience, which is what characterizes sinful people. That's what the Psalm is about. In my way of thinking, that phrase "standing on level ground" is the most memorable phrase, which means it's simply different from what we find elsewhere and therefore it sticks in our mind. But that doesn't mean that those other phrases in the other 11 verses aren't important or that they don't suggest rich mine of thought as we begin to think them through.

For one thing, they immediately remind us of other Psalms. There are references in this Psalm, Psalm 26, to the Psalm immediately before this. They have a number of things in common: both claim a quiet confidence in God, both claim personal integrity on behalf of the psalmist, and both pray for deliverance. With other similarities, it's not hard to understand that they are both written by the same person. Or then again, this Psalm reminds us of Psalm 1, verse 1.

In the first verse of that Psalm, the very first Psalm and verse in the Psalter, David contrasts the way of the happy man who is blessed by God with the way of sinners, those who sit in the way of sinners and stand in their company and are well acquainted with their ways. All of that is echoed in this Psalm. It would be an argument for saying that David probably wrote the first Psalm, though it's not particularly identified as his. David says here, "I do not sit with deceitful men; I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked."

So there is an echo of the other material there. Then again, you find similarities between this Psalm and certain phrases that you'll find in Psalm 15 and Psalm 24. Those two Psalms ask, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who is able to stand before God?" In this Psalm, David answers he is because of the things that he has done. So you have that kind of a connection. Some scholars see a connection between Psalms 26, 27, and 28; all of them mention the house of God in some way.

If you look at that, you'll see that David mentions the house or temple of the Lord in verse eight of this Psalm, it's found in verse four of the Psalm following and verse two of Psalm 28. Perhaps that's a certain kind of development. There are other people who see the remaining portion of this first book of the Psalter from this Psalm, Psalm 26, to Psalm 39 as having a certain pattern. Harry Ironside is one of those.

There are 15 in that block and he finds the first five as dealing with the ground of the soul's confidence before God, the next five, the heart's appropriation of salvation and finally, the last preoccupied with the question of personal holiness. If those ways of looking at the Psalm are helpful, if they fit it into a pattern and you like patterns, you can run with that yourself. I would like to look at it for what this Psalm uniquely says.

To do that, I want to suggest that there is a good connection between this Psalm and Psalm 25, which we've just studied, although it's not in the language particularly. I said a moment ago that there are some similarities in themes, but I find the greatest connection to be in the fact that this second Psalm is an answer to what we have found in Psalm 25. When we were studying Psalm 25, we were finding that David's concern there is that at the end of his days or later on in life, he not be put to shame, that is discredited or found to have based his life upon an inadequate foundation.

In order for that not to happen, for him not to be disapproved in the last day, he asks for God to teach him his ways. The burden of the Psalm is a request for teaching. "Teach me your paths," verse four, and verse five, "Guide me in your truth and teach me for you are my God and Savior." Later on in the Psalm, he says that's what God is going to do. God does instruct sinners in his ways, he teaches them his way, he instructs him in the way chosen for him, and so on.

Here he's asking for teaching, he assures himself that God does it when sinners come and ask for teaching, and now in the 26th Psalm we find that that's exactly what God has done. He's asked God to teach him, God has taught him. What he asked God to teach him was his ways that he might walk in them and now David says in the Psalm that's what he has done. God has taught him and because God has taught him, he's begun to lead a blameless life.

I'm sure you understand that in these Psalms when the psalmist talks about leading a blameless life, he's not claiming to be sinless. We've already looked at that. If we used the language that way, that's probably what we would mean and it would be wrong. But that's not what David is saying. Verse 11, in which he claims to lead a blameless life, also says, "redeem me and be merciful to me." Blameless, sinless people don't need to be redeemed, nor do they need God's mercy.

If David is calling for redemption and asking for mercy, he knows that he's a sinner. That's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is a blameless life in the same sense that he's been talking about it in Psalm 25. He wants to go in God's way. He says, "Open up your word to me as I study it in order that I might go in your way." And now in this Psalm he says, "That's what I've done. God has taught me and so I've begun to walk in his way."

I want to suggest that we need a great deal more of that in Christianity today. The reason why we don't have that is that we all tend naturally to think that we're better than we are, and so preachers and teachers of the Bible instinctively keep reminding us that we're sinners. Most of us need that. But sometimes there's a kind of weakness, particularly in evangelical Christianity, which says, "Well we're all sinners and that's just the way it is and we're always going to be sinners," and forgets that we're called to lead a blameless life.

Actually we need both together. We have to recognize our sin and our weakness. We are constantly in need of God's strength and we do need to be redeemed. Not one of us can stand for a single moment apart from God's mercy. But having received that mercy, we do need to stand. Not only do we need to stand, we need to walk in the way which God has so very clearly set before us, which are what these Psalms deal with. In other words, what they're dealing with is a practical righteousness, and we need that very much in our time.

I'm convinced that's the way we get into the Psalm. David begins with the idea of vindication. "Vindicate me, oh Lord, for I have led a blameless life." Then verse two, "test me and try me, examine my heart and my mind." What's he saying there? What kind of vindication is he looking for? At first glance, because we're always thinking of ourselves, what we think that word means is this: "I'm blameless and everybody else is accusing me. Now God, I want you to show them that there is nothing wrong that I've done. Show them that I am right." That's what we usually mean when we use that word vindication.

That's not what David is talking about. David is thinking about here is a way of life which, if a person walks in it, shows that the way of God is best. He's just prayed that God might show him his paths and teach him his truth. This is what he's now going to walk in and claims he has done. He wants vindication of that way. Not in order to demonstrate to other people that he is righteous and they are not, as if somehow he was turning around patting himself on the back and saying, "Look how well I've done," but in order to vindicate God and the ways of God.

What he wants them to see is that when you walk in the world's way and follow sin, it always brings misery. But when you walk in God's way, the way he sets before his people in the Scripture, that is the way of blessing and that is the vindication that he wants. In other words, he has his mind on the glory of God and not upon his own self-righteousness. I wonder if you've ever thought of the Christian life that way, a vindication of the truth of God by what happens in your life in accordance with the way you live.

I don't think I've ever heard anybody teach me that, but yet it seems to be that that's what David is saying quite clearly. Many of us demonstrate the truthfulness of God's ways by our misery. We think we can get away with disobedience and so we go off going our own way and we bring misery on ourselves and other people. We demonstrate the truth of God that way, of course, because everything is going to demonstrate the truth of God one way or another in the end.

But that's not what we're called to demonstrate. What we're called to do is demonstrate the validity of God's ways by walking in them. So people who look on being sensitive to these things because of the problems they themselves are enduring because of their life choices, see Christians and say, "Well, that must be a better way. I wonder what is causing it and why it works out that way in practice," and so find themselves directed to Jesus Christ as Savior and to God the Father as a result.

Once you understand that's what David is saying, then you can pray the prayer yourself. You can pray, "Vindicate me, oh Lord, for I have led a blameless life." And if as you pray you're conscious of the fact that you have not been leading a blameless life walking in the ways of God, then you have to back up to Psalm 25 and say, "Show me your ways, oh Lord, teach me your paths and guide me in your truth and teach me," in order that what God wants to do in you might be accomplished.

David doesn't say that explicitly here, but he does say it in Psalm 139, another Psalm that he's written. Many of us know those verses; those are verses in which David prays along these lines, but gives the objective. Here's the way it goes, verses 23 and 24 of that Psalm: "Search me, oh God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." You see the same sort of thing he's praying here.

Test me, see what I'm doing in order that I might go in that way. And when I go in that way, vindicate that way in order that you might be glorified and sinners might see the error of their ways and come to Jesus Christ. It's the way of the righteous that this Psalm really begins to unfold. Verse two is something of a transition, at least the second half of it is. Verse three, I should say. Verse three says, "for your love is ever before me and I walk continually in your truth."

That is in a sense a repetition of what he said in the earlier phrase, "I've led a blameless life." What he's doing here is spelling out what that blameless life is. It's a life in which the love of God is ever before him and therefore he responds to God in love and in which he walks continually in God's truth, what he's prayed for in the previous Psalm. But that's also a bridge to what follows because he's going to talk about what it means in very practical terms to walk in that way.

Unless what's true in this verse is true of you, you're not going to be able to do the things that follow. In order to do what follows you have to be instructed. You have to be instructed in the truth of God. Then having been instructed, you have to actually desire it. You have to have that love to do it in your heart, which is a result of the new birth. If you're going to walk in God's way you need the two things: you need the instruction and you need the regeneration.

You recall that when we've talked about this many times before I've said it always goes together because the Holy Spirit works through the word not only to instruct but regenerate, it's the way it happens. Then as we're made alive, the word suddenly becomes alive to us and we desire to go in that path. Do you desire that? Have you experienced it? Is the Holy Spirit doing that in your heart and mind as you study the Scripture? I'd like to deal with this in terms of specifics because this is where as we say the rubber meets the road.

What does it really mean specifically to walk in God's way in order that the way of God might be vindicated? There are four things that he mentions here. The first is what we find in verse four: "I do not sit with deceitful men, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I abhor the assembly of evildoers and refuse to sit with the wicked." What he's talking about here is separation from wicked people. It's what you find in Psalm 1. The happy man is the man who does not sit with deceitful men or associate with sinners.

As we explore this a little bit, this is far more difficult, far more delicate and I would even add dangerous than we may assume. It's difficult for this reason: we live in a sinful world and it's almost impossible for us in any radical sense to dissociate ourselves from sinful people. Not just talking here about your general run-of-the-mill sinners, we are all that. But rather with people who are particularly evil or glory in their evil. It's hard to do that because we're surrounded by people like that all the time.

The kind of people, for example, who think nothing of cheating other people in business as long as they can get away with it, to actually enjoy doing that and take pride in coming out on top. Or people who don't mind at all passing around lies about someone who is a rival to them either in business or in some other way, perhaps in politics, if by circulating the lie the other person can be discredited. Or people who are immoral in various sexual matters or in other matters as well and who think nothing of breaking the laws of God or man.

We're surrounded by people like that and it's difficult at the least to dissociate ourselves from it. At the same time it's delicate. As soon as we begin to take this seriously, and we do need to take it seriously, it is a good Christian doctrine of separation, we find ourselves because we ourselves are sinners very easily sliding over into the area of self-righteousness and saying, "Well the reason we're dissociating ourselves from sinful people is that we're not sinful. We're better than they are," and we find that pride is tugging at our hearts and if that happens it always drags us down.

That's why this matter that David introduces in verse four is difficult, delicate and dangerous. And yet although it's difficult, delicate and dangerous, it's nevertheless something that he recommends. It's not something that's impossible because David says he did it. He said, "I don't associate with those who are deceitful, I stay away from those who are hypocrites, I abhor the assembly of those who practice evil and I don't sit down with the wicked." How are we going to do that?

The secret to it as we seek that kind of biblical separation is to realize that we do it not because we are better than other people but because we're not good enough. And as we're not good enough to endure that kind of company without being dragged down by it. Jesus Christ didn't have any trouble dealing with the company of sinners because he wasn't touched by their sin in any respect. But we are and it is dangerous for us. We have to recognize that we are very sinful people.

Therefore unless God is doing something absolutely extraordinary in our lives, putting us in a situation in which we are surrounded in a very special way and are put there for a very special purpose, we need to keep clear of this kind of contamination. C.S. Lewis has a great chapter on this. Lewis is often most helpful in this kind of a problem and in his reflection on the Psalms he has a chapter on what he calls "Connivance." He said you notice when you study the Psalms that they condemn not only doing evil but even associating with evil persons.

Then he begins to analyze that a little bit and he says this is what the problem is. "Many people have a very strong desire to meet celebrated or important people, including those whom they disapprove." He explains what he means by that. He talks about celebrities who may be absolute scoundrels and yet we feel impressed if we're in their company. We would all love to be able to say, "I've met so-and-so," even though we all know the kind of bad things the person does.

Often the movie stars or the rock stars are people in that category. He said, "You see we all are impressed by that, that's our problem. If we weren't impressed by it, Jesus Christ wasn't impressed by that sort of thing, we wouldn't have a problem, but we are and that's our problem." He goes on, "I'm inclined to think that a Christian would be wise to avoid where he decently can any meeting with people who are bullies or lascivious or cruel, dishonest, spiteful and so forth, not because we are too good for them but because we are not good enough.

We're not good enough to cope with all the temptations nor clever enough to cope with all the problems which an evening spent in such society produces." I think Americans in our day need to hear that because our culture is increasingly secular and wicked and vice is glorified and glamorized, and we because we live in the culture find ourselves easily thinking that way. We need to listen to some of the warnings of the Psalms. David was a great man, courageous and moral and yet he said, "I'm not able to associate with evildoers and still maintain my integrity."

If he's not able to do it, the chances of you being able to do it are very slim indeed, particularly in our time. So we have to begin thinking that way. There's a second thing he mentions and that's what comes out in verse six. He does it in symbolic language saying, "I wash my hands in innocence." What he's saying here is that we must never get into the habit of thinking that other people are all the problem. If only the world wasn't filled with evildoers and hypocrites, we'd be all right.

Not that at all. That's a big problem to us and we better stay clear of that, but we also have a problem in ourselves. We are still sinners even when we're trying to walk in the Lord's way, and therefore we have to take great care that our own heart and life is kept right before God. When David says, "I wash my hands in innocence," what he's using is a well-known symbolic gesture for being free of personal guilt in some matter. Let's remember what Psalm 24 said.

There was a question at the very beginning of that Psalm and the question goes like this: "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?" Then here's the answer: "He who has clean hands and a pure heart who does not lift up his soul to an idol." That's what David is dealing with here. That's said in various ways in the Scripture. It says in Isaiah, "If I cherish iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." That's right.

If we come to God with known sin and unconfessed, then the door of effectual prayer is closed because there's a barrier set up between ourselves and God who is always a God of holiness. If we're going to walk in his way, it has to be a way of personal integrity and therefore we have to come with clean hands. So we ask ourselves those questions. Here are specifics of what it really means to live a godly life. Am I associating with sinners? Is that rubbing off on me?

Am I attracted by their company? Do I find the vice that they glorify somehow attractive? Do I find as I come to church and I spend time praying that I come with dirty hands contaminated by that and by my own sinful choices also? If that's the case, you have to stop and confess it and get it right before God before you can begin to go on. John when he was writing his first letter said, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

We are sinners. But he also said, "If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That's what David is saying. Not that he's sinless, but rather that when he comes to God and confesses his sin, God cleanses him of it and forgives him of the sin. Thirdly, he talks about proclaiming God's praise, verse seven. "I'm going to go about your altar, oh Lord," verse six, "proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds."

What he's talking about here is vocalized confession of the goodness of God. Why is that necessary? The praise of God is good in itself. It's good for us; God himself delights in the praises of his people, the Scripture tells us that. But I think that's not what David has in mind here. What David is talking about here is this: that if he vocalizes his identification with God by praising God, then that very vocalization is going to help him stay on the right side.

If you keep quiet about your Christian confession, it's going to be much easier for you to slide into sin. But if you're outspoken about your faith in Jesus Christ and your desire to go in his way, even the world will help you in it because they'll say, "Well you're not going to enjoy doing what we're going to do now, you're a Christian." And you may have been wanting to do it, but when it's put that way you slink off and say, "Well, I guess that's right. I am a Christian and I better not do it."

One of the reasons why so many have had so much trouble in the Christian life is that they've not been outspoken about it. It says in Scripture that we're to believe in our heart and confess with our mouth. The confession, which involves praise of God, goes along with the belief. You say, "Well, but can I be a secret disciple?" I don't know the answer to that. I think not ultimately. Maybe you can be a secret disciple for a while, but I find as time goes on that either the secrecy kills the discipleship or the discipleship kills the secrecy, and you would be wise to learn early on to vocalize your testimony.

I want to give you an illustration. During the Second World War, there was a young man from a wealthy and very sophisticated Philadelphia family who became a Christian. He had gone into the service not a Christian, but he found the Lord during his years of service. When it was time for him to leave after the war and return to his former way of life, he expressed to his pastor that he foresaw difficulty. He said, "I'm afraid that when I go back with my old acquaintances, I'm going to be dragged back into the immoral way of life I lived before I entered the service."

His pastor had some good advice for him. His pastor said, "Well look, I'll tell you what to do. When you get back home, the first ten people you meet of your old friends, you make sure you tell them about your conversion and your faith in Jesus Christ." And he said, "I think if you do that, you'll find that you won't have to leave the friends; your friends will leave you." So the young man did that. When he got off the train out on the main line out in Philadelphia, he was greeted right off by a girlfriend he'd known years ago.

She said, "Oh it's so great to see you back again. We're going to have some great parties now." And he said, "I've got to tell you something, the most wonderful thing has happened to me." She said, "You're married?" "No," he said, "I have found Jesus Christ as my Savior." Her expression froze. She said, "Oh that's nice," and she drifted away. A little while later he met a male friend that he had enjoyed times with in the past and he repeated the same thing, and he did it for two or three people.

He didn't even have to get through the ten because the word began to circulate around that he was a bit strange since he'd been away in the service, sometimes the military will do that to you, and now he'd come back religious and he wasn't fun anymore. He testified himself that it was one of the great joys and a great strengthening factor in his life to be thus identified with Jesus Christ. I think that's what David is saying and it's what he's recommending to you if you're serious about walking in his way.

One more thing, verse eight. There he's talking about the house of God. "I love the house where you live, oh Lord, the place where your glory dwells." Our equivalent of that would be church. If you enjoy coming to church, meeting with God, being instructed from his word, that's part of what's involved. It involves also the fellowship with God's people because that's where you're going to find them. You can find them in other places as well. But when you come to God's house, you find God's people.

David is saying it's with the people of God that I want to spend my time. We have an expression that goes like this: it says "bad company corrupts good manners" or good morals. And that is true. But at the same time the opposite is true: "good company encourages it or develops it." While we come to faith individually, the faith to which we come is not an individualistic thing and we need one another. That's why God has given us the church and why there is this reality of fellowship.

We need the help that other Christians provide. Here is David with all his strength and with all his great and laudable characteristics saying, "Nevertheless, I need to come to the house of God and the fellowship of God's people." If you want to grow in righteousness among other things, you need to spend time with God and with those who are also striving to model biblical reality. We come to the end and we find something quite interesting.

David is praying for redemption and mercy in order that, according to verse nine, he might not be taken away with sinners in the final judgment. That's an interesting way of speaking because earlier in the Psalm, what he said is that in this life he had made it his goal to separate himself from sinners. He didn't want to consort with hypocrites or the assembly of evildoers. So now he says as he has tried to separate himself from sinners here, so may God separate him from sinners in the final judgment.

Will God do it? Of course he will, because that's what God is in the process of doing in David's life all along. That is bringing him to himself, creating the character of Jesus Christ within, leading him in the way of righteousness and preserving him to that day in which he stands before God the Father fully made into the character of Christ. That's a great encouragement and it's the only kind of encouragement we should really have. I've said many times that there's a kind of false security that's often talked about in the evangelical church.

We say, "once saved, always saved," and that's true. But it doesn't mean that you can claim to be saved and live as you please and still say, "Well, I'm going to be saved in the end." Perseverance means not only God's perseverance with his people but also the perseverance of his people in righteousness, and in order to do that we have to be taught and then actually walk in his ways. That's what David is saying. But if you do that, if that's what God is doing in you and that is what you are doing in obedience to God, then you can have absolute security and know that in the final judgment you will certainly be separated from sinners and be joined to the righteous instead.

I like the way Spurgeon writes. He's often very moving and here are some words of Spurgeon with which I close. "If you have prayed this prayer," writes Spurgeon, "if your character can rightly be described in the Psalm before us, don't be afraid that you'll ever be gathered with sinners. Have you the two things that David had, the outward walking in integrity and the inward trusting in the Lord? Do you endeavor to make your outward conduct and conversation conform to the example of Jesus Christ? Would you scorn to be dishonest toward men or to be undevout toward God?

At the same time, are you resting upon Jesus Christ's sacrifice and can you compass the altar of God with a humble hope? If so, then rest assured that with the wicked you will never be gathered, but your feet shall stand in the congregation of the righteous in the day when the wicked are cast away forever." In addition to that, you'll have the great joy of knowing that in your life the righteous ways of God taught in Scripture have been vindicated, and that God undoubtedly will have used that also to draw other people to faith in Jesus Christ. May it be so for each one of us to the praise of the glory of his grace. Let's pray.

Our Father, we thank you for the teaching of this Psalm. We thank you for the practical teaching, what it means to walk in your way, that it might not be as it so often is with us mere words but actually something that expresses itself in the companions we choose and the words we speak and the time we spend in your house and in the company of your people. Grant that having ordered our lives that way by your grace and having found mercy to do so, we might in the final judgment find ourselves with the company of the righteous where we will sing your praises forevermore. Amen.

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