Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles to Psalm chapter 26. This is God's holy, inerrant, and infallible word. Please give it your full attention. Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, O Lord, and try me. Test my heart and my mind, for your steadfast love is before my eyes and I walk in your faithfulness. I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. I wash my hands and innocence and go around your altar, O Lord, proclaiming Thanksgiving aloud and telling of your wondrous deeds. O Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men and whose hands are evil devices and whose right hands are full of bribes. But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity, redeem me and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground in the great assembly. I will bless the Lord. The grass withers and the flower fades. The word of the Lord endures forever. You may be seated. Psalm 26 is another psalm of David and it is a psalm of vindication. David the psalmist cries out for vindication from the Lord. In other words, David was asking the Lord to justify him from what some may have perceived as a transgression of God's law. Some may have been falsely accusing him of wrongdoing and David seeks to be vindicated or justified, declared righteous with regard to this matter. Now we don't know what the circumstances were that occasioned David's composition of this Psalm, but we know throughout his life that he was falsely accused of wrongdoing. Now it has been proposed that this psalm was written on account of Ish-bosheth's murder in 2 Samuel chapter 4. Ish-bosheth was a son of Saul and ruled over portions of Israel, though David was the Lord's anointed and therefore the true king of Israel. Well, in 2 Samuel chapter 4, two men, Rehob and Baana, killed Ishbosheth, cut off his head and brought it to King David. And they told David that on account of their killing Ishbosheth, that the Lord had avenged David from King Saul and his offspring. David, however, was very displeased with these men and protested their actions, claiming that the Lord had always redeemed him out of every adversary, out of every adversity. In other words, he did not need Rechab and Ba'anah to take matters into their own hands by killing Ish-bosheth. For the Lord himself would always deliver him from any harm. And so David, as the king, exacted justice upon Rechab and Ba'ana for the murder they committed. And he had them put to death for the wrongful murder of Ishbosheth. And so some have claimed that the occasion for this psalm was David's going to the dwelling place of the Lord to proclaim his innocence from any participation in that wrongful murder. Maybe some thought that he had been involved in the murder of Ishbosheth, or maybe he just feared the Lord's retribution in this matter. And so he went before the Lord to ask him to search his heart with regard to this matter. Though the Lord, of course, does not truly need an invitation to do such a thing. Now, is this when and why David composed this psalm? Ultimately, we do not know. Holy Scripture gives no account of David performing the actions of this psalm with regard to the murder of Ish-bosheth. That situation is certainly fitting, however, but perhaps this psalm concerns other circumstances in the life of David. What we can know is that David, knowing his own heart, recognizes his innocence and wishes the Lord not only to search his heart, but even to be the defender, his defender in this case. He cries out in verse one, vindicate me. Oh, Lord, now the verb could be translated, judge me, render a decision in this case, and in doing so make a defense on my behalf, demonstrate that I am innocent. Or righteous with respect to this matter. In verse two, he uses three different verbs and asking the Lord to examine him, he says, prove me, test me, try me a little better translation. of those verbs would be test me, try me, and then examine me, examine my purity. The way one would test for impurities in a precious metal. And the reason for all of this is that David knows himself to be righteous with regard to the charges or the matters that were before him. In fact, he offers certain grounds for his innocence. In verse one, he says, for you see, here's the grounds for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Now, if this is in regard to the circumstances with ishposhah. Then David is saying, I have walked with an integrity, with innocence in seeking to not seeking to simply take matters into my own hands. But instead, I've I've trusted in you without wavering. I have waited on you to deliver me in all my circumstances. We see this or saw this recently in the series and for Samuel. that Reverend Allard is preaching through. David's companions encouraged him, if you remember, to kill Saul in the cave, claiming the Lord has given him this day into your hands. But David did not kill Saul, whom the Lord had anointed as the king of Israel. In fact, David even put to death the man who later killed King Saul, the Lord's anointed, just as he put to death Rehob and Ba'ana who put to death Ish-bosheth. Such murders did not please David simply because these men opposed him, even sought his own life at times. No, David walked with integrity, with regard to those men. He trusted in the Lord to save him from those men. And he did so without wavering. Now, this is not to say that David was sinless all throughout his life. That is not what David is claiming here. He's simply saying that with respect to this particular matter, whether it be the murder of Ish-bosheth or something else, He has walked with integrity, with innocence. He has not gone in the way of wickedness with regard to this matter, but has trusted in the Lord without wavering. He goes on to provide further grounds for his innocence. Again, he asked the Lord to test, to try, to examine the purity of his heart and mind. And then he says for, here's Further grounds, verse three, four, your steadfast love is before my eyes. I walk in your faithfulness or walk in your truth, your divine instruction, which is reliable. Verses four and five continue the ground stating, I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evil evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked. Again, if this is in regard to the murder of Ishbosheth, then David is saying that they are men of falsehood, those men who killed him. They are hypocrites, evildoers and wicked for what they have done. And he takes no part in their wickedness. Now, if it has to do with other, another matter, the same still applies. David has walked with integrity. What is before his eyes are the steadfast love or covenant faithfulness of the Lord. He walks in accordance with God's divine instruction, which is the only absolutely firm, reliable truth. Or from the reverse, he does not sit with men of falsehood or consort with hypocrites. Even more, he hates the assembly of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked. And this sounds much like the righteous man of Psalm 1. This portion of the psalm here sounds very much like Psalm 1, doesn't it? He surrounds himself with the righteous and not with the wicked, the way of the wicked. Now, the next few verses, verses six through eight, speak of some ceremonial actions that David takes in declaring his innocence. What he describes is a ceremony that he would have performed at the tabernacle, at the dwelling place of God, which is why he says in verse eight that he loves the habitation, the dwelling place of the Lord, the house of the Lord, the place where the Lord's glory dwells. And so David goes to the tabernacle of the Lord and he washes his hands in the labor given for the priests to wash their hands. This was a ritual in Israel, as well as even in other cultures or in able to demonstrate one's innocence. They would go and they would wash their hands, symbolizing the cleanness of what They have done their innocence in what has taken place. A good example of this in scripture would be Pontius Pilate, who saw no wrong in Jesus, and he didn't want to take part in the false accusations against Christ. And so he took water and washed his hands before the crowd and said, I am innocent of this man's blood. Now, it's not actually true. He may have seen him to be innocent, but he did, in fact, order him to be put to death and that sentence was very much guilty of the death of Christ. But you see there the ritual, right? The washing of the hands and declaring one innocent. This ritual in scripture comes from Deuteronomy chapter 21, which was something the elders of a city were to do when a man lay slain out in the countryside of that city. The elders of that city would wash their hands, demonstrating that they had not shed the blood of the man that had been slain, nor did they see with their eyes the one who did. In other words, there was no involvement of them. with regard to the murder or with regard to the death of the man that lay slain. In other words, they were declaring their innocence of the death of that person. And so that is what David is doing here. In this case, he is doing it at the tabernacle in the labor where the priests would wash their hands. And he is declaring his innocence with regard to the matter at hand. And then he walks around the altar, giving thanks to the Lord. In other words, singing psalms of thanksgiving to the Lord in front of those present at the tabernacle, declaring the wondrous works of the Lord. This is the actions or these are the actions of a person who is righteous with regard to the matters at hand. He knows his innocence and is able to be praise the Lord in his dwelling place. With all innocence in the matter. Without any guilt of what has taken place. He's able. To praise the Lord. To have joy, even. As he cries out for vindication, there's one feeling, there's one emotion. He's crying out for vindication. He needs help from the Lord. But knowing his innocence, knowing he is guiltless, he's able with joy to praise the Lord in the presence of the Lord at the tabernacle. Now, in verses 9 and 10, David petitions the Lord not to treat him as if he is guilty and punish him with the punishment received of evildoers or by evildoers. He says, do not sweep my soul away with sinners nor my life with bloodthirsty men in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hands are full of bribes. Spurgeon says these words of David are as if he is saying, Lord, when like fruits I must be gathered, put me not in the same basket with the best of sinners, much less the worst of them. Again, David is not saying that unlike the wicked, he is sinless. No, he knows that he is a sinner. For though he walks with integrity, verse 11, he nevertheless asked the Lord to redeem him and to be gracious to him. Verse 12. David may be innocent of this false charge, and he certainly walks upright in the ways of the Lord. But he is not without sin altogether. Hence, he needs the Lord to show grace to him, to redeem him. And then David proclaims with confidence, then towards the end of the psalm, he proclaims with confidence that God will indeed grant his request for vindication. In the final verse, verse 12, he says, My foot stands on level ground in the great assembly. I will bless the Lord. David, you see, in this psalm, has sung himself into confidence and assurance. And then vows his gratitude to the Lord, he cannot slip or fall for his footing is on solid level ground. When someone's trust is in the Lord, he's on solid ground. And this gives him assurance that he will yet stand in the great assembly and bless the Lord. That is, he will gather together with God's people at the Lord's sanctuary to bless God as one who is a member of that assembly in good standing. in full union with those people, united to those people, praising the Lord. And so this concludes David's experience in writing this psalm. He in some way was associated with some sin and falsely accused. And so he cries out to the Lord for vindication. In the court of men, he may have appeared guilty. But you see, David appeals to the highest court there is, the court of heaven, with the Lord himself as judge. And David was confident that he would be vindicated by the Lord who judges with equity and righteousness. This psalm, of course, points us specifically to Jesus Christ. who was himself falsely accused by bloodthirsty men that sought his horrible death by crucifixion. And if David was innocent with respect to this one incident, Christ was innocent in all of his life. How much more could Christ himself pray this psalm as one who walked with integrity and who could ask the Father to try him, test him and examine his heart and his mind? Christ was innocent of the charges made by the Pharisees and the scribes and the Jews who sought his death. And therefore, Christ offered up prayers and supplications such as the psalm before us. And he did so with loud cries and tears to God, the father who could save him from out of death. And the father heard him. Because of his reverence. Though he was numbered with the sinners and crucified, He was innocent of all charges. And the Lord vindicated him on the third day. Paul in 1st Timothy 3.16 says that Christ was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit. Notice the order there. Manifested in the flesh is a reference to his state of humiliation. and vindicated by the Spirit refers to his state of exaltation. Paul says it more specifically in Romans 1, 3 and 4. Speaking of the Son of God, he says that he descended from David according to the flesh. There's the humiliation. and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. There's the exaltation whereby he was vindicated by the spirit. You see, Christ was righteous, though he was falsely charged and crucified as a guilty sinner. On the third day, however, God vindicated his son by raising him from the dead. He demonstrated that his son was indeed righteous and proved that he does not sit with men of falsehood nor consort with hypocrites, but that he hates the assembly of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked. That describes our Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, Christ, risen from the grave, stands in the assembly in heaven, blessing the father who raised him from the grave. And he does this now with the angels and those believers who have gone before us. And he will bless the Lord in the midst of the assembly on the final day as well, when all of his people will be vindicated openly at the final resurrection. And this leads us to ask then, well, how will we be vindicated on the final day? Christ is the only one who can pray Psalm 26 with regard to his whole life. And so how in the world can we pray this Psalm and truly ask the Lord for vindication? Well, first, let me say. that this psalm is a psalm that you can pray if in any event of life you are falsely accused, whether in your job, at the church, within your family, or wherever and whenever such an occasion might occur, especially if it's on account of suffering for the Lord. You can pray for vindication. This is a psalm you can go to and pray for for vindication, knowing that God is a God of truth and will bring truth to light in his own timing. But the larger question is, how can we pray this psalm with a view toward that final, open vindication at the return of Christ? And the answer to that question is in our union with the one who was and is perfectly righteous, the one who was and is innocent of all sin. By faith in Christ, we are united to him in such a way that not only are we washed clean of all our sins, But the righteousness of Christ, his very righteousness is imputed to us. There is no work of righteousness that we ourselves can perform that will make us righteous before God. We are sinners, every last one. And cannot be vindicated by God apart from Christ's redemptive work on our behalves. And Paul understood and communicated this so clearly in his writings. One place where he spoke of it most profoundly was in Philippians chapter 3. You can look there with me if you have your Bibles with you. Philippians chapter 3 and beginning in verse 2. Paul writes, look out for the dogs. Look out for the evil doers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. Now here, he's talking about the circumcision party who looked toward outward performances of the law, like circumcision. that they might attain righteousness through the works of the law. And then in verse three, he says, For we are the circumcision who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. Now, listen, Paul wants to point out that if righteousness comes by outward conformity to the law of God, by works of the law in any means, by any means, then above anyone else, he would be able to claim such righteousness. Listen to what he says. Verse four. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more. Circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law. Blameless, he says. Did you hear that? Blameless so far as outward conformity to the law of God. See, Paul is describing his life prior to his conversion. prior to knowing Christ and the power of the risen Christ. And he says at that time, with respect to the law of God, I was blameless in terms of the outward conformity to the law. If you think you have confidence in the flesh, I have more, he says. But then he goes on, verse seven, but whatever gain I had. I count it as loss. For the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Listen, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. There it is, the power of his resurrection when he will be openly vindicated. He concludes and and that I may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible, I may attain the resurrection from the dead. That's when Paul will be shown openly and outwardly vindicated by God. You see, beloved, by faith in Christ, you have been vindicated. You have been justified, declared innocent, declared not guilty. You have been justified. More than just not declared guilty, you have been declared righteous, not by a righteousness of your own, but by the righteousness of Christ given to you. That's quite amazing considering how unrighteous we all are in our lives and actions. And so you have already been justificated. The Lord has already vindicated you, but the world does not yet see that vindication. But they will. They will. On the day of Christ's return. When the dead in Christ will rise first and those who are alive will be caught up together with him. And we will receive our glorified resurrected bodies and we will be vindicated before all. Not based upon a righteousness of our own. But based upon the righteousness of Christ given to us so that the gospel might be on display in God's glory will be beheld by all. So you see, this psalm, Psalm 26, ultimately points us to the life of Christ, who alone was innocent of all charges and deserving of vindication by God. However, we too may pray this psalm, knowing that God will vindicate us openly before the world. Though the world, you see, may slander us, false prophets, may claim our teaching as erroneous. The state even or other authorities may persecute us in all of this because we hold fast to the teachings of Jesus Christ and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that God will vindicate us on the last day. Not because we are perfectly righteous in ourselves, but because our faith is placed in the one who is perfectly righteous and who has given us his righteousness, that we may be vindicated, openly vindicated. We are already vindicated, but that we will be openly vindicated on the last day when he returns to him, be all praise and glory now and forevermore. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We give you thanks for his state of humiliation and his suffering unto death, as well as his state of exaltation, rising from the grave and ascending to your right hand, where he now sits and intercedes for us. And Lord, we pray that as we live out our lives. That we will do so seeking to walk in integrity. Seeking to walk not in the paths of the wicked, but in the paths of the righteous, especially the path of righteousness, which Christ himself demonstrated. That we might follow after him. And Lord, may we never seek to be vindicated by any work we could perform. But simply clinging to the work, to the merit of Jesus Christ. Loving, O God, his righteousness, which clothes us. We thank you that you view us as righteous through Jesus Christ. Though we deserve condemnation for the guilt of our sin and unrighteousness. Lord, we pray that we might point others to this only way of salvation, this only way of righteousness in Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.