SERMON TITLE: Vindicated!
TEXT: Psalm 26 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Robert Tansill
DATE: 2-15/16
Good morning, Gateway! I'm Robert Tansill, one of your pastors here on staff, and it is great to be with you this morning. I also want to send greetings to both the North Main and Bowling Green campuses, and to those watching online.
This morning I want to begin with a question. When you hear the word, “Vindication”, what comes to your mind? Though it might not be a word we use that often, chances are that it is something that we have either experienced, or longed for more than once in our lives. Defined simply as, “the action of clearing someone of blame or suspicion”, vindication occurs when a person, who has been accused of something they didn’t do, is eventually found to be blameless when the truth of their innocence is revealed.
What does it look like? For the employee wrongly accused by his boss of blowing the big account because he supposedly crunched the numbers incorrectly, vindication occurs when it is discovered that a co-worker intentionally changed the numbers, pinning the blame on someone else in order to move up the corporate ladder. For the parent, whose child is accused by another parent of hitting their child, vindication occurs when it is discovered that it was another child that was the culprit. Or for the high school student facing the brunt of painful rumors being spread about them, vindication occurs when those rumors are found to be false, and the result of someone else’s jealousy or insecurity.
And this is why I like Psalm 26 so much. Not only does it show us how to be vindicated, but more importantly where we need to go to find it. Often times, when we have been falsely accused of something and want vindication, we don’t know where to turn. But Psalm 26 is so practical that it not only offers help to the Psalmist seeking vindication thousands of years ago, but to the employee, parent, and student today as well.
So, if you would, please turn with me to Psalm 26. My hope for us all is that when we walk out of here, no matter what we are facing in life, we will not only understand what it means to be vindicated, but more importantly where we can turn to find true vindication. And hopefully, once we discover it, we will be so moved by it that we will want to share it with others.
In Psalm 26, the Psalmist writes,
“Of David. 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 in innocence
and go around your altar, O LORD,
proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
and telling all 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,
in 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.”
In our passage this morning we read David’s pleas to God for vindication as his life is being threatened by King Saul. To put Psalm 26 in context, let’s first take a look at some of the facts of David’s life.
I encourage you to read 1 Samuel 21-23 to gain a deeper understanding of the event that led David to write Psalm 26. Seen by many scholars as explaining the emotion David was feeling from the events mentioned in 1 Samuel, Psalm 26 points to our only true source of comfort and hope when we have been wrongly accused, and to the only true means of lasting vindication. So, if we are seeking vindication, there are at least three things we need to keep in mind according to this Psalm. And the first thing is that...
Point 1: Our Vindication...calls us to trust God completely. (vv. 1-2)
Look again at what the Psalmist says in verses 1-2, “Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. 2 Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.” As we read these opening words of the Psalmist, I don’t want us to miss what he’s actually saying here in the words, “Vindicate me.” Literally, what the word the ESV translates as “Vindicate” means is, “to judge”. He is literally asking God “to judge” him! Who among us would ever ask God to do that? We know that if we asked God to judge us, trusting in ourselves, we would be toast because God is holy and perfect, and we are not! But that is exactly what David does. And why does he say that? Because he’s not trusting in himself. Who is he trusting in?
Look at the second half of verse 1. He says, “for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.”The first reason that David is able to ask God to judge him is because he is trying to live his life with integrity, which the Hebrew defines as that which is, “complete, blameless, or whole”. In fact, the English dictionary defines it as, “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles”. But, even though they sound similar, there is a difference between what David is saying and the English definition.
We all know people who have integrity. They are upright, moral, and considered by many as “really good people”. And many of those people, even though moral in their behavior, don’t believe in God. I have known many people like this. In fact, we probably all do. These are people whose “morality” is defined by something other than God. Maybe it’s the way they were brought up. Or maybe they are just kind and thoughtful people. But their integrity is different than the kind of “integrity” the Psalmist is talking about here because David’s integrity can only come from one source...God.
The only reason David can say he has walked in his integrity is because of what we read right after that in the words, “and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.” Said another way, because David has an unshakeable trust in God, he can live his life with integrity because he is not focused on himself, but on God. Yet, not just any god. Specifically, it is “the LORD”. Whenever your Bibles translate “LORD” with all caps, it’s pointing out that this is the one and only LORD, the creator and sustainer of the universe; Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God who will protect his people at all cost. And this is the One that David is trusting in, and asking to vindicate him.
But he doesn’t just ask God to judge him. He goes a step further in verse 2 with these words, “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.” Listen to how the New Living Translation puts this verse, “Put me on trial, LORD, and cross-examine me. Test my motives and my heart.” Once again, can you imagine ever saying that God? I sure would struggle to. But that is exactly what David does because he has complete trust in the LORD, even as he is running for his life.
And the result of his trust is that he is able to be vulnerable with God. Why do I use the word, “vulnerable”? Here is how one person defines it, “When someone is being vulnerable, they're making themselves susceptible to the judgment of others. Vulnerability means they don't just let you know what's going on in their lives - they let you actually see how everything is affecting them. This involves them letting their guard down and relinquishing control. In other words, they're presenting an unprocessed, unpolished version of themselves.”
And as David tells God to test his motives and his heart, that’s exactly what he’s doing because he has complete trust in Him. He’s laying himself open before God, asking Him to test the motives of his heart as well as what he is thinking. But why does David trust God so much as he seeks to be vindicated? Is it just a “blind trust”, or does he actually have a good reason to trust God?
In verses 3-5, David tells us why, as he seeks vindication, and why we can too, which is because...
Point 2: Our Vindication...is based on God’s love and faithfulness to us (vv. 3-5).
Look again at what David says in verse 3, “For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness.” For David, the main reason that he can trust God enough to be completely vulnerable with Him is because of God’s “steadfast love”. What does he mean by that? A lot more than you might think. Even though many of our translations use words like “steadfast love”, “unfailing love”, or even just “love”, the actual word in Hebrew has a much deeper meaning. The Hebrew word David uses is the word, “hesed”. And for some scholars, the meaning is almost undefinable.
But in his book, “A Loving Life”, author and speaker, Paul Miller, sums up well the meaning of “hesed” when he says this, “Sometimes hesed is translated ‘steadfast love.’ It combines commitment with sacrifice. Hesed is one-way love. Love without an exit strategy. When you love with hesed love, you bind yourself to the object of your love, no matter what the response is. So if the object of your love snaps at you, you still love that person. Your response to the other person is entirely independent of how that person has treated you. Hesed is a stubborn love.”
Folks, is this how you view God’s love for you? A stubborn love that combines commitment with sacrifice, that doesn’t have an exit strategy, and which binds itself to you as the object of His love? If I were to be completely honest, that is almost too hard to believe. Yet, that is who the LORD is, and that is why David can cry out for vindication and be completely trusting and vulnerable with Him. He knows and understands God’s love for what it truly is. And because of this, he can walk with integrity in God’s faithfulness.
This faithfulness that David is talking about is also what is guiding his life. Along with God’s “hesed”, the LORD’s faithfulness manifests itself as trustworthy, reliable, and true. And, once again, it works itself out in David’s life. How? Look at verses 4-5, where he says this, “I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consort with hypocrites. 5 I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked.”
For some who read these words, including me, a dilemma is created which is this, “How do we share our faith with people who don’t know the Lord if we aren’t supposed to be around them?” But to think that way is a misunderstanding of these words. It’s not necessarily the person that we are to avoid as much as it is their view on life, and the conduct that results from their view. Remember, David is walking in “God’s faithfulness” which is reliable and defines what is right and wrong, as well as what is true and false in his own life. And we are to do likewise.
But for so many Christians, there are only two options when it comes to being around those who don’t trust in the LORD. We either completely shun those who don’t have faith in God, or compromise our faith by becoming just like them. Yet, God calls us to a third option which is to love people with the same love God has shown us while we continue to walk in integrity, fueled by an unwavering trust in God as our LORD. And you know what happens when we do that? People notice!
I have a number of close friends in my life who either don’t believe in God or are nominal in their faith at best. And what I find interesting is that anytime something tragic happens in their lives and they are searching for answers, I’m often one of the first people they call. And I’m sure that many of you have experienced the same thing.
Why do they call me? I finally asked one of my closest friends that question. On numerous occasions he has called me when suffering has come his way. And here’s what he said, “Tansill, I know that you really believe in God because I see it.” I do know that whatever he sees in me is not my work, but the work of the Holy Spirit in me. What I try to show him is that I believe that there is a God who really loves him, and who really is sovereignly in control of all things. I remind him of that every time we reminisce about the time when we were in high school riding with a mutual friend who decided to drive his car 120 miles per hour down a main thoroughfare, losing control of the car, which missed a phone pole my mere inches. I often remind him of the time I prayed with him on the phone as he was walking into the hospital expecting to see his dad for the very last time. And I also prayed with him on the phone when he called me at 6:00 a.m in the morning to tell me that the doctor was concerned about a mass that was discovered on his wife’s X-ray.
And why do I do this? Certainly not because I’m trying to be some sort of “Super Christian”. I’m a long way from that! But, like many of you, and David himself, I do believe that God is in control of all things, is faithful to His people, and is the LORD of “hesed”. And like David, the times I feel that the most keenly is when my back is against the wall, and when I have nowhere else to turn, but to God. And that leads us to our third and final point that I think David wants us to see which is this...
Point 3: Our Vindication...seeks God’s glory above our own. (vv. 6-12)
In verses 6-8, David says something really interesting, “I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O LORD, 7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud, and telling all your wondrous deeds. 8 O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” What does that mean? Here is how one commentator explains it, “The psalmist reflects on the temple worship and on his joy in participating in the worship of God. He affirms that in the integrity of his heart he is privileged to draw near to God.” For David, stopping long enough to catch his breath as he’s running for his life from Saul, he reflects on three things as he ponders the love and faithfulness of God.
First, he acknowledges how thankful he is to God as he mentions in verse 7 how he “proclaims thanksgiving aloud”. I don’t know about you, but I don’t do this nearly as often as I should. For all of us, there is so much that we have to be thankful for to God. There are so many blessings that we take for granted every day. And you know when we are typically the most thankful? In the times when we’re in crisis. Often times, it’s not until something bad happens to us that we all of a sudden decide to “count our blessings.” But, folks, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. We shouldn’t have to wait for things to get bad before we become thankful for what God has done for us. Rather, our lives should constantly be reflecting a spirit of thankfulness because everything we have comes from the hand of our loving and faithful LORD. Everything!
Second, David recounts the “wondrous deeds” of God. Of the twenty-seven times the the ESV translates the Hebrew word, “wondrous deeds”, twenty of those times are in the Psalms as a call to praise God for the “wonderful and incomprehensible things” He has done, which is what the phrase means. One example is seen in Psalm 78 where the Psalmist recounts God parting the Red Sea and raining down manna from heaven in the desert as He delivered the nation of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. Or in Psalm 107:8-9, where we hear the Psalmist echo a similar thought as the one in our passage when he says, “Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.”
And once again, as we hear these words, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Is this something that we typically do?” Do we tell others about the “wonderful and incomprehensible” things that God has done, or is doing, in our lives? Are we even aware of what those things are?
Last week a friend of mine in New England who is being treated for liver cancer reminded me of what the “wondrous deeds” of God look like for him, even with what he is facing, when he wrote this, “Well, I survived the first week of cancer treatment. I was fortunate to not feel too ill. I was, am, very tired. Sadly, this weekend with no radiation or chemo I had headaches and nausea. Gearing up for week two. I still have to laugh at how visible the blessings become when life sucks! Friends, cards, prayers, phone calls, texts. I pray God will continue to let me see them.” Just like my friend in the middle of his cancer treatments, David remembers in this Psalm the wonders of God as he faces the potential of losing his life while still seeking to be vindicated.
But there is a third thing that David mentions in verse 8 as he reflects on God’s faithfulness and love, and which is the basis for his vindication. What is it? That his greatest desire is to worship the LORD, and to seek His glory above anything else. Look again at verse 8 where he says, “O LORD, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.”
For the person who trusts in the LORD, and who truly understands His love for them, their deepest desire is to worship God and to give Him all the glory. And not just when things are going well, but especially when they aren’t! Once again, this is why David, in fear of losing his life as he’s running from Saul, still seeks God’s glory above everything else. David knows that Yahweh, this covenant-keeping God, is watching over his soul. David knows that God is faithful and true to His word, and that He loves David with a “hesed” kind of love. And because of that, David wants to worship Him, and to give Him the glory that is rightfully His. He can’t do any different, even as he continues to run for his life. He knows that in the end, he really only has two choices that he can pursue in life. In fact, we all do. He can pursue his own glory as he tries with all his strength to make a name for himself whenever possible. Or he can pursue the glory of the LORD as he rests in God’s strength, drawing attention to God’s name whenever possible. And what does he choose?
Look what he says to God in verses 9-12, “Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 in whose hands are evil devices, and whose right hands are full of bribes.” Reflecting back on what he said previously in verses 4-5, David asks God to not treat him as he would a sinner. What does he mean by “sinner”? The word means, “one who misses the mark or the goal”. And what is that goal?
Simply put, it's the holiness of God, and the pursuit of His glory. This is why we were created, and this is what David points to as the rule he seeks to be judged on and vindicated by in verse 1. This is the standard that he expects the LORD to use...the acid test...for his heart and mind in verse 2. This is what is at the core of God’s “hesed” and faithfulness in verse 3. And this is the reason David says he can’t stop, “Singing God-songs at the top of my lungs, and telling God-stories”, as the translation called the Message puts it in verse 7.
For those who choose to live for their own glory rather than God’s, David shows us the end result. In the end, God is going to “sweep up or gather up the souls” of those who have missed the mark, and judge them. These are people who seek to live life on their own terms and by their own truth. These are people who work hard to get what they want, and who aren’t afraid to resort to violence if they have too. They are people who, as the New English Translation says, “are always ready to do wrong, or to offer a bribe”, especially if their survival depends on it. Nothing is beyond them. They are willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their glory. And truthfully, this is the course that David could have pursued with Saul. After all, this is what Saul did. Why not fight fire with fire? Why not fight as hard to preserve his own glory as Saul did to preserve his?
But he doesn’t because David’s glory, like all of our glory, is secondary to the LORD’s glory. And this is why he chooses to follow a different course. Like many other Old Testament saints, David chooses to make God’s glory primary, which we see in the words he uses to begin verse 11, “But as for me…” As I read these words while I was studying this passage, for some reason they sounded so familiar to me. I know I’ve heard them before in Scripture. And I know you have too. But where?
We’ve heard them in Joshua 24:15 in the words, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” We’ve heard them in Psa. 69:13 in the words, “But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” And we’ve heard them in Micah 7:7 in the words, “But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” And whenever we hear these words, we hear someone choosing to pursue God’s glory above their own whether it’s in the shelter of a cave, at a desk in a classroom, or at a table in a boardroom.
And this is why David chooses to walk in his integrity; an integrity fueled by God’s glory rather than his own. And this is also why, because of God’s glory, David asks the LORD to both redeem him and to show him grace in verse 11. In fact, for all who seek God’s glory first, this “grace” is a privilege that is given to them, and a gift that is granted.
Author, Ken Sande, is right when he says, “When you draw on God's grace to put off your self-centered attitudes and act on His principles, you put His glory on display. Your life points to His vast wisdom, compassion, and transforming power, and as you look for God's glory, the impact reaches far beyond yourself because you give everyone around you reason to respect and praise God. Glorifying God is not about letting others see how great you are. It's about letting them see how great the Lord is.”
Folks, this is where the ground is solid when everything around us is unstable, whether it is a cancer treatment, a broken marriage, a wayward child, or...whatever. And this is the reason that, like David, all those who trust in God’s love and faithfulness will one day be able to join in the great assembly to bless the LORD.
But why wait until then to celebrate being vindicated? Why not celebrate it now. Together. What? You don’t think you have anything to celebrate? You don’t think that you have already been vindicated? Folks, that’s what the gospel is all about. That’s why Jesus came. And this is the hope that David himself was looking forward to as the focus of God’s glory. So much of what David said in this Psalm has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus. Through His death on the Cross, you have been vindicated from the havoc that sin would cause in your life, and the alienation from God that comes from it. The judgment that you deserve, you are not going to get because you have placed your trust in what God has done for you through Christ rather than placing your trust in yourself and your abilities. And the reason you can say something crazy to God like, “Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind”, is because you know that in Jesus alone the “hesed” of God, the faithfulness of God, and the truth of God are most clearly displayed, and are yours to claim for your very own. And this allows you to be completely open and vulnerable with the Lord about your sin, knowing that even though you can’t hide it from him, Christ has already dealt with it, and continues to love you in spite of it.
And though you won’t do it perfectly, this is why you choose to walk in integrity. This is why you choose to sing “God-songs” at the top of your lungs and tell “God-stories” to anyone who will listen, believer and unbeliever alike. This is why you can cling to the grace of God when life overwhelms you, or when you are neck-deep in your own sin or someone else’s sin. This is why you can rest in the redemption that is already yours, and look forward to that day when you will join with all those who have gone before you in that great assembly where God alone is worshipped in all His glory.
And even though the rest of the world will continue to seek its own glory, doing whatever it takes to gain it, this is why you will continue to say to yourself, “But as for me...” You know that, only because you trust Jesus, you are able to understand what the glory of God looks like as well as His love and faithfulness. And because of that, you claim His redemption as your own, confident that you have already been vindicated. Yet, not for your glory, but for His alone. For to God, and God alone belongs all the glory. Let’s pray together.
Father, as we leave this place, I pray that we would go as people who not only know about your love and faithfulness, but who also experience it firsthand and display that through everything that we say and do. Even when we don’t feel your love, remind us by Your Spirit that you do love us with a “hesed-kind-of- love” and are faithful to us to the very end. And may that drive us to trust you even more with our lives as we seek to walk in integrity. Thank you for the vindication that is ours in Christ, and all that he accomplished for us on the Cross. And, even though the world tempts us to pursue our glory above all else, may we say instead, “But as for me, I will pursue the glory of the LORD, my God.” For this is what You have called us to, and to this end we will strive for Your glory. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
You can find the notes for this sermon here.
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