Untitled Sermon

not only appearing holy but being Holy, The pathway to Godly companionship

psalm 101

pursuing true holiness and integrity and how Godly companionship plays a huge role.

Intro:Basis of this sermon is the psalm 101. The lord has been ministering in my heart the importance of pursuing holiness and and through that,Godly companionship. And this psalm the lord has been hammering inside me for a few months now. it emphasizes pursuing holiness and Godly relationships and intentionality as well. Psalm 101 . And the lord hasnt been teaching me this psalm in a classroom but through life.

A few points hes been writing inside my heart

This psalm shows that to gain Godly companionship you must first pursue holiness and integrity personally.

Holiness in ordinary life and not just ministry.

Not just appearing blameless and holy but truly being holy

i have a few testimonies of God ordained personal experiences in my life recently that allign with this word and psalm the lord has been giving me.

TESTIMONY:A few months ago i went to get coffee with an old friend i hadnt seen in a while and The night before meeting with me, my friend prayed asking the lord about me And he told me basically everything that alligned with this word and speaking to me through this psalm and i didnt fully understand it then but by the end of this you guys will see why.

This message is so easy to speak about because its a reality, its what the lord has been teaching me truly. hes been wrecking me with this and im excited

(BRIEF BACKROUND PSALMS)

were going to be reading out of the book of psalms like i said earlier. i love the booK of psalms. theres a ton of differents types of psalms from lament psalms,praise and thanksgiving psalms, wisdom and historical psalms, royal and messianic psalms…. even personal and congregational hymnn psalms “i will praise you” “we will praise you “

today were going to be reading a royal psalm. A royal song is usually a psalm that focuses on a king usually the king of israel.

psalm 101. in the hebrew text this psalm is called the “psalm of integrity” it was written by King David and many scholars believe it was written early on in his rule.f i could summarize this psalm id say its screams Holiness and integrity. This psalm has great godly lessons for anyone who leads in any capacity. And if anyone looks up to you then… your a leader

Its important to know it was written by king david because its a vow or covenant he made with the lord to rule righteously.Alexander maclaren , one of the most influental evangelical preachers of the 19th century writes on this psalm and he says “He had but recently ascended the throne. the abuses and confusions of sauls last troubled years had to be reformed. the new king felt that he was Gods viceroy; and here declares what he will strive to make his monarchy-a copy of Gods”

Before david was king of all of israel he had a lot of time to think on what type of king he wanted to be and this psalm is a list of qualities for us .lets open our bibles to Psalm 101 “A Psalm of David. I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will sing praise. i will be careful to lead a blameless life, Oh when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my own house with a blameless heart. I will not look with approval anything that is vile. I hate what faithless people do ; i will have no part in it: the perverse of heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with what is evil . Whoever slanders their neighbor in secret I will put to silence. Whoever has a haughty eyes and a proud heart I will not tolerate.My eyes will be 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 speaks falsely will stand in my presence. every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land, cutting off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord.”

(Pause)

wow. off the bat we see david going in. He is not taking this new position lightly nor playing games. Lets break it down together. we see verse 1

MOVEMENT ONE.

I will sing if your love and justice’ o lord i will sing praise. off the bat i see David has a true revelation of Gods love. sanctification can only happen when we truly have a revelation of Gods love. we love because he first loved us. too many of us are living “christian’ lives without having the revelation of Gods love. Hes not just expressing devotion but hes alligning himself with the character of God himself. steadfast love and justice preserve a king. david recongnizes that his own stability as a leader depends on embodying these same qualities. He knows the lord. we must know the lord before doing anything… YOU CANNOT IMITATE A GOD YOU DON’T KNOW.

holiness begins with revelation before discipline. Charles spurgeon notes that David dosent just talk about worshipping God but he talks about how he will live his life. He states that true Godliness is shown by what we watch, who we assoiciate with, how we speak, and how we lead others .

Then we start to go in for real.

verse 2 -says “i will be careful to lead a blameless life. when will you come to me?I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart”

David is desiring to live a wise and holy life.Desiring to be blameless. We see that the greater position of power david was given by God the more he pursued a holy blameless life and godliness. “i will be careful to lead a blameless life” he says . i truly believe power often exposes flaws in character. you can say the flaws were already there but now theyre in a position to be displayed. We see david instead of saying now that i rule all of israel i can do whatever i want but he says i will be careful to lead a blameless life. so many of us if we were given that promotion at work, or in ministry , or that greater position of power weve been praying for wed fully stop seeking god with the same desperation and start living however we want. so thats why the lord sometimes keeps us in seasons where we have to fully depend on him and seek him desperatley. But david gets the greatest position of power, Like a president in todays time. instead of him kicking his feet up and saying he no longer needs the lord. he says “ i will be careful to lead a blameless life. that takes knowing and fearing the lord. other translations say i will behave wisley.and other translations say “i will ponder a blameless life” ponder means to think deeply abt carefully and prayerfully, meditating. the same way the bible says in phillipians 4:8 to ponder and think about noble , right, pure, lovely and admirable things execellent praise worthy things. i atleast once a week gather 4-5 friends and we go to a coffe shop and we only talk about jesus. how much we are loved by him how much we love him how much he is working on us right now and i promise you guys i leave with such a joy and feel so refreshed . The lord refreshes the soul.. that is biblical. So david is pondering a blameless life.

Then he says “when will you come to me” And this question isn’t a doubt ot complain but its more of a leader saying to God “im doing my part to build a righteous home and community now i need your presence and blessing to make it work. and let me tell you guys so many churches and communities today are building things for the lord WITHOUT THE LORD” We see david is longing for fellowship with the lord.

MOVEMENT 2

now This is one of my biggest points

“i will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart”

and i gathered some quotes from some people i love about this certain verse and it opened my eyes to the verse more.

G. Campbell morgan says “No man is able to make the city in which we dwells anything like the city of God who does not know how to behave himself in his own house…… the first thing for every public man to do who would serve his city for God, is to see to it that his private life is ordained aright before him”

Another one by charles spurgeon , for my worship team or worship leaders in the house or those who aspire to be on it “Reader, how fares it with your family? do you sing in the choir and sin in the chamber? are you a saint abroad and a devil at home? for shame! what we are at home, THAT WE ARE INDEED”.

I love this one Adam clarke says “ it is easier for most men to walk with a perfect heart in the church, or even in the world, than in their own families. how many are as meek as lambs among others, when at home they are wasps or tigers”

and the last one by F.B. meyer says “ understand that in the home life, God is educating and training you for the greatest victories. there you are learning the deepest lessons in sanctification. you need not to run to conventions, sermons, and holiness meetings: if you would resolve to walk in your house with a perfect or blameless heart, you would discover how far from perfect you are, and how far you are the least of his saints.

David understood he needed to walk with integrity in his own house before he could do it in any kingdom or ministry.

John calvin notes that David begins with his own heart before adressing others. he argues that a leader must first rule himself before he can rightly rule others.

This part of the psalm brings me to a point that the lord conivcted me of doing and something ive noticed in my generation.me included because im preaching to my self. This generation finds it so holy to pick up a mic and preach or lead worship but not Holy to wake up on time for work, have our houses and room clean, arriving to our jobs on time.Everything we do we do unto God .Ordinary life is holy and we must treat it that way. we have to be holy , set apart, consecrated in all things, not just for a confrence or worship night, because if thats the case then the question lies, who are we being holy for? the bible tells us to be holy because he is holy but if we are only living holy when people are watching then? we must also pursue holiness in the ordinary quiet life.

Holiness is waking up on time, showing up to work, honoring our parents, cleaning our room, paying our bills honestly, keeping our word, how we treat our family.

We love confrence holiness but God also delights in home holiness.

im grieved to say my generation strives more to appear holy instaed of truly being holy. i for so long lived like this. posting theology quotes and christian reels and the outside world thinking im this holy king theologian when at home i lived how i wanted too. when no one was watching i wasnt living correctly.

walking with integrity within your own house begins with guarding what you allow into your inner life. “Above all else guard your heart because everything flows from it. And truly these are active deliberate choices we need to take in our life. Before we conduct ourseleves anywhere we must conduct the affairs of our house with a blameless heart.My house will be a place of integrity,I may not be able to control the world or outside but in my house there will be intergrity. From the books we read, the movies we watch to the conversations we have in my house. will be with integrity .

A huge point of this text. King david made this declaration ‘ i will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart” but we that know the full story of david, we know that he fell short at this. Even david who when saying this declaration and fully meaning it , fell short. We saw what happens when king david didnt conduct the affairs of his house with a blameless heart. adultery and murder. so that right there emphasizes the importance of what he means by saying that. how we cant just appear blameless and holy in front of crowds and at home live how we want.

Heres something fascinating … David meant every word in this psalm, he sincerly desired holiness and integrity. But we al know the story of david, he failed. adultery. murder. deception and more. why u might ask? because psalm 101 wasn’t only davids aspiration but also his failure. SO if david wasn’t able to perfectly live out psalm 101 what hope do we have?…..

MOVEMENT 3

“I will not look with approval on anything that is vile” Other translations say “worthless’ The eyes function as a gateway. This text reminds me of job 31 where he made a covenant with his eyes to not look lustfully at a young woman. Job and David both understood that discipline over eyes was a primary aspect of Godliness and back then no one expected a king to do this, even a palace back then was known for sexual immorality.- What we allow ourselves to see shapes our thoughts,desires and ultimatley our character. This isnt me taking a wild claim but this is biblical guys. we see Jesus himsels say this… matthew 6:22-23

Matthew 6:22–23 ““The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”

It describes the eye as ‘The lamp of the body” so that a healthy eye fills the body with light while a bad eye fills it with darkness. David recognizes this. he understands that worthless things, idle entertainment, deceptive images, or morally compromising content CAN CORRUPT THE HEART IF PERMITTED ENTRY.

Some of you guys need to go unfollow some people on instagram after today lol. We cant be following people who post immoral content. we can not consume that type of content. you might say “oh but were friends and theyll get upset if i unfollow them” well you have your priorities wrong. you rather upset the creator of life who became flesh and died for you than to “upset’ someone whos content can lead you into sin.

Intsagrams new algorithm update now lets the content your friends consume pop on your feed. the hard work we do to keep our feeds clean can now

but the hebrew word “shiyth” is used in that verse. and a paraphrased definition or key idea david is highlighting is deliberatley placing something somewhere. “i will not deliberately place a worthless thing before my eyes” A huge emphasis on intentionality. like this whole psalm is showing .

“I hate what faiththless people do; i will have no part in it, the perverse of heart shall be far from me, i will have nothing to do with what is evil.”

Guys we must hate what faithless people do. we must hate sin, we must look at sin with disgust. we have to love the things God loves and hate the things he hates. There is no in between. We “ claim to hate sin “ while at the same time allowing it to cling through our entertainment, relationships or compromises. “The perverse in heart shall be far from me” Davids vow demands something different. an intetnional severance!!!!

Theres a huge power in saying “i will have no part in it” it moves beyond feelings to action. you dont just dislike wickedness: you actively distance yourself from it. Thats the missing piece to my generation…. the willingness to actually seperate from what corrupts, not just condemn it from a distance.

We must hate evil. this is echoed all over scripture- proverbs 8:13 says “the fear of the lord is hatred of evil, pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech i hate. psalm 97:10 says O you who love the lord, HATE EVIL……

Some translations say “i hate the work of those who fall away”

Now understand me, separation from wickedness does not mean isolation from unbelievers . jesus himself sat at a table with sinners. we are called to love, serve people and bring the light of christ into dark places. but there is a difference between loving someone and allowing someone to shape you. everyone is worthy of our love but not everyone should have the same level of access and influence in our lives.

Phillip ant mitchell went on a podcast and said and i quote “i have no one who i say i’m intimate with who has poor character, i am not intimate with one man or one woman who has poor character, my closest circle of friends is a small group of great character men and women who stand on business for the kingdom of God because what i will not do is walk intimatley with people who have poor charcater if they do they wil ruin the character thats in me or weaken the characater inside of me so i dont play those games and thats how you strenghten your side of the rope”

Guys verse 5 is a very important one. “whoever slanders their neighbor in secret i will put to silence, whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart i will not tolerate”.

We can maintain a spotless public image while engaging in the most corrosive sin: gossip, and slander.

“ i Have a friend” testimony of friend who was new to church and rumors and gossip almost ruined church for her. emphasis on how deadly this sin is

Some of us , including me need to start telling people to shut up. well go eat after a church service or hang out with our closer friend group and someone will hit you with the “ did you hear what this person did or this and that” SHUTUP …; walkaway. thats how we , me included need to react to gossip.

i bet you in the moment they wont want to gossip or atleast near you lol. All over proverbs it talks about the damage and contamination that comes from gossip.

Proverbs 6: talks about 6 things the lord hates and 7 that are an abomination or detestable to him. verse 19 says the lord hates a person who stirs up conflict in the community and gossip does just that. we must understand the severity of this. Gossip feels small but hell has destroyed churches with whispers .

continuing on this verse

“Whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart i will not tolerate”

The same proverbs we just read on 6 things the lord hates… guess what the first one on that list is . The first thing stated is “haughty eyes” that says something. A proud heart, arrogance. walking in to a room and thinking your the best one there. walking in to church thinking your a “better” christian” you know more theology etc. proverbs 16;5 says “everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the lord, be assured he will not go unpunished”. Guys we see david is not tolerating things the lord hates.

MOVEMENT 4 HOLINESS CHOOSES COMPANIONS WISLEY

Now this is one of my favorite parts of the text

erse 6 says “ my eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me: the one whos walk is blameless will minister to me “

TESTIMONY:A few months ago i went to get coffee with an old friend. The night before meeting with me, my friend prayed asking the lord about me . The lord showed him “support Gods going to give a measure of grace over me via people that support me. people that are strong when i am weak. people that love me uncondiotionally and choose to accept you and force you to run the race and not give up when you feel like it. People that call out the smallest sin because they partner with the vision over your life which requires a measure of holiness”. Pillars holding me up. and the lord revealed to me and a few of my close friends that he had called us to take off our shoes because we were walking on holy ground… but we were allowing people step on our holy ground with Shoes on….

Davids decleration here reveals a fundamental principle for my generation. intentional companionship shapes spiritual trajectory. intentional companionship helps produce holiness. David is commiting to search out faithful people as companions. this isnt passive guys . david in psalm 101 models what it means to be intentional about companionship and his example speaks directly to those who are careless about who they befriend. David looks with favor on the faithful in the land so they may dwell with him and those whos walk is blameless will minister alongside him. Your companions either elevate you toward God or draw you away from him. there is no neutral ground.

Guys if you guys take only one thing from today , let it be that that we need people who desperatley love jesus around us. Godly companionship. who you walk with matters. you guys have all probaly heard the story of paralyzed man who was healed because of his friends faith. they brought him on a roof and lowered him in the middle of the crowd just to reach jesus. let me ask you and truly ponder on this… the circle of people you walk with now, would they lift you on a roof and lower you down a hole just to reach jesus???

No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house, no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.”

whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm proverbs 13:20 and its no a suggestion just like nad company corrupts good character isnt an opinion. it is truth. You might think this part is cruel when in reality its stewardship of our own soul. when you stop caring who you befriend, your essentially saying you dont care who you become

Psalm 101:8 “every morning i will put to silence all the wicked in the land; i will cut off every evil doer from the city of the lord”

David commits to removing wickedness consistently—“morning by morning.” This wasn’t something he did once; it was a daily commitment to keep evil out of God’s city. It shows how serious and consistent David was about pursuing holiness.

But here’s the tension: No earthly king can sustain this. David himself failed. His successors compromised. Yet this psalm points to one who won’t.

church… david desired this, david failed at this. you and i fail at this. none of us have perfectly guarded our eyes perfectly, guarded our mouths, ruled our homes our or circles. but i have good news

There was a better king , a better david

Jesus christ

who perfectly loved, who perfectly obeyed, perfectly guarded his eyes , his heart. spoke truth, hated evil, walked blamelessly .

he didnt simply preach psalm 101 but he fulfilled it and through his death our failures are forgiven,

through his resurection, our hearts are changed . through his spirit, his holiness is formed inside of us its the gospel.

questions (CLOSE)

is there compromises youve allowed into your eyes?

is there gossip you have been entertaining ?

is your private life different from your public life?

are your friendships pulling you towards or away from jesus?

So I’m asking you today: Will you stop negotiating with compromise? Will you name it—that friendship, that habit, that ambition—and lay it down? God is holy, and we must not allow any compromise with sin to infiltrate our lives. Because God is light, He will graciously reveal what we try to hide so that we can grow in integrity.1

today isnt just an invitation to try harder,

today is an invitation to surrender. surrender deeper parts of your life, parts youve been holding back, ask the lord to search your heart and show you what aspets of your life your holding onto that is compromisng a life of holiness.

But do something that says: “I’m done. No more double life. No more rationalizing. I’m choosing Christ’s kingdom completely—this morning, and every morning after.”