Sermon Tone Analysis

A Frightening Invitation to Careful Examination

Psalm 26:1‑8

 

Vindicate me, O LORD,

for I have led a blameless life;

I have trusted in the LORD

without wavering.

Test me, O LORD, and try me,

examine my heart and my mind;

for your love is ever before me,

and I walk continually in your truth.

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.

I wash my hands in innocence,

and go about your altar, O LORD,

proclaiming aloud your praise

and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

I love the house where you live, O LORD,

the place where your glory dwells.

Modern evangelicalism has lost her fear of the Lord.

We take His presence for granted; and what we take for granted we neither value nor esteem.

Irreverence grins in the face of Holy God.

We approach His throne with a casual *sans souci* unparalleled since the creation.

We no longer fear the Lord, explaining away such concepts as old‑fashioned and unworthy of our position.

We cannot understand what it means to stand in awe of the Lord.

Consequently, we marvel at reports from another day which spoke of stirring conversions and of mighty power among the witnesses of the Lord.

Such reports seem mythical to us.

Vance Havner spoke of modern church goers as morning glories, blooming at 11:00 a.m. each Sunday morning, only to fold up during the remainder of the week.

Thank God, there is a small remnant.

If there is hope of change in contemporary evangelicalism, it will come from that remnant.

I speak boldly, hoping that I address the remnant within our own local assembly.

Turning to the Psalms, we encounter an intimacy and an intensity which almost embarrasses us.

The Psalms are not merely sweet poems which sing nicely when put to music.

They are prayers from the heart of real men and women, not unlike ourselves.

At one moment, these songs spring joyously from hearts full of joy and love.

At another moment, they are wrenched from hearts crushed by care and fear and hurt and sorrow and grief.

Whatever the motivation, they are prayers worthy of our study and emulation.

The *26th Psalm* is presented as David's.

Reading the Psalm, we must suppose David was enduring slander or reproach, and his immediate response was to turn to God's throne.

How bold, though, is the Psalmist before that sacred throne!

The prayer penned serves as a reminder to us to jeopardise all before God if we would truly advance in Christian experience, to live with breath-taking boldness as we stand before the Lord, committing our way to Him.

The Examiner [*The Lord* – *vv 1, 2*] —Notice that the examiner is the Lord.

We have employed His Name so much that it has become common to us and no longer holds terror for us.

We use His Name in such a casual fashion.

His Name is a by‑word in the degenerated language of modern communication.

*O Lord* and *Lord God Almighty* and *O God* is no longer the preface to heart‑broken prayer, not even among the professed Church of God.

But who is this we call Lord?  Whom do we address?

You are familiar with the Hebrew, *Yahweh*, or perhaps you are more familiar with the errant, anglicised form *Jehovah*, but what is meant by that Name?

You will recall that Moses asked of God when commissioned to go back to Egypt to bring deliverance to the Hebrews, Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?”

Then what shall I tell them [*Exodus 3:13*]?

The response of Him who spoke from the burning bush gave us insight into His Person: *I AM WHO I AM*.

This is what you are to say to the Israelites: *I AM *has sent me to you [*Exodus 3:14*].

Intimately associated with that Name is the thought of self-existence, the concept of eternity, the idea of infinity.

God */is/* greater than that which we can imagine.

Uncreated, He had neither beginning nor end.

He is both immanent and transcendent.

We have so emphasised the love and acceptance of the Living God that we have forgotten that He is mighty in power and awesome in glory; thus, we know but little of worship.

Ignorant of His Person, we know nothing of His power.

Vindicate me, O Lord…  I have trusted in The Lord…  Test me O Lord, wrote the Psalmist.

In those words of invitation is an acknowledgement too often forgotten by modern churchgoers: it is God who examines the heart.

It is God who is able to examine the heart; it is God who shall ultimately examine the heart, exposing us for what we are.

Remember those cautionary words of the apostle: We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body [*2 Corinthians 5:10*].

How chilling that thought to casual Christians!

We who know Him shall be examined by Him; and He alone is able to expose us.

How many pious acts will be revealed as fraudulent!

How many deeds of piety will be exposed as self‑seeking!

Sinners will be condemned as having never known the Lord, and that will be even more solemn than the searching examination His own must undergo.

I confess that I worry for this charge over which the Lord has placed me.

Have I spoken plainly enough?  Did I honour the One who set me in this position?

Have I neglected some point of doctrine to the hurt of the people?

I am but a man and I cannot know motives of the people, but I confess that the indifference I witness among the professed Church of God weighs heavily on my heart.

You cannot know the despair that comes over preachers time-after-time as they look upon the faces of their congregations and feel, “What shall I do to put a sharp enough point upon this truth to get it into the heart of some man or woman who has been sitting as long as I have been standing here, and is never a bit better for it?”

Some of this congregation has been listening, listening, listening, until hearts have become so habituated to this Christian preaching that it does not produce the least effect.

It runs off like rain from a raincoat.

What can I say?

How shall I communicate the truth?

And when shall we know the fear of the Lord?

The Examined [*We who are His people, as we appear before Him*] — Repeatedly the Psalmist presents himself for divine scrutiny.

Listen to him as he repeatedly invites God to examine him.

Vindicate *ME*…  *I* have led a blameless life…  *I* have trusted…  Test *ME*…  Try *ME*…  examine *MY* heart and *MY* mind.

Would any of us dare stand before the Living God, inviting Him to examine us and expose us?

How painful the light when it falls on eyes accustomed to darkness!

How fearful the light to that one whose deeds are evil!

I suggest to you that few of us, if any, would welcome such examination.

Yet, in a spirit of love for the flock of the Lord, I warn you that each of us shall stand exposed before Him, giving an account of each life and of each ministry.

I am assuredly conscious that I must give an accounting for every word, for every deed, for every thought I have harboured or encouraged.

As a minister of the Lord Jesus, how much greater is my accountability to the Lord Christ.

I have stood before the blood-bought Church of the Lord, speaking in His Name words which have either encouraged or discouraged those who heard, which have either instructed in righteousness or confirmed in wickedness those who listened, which have either honoured Him or have dishonoured Him.

I cannot read the Word of God without receiving reminders of my own responsibility.

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.

Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith…  Obey your leaders and submit to their authority.

They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.

Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you [*Hebrews 13:7, 17*].

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away [*1 Peter 5:2‑4*].

How awesome the thought that we who consider ourselves as leaders of God’s flock—as elders and as teachers—must give a report to Him who redeemed us and who appointed us to this holy task.

How much more awesome still our knowledge that this report shall be in the first person.

I see no prospect that any among us can give any excuse for shirking our responsibility before God and before His holy people.

We cannot excuse sin either in conduct or in speech.