Ashton Earwood- "Summer in the Psalms" - Sermon 7 (7/19/2026)

Before God is concerned with what He wants to do through you, He is deeply concerned about who He is making you into. Psalm 101 opens with King David asking not what kind of kingdom he wanted to build, but what kind of man he needed to become. That same question belongs to every follower of Christ. A life that reflects God begins with worship, grows through personal holiness, and is shaped by the relationships we choose. Jesus lived the perfect life David longed to live, and through Him, God does not simply forgive those who fall short. He begins transforming them into the very people Psalm 101 describes.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Amen. What a great time of singing and worship this morning. Well, it is such an honor to be up here and to get to open God's word with you this morning. If I have not had the opportunity to meet you yet, my name is Ashton, and I am the next generation director here at Tabernacle Baptist Church, and I'm excited because I get to continue our Summer in the Psalms series this morning. We've been we've been in this series for the majority of the summer. And if you have your Bibles with you, please turn to Psalm 101. That's where we're going to spend some time this morning. And as you get there, I want to tell you a story. This week, as I was preparing for this sermon, I came across a story about Billy Graham that I just kind of couldn't stop thinking about. And the more I read about that story and the more I studied Psalms 101, the more I realized how well it fit the passage and how much it was kind of very similar topics, I guess you could say. But if you don't know Billy Graham, he is, or he was just a kid, a little redneck kid from a dairy farm in North Carolina. But by the grace of God, he became one of the most influential evangelists that really we have ever seen. He preached to millions, he counseled presidents, he saw countless lives change through the preaching of God's word. But one of the things that I admired about him the most is kind of the story that I'm about to tell you about, didn't happen in front of thousands of people. Before the ministry really took off, years before his ministry really took off, before stadiums were filling up to hear him preach, before millions ever heard him preach around the world, Billy Graham and a few of his ministry partners, they gathered together for a meeting in a hotel in Modesto, California. And they gathered together to talk about something that they had, it's kind of been weighing heavy on their hearts. They had seen well too many Christian leaders fall. Like people who they were friends with. These people had huge churches. Some of them were great evangelists, and Billy Graham and his friends watched them kind of fall. They had watched one Christian leader after another just lose the ministry that God had called them to. Some of them had fallen because of their love of money. These respected men mishandled and betrayed the trust of some of their followers, some of their people that they were called to shepherd. Some had fallen because of pride. They loved themselves and the platform more than they loved God. Some had fallen because of sexual sins. They were caught in adultery and scandals. Others had just stopped living the very message that they were preaching. So this was weighing heavily on all of these pastors and evangelists. And Billy Graham and his friends at the time, they wanted to make sure that their hearts were aligned with God so that nothing like that would happen to them. So before they ever talked about growing their ministry, before the Billy Graham ministry ever took off, before they talked about reaching more people, before they talked about preaching to a larger crowd, they made a decision to form a commitment to God. And this meeting became known as the Modesto Manifesto, which is pretty fun to say. But what it actually is, is it's a declaration of biblical integrity. That's what it is. So it wasn't a strategy for building a huge ministry. It was not a strategy for getting more people and more fundraising and more this and more that. What it was was it was a commitment to protect their character. So they committed to financial integrity, to moral purity, to honesty and humility because they understood something that every believer probably needs to understand, and that's before God is concerned with the size of our influence, he is concerned with the character, the condition of our character. So before he's concerned with how many people we lead, he's concerned about what our character looks like on the inside. And that's important because influence without character is dangerous. What does that mean? There's a lot of people who influence a lot of people, and it's dangerous because not every big influence is a godly influence. There's some people who are not godly people at all, but they have a ton of influence and they're leading them down the wrong path. So that's why it can get dangerous. But they, these Billy Graham and his friends believe that if God was ever going to trust them with a greater influence, their private lives had to reflect the message that they proclaimed publicly. They had to do what they were preaching, they had to practice what they were preaching. And by God's grace, Billy Graham is not only known for his powerful preaching, but also for the integrity of his life. So we saw Billy Graham standing at this crossroads. Would he spend his life pursuing influence or cultivating character? Why do I tell you that? Because today we're going to see David standing at a very similar crossroads. When we open up to Psalm 101, David had just become king over all Israel. And if anybody had a reason to start talking about military strategy, political reform, strengthen the kingdom, build the kingdom, change the things that he doesn't like, it's David. The dude killed a huge Goliath. Like I think he can strengthen military. So David was very much a respected king. But before David ever starts talking about the betterment of the kingdom around him, he begins talking about the character within himself. So before he asks, What kind of kingdom do I want to build? He first asks, What kind of man do I need to become? So I think that's a question that every one of us can probably ask ourselves this morning, not just pastors, not just leaders, not just parents, but every follower of Christ can ask themselves, Who am I becoming? Because before God is concerned with what he wants to do through you and through your life, he's deeply concerned about who he is making you into, who he's making you to be. And that's exactly where Psalms 101 begins by showing us the character of a king. So David doesn't begin by making rules for Israel. He doesn't build a strong military day one. He doesn't try to fix all the problems that previous leadership had created. He begins by looking upward because David understands that if he's going to become the king that God has called him to be, everything has to begin in one place. So over the next few minutes, we're going to follow David's journey throughout Psalms 101 and let's see where he begins. We're going to read verses 1 and 2 to start in Psalm 101. Verse 1 says, I will sing of mercy and justice to you, O Lord. I will sing praises. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. So those first two verses kind of give us our first point this morning, and that is begin with God. Before David considers the kingdom around him, he turns his attention to God above him and the heart within him. So what do we see from this text? David is now king over Israel. We know that. And David begins this psalm in kind of an unexpected way. He doesn't start by talking about enemies. He doesn't start by talking about government. He doesn't start by telling you all the things that like a politician today would be like, when you elect me, I'm going to do this, this, this, this, and that ain't even lunchtime yet. That's not where David's starting. David is starting straight with God. And he begins with showing why it's important to start with God. The very first word of this psalm is, or first uh sentence, excuse me, is, I will sing of mercy and justice to you, O Lord, I will sing praises. So before David makes any commitments at all, he worships God. Very first thing he does. Before he thinks about ruling, he remembers who truly rules over heaven and earth. And that's not an accident. David understands that if his life is going to reflect God, it must first be centered on God. He can't have a life that points other people to Christ if he's not first pointed to Christ himself, like if he's not centered on Christ. So David immediately moves from this worship to personal responsibility. He says, I will behave wisely in a perfect way. And the word perfect here does not mean sinless perfection. It means it's the it's carrying the idea of being blameless or wholehearted or a life marked with integrity. You don't have to be sinless to have integrity in your life. And that's kind of what David's going for. He's saying, I want every part of my life to be aligned with God's ways. And then comes what I think is one of the most interesting statements in this entire psalm. He says, Oh, when will you come to me? This kind of sounds like a prayer in the middle of commitment. David recognized something very important. He doesn't just need better discipline. David doesn't need to try harder. He doesn't need to be a better Christian. He needs God's presence. That's what he needs. So before he asks God to bless Israel, he longs for God's nearness. He wants to be close to God. And then David finishes this section by saying, I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. And this is significant because before David ever mentions the palace, he mentions the house. Before public leadership, he mentions private faithfulness. Before he sits on the throne over Israel, he's worried about his home. And that kind of just shows me that integrity begins where very few people are watching. David didn't have to have a full kingdom looking up to him to practice integrity. But why does David begin here? Because David knows something that we can forget a lot of times. The kingdom will never become healthier than the character of its king. Here's what I mean by that. David can't lead God's people somewhere that he is not willing to go himself. If he wants a kingdom that is solely focusing on God, then the king, David, himself has to solely focus on God. To follow the leader, the leader has to lead you somewhere. And that's kind of what David is starting with. So if he wanted a kingdom that reflected God's character, it had to begin with him, the king, who has a heart that reflects God's character. And everything else we read in Psalms 101 will grow out of these opening verses. If David doesn't begin with worship, then he's never going to pursue holiness. And if he doesn't pursue holiness, then he's not going to cultivate godly relationships. And if he doesn't cultivate godly relationships, he's never going to build a kingdom that reflects God's character. So everything begins right here. And Jesus teaches this very same principle in John 15, 4 and 5. He says, Abide in me, for without me you can do nothing. So suddenly David's words starts making a little more sense to me because in a moment we're going to see David will start to make these commitments. But before that, he cries out, Oh, when will you come to me? So he understands that he didn't just simply need more determination. He didn't need to try harder. He just needed God's presence. And that longing kind of finds fulfillment in Christ. So through Jesus, we don't have to wonder if God is going to come near. He invites us to abide in him every single day. So the very presence that David is looking for is the relationship that Jesus offers all of his believers. In Proverbs 423, he reminds us, guard your heart, for out of it spring the issues of life. So David understood that too. That's why Psalms 101 doesn't begin with changing a nation and making all these fixes. It begins with a heart that's near to God. So one of the easiest mistakes I think that we as followers of Christ can make is trying to live for God before actually spending time with God. What do I mean by that? We can get busy serving, we can get busy leading or parenting or working. And in that busyness, we kind of neglect the very relationship that gives those things meaning. As crazy as it sounds, we can get so busy serving God and trying to be a better Christian that we forget that spending time with God is actually the thing that gives meaning to serving and living the Christian life. So we can be so caught up trying to do better and be better that we neglect that spending time with God is what actually makes us better. And we try to do so many things for God that we forget to spend time with God. And David reminds us that a life that honors God doesn't begin with activity. It doesn't begin with doing more. It doesn't begin with making your schedule so busy that you can't even think sometimes. It begins with intimacy. But so maybe before asking God, what do you want me to do? Maybe we should ask, Am I walking closely with God? So before we go out and preach to all the nations and do so many things, I think it's very important that we start with walking closely to God and talking with God. Because from there, he's going to tell you what to do. He's going to tell you where to apply yourself. He'll keep you busy enough. Have the relationship with God and let him send you where it is you need to go. So I think my takeaway for this point is a life that reflects God begins with eyes fixed on him and a heart devoted to him. So if David has truly fixed his eyes on God, what happens next? Something begins to change. The closer we draw near to God's presence, the more clearly we begin to see ourselves. Have you ever noticed all throughout scripture it repeats itself? Isaiah, for example. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and immediately he cried, Woe is me, for I am undone. Peter witnessed the miraculous power of Jesus and fell on his feet, saying, Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. So the light of God's holiness has a way of exposing everything that doesn't belong, if that makes sense. And that's exactly what happens to David. He doesn't leave this moment of worship thinking, All right, now let's go fix Israel. What he's doing is he understands that you can't reflect the character of God while holding on to the things that dishonor God. You can't live for God while actively doing the things that dishonor him. And David knows that. And he says this in verses three and four. Verse three, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away, it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me. I will not know wickedness. So point two is pursue personal holiness. Basically, a heart fixed on God begins to turn away from everything that pulls it away from him. So notice what David is not saying. He's not saying, here's what Israel needs to stop doing. Here's the sins that my people commit. Here's something that my household needs to get right. He's talking about himself. David is talking about himself. He's saying, I will, I will set, I will not. So before David confronts the sin that's happening in the kingdom, he confronts the sin that could live in his own heart. So what do we see from this text? David now begins describing what personal holiness actually looks like. So notice what he starts with. Not with actions, he starts with what he could allow into his life. He says, I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. Why? Because David understood that what captures your eyes eventually influences your heart, and what shapes your heart eventually shapes your life. And it's just like that. So David knew that holiness was not about avoiding sinful action. It was about guarding the influences that lead to those actions. So then he says, I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not cling to me. So David is not saying he hates people. David was not a people hater. He just used that word, don't take it out of context. What David is saying is he refuses to become comfortable with what dishonors God. In other words, he's refusing to normalize sin that's happening around him. Even if it's not his own personal sin, he's refusing to become desensitized to the sin. And I think that's something that many of us, including myself, might struggle with today. We become so surrounded by sin because sin is everywhere. It's a sinful world. We get surrounded by it. And at some point, it just doesn't start to feel like sin, if that makes sense. It stops bothering us. We we get desensitized to it. So we normalize it. We justify it. We ignore it. We ignore it and say, well, at the end of the day, that's not my sin. That's him sinning. I'm not doing nothing. But as believers, we're called to love the sinners, but not called to love sin. And David didn't want to compromise to be normal. So if the people closest to him were caught in sin, he wasn't going to ignore it and pretend everything was fine. He was going to call it out. He was going to help his brother and call it out. And then David says, A perverse heart shall depart from me. So now we see move deeper. He's no longer talking about his eyes, he's talking about his heart, because that's where every battle eventually will end up. So sin is never just an outward problem. It's at the root, it's a heart problem. And finally, he says, I will not know wickedness. That does not mean that David was unaware that evil existed. He knew that evil existed. It means that he refused to become familiar with it. He refused to make peace with it, or he refused to make it a normal part of his life. He was not interested in seeing how close that he could get to sin without crossing the line, if that makes sense. He wasn't going to put himself in any kind of temptation to where he might cross the line. And I think that a lot of us today might ask, where's the line? How close can I get to sin without actually stepping into sin? How far can I go before it becomes ungodly? So I think we a lot of times might ask, where's the line? But David is asking, how close can I stay to God? You know, a good way to make sure you never get to that sinful line? Stay as close to God as you can. And that's exactly what David is doing. So his goal was not to avoid crossing a sinful boundary. His goal was to stay close to the one he loved, stay close to God. And his focus was not on that sinful line, it was on the Lord. And why does David say these things? Because worship naturally produces holiness. So we saw him worshiping, and naturally that will produce holiness because the closer we draw to God, the less comfortable we become with things that dishonor him. Whether it's our sin or not. Whether it's our sin or we're just letting it slide in somebody that we call a friend, but we're watching them go down a dark road. But worship produces holiness. And this whole thing is not about earning God's love. It's about responding to God's love. So David's not trying to become God's child. He's living like somebody who already belongs to God. That's why we see the things he does. Romans 12 says, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Paul is echoing David's thought. Holiness begins with transformation inside out. Then Philippians 4 reminds us, whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, meditate on these things. So David says, be careful what you put before your eyes. Paul says, be intentional about what fills your mind. Even if you have zero like thoughts that it's ever going to lead you anywhere, you put it before your eyes, you let it fill your mind, suddenly you're going down a road you never meant to go down. And it happens very quickly. So one of the greatest lies I think our culture tells us is as long as it doesn't affect anybody else, it's not a big deal. And David completely disagrees. He understands that private compromise eventually produces a public consequence. So what does that mean? The things that we watch, the conversations we entertain, the bitterness that we refuse to let go of, the pride that we quietly let grow, and the things that we excuse because nobody even knows it's happening, those things shape us. And over time they begin to compete with the character that God is forming inside of you. So you're doing little things that you might not think is a big deal because nobody knows or it doesn't hurt anybody. And then suddenly those things are competing with the character that God is trying to grow you in. And basically, personal holiness is not about creating a list of rules. It's about removing whatever is keeping you from becoming more like Christ. So instead of asking, How close can I get to sin without crossing that line? Maybe we should ask, does this help me reflect the character of the king I belong to? Does this help me reflect the character of God? My takeaway for this point, what we consistently allow into our lives will eventually shape the people we become. What constantly fills our head that we look at, that we hear, that we entertain, that's forming us, that's shaping us into who we're becoming. So David, he has now looked upward. He has now looked inward into himself. Point one, we saw that David doesn't begin with things around him, he begins with God. Point two, David doesn't begin with cleaning up Israel's sin. He begins with confronting the sin that could take root in his own heart. But David knows something that I think all of us could really learn a lot from. Character is never developed in isolation. So, yes, our relationship with God is personal, but it was never meant to be private. And the people that we surround ourselves with are either going to encourage us in our walk with God or slowly pull us away from God. And David understood that if his heart was going to remain faithful, he couldn't just be intentional about what's happening within himself, but he also has to be intentional about who he's surrounding himself with, who he allows to be close. And that's exactly where David takes us next. We're going to read verses five through seven. Verse five Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house. He who tells lies shall not. Continue in my presence. So in these verses, we kind of see that point three gives us cultivate godly relationships. The people that we allow close to us, the closest people in our lives, will either strengthen our walk with God or slowly pull us away from Him. Those are the only two options. You're either getting closer to God or moving further away from Him. And the people you surround yourself with have a lot to do with that. So what do we see in the text? David's focus continues to expand. He looked upward to God to start with. He looked in inward at himself. Now he's beginning to look around him, and David understands that the kind of kingdom that he wants to build is going to be shaped by the people that he allows close to him. He begins by describing the people that he refuses to tolerate. Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor. And slander is more than just speaking negatively about somebody. Slander is tearing another person down, tearing their reputation down behind their back, and simply put, it's gossip is what it is. And David knew that gossip and slander would completely destroy trust long before they destroy relationships. And a kingdom cannot survive where people are constantly tearing each other down. A kingdom can't survive where people are constantly got, and neither can a church, just throwing that in there. But then David says, the one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure. What does this mean? Pride has always been one of the greatest enemies of God's people. Always. Why? Because it shifts your focus and dependence away from God and puts it onto yourself. Pride, it says, I got this. Humility says, Lord, I need you. Pride says, look at what I've done, look at my success. Humility says, look at what God has done. Look at how faithful he is. So David knew that there was no room for pride in this kingdom that belonged to God. But notice David doesn't just tell us the people he rejects. He also tells us who he welcomes. He says, My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land. David is intentionally looking for faithful people. He's looking for godly friends. Not the most talented, not the most popular, not the most influential, the faithful, because faithfulness has always mattered more to God than any fame or any stuff. Then he says, He who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. Again, perfect does not mean sinless in this text. It means a life marked with integrity and devotion to God. So he's looking for people who's devoted their lives to God. And David wanted people around him who would eventually point David to God. David was a man of God, but just like every other man of God, sometimes David fails. He's a sinful man, and when he does, he wants a godly friend to point him right back to Christ. And then finally, David says, He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house, he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Truth mattered. Integrity mattered. Because the people closest to David would eventually shape the culture of his kingdom. So why does David say all this? Because our pursuit of holiness was never meant to happen alone. God has always used people to encourage, to sharpen, to strengthen his children, but the opposite is also very true as well. The wrong influence can slowly pull you away from the very thing that God is trying to build in your life. This is something I go over with the students a lot because that's a lot of times where it happens, but it happens in every walk of life. David understood that if he wanted a kingdom marked by righteousness, he had to surround himself with people who valued righteousness. It's very kind of understandable that if he wanted this to happen, he's going to surround himself with people who want the same things. Does that mean they always agree? No. Does that mean they're always yes men? No. And that's good because their goal is the same. They want a kingdom that reflects God's character. In Proverbs 13, 20 says, He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. So people that we constantly walk with influence the people that we become. Do not 1 Corinthians 15, do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits. And notice Paul here says, do not be deceived. That's the first thing he says in this verse. Do not be deceived, because this is easy to underestimate. When we think a lot of times in our friendships that people might not know Christ, but we're friends with him. A lot of times we think we're influencing them. We're doing a great job. We're pointing them to Christ. Yeah, they might not be the best people, they might not know God, but we're influencing them. But a lot of times they're influencing us. And it's very kind of tricky how it happens. It can happen without you even knowing it. So, yes, do I think it's possible that you can help lift a friend up to Christ? Yes. Do I think it's possible that a friend can pull you down away from your walk? Yes. But at the end of the day, I'm just saying be careful. Have your head on a swivel, kind of know what's happening, be prepared to stick to what you believe, stick to the truth, even when somebody pushes back on that. So now, this doesn't mean that Christians should just isolate themselves from unbelievers. Jesus spent time with sinners. He loved sinners, he ate with sinners. If we avoided everybody who didn't know Christ, we'd never fulfill the Great Commission. So David's not teaching you to live in isolation. He's teaching influence. There's a difference between loving people and giving everybody influence over your life. One of the things that I've learned in my own life is that not everybody deserves influence in my life. A lot of people have an opinion. Guess who doesn't have to take everybody's opinion? Any of us. Not everybody deserves influence over my life. The same is true for you. Just because somebody has an opinion about what you should do does not mean you have to take their advice, especially when it's against God. So ask yourself, who speaks into my life? Who shapes my thinking? What do I listen to the most? Whose voice carries the greatest weight in my decisions? Because over time the people closest to us help shape the people we become. Maybe for some of us, the maybe we shouldn't just go out and end a bunch of friendships, but maybe we should intentionally look for faithful people. Look for godly friends, people who will encourage you, people who will pray with you and for you, people who challenge you, and at the end of the day, people who were pointing you towards Christ. So just as David intentionally looked for the faithful, we should try to intentionally pursue relationships that help us know Jesus better. My takeaway for that is the relationships we cultivate will shape the character we become. So David has shown us a beautiful kind of progression here. He began with God, then he examined his own heart, then he became intentional about people surrounding him. Now in the final verse of Psalms, David steps back and then he looks at the bigger picture. So what he's doing is because of a heart devoted to God, a life pursuing holiness and a relationship grounded in faithfulness, we're gonna see that this doesn't stop with the individual. It doesn't stop with David. They begin to shape the world around them, and the same is true for us. When we follow this, we begin to shape the world around us. So David's desire was not to be a better man. David's desire was to see an entire kingdom reflect the character of God. And that's exactly where the psalm concludes. Let's read verse eight. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land that I may cut off all of the evildoers from the city of the Lord. Bold statement. But point four, reflect God's kingdom. A life transformed by God should influence the world around it for the glory of God. So from this text, what do we see? David has now completed the progression. Upward, inward, around him. Now he's looking outward. Notice what David says. Early I will destroy all the wickedness of the land. And at first that sounded harsh. I'm like, superhero, David's gonna come work a miracle. But what I'm thinking here, now that I think about it, is he's not just a random person. He's speaking as the king of Israel. He does he is in charge. Like he he has some pretty high status. And remember, David's not just taking personal revenge. What David is doing is what he feels like he's called to do. God had trusted him with the responsibility of leading his covenant people according to God's righteousness. So that's why we see David doing this. He's talking about carrying that out. His desire was that evil would not be allowed to exist in the kingdom that God had given him to lead. Then he says this, that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord. And this part stuck out to me. Notice how he said city of the Lord, because David understood something very important. Israel was not ultimately David's kingdom, it was God's. Yes, David's the king. It's not David's kingdom. It belonged to God. So David was a steward. He wanted God's people to reflect God's character. His desire was not just for a peaceful nation, but his desire was for a holy nation. And why does David end it like this? Why does he end here? Because character was never meant to stop with David. It was meant to influence everything that God had trusted him with. So think about the progression that we've seen through the song. David doesn't start with rebuilding Israel. He examines his own heart. Then he considers the people that are closest to him. And then and only then does he start to think about the kingdom. That's not accidental. That's God's work always moving from the inside out. We see that time after time. He changes the heart before the home. He changes the home before the communities. He changes the communities before the nations. That's how it happens. If you want to change the way things are going in your home to a more Christ-like way, it starts with your own heart and then moves to the home. If you want to change communities, okay, heart, home, community. It all starts within your own heart. So David understood that lasting change does not begin with policies and rules or a stronger military. It begins with people whose hearts belong to God. So most of us, I would say a pretty good chance that most of us are not ever going to rule a nation like David did. I don't think any of us are called to be kings of Israel. But one, every single one of us have been given a sphere of influence. Every single person in this room is influencing somebody, whether you realize that or not. So for David, it was the kingdom of Israel. For you, it might be your home. Others, it might be your workplace, it might be your classroom, your team, your neighborhood, your church, your friend group. The sphere of influence that God has entrusted you with, it might look different than David's, but it's no less of a responsibility before God. It's just as important in God's eyes. So the question is not whether you have influence, the question is what kind of kingdom are you helping build? Because every decision that you make is pointing people towards a kingdom. It's either God's kingdom or your own kingdom. But every choice you make is showing somebody to a kingdom. So when people spend time around you, do they see more of Christ? Do they experience more truth? Do they see grace, integrity, faithfulness, or do they just experience the same values and attitudes that the world offers? Pride, greed, gossip, selfishness, sin, or more than sin, maybe it's sin in somebody else's life that you're not calling out and helping them. You're just kind of letting it go because you don't want to hurt them or you don't want to have that awkward conversation. But point is, do people experience God's kingdom or the world's kingdom when they're around you? So God has placed each of us exactly where we're at for a purpose, not just to exist there, but to represent Him. So my takeaway for this point would be where God has placed you, live in a way that reflects the king that you represent. Wherever God has you at, live there like God put you there. Represent God. Show his character, show his love. So where God has placed you, live in a way that reflects the king you represent. So as I start to wrap this up a little bit, I want us to understand something. David's vision is beautiful. David had a great plan. He wanted a kingdom marked by justice. Great. He wanted his people to be marked by holiness. Fantastic. A king devoted to God. Sounds amazing. But as we walk through Psalm 101, maybe you've noticed something. Because I know I noticed this the first time that I kind of started to look at it. Every commitment that David makes exposes a standard that none of us have met. What does that mean? Can any of us honestly say that we've never fixed our eyes on anything sinful? Or we've never struggled with pride, or we've never spoken words that would hurt somebody else, or we've always rejected or we've always reflected God's character perfectly. If we're honest, none of us have done that. Not even King David. And that leaves us with one question. This is a great kingdom that he's building, but who's going to live there? Who could ever live in a kingdom like this? If the entrance into God's kingdom depended on perfectly living the life that Psalm 101 shows us, the kingdom would be empty except for one. And his name is Jesus. So in the fullness of time, we kind of see that God sent another king, and not a king like David. We're talking about the king of kings. He sent Jesus, and Jesus lived a perfect life that David longed to live. He never acted in pride, he never gave his heart to sin. He never spoke in deceit. But here's the beauty of the gospel: Jesus did not just come to show us how to live. He, if that were the case, we'd all still be hopeless. He came to do for us what only he could do. And the king who deserved the throne took the cross, and those who deserve judgment now can receive mercy. That's what we see. So three days later he rose from the grave, defeating sin, death, and sin, death, and the grave forever. And as the ban comes up, I kind of want us all to pay attention to this right here. The good news is not just that Jesus forgives people who failed, Psalm 101. Because, yes, very true, none of us have lived to the standards of Psalm 101. But the good news here is that he begins transforming them into the very people that Psalm 101 describes. Yes, we failed, but by God we can become more like Christ each and every day. What does this mean? In Ezekiel 36, it says, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. So God does not change our behavior, he changes our heart. He gives us a new heart. And the same Holy Spirit who lives in every believer is making us more like the King each and every day, more like Jesus each and every day. Not perfectly, but progressively. So Psalm 101 is not just God's standard, it's through Christ, it becomes God's work inside of us. So this morning I believe that there are two groups of people here. The first group is believers. Maybe as we've studied Psalms 101, Holy Spirit might have convicted you on an area of your own life. Maybe it's what you've allowed before your eyes. Maybe it's pride. Maybe it's the voices that you've allowed to shape your heart. Maybe it's sin in your own life, or maybe even it's remaining silent when someone that you love is walking away from God and you just don't address it. Maybe your public profession of faith has begun to kind of outpace your private walk with God. This invitation is not about trying harder. It's about returning to the same thing David did. Begin with God. Spend time in his presence. Fix your eyes on him. Ask him, Lord, what part of my life does not yet reflect the God that I belong to? Where can I get better? Where can I grow? And then surrender that area to him because the God who saved you is still sanctifying you. He's still growing you, he's still making you more like his son. It never stops. And then the other group to the one who doesn't know Christ, the one who has not accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Maybe today you've realized something. You don't need to become a better person. You don't need to fix yourself. You don't simply need to try harder. You need a new heart. You don't need another self-improvement plan. You need a savior. And Jesus is inviting you to earn your way, or he's not inviting you to earn your way into his kingdom. What he's doing is he's inviting you to receive what he's already accomplished through his death and resurrection. So if you'll turn from your sin, if you'll turn to Christ and surrender your life to him, he's gonna forgive you. He's gonna give you a new heart. And he's going to make you a part of his kingdom forever. And the invitation is still available for that today. So as we begin to kind of just close, long before David ever tried to shape a kingdom, before he ever tried to fix anything in Israel, he asked God to shape his heart. That's the first thing he did. And maybe that's where God is calling us today. Maybe he's calling us back to the beginning. Maybe things in our lives have gone kind of sideways, gone kind of hectic. It starts with going back to God. Same place David started, same place we start. So maybe we don't leave here today asking, How can I fix everything and everyone around me? Maybe we ask, does my life reflect the king that I claim to follow? Does my character match God's character? Because a heart fixed on God becomes a life that reflects God. And when a life reflects God, then homes begin to change. Then churches begin to change, then communities begin to change. Not only because we've built our own kingdom, or it's actually not at all because we built our own kingdom, it's because we faithfully representing God and His character. So maybe today we just ask ourselves when people are around me, what kingdom do they see? Do they see my kingdom? They see God's kingdom. Do they see my character or God's character? So we're gonna pray here in a moment. And as we conclude, I would just say that if there's something that maybe the Spirit has convicted you of this morning, you're gonna have time to talk with Him. Altars are open. Pray in your seats, reflect, think about it. If somebody in your life maybe is speaking into your life, maybe pray that prayer. Ask God how to guide you through that. If you need to be a better friend, ask God how to be a better friend. There's just something I believe that we're all missing. And that is not all of us are perfectly God's character. Do I think we can get there? We're not gonna be perfect, but by God's grace, I think we can try and we can help to build God's kingdom the same way David is. And that's by trusting in God and leaning on Him. So let's pray. Dear Lord, we just thank you for this day. We thank you for the opportunity that you've allowed us.