Summer Psalms 2026 – Week 4

I love the Delta Airlines Please Buckle Your Seatbelt video. I love it, so it's got to stay forever, in my opinion. But it's amazing. It's so good to be back with you guys. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Robert Pier. I'm one of the pastors here at the Grove Bible Chapel. I oversee the worship ministry here at the church and the men's ministry here at the church, and we're really excited for the ministry year to launch back again in just a couple of weeks here in August.

Now, this summer, my wife Emily introduced me to the show Beast Games on Amazon Prime Video. Some of you have seen the show, and if you haven't, don't worry, I'm going to give you just a quick 101 synopsis of what happens in this show. It's this reality competition created by MrBeast. Now, to be honest, I didn't know who that was until a month ago. Okay? I heard the name, kicked it around. I feel really old saying that to here. This is the first time I've really seen anything of his, and I also learned that MrBeast isn't anything sinister, it's just a username that he had when he was 12 that he kept.

So the juvenile origins of what is now a mega $2. 6 billion brand, and then you just say, "Boy, YouTube is an interesting world, isn't it?" But we can talk about that later. Anyway, in the Beast Games, this competition where contestants compete in physical and mental, and social challenges to win this egregious, enormous $5 million prize. Now, I've watched a lot of cooking channel shows, and they're not throwing around $5 million, ever. You're lucky if it's like, "Here you go, $15,000," and that's a win, right?

$5 million, where are we getting this money? Anyway, I digress. It's a fascinating social study. It is a fascinating sociological study of human nature, and additionally, the host will bribe certain players with money in order for them to eliminate their teammates, or eliminate this community that they find themselves becoming friends with, to betray relationships with fellow teammates. After each episode, they whittle the group in half. Okay, so it started with 1,000 contestants, 1,000 people in a warehouse, and after episode one, we drop to 500.

You can imagine the drama of that. My mouth was open the whole time saying, "How is this on TV?" And they were just dropping them through the floor. It was wild. All right I was like, "This is amazing." Okay? But early on in the competition, there were about 240 contestants remaining. They split up those people into four equal sized groups, and then they said to the 60 people in each group, "You are going to need to nominate for yourself a team captain that we're going to bribe with money to eliminate all of you.

And if he doesn't, or if she doesn't, your whole team will be safe. But if they do, they'll take the money that we give them, they'll eliminate all 60 of you, and they'll be allowed to stay in the game." And you're like, "Oh, well, this seems easy." So the 60 people are gathering together, and they're asking questions, and people are saying, "Oh, I'm not going to betray you. Trust me." Like, okay, whatever. And, "Oh, I won't do it. I won't eliminate.

I won't deny any of the money." Okay, so each team sends forth their integrity gladiator, if you will to go up and to make the decision that no matter how much money you throw my way, I'm not going to better my chances by one-fourth. I'm not going to eliminate my team because I said I wouldn't do it. And so they get up on this platform, and of course, it's Amazon and MrBeast, so it's like a 30-foot-tall building looking down upon the masses. And I assumed we're going to start the bribing at $5,000.

I don't know. I just can't imagine we've got money. No, we're starting at $100,000. $100,000, you can eliminate your whole team and stay in the game. And these four people stood firm, and the money climbed. In over 10 minutes, it climbed to $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, $700,000, $800,000. It got all the way to a million dollars. We will give you right now $1 million if you will eliminate your entire team, and you're allowed to stay in the game. And unbelievably, these four people stood their ground and did nothing.

And the offer elapsed, and everybody was safe, and everybody was celebrating, and these people became heroes in a minute. I stood there watching in awe. I'm going to call him Jimmy because I just don't want to call him MrBeast any longer. But Jimmy was dumbfounded. He couldn't believe it. These people stayed and refused a million dollars so that they could keep people that are going to be their competition? And he came to one of them and he said, "Why in the world would you turn down $1 million?

I was going to give you $1 million right now." And this man stood in boldness, and he looked at him, and he said, "Because my integrity is worth more." Amen. My integrity is worth more than a million dollars. Open your Bibles to Psalm 26. A million dollars is a lot of money, but my integrity is worth more. I cried I was emotional. I had a small glimmer of hope in humanity still. Here was this man, I don't know where his background is, I don't know where he's from, but I know a million dollars probably could've radically changed his entire life and his family's life, and he's in a game.

The whole point of the competition is that eventually all these people are going to be whittled down anyway. But yet, because he gave his word, and because he told people, "I am not going to do this," he stood his ground and kept his word and kept his integrity. How many of us would do the same? How many of you would do the exact same? "Well, I said I would do it." Really? Would you? Would you have stood firm? You might think, well, it's so trivial, it's just a game, right?

But it is your word. And our integrity is everything. Integrity is worth everything. Psalm 26. As followers of Christ, we are to be marked by our integrity. Jesus says in Matthew 5, he says, "But let your statement be yes, yes or no, no. Anything beyond these is of the evil one." If you say yes, it's yes. If you say no, it's no, and you stand your ground and you live with integrity. You live by your word. You live by truth. We are to be men and women of integrity.

Now let's look at the Psalms, Psalm 26. And if you're there, say I'm there. I'm there. David's psalm this morning is a prayer to the Lord. While it's not purely a psalm of lament, it has many of the characteristics of a psalm of lament. It's more of a prayer of deliverance and of vindication. Whatever the circumstances may be that are surrounding David in his life, it is clear that David is under attack from his enemies, and it's not the physical barragement of war.

It would seem that the attack is on his character, on his reputation, on his integrity. Let's look at it. Look at verse one. He says, "Give justice to me, O Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in Yahweh. I will not waver. Test me, O Yahweh, and try me. Refine my mind and my heart, for your loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in your truth." Our big idea this morning, if you're taking notes, you can write this down.

Our big idea is this: walk in integrity. If there's one thing I want us to all walk away with this morning, I want us to be people that walk in integrity. God's word calls us to be people that walk in integrity. Well, what is integrity? Well, Warren Wiersbe writes that integrity means wholeness of character, an undivided mind and heart completely devoted to the Lord. Perhaps you might say integrity is living above reproach. Perhaps you might say integrity is living in honesty.

But integrity is a wholehearted devotion to God that produces consistent obedience in every area of life. Integrity is being the same person before God, in private, and in public. Being the same person before God, being the same person in private, being the same person in public. Single-mindedness, integrity. Are you the same person before God, and in private, and in public? Look what David says to God. He says, "Give justice to me." Give justice to me.

The NASB, the New American Standard Bible, says, "Vindicate me." Vindicate me. Be my defense, God. Come and set the record straight. Defend me. Defend my reputation. Give justice to me. You might be saying, well, what is justice? What is justice? Dictionary. com would define it as the quality of being just, righteousness, equitableness, or moral righteousness. But justice is the righteous application of God's moral standard, giving each person what is right according to His holy character and law.

Justice is doing what is right according to God's standards. All of God's judgments are justice, because God is holy, and we are not. Anything God does is just, and so David appeals for justice. You see what's going on. He appeals for vindication. He knows that justice is faithfully doing what is right according to God's holy character by upholding truth, protecting the innocent, and rightly dealing with evil, and David believes that the walk of his life fits that description.

He's saying, "I'm innocent, and I'm in need of protection. I walk in my integrity. I'm innocent." He's saying, "God, I'm asking you to rightly deal with the evil that's going on." He has walked in integrity. How often do you pray to God like David has in these first three verses? You know you're allowed to, right? We're not in a religion. We have a relationship with the creator of the universe through Jesus Christ. God desires you to be authentic, integrous, and intentional in your prayer life.

You are allowed to come to God and say, "God, what is going on? What is happening? Why am I seeing what it is that I'm seeing around me? God, I feel like I've done nothing wrong. I feel like I'm doing everything right, and you know me, and if I haven't, then examine me. I don't know what else to do, but I trust you. Defend me. Solve this problem. It's beyond me. I don't even know what to do anymore. I will walk in integrity and in your truth." How often have you prayed something with that sort of authenticity to God?

It's a very transparent, authentic example. How often do we do that? Or do we get into the same old rut in our prayers of, "Oh, Heavenly Father, give us a good night's sleep. Bless us. May we have good dreams. Bless this food. Oh, I'm going to bed. I shouldn't have prayed that." God doesn't want your staleness. Throw that away. God wants your best. Give him your best in everything you do. How often are we clear and descriptive? How often are we dependent upon God?

And how often is that seen through prayer? Not only has David walked in integrity, but he trusts in Yahweh so much so that he will never waver in his trust. He says that there in the end of verse one, "I will not waver." He has trusted without wavering. What about us? Do we trust God without wavering in it? Or is our trust based on convenience? Is our trust based on circumstance? Is our trust unwavering when things don't go the way that we think they should, or we hope they should, or we pray they should?

But it's just because God is just, and His will is just. Life walking in integrity is one that is built on unwavering truth. Look ahead at verse three. "For your loving-kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in your truth." If we want to be people of truth and have integrity in our life, then we need to know the truth, and we need to walk in the truth. We need to love the truth. That means everything. Does your way of living walk in truth?

Do you know it enough to walk in it? Do we set God's loving kindness before our eyes and dwell on it daily? Or do we set our grievances, or what makes us bitter, on our eyes daily? Well, what is it that is your worldview? What is it, the lens that you're seeing through? Are you seeing it through God's loving kindness? I can't believe God saved me. I'm unworthy of it. Wow, praise the Lord. That produces a heart of worship and gratitude, doesn't it?

But the opposite of, "I need this, I want this, I deserve this, I'm entitled to whatever. I've obeyed the Lord," that's not setting God's loving kindness before our eyes. And I've been there. It's a difficult, dangerous place to be. Repentance gets us out. A life that walks in truth trusts in God. Jesus said it this way, that it is the wise man who builds his house on the rock, right? And the rains fell, and the rivers came, and the wind blew on that house, and it remained.

Without wavering, it stood firm. But do you know what made the man wise? What made the man wise? Do you remember? What made the man wise? Matthew 7, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and does them may be compared to a wise man." You're here this morning, praise the Lord. You are hearing God's word taught. You're reading it yourself. Praise the Lord. Act on them. Because if you hear it and you receive it and you believe it and you trust on it and you act on it, you may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

He who hears and acts on truth, AKA he who walks in truth and walks in integrity. So walk in integrity. Walk in integrity. Without wavering, David trusted in Yahweh and stood for what was right, so much so that he asks God to examine him. See that in verse two? He says this, "Test me, O Yahweh, and try me. Refine my mind and my heart." Here's why it's important to walk in integrity. Four reasons why we must walk in integrity. The first one is this, God examines us.

We need to walk in integrity because we are examined by God. God examines us. He knows you. He sees you. He hears all your thoughts. He knows your motives. He knows what drives you. He knows what embitters you He knows what tries to divide your heart and what is a distraction to you. He knows only the things you think you know. David says, "Test me and try me." Test what? His integrity, his wholehearted devotion, his actions, his word, his character, what he values.

Test me, examine me, try me. Have you ever asked the Lord to do this? Have you ever prayed and asked the Lord, "Would you examine me? Would you test my heart? Would you try me, God?" Is there a little bit of a fear in doing that? Because what are we going to find when He does? Examine me, God, examine my character, examine my heart, examine my motives. What might be revealed to you if you do? God wouldn't find anything new. He already knows it all.

But what might you be convicted of if you're willing to, in humility, come before the Lord and say, "Test and try me. Test and try my heart." Yes, we all sin, and there's a lot of sin that needs to be repented of. What might God show you in your life that you need to work on? David says, "Refine my mind and my heart." On my wife's side, our family is in the jewelry industry, working with precious metals and gemstones, and making timeless treasures passed on from one generation to the next.

Being in the jewelry industry, the process of refinement is very well known, because when you are refining a precious metal, you are taking it through a process in which you are stripping away all the impurities from it. So take gold, for example. They're going to heat gold up, and they're going to take it through a process where all the impurities within the gold are burned out of it so that you have a more pure and precious metal. David calls for Yahweh to refine him.

I don't think that's a call to say, "Okay, Lord, I colored outside the lines a little bit. Would you erase those, please?" It's like, "Hey, take me through the fire so that I can burn out what shouldn't be there." That's a courageous, bold thing to ask God to do. But what happens when you go through that fire? What happens? You're purified. If you remain, you're purified. David says, "Refine me." Refine both his mind and his heart there in verse two.

"Refine my mind and my heart." The word mind could literally be translated your kidneys, which is interesting. I'm not sure how we got there, but it's that idea in the ancient world of your gut feeling, right? Your kidneys, that is the source of one's emotions. How I feel, my gut feeling. Refine how I feel, God. Refine my mind, refine my heart, David says. The source of one's moral decisions, the command center of one's devotion and one's ethics.

Refine my mind and my heart. Do your heart, mind, or your emotions need to be refined today? Do you need to be refined today? Your actions will follow your heart and your mind. You do what you do, and you feel how you feel because you think what you think. It's true. If you think about something long enough, you're going to act on it. So you have control, because every choice is a what? It's a choice. You do what you do, and you feel how you feel because you think what you think.

If you want to stop feeling some way, you have to change your mind. Romans 12:2, right? "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind." You want to stop doing something, then you need to stop thinking about it and feeling a certain way about it. You do what you do, and you feel how you feel because you think what you think. So what is it that you're thinking about? What do you do? How do you feel about life and what's going on around you, and what are the thoughts that those actions stem from?

Scripture says we're to take every thought captive. We're to have command not just of our actions through self-control, but through what precedes our actions, which is our thoughts. Your thought life, take it. You have the word of God. If you're struggling with something, get the word of God out and memorize a scripture so that when that struggle comes, you have the weapon to fight against it. What impurities does God need to burn out of your life?

And are you willing to ask Him that question? I dare you. Double dog dare you. But really, the question is, before you're willing to ask God to do that, the better question is, are you willing to submit to him when he brings an answer? Because great, you might go home and say, "Well, what do we need to burn out?" And he might say, "Well, the pornography." Are you willing to submit to what God is going to answer you in your life? Even if you don't like it, or even if it requires you to change.

David's coming to him saying, "Examine me, refine me," right? In the same vein in which he's saying, "Give me justice because everybody around me is coming after me." What if the answer to David's problem was look within to make a change? I believe from what I see in Psalm 26, he would do it. That's not the case in our passage, but is it the case in your life? Are you willing to submit to the Lord when he brings an answer there? Does your current way of living walk in integrity?

Does it walk in truth? Would others say that you walk in it? We need to walk in integrity because God examines us, but we also need to walk in integrity because the world watches us. That's our second point. The world watches us. You are being watched all the time. You have a magnifying glass on your life simply because you proclaim Christ. It burns my heart that there are so many believers and there are so many churches that do things that go against the word of God, so much so that it casts a terrible net over all of Christianity.

It's like, "Well, don't lump me in with them, man. I'm following the Bible." The world watches us. Integrity is who you are when only God is watching and remaining that same person when everyone else is, too. For we all can tell a person by the fruit of their life. You can. You can know a person by the fruit of their life. Jesus tells us that in Matthew 7. In Matthew 7, he says, "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. So then you will know them by their fruits." Well, isn't that judging people? No, it's not. It's assessing them. It's looking at them and watching them and assessing if they are walking with the Lord or if they are not. I'm not passing judgment over anyone. I'm not the judge. I can love anyone, but I'm going to call it like I see it. It does no one any good to call a ball when that pitch was thrown right down the middle.

How can I tell if a person is saved? By their life's actions, by the fruit that they bear. Now, in no way is this saying that in doing good works or in living a holy life or in attending church, that makes you right with God. That's not what this is saying. That's considered a works-based salvation, which would be contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Salvation is a free gift of God through faith alone in Jesus Christ. However, living a holy life and doing good works is the evidence of a life that has already been made right with God.

You're a bad tree until God makes you a good tree. And you cannot bear good fruit, as hard as you try, unless the Lord changes the root of your life and makes you brand new. And he can do it. But as we're looking at everybody else, we're not assessing them by how often they go to church or how charitable they are or how kind they are or how often they serve in places. We're judging them by are they bearing the fruit of the Spirit in their life? Look on, look at verse four.

David says, "I do not sit with worthless men and I will not go with pretenders. I hate the assembly of evildoers and I will not sit with the wicked." In light of integrity, through that lens, look at the description of these enemies of David. The first one is what? Worthless men. Worthless men, that word could also be translated deceitful men or deceivers, liars, those who lie. If you lie, you're a liar. Deceitful men, no integrity. Next one, pretenders.

"I will not go with pretenders." Do you see that there? What is a pretender? Somebody that acts like something that they're not. I think as adults we would call that what? Hypocrisy. Being a hypocrite, saying you're one thing, but living another way. Christian in name only, but in weak practice, not close to following the word of God. "I'm not going to go with pretenders." I think of people like Alexander Hamilton, morally. Reading through this biography on his life and how many letters, and in his writing, he is writing over and over and over, trying to defend his moral integrity and his public integrity and his civil integrity to this country and how he stands for this and stands for this, all while he's having an affair on his pregnant wife.

How do we get there? It's a lack of integrity. "I'm not going to go with the pretenders." No integrity. But beware of them. Wolves in sheep's clothing, beware of them. Beware of men and women in the church who bear none of the fruit of the Spirit as seen in Galatians. If a person is not bearing these in their life, caution yourselves on following them. Love them, exhort them, spur them on to good works, but be careful following them. No integrity.

Evildoers. Evildoers there in verse five is a way to say those who treat people badly, those who treat others badly, and the wicked. No integrity. No integrity. No integrity. No integrity. No integrity. We are called to walk in integrity. Why? Because the world is watching and it sees what you're doing. We can see that those groups of people, they don't have any integrity. What are people saying about your life when they look at you? And the reality is they don't need to look very close because your life speaks loudly.

So what do people see when they see you? Do we keep ourselves from evil or how often do we tolerate it? Take an audit of your inputs for a moment. The music that you listen to, the content that you watch, the videos, the community you engage with, the accounts you follow. How are we doing at keeping ourselves from evil? Quickly, let's look at three ways to walk in integrity while being watched. The first one is this: don't sit with the worthless or the wicked.

Don't sit with them. David says, "I don't sit with them." What does that mean? Are we to interact with unsaved, sinful people? Yeah, we are. Are we to go and make disciples of them? Yes. But we're to be ambassadors of Christ to all people, which means what? We are not to participate in sin with them. It's harder for people pleasers in the room to do because you get into a group, and I don't really want to cause a scene, and I don't want to push back, and I don't want conflict.

So to avoid conflict, I'm just going to go along. Nah, we're not going to sit with the wicked and worthless. We're not going to participate. You are called to a holier standard. You are called to moral integrity, so live that way. And you have to follow your conviction on where that line is drawn. We're not going to sit with the wicked. Second, we don't go with pretenders. That word, before we jump to the pretenders, that word sit, talk about participating, James says this, "Therefore, to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin."

So if you know the right thing to do and you choose not to do it, it is a willful choice to sin. Don't go with pretenders either. Don't go with pretenders. Growing up, my dad used to say to me, "Robert, show me your friends, and I'll show you your future." Very true. "Show me your friends, and I'll show you your future. Show me the people that you are surrounding yourself with, who are influencing you, and I will show you and speak over you what your future is going to be.

I will predict it." The people that you are most likely to become like are the people that you surround yourself with. So who are you surrounding yourself with? Because whether you like it or not, those people have influence over you. And it might not be large, but it might be slightly chipping away at standards and morals you have. It doesn't take many cracks in a foundation for there to become issues. Don't go with pretenders. Beware of who you follow, for if you are surrounded by pretenders, you will be considered a pretender as well, and your integrity will be in question.

Or worse, you will tolerate a duplicitous mindset and see no issue in living in a double-mindedness. Second, the third, reject the gathering of evil. The word hate there in verse five can also mean reject. Refuse to join in. Refuse to join those who don't follow the standards of righteousness that disciples of Jesus Christ are called to have. Walk in integrity. The world is watching. And I can only think of a few more things more disappointing than someone claiming Christ not wholeheartedly living for Him.

So may that not be us. Amen? Look on, look at verse six. David says, "So I shall wash my hands in innocence. So I will go around your altar, O Yahweh, in order to proclaim the voice of thanksgiving and to recount all your wondrous deeds." There's a cleansing needed in order to approach the altar of Yahweh. The priests were required to wash before they approached their acts of service. It says in Exodus 30, "And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 'You shall also make a laver of bronze with its stand of bronze for washing, and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.

And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet from it. When they come from the tent of meeting...' Sorry, "When they come into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with the water so that they will not die. Or when they approach the altar to minister by offering up in smoke a fire sacrifice to Yahweh." There is a washing that needs to occur before we can rightly come and freely worship before the altar of Yahweh. David washes his hands so as to say that he's examined himself.

If dirty or guilty of evil, he would not be allowed to freely approach the Lord's altar and worship. And symbolically, David washed his hands to show his separation from wickedness, to show his blamelessness. Now, that didn't mean that David lived a sinless life, but it does mean that he is not in bondage to his sin. He is free of it and forgiven of it. Not sinless perfection, but an integrous, single-hearted devotion to Yahweh. You may say, "Well, how can any of us be innocent enough to approach the altar of God?

How can any of us be washed and made clean that we can come and worship Him freely?" We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. How can any of us be able to freely approach the altar through the perfect blood of Jesus Christ, our Passover lamb? It is His righteousness imputed to us that allows us to justly stand before the Father and worship Him. There is no other way to God. There's no other way to be made right with God. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father but through me." That's it. There's not a lot of good ways and a lot of good people. There is one way, Jesus Christ, and there is truth and there is falsehoods. He is the only way. Maybe some of you today, you need to be washed. Maybe some of you today, you've been coming to church for years, and something is clicking in your heart and in your mind right now, and you need to be washed. Maybe today, you've come in here and you don't know the Lord.

Maybe you've been coming for a while, I don't know, but you have not been washed, and you are living for yourself, and you are living in your sin, and you need to be washed that you can come and freely come to the altar of Yahweh. The Bible says that if you repent of your sins and confess Jesus as Lord, you will be saved. Amen. Turn away from the former evils that you have been so pursuing or are in bondage to and be freed of that, that you can walk freely and confess Jesus Christ as Lord of your life.

Not just a god you believe in, but the authority of your life, and choose to follow Him. That's an invitation for you right now. That's an invitation for you today. Don't listen to any more words I have to say if that's you. Pray and come to the Lord and call out to Him and say, "I'm repenting, I'm turning away. Forgive me of my sin, and I'm going to choose to follow you," and He will make you new. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away.

Behold, new things have come. That is the promise we all have and many of us have received. Amen? Amen. Praise the Lord, we've been made new. We've been washed. Why did David wash his hands? What was the point? So that he may freely come to worship, to proclaim and recount Yahweh's wondrous deeds with thanksgiving in his heart. And this is what we're all invited to do as well. This is what we're doing when we sing. This is what we're recounting Yahweh's wondrous deeds with thanksgiving in our heart.

This is what we're doing. So come and worship the Lord, and proclaim and recount all His wondrous deeds with thanksgiving. I was so blessed this last week to receive a text from my grandmother regarding the worship at our church, and I got permission to share it. We work really hard to vet and to select songs that we sing here at the church. Brandon and I, we are poring over the lyrics, and if there's a word that we think does not fit within a sound doctrine of God's word, the song's thrown out.

I don't care how hip it is. I don't care how trendy it is. I don't care if we think the whole room can jump up and down during it. Okay? What we care about is that the lyrics are pleasing to God and that they speak truth. Amen. And we work really hard to vet it, and we teach new songs. And recently, we taught that song at our student camp, that "God, I'm just grateful." Beautiful song. "Who am I that you keep me on your mind? God, I'm just grateful for you."

Right? And I believe we sang that last week. And I got this text from my grandmother, and I was so blessed when she sent this to me. She said this. She wrote me last Sunday. She said, quote, "Listening to the service this morning, and I have to tell you, I love that song, 'God, I'm just grateful for you,'" or whatever the name of it is. "But it has words that really express what I wanted to say." My grandmother has been a follower of Christ for almost 80 years.

And now she has a song to sing that she feels like expresses what she's always wanted to say to the Lord, but hasn't figured and found a way how. That's awesome. Man, I wish we wrote that song. How amazing is that? Is that amazing? Worship's important. What I love about that song is that we're coming and we're saying we're grateful. We're grateful. I think there's a difference between being thankful and grateful. Grateful has a depth to it, doesn't it?

There's something deeper about, "I understand what you've given, and I'm grateful." May there be true integrity in our worship. May we worship intentionally. May we have intentional worship here at The Grove, with a true integrity in our emotion and in our passion, in our lyrics, in our expression of that. May that come from an integrous heart. Why should we walk in integrity? Because God cleanses us. The third point, because God cleanses us. He has cleansed you.

You have been made new. If He has cleansed you, you have been made new. The old is done away with and gone. Live in a life of integrity We're grateful for the Lord, and in our gratitude, let us live and be marked as people of integrity. If anyone is in need of cleansing, come and be cleansed by the blood of Christ. It is a free gift of God through faith. Repent and be saved. To those of us who have been cleansed, may our integrity be both an act of obedience and gratitude.

I'm grateful, God, for all He has done for us and all He's going to do. May we be good ambassadors with good reputations of integrity. Fourth point this morning, we need to walk in integrity because God secures us. He secures us. Look at verse eight. It says, "O Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Do not take my soul away along with sinners, nor my life with men of bloodshed." David says, "O Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house."

Last summer, a year ago, 12 months before the World Cup began, my dad bought a package for some of us guys to go to a handful of World Cup games, and that was a fun conversation to have with my wife. "Hey, just letting you know, got a lot of travel here, but we planned it a long time ago." And we had this amazing opportunity to go and see a bunch of different matches. We didn't know who we would get. We didn't know what teams we would see. We sort of just purchased them kind of on a leap of faith saying, "Okay, well, this is going to be fun regardless of who we see."

And we just got blessed with some amazing games that we went and we saw. And one of the teams that we got to see was we got to see the English national team play a couple games. And what impressed us more was not the players, but was the fan base of the English fans. Now, all the international fans put us Americans to shame. We are like the Will Ferrell Bandwagon commercial. We just are. And the jerseys now in my closet show that. I'll take one off, put another one on.

Here we go. All right, go Argentina. We can flip the wrist like this all day, right? But the British are not. I mean, the English fans, they are dedicated, they are too loyal, and they are songbirds. And they sing the whole time. And all the songs don't seem complex or interesting. They're all like nursery rhymes they've just changed the words to, right? And then they all sing it together. And the song they sang most often was a song about not wanting to leave, but rather staying at the game with their friends, continuing to cheer their team on, and continuing to drink beer.

That was the song they said, "Don't take me home. Please don't take me home. I just don't want to go to bed. I want to stay here and drink all the beer. Please don't take me home. Don't take me home." Over and over, we're walking out the arena, everybody's singing because they just sung. It's like, man, this song has gone on way longer than they'd let us go on at church. Oh, I wonder how the lives of the Grove Bible Chapel would be different if we so desired the gathering of the saints in the house of the Lord and all that it entails, in the same way that these drunken Englishmen desire the gathering of their team for a soccer game and all that that entails.

Oh, how we would be different. Don't take me home. I want to stay. We're here. I love the habitation of your house, oh Yahweh, and I love the gathering of your people, and I love what that entails, but so many of us are like, "Man, I think we're going to go to brunch after this." Oh Yahweh, I love the habitation of your house. Do not take my soul away along with sinners. Do you crave the habitation of God's house? I love that word habitation in verse eight, "The habitation of your house."

The word could literally be translated the hidden lair, the refuge and the security. God secures us, and we love it. We love it. We love His hidden lair where He dwells in His house. It's a picture of refuge and securities that we have in Yahweh. Let us walk in integrity because God has secured us. Again, look at the description of the wicked. He goes on in verse 10. Look what it says. Look at verse 10. Well, let's jump to verse nine. "Do not take my soul away along with sinners, nor my life with men of bloodshed, in whose hands is a wicked scheme and whose right hand is full of bribes."

Look at the description of the wicked again. They're sinners. These are habitual. We're all sinners, okay? But what David's saying here, these are habitual partakers of that which is ungodly, indecent, disobedient, and immoral. Men of bloodshed, violent, murderers, hateful. He goes on to say who devise wicked schemes. They're plotting out deception. They're plotting out violence. They're plotting out their sin. It's not a spur of the moment, I made a mistake and I made a bad choice.

It's I'm thinking about it, and I'm putting forth, and I'm planning for it, and I'm preparing for it. Hands full of bribes, no integrity. But look on, here it is, verse 11. "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 congregation, I shall bless Yahweh. I shall walk in my integrity. Redeem me. Be gracious to me. I trust in you. My foot stands on level ground. I shall bless Yahweh in the congregation.

David walks in integrity because he knows his life is secure in Yahweh. How about us? Walk in integrity because your life is secure. How about you? 10 years ago, I watched my dad face a similar battle. A battle of false accusations. A battle where his character was being maligned unjustly. A battle of malicious slander against men devising wicked schemes. And in the heat of that moment, he turned to me and he said, "Robert, truth and time walk hand in hand.

Stay silent and allow the Lord to fight our battles." Amen. That is the heart of Psalm 26. Truth and time walk hand in hand, so walk in integrity. Either your vindication will come or your sin will find you out. But truth and time walk hand in hand, so walk in integrity. The truth will pour forth as you walk in integrity, and trust the Lord in your innocence. The Lord will fight your battles. Let us be silent towards men, yet loud towards Yahweh.

Loud in our prayers, coming to Him and being dependent and calling upon Him, and loud in our worship because our trust is in Him and it is secure, and He is doing and has done wondrous deeds, and He's worthy of it. As David fervently prayed, pray and ask Yahweh for justice and have the proper humility to examine your life in the process. Integrity is of immeasurable value. It's priceless. And perhaps today, you're under a battle of false accusations.

Your character is under attack unjustly. Walk in integrity. Yes. The Lord examines you. The world is watching you. God will cleanse you, and He secures us. So let us trust in Him and let us walk in integrity. Let's pray. Father, you are so kind to us, and you are good and true. Father, if we desire to be wholeheartedly devoted to you, Father, I pray that if there is sin that's impeding that today, that you would bring it to our mind, put it before our heart, that we may repent of it and turn from it and be rid of it, that we may pursue and follow you with our whole heart.

You are worth everything. May we be people who walk in integrity, that the things we say and we do, God, they're consistent with who you are, who you've called us to be, that they're consistent with what we have said we would do. More than all of that, that they would honor you first and foremost, not ourselves. That they wouldn't be better necessarily for ourselves, they'd be better for you, because you are best for us. So we love you, Lord. You're worthy of our worship.

In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.