PSALMS LESSON 99

     We will begin this lesson by giving the 101st Psalm in metre.

                   THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE

                             Chapter 101

Verse 1  "I MERCY will and judgment sing, Lord, I will sing to thee.
         With wisdom in a perfect way shall my behavior be."
Verse 2  "O when, in kindness unto me, Wilt thou be pleased to come? I
         with a perfect heart will walk Within my house at home."
Verse 3  "I Will endure no wicked thing before mine eyes to be; I hate
         their work that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me."
Verse 4  "A stubborn and a froward heart Depart quite from me shall; A
         person giv'n to wickedness I will not know at all."
Verse 5  "I'll cut him off that slandereth His neighbor privily: The
         haughty heart I will not bear, Nor him whose looks are high."
Verse 6  "Upon the faithful of the land Mine eyes shall be, that they
         May dwell with me; he shall me serve Who walks my perfect
         way."
Verse 7  "Who of deceit a worker is In my house shall not dwell; Nor
         in my presence shall remain The man that lies doth tell."
Verse 8  "Yea, all the wicked of the land I early will destroy; And
         from God's city cut them off That work iniquity.

     We will now begin the verse by verse study of the 101st Psalm.
Psalms 101:1 "{A Psalm of David.} I will sing of mercy and judgment:
unto thee, O LORD, will I sing."

     We see a Psalm now from David as he takes the office of king.
David is aware that he is king, because God anointed him to be king
and not from his own worthiness. In the last few Psalms that David
wrote, he was praying for God's help, and then praising Him for the
help that came. God is not only a God of love, but a God of judgement,
as well.  David is aware that the blessings from God come when we let
God be Lord of all. To stay in the blessings, David, the same as
believers today, must stay in the will of God. The songs that David
sings are for the ears of God. Jesus taught, that to pray in secret,
just for God's ears brought great pleasure to God. We will find that
praise given in private, just to God, brings Him much pleasure, as
well. David could easily have been alone singing to God here.

     Psalms 101:2 "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O
when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a
perfect heart."

     This is a determination on David's part to walk uprightly before
God. David says here, God I will walk uprightly, when no one knows
about it but You and me. I will not walk uprightly, so that men can
look and say, David is walking uprightly, but, because I want to do
God's will in my everyday life. David is asking God to come and
fellowship with him in his home. I am sure David wants to confer with
the Lord before he makes the weightier decisions while he is king. We
know that David's heart wanted to please God in all things. We do,
also, know that David sinned, because he answered the call of his
flesh. David never stopped desiring to do God's will in his heart
though. I love the promise David made to God, that he would walk
uprightly before God in his home. So many people in our day, are
pretty nice people when they are out in public, but live terrible
lives at home with their families. We should not be two people. We
should be the same in public and at home. Our Christianity is not
real, unless it is active at home as well as in public.

     Psalms 101:3 "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate
the work of them that turn aside; [it] shall not cleave to me."

     Do not fellowship with the wicked of this world. Turn that x-
rated, r--rated, or p.g. movie off. They plant evil thoughts in your
mind. I have heard so many people say, O that won't hurt me, I just
want to see what it is all about. Your mind is a computer. Everything
you see and hear goes into that computer and is recorded there. You
may not realize that it is influencing you to do bad, but it is. This
is just what David is saying here. He will not even look at wicked, if
by chance it might influence his thinking. The best way to stay out of
trouble is not to go where trouble is. Most people take their first
drink, because they are trying to be one of the gang they are with.
The people, and the things we are around, influence us, whether we
want them to or not. David should have done what he said he would do
here.  The first step to sin is to look with your eyes. In this David
is saying, I hate sin, I will not get involved in sin. Just as Eve's
sin began when she looked at the forbidden fruit with desire in her
heart, David's sin began when he looked at Bathsheba. Sin begins with
the eye looking, and the heart desiring the forbidden.

     Psalms 101:4 "A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not
know a wicked [person]."

     Again, here, David determines not to have evil people in his
company. We become like the people we are around. We must be very
careful in choosing our friends. David is saying, he will not employ
evil people to work for him, or have evil people for his friends.
Notice, that David begins by cleaning up his own heart. Then he
refuses to be associated with any evil people who might influence him
to do evil. Children, that is why your parents caution you to choose
your friends carefully.

     Psalms 101:5 "Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I
cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I
suffer."

     David is trying to pattern his life according to the life of his
Lord. Even though a person says something ugly about someone in
private, God does not approve of slander, and neither does David.
David says, if I hear someone talking this way, I will know the man is
evil and get rid of him. David is, also, following God's choice when
he says that those with a proud heart and a high look will be cut off,
as well.
David is choosing his companions by God's choices. If God does not
approve of them, neither will David.

     Psalms 101:6 "Mine eyes [shall be] upon the faithful of the land,
that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he
shall serve me."

     David wants people around him who love the Lord as he does. He
knows that people who love God have good morals. They will be loyal to
David as they have been loyal to their God. David expects no more from
his servants than he is willing to be himself. When godly people are
in authority, they choose godly people to work with them. You will
have a government that is fair and honest when this is the case.

     Psalms 101:7 "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my
house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight."

     A truthful man, such as David, can not tolerate people around him
who are not truthful. Some cultures think it to be clever to be
deceitful,if it gets them where they are going. A few years ago we
worked with an Indian tribe here in the United States. I will not tell
which one. Their belief was that it was not evil to steal to help your
family, but it was evil to get caught. You see, not everyone goes by
the Ten Commandments. Atheist do not have a guilty conscience when
they steal, or lie, since they do not believe in God. We see David, in
the Scripture above, as a godly man. He is saying, if you are working
for me and I find out you are committing these sins, I will fire you,
and run you as far away from his view as possible. He not only,
removes them from his house, but from seeing distance, as well.

     Psalms 101:8 "I will early destroy all the wicked of the land;
that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD."

     David is well aware that one rotten apple can ruin the whole
barrel. At the very beginning of his reign as king, David will seek
out the evil people, and prosecute them, and get them away from
society. It even appears, that the ones who had not done anything
worthy of death, were sent away from the city. In our society today,
it would be like deporting them, or locking them away from society.
David is determined to have the land, that he reigns over, a land of
godly people. Jerusalem, was thought of by David as being a holy city,
and he would not tolerate evil in the city of God. Even today, it is
still thought of as being the holy city of God. To be the king of the
land carried tremendous responsibility with it. David wanted his reign
to be a godly reign. Many of the politicians today could take a lesson
from David here. God is watching to see how they administer the job
they have been given.







                             Questions 99

1.  In verse 1, David will sing of what?
2.  Who is he singing to?
3.  What occasion prompted David to write this Psalm?
4.  God is not just a God of love, but of ___________.
5.  When did the blessings of God come to David?
6.  In verse 2, David says, he will behave himself __________.
7.  What is David saying, when he says, I will walk within my house
    with a perfect heart?
8.  Who will David confer with about the weightier decisions he must
    make in office?
9.  Our Christianity is not ______, unless it is the same at home as
    it is in public.
10. I will set no wicked thing before my _____.
11. Should a Christian watch x-rated movies?
12. What does the author call the human mind?
13. What is recorded in your mind?
14. How is the best way to stay out of trouble?
15. How do most people get started drinking?
16. When did Eve's sin begin?
17. When did David's sin with Bathsheba begin?
18. What is verse 4 of this lesson saying?
19. How does David begin cleaning up those around him?
20. How was the slander described in verse 5?
21. What are some of the characteristics of men that God does not
    like?
22. Who does David want to dwell with him?
23. People who love God have _____ _______.
24. Why can you not trust an atheist to tell the truth?
25. If David finds any one of his staff doing evil, and lying, what
    will he do with them?
26. What will David do to the wicked in the land, at the beginning of
    his reign?
27. Why does he run them out of the city?
28. What is thought by David to be the holy city of God?