In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith discusses Psalm 101, which describes the perfect king and kingdom that will come from David. He emphasizes the importance of singing about mercy and judgment and behaving wisely in a perfect way. Pastor Chuck also highlights the significance of ruling in one's own home before ruling in the house of God. He concludes by offering a prayer for the listeners to be guided by God's purpose and filled with His love, and encourages them to grow in their relationship with Him.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life And make you whole Beginning with verse one. And now with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith. Here is a psalm of David in which he describes the perfect king and the perfect kingdom. So he's not talking about himself. But of that one that would come from David who will reign upon the throne of David. And it is a psalm really again that looks toward the reign of Jesus Christ on the earth. You surely could not say that this was true of David's reign. Though indeed it was probably in the heart of David. It was a part of that desire that we have towards the ideal. I would like to be perfect. I'm not. I'm far from perfect. I'd like to be. And David had that desire to be perfect. To be all that God would have him to be. But he with the rest of us failed. But yet we all have and admire the ideal. God has put it in our hearts. That desire to be better. To be perfect. And thank God through the work of his spirit. Day by day I am being conformed into the image of Christ. Spirit of God is working in me to that end and to that purpose. To give me the strength, to give me the power to be what God wants me to be. He's far from through. I don't think I'll live long enough for him to be through. But thank God, as a fellow said, though I'm not yet what I'm going to be, I'm not what I was. I'm on the way. And I can see that progress of God's work in my life. As day by day he causes me to be more like Jesus Christ. So David said, I will sing of mercy and judgment. These are the things that I will sing about. Oh, Lord, I will sing. Then he said, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. Yes, I would like to do that. Oh, when will you come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. The Bible speaks about those that would rule in the house of God, that they should demonstrate, first of all, the ability to rule in their own homes. For if they cannot rule their own house, then how can they rule in the house of God? David speaks about the rule. I will rule in my own house with a perfect heart. Now, as I said, David, this could be an expression of his desire, but surely it wasn't a reality of his life. He did not rule well his own house. He had a great problem as a disciplinarian. And as a result of his problem as a disciplinarian, he had all kinds of problems with his kids. David's household, of course, was sort of chaotic. Sons that were rebelling against him. Incestuous relationships within the household. David, as I said, just was not a good disciplinarian at all, and thus he did not really rule his house well. Solomon, it is interestingly enough, has a lot to say about discipline in the Proverbs. He no doubt saw the lack of it in his father and the results of that lack of discipline. And so he talks about the foolishness of the world is bound in the heart of the child, but the rod of instruction driveth it far from him. One of David's sons said that David never did say a crossword to him, never did correct him. And Solomon said a son or a child left to himself will bring a reproach to his parents. And so Solomon, observing the flaws in his father's discipline, incorporated within the Proverbs a lot of exhortations concerning discipline. But David, speaking of his desire, that which was in his heart, expresses with all of us that desire that we have within our heart to be more like the Lord, to be all that God would have us to be, though we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. David said, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside from the straight path of God. It shall not cleave to me. And yet we remember his incident with Bathsheba and with her husband. A forward heart shall depart from me. That is a perverse heart. I will not know a wicked person. He's expressing ideals here, but not realities in his own life. Who so privately slanders his neighbor? David said, I will cut him off. Him that has a high look and a proud heart, I will not allow. In the Proverbs, Solomon picks this up and says, these are something that God hates. A proud look. He that works deceit shall not dwell within my house. And he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the wicked doers from the city of the Lord. Now, as I said, this could be an expression of David's ideal, of his desires, but in reality, as he speaks of these things, he is really describing that righteous rule and reign of Jesus Christ when he comes again. What David says that he would like to do, the kind of government that he would like to form, the kind of rule that he would like to have, will indeed be fulfilled when Jesus comes to rule and to reign. Psalm 102 is entitled, A Prayer of the Afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Some of the commentators have sought to place this psalm at the time of the Babylonian exile. However, other commentators believe that it is, in reality, a psalm of David. It doesn't say so. I guess we don't know. But it is similar to some of David's psalms. As he begins the psalm with a plea for the Lord to hear my prayer and let my cry come unto thee. The hand of the Lord is not short, neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear. His hand is not short that he cannot see. But the prophet said, Your sins have separated you from God. David is calling upon the Lord to hear his prayer. Let his cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Incline your ear unto me in the day when I call. Answer me speedily. I think that this is sort of the expression of all of our hearts when we are desperate in prayer, when things are really going bad. And as David has said in other prayers, Lord, make no tearing. You know, here the psalmist is calling, answer me speedily. Isn't it interesting how when God is calling upon us, we want all kinds of leeway and all kinds of patience on his part. I'll get around to it, Lord. Just give me time, you know. But when we call on him, we want instant answers. Answer me speedily, Lord. When I'm in trouble, listen to me. For he goes on to declare the problems. My days are consumed like smoke. And he gets into a very picturesque kind of speech here. They vanish as smoke. My bones are burned as a hearth. My heart is smitten and it withers like grass. So desperate that I forget to eat my bread. So overwhelmed by my problems that I have lost my appetite. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin. And then he picks out three birds. I am like the pelican of the wilderness. I'm like an owl of the desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. The pelican in the wilderness in the area of the Valley of Hula, the upper Galilee, there were a lot of pelicans in that wilderness area. Like an owl of the desert or in the deserted places for the owls inhabited the ruins of the deserted places. Like a sparrow alone upon the rooftop. For my enemies reproach me all the day. They that are mad at me have cursed me. They are trying to put curses upon him is what the Hebrew would indicate. For I have eaten ashes like bread and I've mingled my drink with weeping. Ashes were something that they would put upon them as a sign of great grief and mourning. Going through heavy time of mourning and grief, you would anoint yourself with ashes. And you remember how the Scripture speaks of them repenting in sackcloth and ashes. It was sort of a way of afflicting yourself to show a tremendous grief. And so the grief, the ashes, I eat them with my bread. I mingle my drink with my tears. Because of your indignation and your wrath for you have lifted me up and you have cast me down. My days are like the shadow that declineth. The sundial, as the day begins to die, the shadow lengthens. And so my days, it seems, are like the shadow. It's declining. It's going down. And I am withered like the grass. Now, here I am in this state of decay, passing away, pining away. And yet in contrast, but thou, O Lord, shall endure forever. And thy remembrance unto all generations. And so the psalmist, going through a heavy trial, going through this great time of persecution, calls upon the Lord. He's aware of his own frailty, his weaknesses. And yet as he looks at God, he sees that tower of strength. God endures forever. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion. For the time to favor her, yes, the set time is come. This is why it is thought to be a psalm of the time of Daniel, the time of Babylonian captivity, and that the psalmist is actually talking about the miserable conditions in Babylon and praying for that day of restoration to the land of Israel, that they would be able to go back. However, the psalm actually goes beyond that, and it comes to the end of the age because the Lord did not appear in glory when Israel returned from the Babylonian captivity, but the Lord will return in glory when Zion is built up, which God is doing at the present time. So thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust thereof. It is always a thrilling thing in traveling to Israel using the Jewish guides to hear them talk of Jerusalem, the stones around Jerusalem, the dust. There's just a love. There's just a great feeling of emotion that they have concerning the land and their being there in the land. The servants do indeed take pleasure in the stones and favor the dust. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and the kings of the earth by glory. For when the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. And so we look at Israel today, and the transformations that have taken place are nothing short of miraculous. The promises of God are being fulfilled. Ezekiel 36, God promised the mountains of Israel would again be inhabited. They would be covered with trees, that the valleys would be filled with corn and wheat, and that has happened. God promised in Ezekiel 37 that the people would be brought back into the land and they'd be made a nation again. That has happened, and we see how even today the land continues to produce an abundance of fruit, vegetables, flowers, and how the markets of Europe, especially during the wintertime, are filled with vegetables from Israel. And they are seeking, actually, to make that whole Negev desert that they still control a great produce-developing kind of an area because there is so much area there, and they know that the Nabataeans had a great culture and a large culture living in the Negev, and they're trying to figure out just how they survived there in that desert. And they have experimental farms and all. They're in the Negev, and they're really attached to the land. And God has built up Zion and is in the process of building up Zion, and the promise is when He does that He shall appear in His glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer. And then the psalmist said that this is really written. He's writing these things for the generation to come. The people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. The generation that was there at the time He wrote really did not see nor did they know just exactly what the psalmist was referring to, but this generation in which we live, in which God is building up Zion, this was written for us so that we would know that the coming of the Lord is at the door. For He that hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary from heaven, did the Lord behold, for He hath looked down from the height of His sanctuary from heaven, did the Lord behold the earth. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the entire earth. And He heard the groaning of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed to death. This is really a reference I believe to us. Prisoners as we were, held by Satan's power, Paul said that we might take them from the captivity of the enemy who has taken them captive against their wills. Appointed to death, God in His righteous judgment had passed upon us the sentence of death because of our sins. And He heard the groanings of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed to death. To declare the name of the Lord in Zion and the name of course is Yahshua, Jesus who is our Savior and His praise in Jerusalem. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next lesson. As Pastor Chuck Smith continues to guide us through the study of the Psalms and we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you missed any part of today's message or perhaps you'd like to order a copy for that special friend or loved one, you can do so by simply contacting one of our customers at and they'd be more than happy to assist you with the ordering details. Simply call 1-800-272-WORD and phone orders can be taken Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Once again, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-9673 And for your added convenience, you can order online anytime when you go to And while you're there, be sure to browse through the additional resources that include Bible studies, commentaries, CDs, DVDs, and so much more. Once again, that's The Word for Today online at thewordfortoday.org And for those of you who still prefer to write, you can use our mailing address, which is And be sure to include the call letters of this station with your correspondence. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse venture through the Psalms. That's right here on the next edition of And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith with today's closing comments. May the good hand of the Lord be upon your life this week to guide you according to His purpose, His will. May you be conscious of His presence. May you be filled until your life overflows with His love. May you be His instrument in bringing that love to someone else. May it be a wonderful week of fellowship with God as you grow in your knowledge and understanding of His love and grace towards you. Thus may you be strengthened in your walk and in your relationship with Him. In Jesus' name. Children love stories. So it is with great honor to tell you about a children's book written by Pastor Chuck called The Story of the Ten Commandments. Just listen to what people are saying. Pastor Bob Coy. I love the Word of God and I love my Pastor Chuck. So whenever there's a book for kids to assist them in knowing what to do, what to think, what to say, I recommend it. Cheryl Broderson. I love these stories and it's a pleasure for me to know that you get to hear my dad tell you the very same stories that he told me as a child. Pastor Pancho Juarez. I am so blessed to be part of this book by Pastor Chuck. I love it when kids read in their own level. I hope parents take advantage of this and may the Lord bless you. And as a gift, each book contains a CD of Pastor Chuck reading The Story of the Ten Commandments. To order your copy, call The Word for Today at 800-272-WORD or to see a sneak preview of the book, visit us online at thewordfortoday.org. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.