Peter Barnes | Psalm 101
SERMON NOTES
RULING WITH INTEGRITY
Psalm 101; Luke 22:24-30
– Nicholas Ridley’s favourite Psalm (he was burnt at the stake in 1555); it has been called ‘the Mirror of Magistrates’
– it has about 15 resolutions (‘I will’ or ‘I shall’)
1. Pursuing lovingkindness and justice.
– 101:1; impossible in this life to fully reconcile these two
– Abraham Lincoln in 1862: ‘I have desired that all my works and acts may be according to His will’
2. Resolutions for himself.
– 101:2-4; tries to be blameless
– we cannot love good unless we hate evil; Charles Spurgeon: ‘Hatred of sin is a good sentinel for the door of virtue.’
3. Resolutions for ruling the kingdom.
– 101:5-8; no slanderers, no proud people, no liars around the king’s court
– negative in v.8, positive in v.6; see 1 Peter 2:13-14
– like William Wilberforce in the British House of Commons