(Psalms 18:20-24)  “The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. (21)  For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. (22)  For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. (23)  I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. (24)  Therefore, hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.”

In “My Practice Before God – Part One,” it was established that David was speaking of his knowledge that his position in righteousness was not in himself – but in the Person of Jesus Christ, Who is the Righteousness of God. Also in Part One, it was established, by the Scriptures, that there is no righteousness in man, outside of God. Man becomes righteous – only because the Righteous God indwells him

Now this devotion, “My Practice Before God – Part Two,” reveals the fruit of righteousness produced in man by the Seed, Christ Jesus. In the text verses (Psalms 18:20b-23), David lists seven outward actions of his inward righteousness; given to him by God:

1. (20b) “according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.”

As explained above, all fruit that glorifies God in a saved man flows from the inward implantation of the love of God by the Holy Spirit of God (Rom. 5:5c). This outward fruit is called the “Fruit of the Spirit.” Any acts of holiness or acts of goodness flow from the Indwelling Christ in the believer. The “cleanness of my hands” indicate that David’s fruit of honesty and integrity in dealing with his enemies was a sign of Christ’s righteousness living and operating daily in David; and this is the first reason of God recompensing him with deliverance. 

2. (21a) “For I have kept the ways of the LORD,”

David said: ‘I have kept (or I have walked in) the commandments of God.’ David speaks of this often (Ps. 119:60, 115, 166). Job illustrated this in (Job 23:11-12) “My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. (12) Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” Not that David, or Job, or any other child of God, has never sinned in his flesh after salvation; but, the thought is: Now my desire, my goal, my determination, and my effort, every waking minute in my spirit, are to keep the ways of God. Make no mistake, when a saved man sins – it is sins of his flesh, and not of Christ who lives and dwells and controls his regenerated spirit. (Read Rom. 7:14-25.) The Apostle Paul makes it very plain that when he sinned, it was from his flesh, where he said sin dwelled; but, the inward man (or where Christ dwells) cannot sin (1 Jn. 3:9); for the inward man walks and talks and thinks in the Righteousness of Christ.

3. (21b) “and have not wickedly departed from my God.”

David said: I have not denied the truth and faithfulness of God; nor His covenant; nor my standing in His Covenant of Grace. I have not departed from the Tabernacle and worship of God; nor of praising Him as God. I have never denied that Jehovah is the only True and Living God; Who is the Creator, Controller and Consummator of all things. I have never bowed to a false god; for my all, and my loyalty, is and has been to Jehovah and to Him alone. The child of God cannot deny that Jesus is God in the flesh; and he cannot not love the brethren. (Read 1 Jn. 3; 4:7-21.)

4. (22a) “For all his judgments were before me,”

“That is, the precepts of the law of God, which David had a respect unto, loved, took delight and pleasure in, and so had them all in his sight, and made them the rule of his actions.” God and His law were ever before David. David bowed to the law of God; not for salvation; but, to the One to Whom the law pointed, to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. The holiness of God, and the righteousness of God, were ever in the mind of David

5. (22b) “and I did not put away his statutes from me.”

“And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.” The sense is the same; this may have respect to the ceremonial law, and the ordinances of it, which David abode by, very strictly observed, renewed, and put in order; and which “Christ, his antitype, never departed from, but conformed unto throughout the whole of his life; witness his circumcision, keeping of the passover, attendance on the synagogue and temple worship; nor did he put them away until they had their full accomplishment in him; when there was a disannulling of them because of their weakness and un-profitableness.”

6. (23a) “I was also upright before him,

David said that he was honest, sincere, and faithful before God. David was stating what God was seeing in his inward man. The only way any sinner can be upright before God is in his Substitute, Jesus Christ. It is in Christ, and Who He is, and What He has done for the sinner, that makes the sinner upright before God. Therefore, David was saying: This is my confession, that I know that I am in the righteousness of Christ, my Savior (1 Jn. 5:20). 

7. (23b) “and I kept myself from mine iniquity.”

David said, ‘I have kept myself from sinning against God – not by my power – but, by the Power that dwells within me, even God Himself (Phil. 4:13).

Conclusion:

(24) “Therefore, hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.”

David closes this segment of (Psalms 18) by saying, not only are my hands clean; but also, my hands are clean in “…in his eyesight.”  Again, David’s confession is: God sees my inward man; God knows my true desire is to please Him in all things in my life. David revealed that God had given David knowledge that God knew David as His child. Therefore, it is not what man thinks of you; but, it matters how God views you. This gives the believer complete confidence and security.

Child of Grace, to be rewarded by God according to the righteous position that you stand in, is to walk and talk and do according to His Righteousness, or because of His Righteousness. This position of righteousness that God has placed each and every saved man in, is a position of not only being able to “hear” the Word of God; but, it is a position of being a “doer” of the Word of God (Jas. 1:22-25). God only rewards the “Fruit of the Spirit” that is worked out of us to others. It is not what the believer says; but, what he says and what he does according to the righteousness of God.

(1 Jn. 3:18-19) “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.  (19)  And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.”      

The saints around the Throne in (Rev. 5:12) are not singing, ‘Thank you God for all the works of righteousness that you worked through us.’ But the contrary, the saints around the Throne of God are singing, “Worthy is the Lamb of that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honour and glory, and blessing.” (Rev 5:13) “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”          

Oh God, forgive the children of God who think it is all about them – when Christ, it is all about You. Hallelujah! Amen and Amen!