If you turn in your copies of God’s Word now to the Psalms, I believe that’s on page 574 of your Pew Bibles, we’ll be reading through Psalm 12. We’re taking a break in between. Letters to those at Thessalonica. Next Lord’s Day, Lord willing, will be in Second Thessalonians in the first chapter. Let’s give attention to the very word of God, Psalm 12. To the choir master, according to the Shemineth, a Psalm of David. Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone. For the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbor. With flattering lips and a double tongue they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts. Those who say with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us. Who is master over us? Because the poor are plundered, because the needy grown.
I will now arise, says the Lord. I will place him in the safety for which he longs. The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever. On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man. Praise be to God. Amen. Please be seated.
Would you pray with me? Father and our God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this psalm. We pray that you would give us understanding this morning by your spirit. And then Father, in your mercy and grace, that you would apply this to our hearts. That we would, Father, not merely be edified, but be stricken, smitten by your word, pierced through and through. Help us, Lord. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen. Do you long for the safety of God’s word? This morning as you’re here, are you longing for the safety of God’s word.
Jesus knew that there was a lion prowling about as he was brought into the wilderness to be tempted. He knew Satan. And as he tempted, if we were to open up that passage and read it, he ran for safety to the very word of God each and every time Satan tempted him.
But Eve, failed to do so. If you remember the account in Genesis chapter 3, as Eve engages in her conversation with the serpent, you hear those words from Satan himself, you will not surely die. Contradicting, completely contradicting the very word of God. But Satan didn’t stop there. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. He was building up Eve. He was flattering Eve, that she deserved to have this, that God had withheld from her. Eve failed to run to the safety of the word of God, instead casting it off.
Those two instances in the Word of God, I think, help us as we come to this Psalm 12. It was written by David. I don’t know if he was king at this time or not. It was written for the choir master, so then for a song. It was written to be sung. And it was according to the Shemineth, which is a word we don’t use very often today. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever used it. It has something to do with the eighth. I’m not quite sure what it means, but literally according to the eighth. Theologians really don’t get it, but it’s the very word of God.
It is a general plea and prayer. Save, O Lord. And then he begins to open it up. The faithful have vanished, the godly are gone. He describes the powerful lying words of the unfaithful, the wicked, those men who are prowling and plundering the poor as vileness is exalted in the land. And so the psalmist is bemoaning the speech of the wicked. But then he contrasts that with the speech of God, that the Lord hears, and he utters forth his more powerful, pure words, guarding the faithful.
That’s, in a sense, a summary of the psalm. In general, we can and do underestimate the power of the tongue, or the spoken word, don’t we? But here in this psalm, David doesn’t. In fact, if we were to consider the whole of this song, we might say that it’s all about the spoken word, or more accurately, about the power of the spoken word. And here, very generally, the psalmist is comparing the spoken word of vile, wicked men to the spoken word of the triune God. We might sum up the teaching. here this way and open up three doctrines.
But first, the purity of the word of God pierces and guards the hearts of his chosen children. The purity of the word of God pierces and guards the hearts of his chosen children. We’ll see that in three points this morning. First, the unfaithful hearts are hard. Secondly, lying lips are destructive. And finally, pure words are powerful. As we go through this psalm, a relatively short psalm, I’d like you, again, to be asking yourselves that question. Do I long for the safety of the word of God? Well, first, unfaithful hearts are hard. The psalmist is crying out. We’ve noted that.
Save, O Lord, save from danger. It seems to be that’s what he’s saying as Samuel speaks to the people of God who have requested a king. He says this, but today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your calamities and distresses. That’s the idea behind David crying out, save O Lord. He’s praying to Jehovah, the covenant making and covenant keeping God of creation.
But notice the plea becomes first. The first words of this psalm, save, oh Lord, it’s a dire situation, and David wants God to know how dire it is, his need for help. Yes, this was to be sung, but it’s also a prayer. David is so distraught by what he hears going on, what he sees going on, that this petition can’t wait. No formalities, no introduction, just an immediate cry for help. Save, oh Lord.
The situation, the circumstance which David is perceiving, if he was king at the time, we’re not quite sure. He’s unable to address it on his own. He’s unable to rectify the situation in his own power. And so he cries out for help. Immediately, the first words out of his mouth, save, oh Lord.
Do you do that in your prayers? I’m not suggesting that all prayers should begin this way, but I am concerned that we think sometimes that we need to have a litany, a process, as we pray to God before we get to our request, before we plead with Him, that the living God won’t hear unless we preface our pleas with introductory words. And David shows that that’s absolutely wrong.
That the God of creation is ready, even waiting to hear your cries for help. What does a prayer sound like from one who is mourning? From one who is hungering for righteousness? What does it sound like? I need it now. I need your righteousness now. I’m thirsting, I’m thirsty for your righteousness. Help me. So why this cry? Why this plea? The plea then folds into a lament, doesn’t it? Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone, the faithful have vanished from among the children of men.
We know that’s not completely true. The psalmist is part of the faithful, isn’t he? Obviously he is. And like Elijah, who seems to be complaining to God, everyone else is gone, I’m the only one left, David knows that the Lord has reserved and protected many of his own. The faithful were still present with Elijah, and the faithful and the godly were still present with the psalmist, the king, if he was king, as he pens this particular lament. So what does he mean? For the godly one is gone, the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.”
I could speculate here that the idea is from David’s perspective the nation of Israel at that time or at one time was full of the faithful, at least superficially on the surface. There was a time when the Israelites would at least profess to follow God to do his will. Consider that time that they were just crossed the Red Sea and God had delivered them and they commit to following God, to joining Moses in his prayer, in his song. Consider the time in the judges after they had been persecuted and oppressed and God sends a deliverer and the people of God say, yo, we’re gonna follow you now. At least superficially, there were times in Israel when the faithful seemed to be present.
But now, as David the psalmist is crying out to God, a man after God’s own heart, he’s looking upon his community, upon a nation, and he’s seeing, he’s bemoaning the fact that many of the sons of men have left God. Many have left following God and are now living in direct opposition to him. Many have begun following Satan. the father of lies, so many that it seems as though the godly one is gone, the faithful have vanished or disappeared. The statement is based then upon the following verse in verse 2.
Everyone utters lies to his neighbor, not a minority, not a few, not even quite a few, everyone utters lies. The psalmist then concludes, based upon his hearing that the faithful have vanished, the godly is gone. It’s a hyperbole, isn’t it? It’s an exaggeration. Yet it’s certainly the way the psalmist feels, it’s the way David perceives as he looks upon the people of God, upon the nation of Israel, lying tongues surround him. Words spoken by the unfaithful are loud and are many, And so the psalmist can say it this way, I perceive or feel that the godly ones are gone, that the faithful ones have disappeared.
It is as if all who love the Lord are gone. None are left for me to commune with. Why these untruths? Why these falsehoods? Why this opposition to the Lord and his people? Why this falling away? It’s one answer. The hearts were so hard. These hearts were so committed, so desirous to rebel, so unwilling to accept the truth. Because the word of God had not pierced them. It had not penetrated their hearts. Such that they were spewing lies and falsehood flatteries.
Do you feel that way at times? that the godly are gone, that the faithful have vanished. Maybe as you watch the evening news or read something online or as you see things taking place, the persecutions across the face of the globe, maybe you feel like Elijah. Maybe you agree with David in this hyperbole. But it’s not true.
The Lord has preserved his people. The Lord has preserved his people by piercing their hearts with his word. Jesus Christ has the children of God exactly where he wants them, and he continues to draw more and more to himself. The faithful have not vanished, but you see here there’s a sense in which the psalmist is saying, I am under verbal attack.
My people are under verbal attack and I’m inadequate to respond. My words are insufficient. Remember in Psalm 10, we heard the Psalmist, Lord, why do you stand far away? He was feeling that he wasn’t close to the Lord. Here, in a significant sense, David is asking, where are the other believers? Where are the faithful? Where are the godly ones? I’m feeling alone in my desire for righteousness and I’m longing for fellowship. Where are those whom I can fellowship with, truly fellowship with in the name of Jesus Christ?
If you’re trusting in Christ this morning, you need fellowship. Certainly with Christ, first and foremost. That’s the single most important relationship you can and do have, a personal relationship with your Savior and Lord. But as you do, as you trust in Christ for your salvation, then your relationship with other believers whose hearts have also been pierced by the word of God becomes so critical to your daily walk. How lonely it would be here in this place if you did not have other brothers and sisters to walk with. to praise God with. What a blessing it is to be part of a church where there is that fellowship in Christ.
Abram was not sent out alone. He was sent out with his nephew Lot. It was a small church. And you’re not alone here in your faith. By the mercy of God, you’re joined here with other true believers such that you can truly fellowship and commune with them. David seems to be making the point that Christians, followers of Jesus, are set apart by their words.
Think of that, Job knew that truth. In chapter 27, Job again took up his discourse in saying, as God lives, who has taken away my right and the Almighty who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood and my tongue will not utter deceit. Job knew the power of the spoken word and he committed, he desired to speak truth. You see, by the words one uses, others can determine whether you’re following Satan or Jesus Christ, whether your heart is so hard that truth will not penetrate, or whether your heart is so tender and fleshly to the truth and takes it in like a well gathering water, gathering pure water and storing it, waiting to become a fountain of truth, pouring forth words of truth, Isn’t that why the psalmist is able to say the godly one is gone? For he can tell by the words used whether one is following Satan or Jesus Christ.
You see, the followers of Christ speak a different language, don’t they? Different than the world speaks. Because those who follow Jesus have been given a new, tender, fleshly, a heart which has been softened, a heart which is able to understand the call to faith, a heart which is able to believe the promises of God in his covenant, a heart which has been pierced, pierced with his word. So much so the heart loves the truth of the word of God.
And as a result, believers come together in fellowship because they speak the same language. We served for a time in Clarkston in Georgia where the nations had gathered and at times it was so hard to communicate because people were speaking different languages. Arabic and those from Afghanistan and those from the Congo were speaking French and a multiplicity of other languages that I couldn’t grasp. But Christians, believers, can come together because they do speak the same language. A fellowship, true fellowship with one another is based upon speaking the same language, which follows from the very word of God, doesn’t it?
So here’s the question then. What are you doing? to promote and encourage this participation in the fellowship of this church, or in the church that you belong to. As you do, as you know, you speak the same language as your brothers and sisters, because your hearts have been pierced. It brings us to our second point. Yes, unfaithful hearts are hard, but secondly, lying lips are destructive. Here’s the root of the problem then in verse 2, everyone utters lies to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
The unfaithful or those who are not faithful to the Lord have strayed so far, far from God that they no longer hide their unbelief. They’ve come out of the closet, so to speak. They’ve come out of the closet of unbelief. The distance between themselves and the living God as they perceive it is so much that they can now just speak boldly and blatantly of their unbelief and proclaim it loudly for everyone to hear.
They want to be heard. The unfaithful want the faithful to hear of their unbelief. Everyone utters lies to his neighbors. Did you notice to whom they speak? Those who are close to them. They want to be heard by their neighbors. They want to proclaim their unbelief and then they disguise it and so they utter lies. They speak untruths.
They take the word of truth of God and they twist it and turn it such that it becomes unrecognizable. The faithful has walked so far away from the word of God. The unfaithful have walked so far away from the word of God that everything they speak contains absolutely no truth, but is composed of and founded on complete vanity. And so these unbelievers, these unfaithful have cast off so far the word of God that anything and everything that comes out of their mouths is an utter lie. How could it be otherwise? If one is not speaking the truth about God and about what he’s done, about what he’s promised to do from God’s word, then that one is speaking a lie. And these lies are dangerous.
It’s the psalmist’s next point. With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. These lies become flattery and are spoken out of what the psalmist refers to as a double heart. You may be thinking, well, isn’t flattery good? Isn’t it a good thing to say good things about people? Yes, we want to build up brothers and sisters in Christ with the truth, but that’s not flattery. You have to see the progression of the psalm here. everyone utters lies, which is further explained as flattery emitting from a double heart, which speech belches forth from a boastful, arrogant, God-hating heart, those who say, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us, who is master over us?
Those are the words of the unfaithful, the one who’s spewing forth lies in flattery. Flattering speech is not good. It’s destructive. Webster’s defines it this way, false praise. Commendation bestowed for the purpose of gaining favor and influence. That’s the idea. But David didn’t need Webster’s. So in verse five he tells us at this flattery, because the poor are plundered because the needy Grown. Flattery is destructive.
And it comes from a double heart. With flattering lips and a double heart, they speak. A double heart, or being double tongued, speaking one way and actually meaning another. Speaking one way while intending and pursuing not good things for the recipient, but actually bad things, which leads us to Satan. The greatest example of the one who utters lies and speaks with a double heart or double-tongued. Consider his lies to Eve in the Garden of Eden.
First he tells Eve the opposite of the truth, surely you will not die. But did you see how he did it? He does it in flattery. He utters the lie such a way as to flatter Eve, you can be like God. You see, God doesn’t want you to be like him. That’s why he’s kept the fruit from you. But you should be like God. You deserve to be like God, Eve. So go ahead and take it. You surely will not die. But you will be like God, which is exactly what you deserve because who you are. That’s the flattery that’s encapsulated within the lie.
It’s exactly what the psalmist speaks of here in Psalm 12 with regard to those unfaithful who are surrounding him and who are leading the poor in spirit away, the naive. The danger here seems obvious. He expressly states it, because the poor are plundered, the needy grown. There’s a sense in which the danger is much more comprehensive than that, even more comprehensive than the way David describes it.
Beaky and Smalley put it this way, given the prominence that Genesis 1 gives to divine speech, they’re referring to the creation, God speaks creation into existence. One would expect God’s human images, we talked about that this morning, to make him known in part through speaking his words. The concept of the image of God suggests that one of the offices or functions of man is to serve as God’s prophets to one another, to reveal his creator in his speech.
That’s what we’re called to do. But David is saying that those who are unfaithful are doing the exact opposite. See, the ultimate problem with flattery, deceitful, lying, deceptive, dangerous flattery is that we want it. Satan knew that. We desire to hear from others how good we are. We so long to have others tell us, you’re such a good person. You’re doing good things, wonderful things. Let me be clear, there’s nothing wrong with receiving a compliment in humility. There’s nothing wrong with complimenting a brother or sister.
The problem arises when we can’t tell the difference between a truthful compliment, one that is designed to honor and revere God and His Son and a deceitful, dishonest flattery. Or worse, when we don’t try to make the distinction and just seek the praise. So here is the distinction.
As you receive a compliment, the question must be in your mind every time, is this to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, or is it another illicit or sinful motive that stands behind it? And as you do, you need to examine your own heart as you receive it. Even those compliments, which are intended and designed to glorify the living God, how do you receive it? As long as As long as you receive it to glorify God, praise the Lord, receive it well. But if you don’t, guard your heart, cast it off. That’s the call this morning, to guard your heart against this dangerous, destructive flattery and even your desire to receive compliments and praise from others without giving it to God. Guard your heart in all of your works, such that your brothers and sisters could not help but compliment and praise Jesus Christ for what he’s done in your heart.
It does bring us to our third point, that pure words are powerful. Here’s the contrast, the powerful contrast that David is setting forth in this psalm. The immeasurable difference between the words of wicked and deceitful and flattering men and the word of God. He began by describing the power of those deceitful, those flattering, those lying, those evils, those deadly words, and now he contrasts that with the purity and the power of the very word of God. It begins by speaking of the power of that purity. And so we have to ask ourselves that question, what does it mean to be pure? The words of gods are pure words.
He likens it to silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. Now I’ve never purified silver, but it sounds like it’s a significant process in order to remove metals such as copper and zinc and nickel from it. You have to heat it really, really hotly, if that’s a word. The temperature needs to be above 1700 degrees Fahrenheit in order to get these other metals out, so you end up with not copper and silver and zinc, but silver. 1700 degrees Fahrenheit. If you go on the internet, you read those folks that are a bit smarter than I am, They read this way, the internal molecular bonds of the silver are liberated from the base metal.
Even though I don’t understand what they’re saying, I do understand this idea of being liberated, being separated. And that’s the idea behind the purification of silver. It’s separating that silver, that pure silver from everything else. It’s liberating that silver from everything else.
But here David speaks of not doing it once, but doing it seven times. Separated and separated and separated and separated. seven times, with this really powerful heat, so much heat that nothing else can remain. Everything else is gone, separated, burns off. That’s purity, no mixture, only the single substance desired. That’s God’s Word. That’s what David uses to bring us to try to understand the purity of God’s Word. You see, we really can’t get it, can we? We don’t understand what purity is. It’s beyond our ability to grasp because we’re corrupt.
And the word is infinitely pure because God is infinite. And it’s his word. And so it’s absolutely pure. Everything we know is corrupt or impure. As fallen humans in Adam, we know nothing that’s not corrupt. And so the Lord uses things that we can relate to. to teach us, things that we’re somewhat familiar with so that he can communicate to us what is fully unknowable, the purity of his word. And so this is what we have.
God’s word is so pure, so true, so unadulterated, so unaffected by and separated from anything outside of God that it is as if everything else has been burned off and we’re left with just God and his son, Jesus Christ, his thoughts, and his account of the history of redemption, nothing erroneous, no untruths, no impure, no impurities. Everything else is turned off. The word is completely separated from corruption, from mixture, from anything and everything, which is not his word. such that you are left with what Francis Schaeffer would say is true truth. And it’s powerful.
Verse seven, you, O Lord, will keep them, you will guard us from this generation forever. Now, I have to admit, I’m wondering what that first pronoun refers to, you will keep them. And if it refers to his word, which I’m inclined to believe, he keeps his word. It’s not going to change.
That’s part of the power of the purity of God’s Word. His pure Word will not change the promises in the Word of God, which are pure in and of themselves, are unchangeably pure. They’re unchangeably true. So much so that the powerful words of the wicked will not overcome the unchangeable, powerfully pure Word of God. It will stand until Jesus returns. Nothing will affect it. Nothing can break on it and change it. Not even the lying, flattering, boastful words of the wicked. It’s part of what makes the Word so powerful. That’s part of what makes the purity of the Word so powerful.
But He’s also using it to guard, isn’t He? You, O Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever. That seems to be almost more encouraging than the unchangeable purity of the word of God. It’s a guard. David was professing that his word would guard his community, his church, his nation, so to speak, forever from the current generation by the word. His word is a strong tower, isn’t it? Lead me to the rock which is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. The word is a place of refuge and relief and rest and rejuvenation. The word of God is your personal guardian against the lies and falsehoods and deceptions of those who hate the Lord Jesus Christ. It guards you. It’s what Adam was charged to do in the garden. Keep it and guard it. But now the Lord Jesus Christ has given us something even better in his word. In one sense, David is asking and answering an implicit question.
How do I, how do believers, how do the faithful combat and go to war against lies and deceitful flattery of the sons of men? He might have said, stop your ears, just don’t listen. But that’s not what he suggests. That’s not what he guides us to. David suggests and guides us to opening your ears to the word of God, to the pure word, to the perfectly pure word of God. It’s exactly what Jesus did. Every single time he’s tempted, what does he do? Every single time, Satan is lying to Jesus. He’s twisting the words of God. He’s seeking to woo Jesus through flattery and lies. What does Jesus do? Every time, even in his hunger, 40 days in the wilderness, every single time, he still had his mind about him to go to the word of God.
This tower of refuge and safety. He sought refuge. In the very word of God, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And so the call this morning is to go to Christ, isn’t it? Go to the word, Jesus Christ. Seek refuge in him. As those words of the world, those flattering lies are attacking and they will attack and they have attacked and they will continue to attack. Go to Christ, for He is pure.
Do you see the connection between the Word of God and its purity and the purity of Jesus Christ? Oh, you must see that this morning. For if you’re in Christ, you’ll be protected by and through His purity, yes, and the way for you to be in Christ is to be in His Word. purified seven times. Do you know the power of Christ’s purity? If you’re here this morning and you’re saying, no, I don’t, and plead, plead with him, plead with the Spirit to pierce your heart that you would hear and know the purity of Christ so that you can take refuge in it. For it’s only in Christ that you can be saved, saved from this world of flattering and destructive and deceitful lies and rest and be rejuvenated and live in His purity.
Yes, the purity of the word of God pierces and guards the hearts of his chosen children. Jesus longed for the safety of the word of God as he was tempted. And he received it. Oh, brothers and sisters, pray for it. Pray that he would bring you in to the safety of his word, that you would long for it. and that you’d find it in the purity of Christ. Amen.
Father in heaven, oh Lord, we’re so weak and frail. We need Christ, we need his purity, we need the purity of your word. Open our ears, Lord. Teach us, guard us against the flattering lies of the world. and change our hearts that we would long to give you all the praise. We ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.