Psalm 12

Andrew, do you want to pray for us and read the passage?

I'll hand over to you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Steve.

Good evening, everybody.

I am going to be reading from the ESV,

because that's my own Bible and I brought it here today.

So some of the words may differ from the NIV when I read.

But even God will make that known to you still, right?

So we've got a good God.

He can speak in all languages, all right?

Before I...

Well, let me read it first and then I'll pray.

All right, Psalms 12, I'm going to read from the ESV.

You'll follow it through in your Bibles.

Then I'll pray.

It reads,

Save, O Lord, or your one says help.

Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone.

For the faithful has vanished from among the children of man.

Everyone utters lies to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boast.

Those who say, with our tongue we will prevail.

Our lips are with us.

Who is our master or Lord over us?

Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise, says the Lord.

I will place him in a 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 children of man.

Amen, I pray.

Lord God, we do thank you for this opportunity to come again.

To come and behold you, Lord.

To come before your presence.

To hear your word.

I pray for myself.

I pray for each and every one here, Lord.

I pray that you would help me, Lord.

That I would preach and teach your word faithfully according to his context.

I pray for each and every one in here, Lord.

You will meet us and speak to us in a way that you connect with us.

And help us to connect to you, Lord.

To understand this text.

To see how it applies to our lives, Lord.

That we would leave here, Lord.

With that application.

That we would continue to grow in our knowledge of you and in wisdom.

So, Lord, we do give this time unto you.

Have your way and meet with us, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So, yeah.

Thank you for this opportunity, Steve.

For this time, yeah.

You know, Psalms 12 is written by King David.

I know you're all sitting there.

Most of you would have heard about King David.

One of the popular statements that we know about him already.

He said he was a man after God's own heart.

God said a man after my own heart.

You know.

Though David was a man just like me.

And just like you.

He was fallible.

We also know some of the wrongs and some of the things that he'd done.

But at the same time, he knew his God.

That he knew God is a merciful God.

And truly, when we come to him in repentance, he is forgiving.

So, you know, David set a good example for us to study his life and know what God is like.

So, when we read this psalm, we do see it, right?

You know, I just want to walk through and kind of have a little bit of an observation and try and interpret it to try and understand what life was like, what it looks like.

And then ultimately, hopefully, we can draw an application to see how what we hear, how we apply that to our life and how we can walk in it.

That is the key of what Bible study is or, you know, when we come to church.

We want to walk away knowing how does that apply to our life?

How do I walk in that?

So, we're not just hearers, but we will be doers of God's word, yeah?

Okay, so we see the first section there, verse 1 and 2.

But before that still, right?

So, the psalmist, right, he expresses what it is like to live in a society or, say, a community where the foundations seem destroyed, as we read there, you know?

He's talking about lies rule and those who rely on God and remain faithful to his covenant.

They seem endangered species, you know?

They seem lost at this moment.

It is not an individual lament, right?

You know, for there is no I who speaks within this, yeah?

Rather, it's an expression of the sadness of the entire community, you know, for the godly anyway, you know, and the faithful.

Some prophets expressed similar concerns throughout the Old Testament.

May quote some along the way.

You would have heard prophets, you know, like, quote as well how, like, you know, there was limits in the godly people being about.

And the psalmist concerns about the destructive power of language.

It reminds us of the book of James.

James 3 talks about that.

It warns us, particularly as Christians, you know, about the use of our words.

It says in James 3, 6, you know, the tongue is also a fire, you know, a word of evil among the parts of the body.

It corrupts the old person and sets on course their life on fire by hell.

So the tongue is something important that we should know as Christians, you know.

We speak and we want to use it in a way that we use it to bless people, not curse, you know.

And unfortunately, I'd maybe just think, you know, the situation described in this psalm could seem, could seem at times familiar with some places here in London, you know, at times.

For an example, according to the 2021 census, it states 40.66% of London's population identify themselves as Christians.

This is a decrease from the previous census in 2011.

You know, some consider Christianity a minority religion in England and Wales.

And, you know, some people might consider is this is a reason why we still experience widespread injustice and inequalities.

People living in awful conditions, you know, throughout the city, throughout the country, being treated inhumanely, you know,

and valuing people based on their social status, even within some churches.

It can seem sometime like God's people have forgotten that they are called to be sought in life in a challenging situation and life right here in London.

But, you know, let's look at this psalm with our eyes and fixed on Jesus,

lest we too be overwhelmed by the flattery and deceitful words that we can often hear within our society.

So, within this psalm, again, there is a contrast between deceptive, twisted words of humans and the pure words of God,

which we will see and we will hear.

So, we see in the first verses where David, you know, he calls out to God and kind of makes the case why he calls out to God.

So, you know, whether in your Bible's help or my Bible, it says save, he calls out to God, you know,

save, oh Lord, for the ungodly one is gone, you know.

So, the psalmist asks for, you know, the psalmist asks for help by describing the situation

as the faithful or low committed people of God's covenant are no longer seen among God's people.

And, the time of this lemon is not identified.

We can't really, well, I can't identify, you know, when this psalm was written, you know,

because, again, I know, indeed, David, you know, his monarchy at the time when he ruled and reigned,

he sought to demonstrate, we could say, maybe a shadow of Christ, you know.

He kind of demonstrated what it might look like to have a godly kingdom

and really honour Yahweh, their God at the time.

So, we do know before he was actually placed upon the throne that, you know,

King Saul tried to, you know, try to kill him, you know.

God put a spirit on him and he obviously became vexed and he wanted to kill him.

And then he was on the run and he was on the run even up to the time when Samuel died.

So, you know, maybe was it when Samuel died, he's probably in that place thinking,

where are all the godly gone, you know.

Or maybe even again later on when he was on the throne and his son Absalom, you know,

wanted to turf him off the throne, you know, and the people had given their heart to his son Absalom.

But that's only speculation.

I'm only speculating because we don't know.

But, you know, it's, you know, interesting to configure, to think,

where was David at this time, you know.

Where was he when these things were going on still, right, yeah.

So, the time seemed distressed for Israel's community as God's covenant people.

And we do take it God's covenant people, for him to say,

save, oh Lord, the godly one is gone.

So, we take it, you know, Israel was God's people where they should uphold his confidence.

So, there is an expectation to see them as a godly people,

just like we as the church, you know.

We have a confident relationship with Jesus Christ.

So, there is an expectation to see us displaying the fruits of abiding in Christ

and walking in the light of the gospel.

Again, just want to note that, you know, what we hear David says,

it was echoed in 1 Kings 19.10 with Elijah.

Remember when he ran away from Ayab and Jezebel,

Elijah says that the people of Israel were forsaken your covenant.

He says, I, only I am left.

But God obviously had other plans.

He had 7,000 prophets stored elsewhere.

We see Micah in chapter 7.2 where Micah says,

likewise, the godly have perished from the earth

and there is no one upright among mankind.

So, you know, consider his thoughts at that time,

what that might have looked like.

We do know, again, through the Old Testament,

that, you know, Israel and then Judah, you know, that monarchy,

there was times when they continually strayed from just serving Yahweh,

their God, and seeking to be like the nations.

And I wonder, you know, even some of us sometimes in society right here,

you know, even as Christians sometimes,

as we really look for that flame of the fire of the gospel

to be stirred up amongst us when we look around

and we look to see how we can get sharpened

and look to see brothers and sisters who are really passionate for the Lord,

that, you know, we're not just coming to church,

but we're actually living out our Christian walk and our vocation.

And, you know, it is easily, in my mind,

to consider sometime, you know, where I may feel zealous for the Lord.

You know, I may look around and, you know, my mind may deceive me,

but, you know, it might be hard at times in various other places

to consider where are those passionate ones for God.

It may seem likewise that they too have vanished.

But clearly, David was in a place where, you know, it was utterly, you know,

yeah, they say they're devastating.

So, you know, with that, he calls out to the Lord.

So we see the problem, what that is, right?

That the godly one seems to be vanished.

And, you know, possibly, as I said,

the people may have broken confidence with God, right?

And with that, you know, it's easy for godly people

who really love the Lord and demonstrate the qualities

of what it should look like.

It could be easy at that time with so much deception,

you know, so much double talk, as we see in verse 2,

so much lying and flattering lips going on,

that really the godly, you know, could be minimised.

That, you know, where all of these things are going on,

they are magnified.

That it can sometimes seem really hard to see where are the godly.

And if there's somebody in here, you know,

whether maybe outside of the Christian church community,

maybe in their work environment,

or they've not been engaging in fellowship,

as we should do, as we're called to engage

in regular fellowship, as we often do.

You know, sometimes it can bring you to a place

where you obviously sometimes may feel a little bit overwhelmed

and figure, you know, what is going on

with your personal walk with the Lord?

And, you know, the things that take place in our society today,

you know, flattering lips and double hearts,

you know, double hearts, they speak with a double heart,

meaning somebody would speak to you,

but their intention is not what they're presenting to you

at that instant and that moment when they speak to you.

They may communicate to you something that seems sincere,

it's all for you or there for you,

but maybe when they walk away,

their intentions are something completely different,

so they usually often have an ulterior motive.

And what might that look like?

Possibly, you know, in our secular society,

we may well hear politicians.

They give many promises, as I can hear, you know.

Often they tell the people that they will do many things,

that once again, you know,

I'm not trained as a politician,

but I can have conversations with friends,

and it seems pretty simple that we may figure

the solution would be X, Y, Z, you know.

We just implement simple things to support the people

or try and put something in place to solve the problems.

So it's that kind of picture, you know,

speaking things to win people over,

complimenting people and saying things

what people would like to hear,

but their words are very empty

and there's nothing in it.

So that's the problem.

David calls out, you know,

oh Lord, help me, save me,

because he cannot see maybe, you know,

people that loves the Lord

and are standing for the Lord,

which I would say possibly would encourage him.

When you're in a place where things seem a bit dull,

we really do need someone there

who is able to encourage us,

to help us to have the right focus,

to know that we're on the right trajectory,

and the right trajectory is always keeping our eyes on Christ.

But sometimes, you know, as believers, you know,

if you don't see that amongst you,

in the right community,

you can also have a perception where, you know,

you're the only one.

And it seems like this is what he's been communicating here.

So we see in the next section

that David goes on to continue to say about the,

that may the Lord, you know,

is request now, what he requests in verse three and four, right?

He makes a request.

So he calls to the Lord,

but verse three and four, we see a request now.

He says,

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,

the tongues that makes great boasts.

Those who say with their tongue,

we will prevail,

our lips are with us.

Who is master or who is Lord over us?

So we see these people,

they are proud,

believing they can talk their way out of God's judgment.

They can say what they want to say.

Again, you know,

you will have illustrations in Isaiah 59, 13,

and those are chapter four, verse one.

Likewise, again,

people with flattering lips who speaks many things.

And remember again,

Israel tended, as I said, to stray,

but they were God people.

But this is a severe time.

It really is when we read in the text that,

you know,

they flatter with their tongue and their lips and they boast.

The Bible tells us,

if anybody boasts,

we should boast in Christ.

We should boast in him alone.

I believe it's in Jeremiah.

We boast in the Lord because we know God's righteousness.

We know him.

We know how God relates to his creation,

to his people.

So we can boast in that,

that we have that relationship with a God

who makes himself known to us

and we know him and we know his ways.

So it's not a boast where we run about,

but we take joy in that.

We can boast that he makes himself known and we know him.

Boasting outside of that is probably for the self,

for the person,

probably trying to get themselves some attention

or to shed lights on maybe what they've done

and trying to get, you know,

some publicity or so forth.

So we see these people,

you know,

their tongue makes great boasts.

They say many things.

But the devastating thing here is,

you know,

when they say with their tongues,

you know,

we will prevail.

So they are people that see themselves

as masters as their own future.

They probably feel that what they profess,

what they proclaim,

is what things will be.

And this is the case when people walk in darkness

and do not know the living God.

People do that.

That's normal.

Proverbs 14, 12 will tell us,

there is a way that appears to be right to man or woman,

but in the end,

it leads to death.

So clearly,

you know,

without being in Christ Jesus,

without knowing God,

without knowing a creator

who knows us better than ourself,

we're left to try and examine

and work out for ourselves

who we are

and what life is about.

And that often calls us

to be in a place of pride

through self-knowledge

and puffed up philosophies

that makes us feel

that we are masters of our life

and we know exactly where we are again.

But relying on his or her judgment,

a human being chooses the way

that seems best to them.

But when faulty human judgment

is the basis of a decision,

things often end in disaster.

And again,

for them to claim here,

you know,

with our own lips,

who is master over us,

that is a shame

because,

you know,

our prayer as a church

is that people will come to a place

where they will come to hear the gospel.

They will come to acknowledge

that they have not just been

coming about through evolution

and just through,

you know,

just through time

they've developed

and the strongest,

the of the strongest have survived.

But hopefully,

they will hear the good news

of the gospel

and they will come to know

Jesus Christ

as their Lord

and their Savior.

and hopefully,

they'll come to a place

of humility

that they will know

that there is a master

over all.

So,

you know,

saying who is master

or who is Lord

over us,

that is blindness.

And,

you know,

as a church,

again,

we have that responsibility

to help people

to come to hear

and know these truths.

But sin

and darkness

leads people

to be prideful

and,

you know,

they often see nothing

but what they know

and what they imagine

to be true.

So,

with these two verses,

as I said,

David,

you know,

he states the case,

help me Lord

or save me Lord.

He speaks of the situation

of what is going on,

gives us a picture

and all of that.

Then we see

verse three and four,

then,

he requests from the Lord

that the Lord

would quiet

all flattering tongues

and boastful lips

and so forth,

you know,

for the people

that brag

and self-proclaim

all of these things.

But then,

we see in verse,

in verse five and six,

we see by the Holy Spirit,

David speaks now

because,

you know,

it says,

because the poor are plundered,

because the needy groan,

I will arise,

says the Lord.

I will place him

in the safety

for which he belongs.

And this is something

that we've seen already

with God,

right?

Remember,

we've seen this in Exodus

chapter three,

verse 79.

God looks down.

We know he already

proclaimed it to Abraham,

you know,

what he was going to do

to people in slavery.

But we saw God look down.

He saw when they was crying out,

when there was bondage

and pain,

and he came down

and delivered them.

And likewise this,

you know,

we're not saying

it's an automatic fulfillment

because there is people,

there's Christians

who will still journey

in this world,

right here in London,

on this planet,

and they still will go

through all of these

sufferings around them.

And it is not

an automatically given

that God is going

to take you out

and put you in that place

for which we long for.

But we know ultimately

he will honor his word

and we will be in the place

where we long for

at a consummation

when Jesus Christ

comes back

and he takes his church.

We will be with him.

He will do that.

So the aim is

to know God's words,

which we'll see shortly,

that we remember these words,

that as we struggle in life

and as things are going on

around us

and we hear all kind of things

that are deception,

deceitful,

flattery,

and so forth,

we will remember

the truth of God's word.

And as we see here,

as the spirits made David speak,

you know,

God really does have concern

for the poor

and the needy,

the godly

and the faithful.

God really watches out for them

and he will honor them

and those who trust in him.

And this is what he will do.

We will all be put

in that place of safety,

which we all long for,

but we have to endure

until that time comes.

And verse 6,

as we see there now,

verse 6,

you know,

here we have God's confirmation

that his word is flawless.

His words are pure

and undefiled.

They can be relied upon

and God's word cannot lie.

It's impossible.

Metaphorically speaking,

the psalmist says,

God's word is like silver

purified seven times.

I believe silver can only be refined

99.99.9,

not 100%.

But that is a purist silver anyway

that you can do.

I think maybe your Bible

might say like gold as well,

but you know,

Peter told you about

in the furnace,

the fire as well.

So you get rid of all the trust

that it is flawless,

it is pure.

You cannot get any purer.

So metaphorically speaking,

the psalmist says

that his word is like that.

So we associate seven

with God's perfection

or his completion,

you know,

yeah,

so we,

we assinuate,

um,

that seven like that.

Stating God's word is complete

and we,

and it can be taken as truth.

We can rely upon

what God has said

and trust he will do

what he says he will do.

Man's words

have autorial motives

and contrast

to God's truthful words.

Human's mouth and words

always find ways

to justify themselves

while failing to do

what is right.

But God's word is true.

God's word is not flawed.

And as believers,

as Christians,

that is something

which is paramount

for us to know

and understand.

We need to get to a place

through studying,

through reading,

through fellowship

and we understand

God speaks to us

through the Bible.

Just like the pastor

will preach to you,

just like I'm speaking to you.

God will meet with you

personally and speak to you.

It's like if I say to you,

right,

tomorrow I'm going to

take you all out

for a dinner

and you trust me

because, you know,

I really made it known to you

that I really will take you

all out for a dinner,

right?

Someone who's not in here,

right,

who didn't hear that

and when you go out

and you say,

listen,

tomorrow Andrew's going to

take us out for a meal,

that person might think

that's too good to be true.

He's going to really

take us all out for a meal.

You would know that

because you heard me say it

and you trust me

and I've made it known to you

that I'm genuine

but someone who's not here,

they may have a little doubts

and wonder is it true or what

and that's just like God's word.

We need to spend time

with God ourself

that we hear him speak

and we get that

first-hand experience.

It's good that it gets preached

that I'm saying it

but it will really encourage you

when we get it first-hand

by sitting with God

and he impresses that

upon our hearts.

So his word cannot fail

and that's what

God himself has just said in there.

Then likewise,

verse 8,

the words of the Lord are pure.

Yeah, we said that.

Then the last two verses now

to conclude,

you, O Lord,

will keep them.

You will guard us

or you will guard them

from this generation forever.

So verse 7

backs up what the Lord has said.

His word is pure.

His word cannot fail.

So likewise,

a psalmist concludes

and make that known

that you, O Lord,

will keep them.

And that's a message

for us today, right?

What the Lord has promised us,

he will keep.

He cannot fail.

And just to conclude,

to have a look at all of this,

right, yeah?

Jesus often called out

the teachers of the law

who spoke words of flattery,

who spoke deceptions

and so forth.

So Jesus,

you know,

he mirrored this.

He actually went through

similar things in his days

where people were speaking lie,

deception,

saying things about him.

He had a demon.

You know,

they didn't believe him

and everything.

So Luke chapter 20,

Luke 20:46–47

verse 46 to 47, right?

You know,

he talks about the law,

teachers of the law,

the scribes,

who loved to greet with respect

and devote with those houses

while defending the poor.

So Jesus always spoke about

those who spoke things

was not contrary

to what God's word

had told them to do.

But he was always

usually defending the poor.

Eventually his enemies,

his enemies, right,

with their evil,

deceitful words

surrounding him

as they did David.

As Matthew 26,

59 to 60 told,

the chief priests

and the whole Sanhedrin

were looking for false evidence

against Jesus

so that they could put him to death.

But they did not find any,

though many false witnesses

came forward.

And then John 18,

John 18:38

verse 38,

you know,

Pilate asks him,

what is truth?

You know,

he said to Jesus.

With this,

he went out

and told the Jews.

He find no reason

to charge Jesus.

But yet still,

Jesus was crucified

amongst all these lies.

Though many people

had come forward

to say deceitful things

against him,

none of it was proven

that Jesus was still crucified.

When Jesus sold those,

right,

who,

who,

who,

those who trusted him

to protect him,

there are no loopholes.

There is no fine print

when it comes to God's word.

It's impossible for God to lie.

So if we trust

in the true words of Jesus,

every line word spoken against us

will never ultimately succeed

because God is true

and every man's a liar.

And concluding with all of that,

as David said all of this,

but yet still,

it ends on the last verse.

He was still witnessing

on every side

the wicked parole

as vileness is exhorted

among the children of man.

This is a situation

that continued

to live out

and play out

amongst him.

But we see

those key verses

in the middle

that God himself

revealed what he would do.

And it's the same today

through Jesus Christ

as we journey

through this world.

The living word

of God

has come down

in flesh

to dwell among mankind,

to give us the hope

that we all long for,

to acknowledge

our brokenness,

to acknowledge our flaws,

to acknowledge

our need for a saviour.

We cannot save ourselves.

Jesus has took

our wrongdoings

and our sin

upon himself.

He has stepped

in that place for us

that anybody

who turns to him,

who places their trust in him,

shall not be put to shame.

And that is God's word.

And finally,

Psalms 18, 13

just, you know,

backs all of that.

It reads,

This God,

his way is perfect.

The word of the Lord

proves true.

He is a shield

for all those

who take refuge in him.

So you see,

no matter what is going on

in our life,

he is a shield.

So we just need

to take hold

of his word,

stand on his word,

believe in his promises,

even if we're still

going through hardship,

God is still faithful.

Eventually,

he will take us

to that safe place

which he knows

that we all long for.

So,

let me pray

with that.

Father God,

I thank you

for your word,

Lord.

I thank you

in the midst

of all that we experience,

Lord,

in this life,

in this world,

in this great city,

Lord.

I thank you,

Lord,

that,

you know,

we have wonderful

stories of your goodness

and how you protect us,

Lord,

and how we are here

to this very day.

But,

Lord,

when the trials

and the storms

of life come,

Lord,

when we find ourselves

in places

that we may be

overwhelmed,

Lord,

and our vision

may not be as focused

as it should be,

Lord,

I pray that you would

open our eyes

to your perfect words

and your perfect truth

and help us

that our hearts

would know

that your words

always prove truth,

because you cannot lie.

Help us

that we will see Jesus,

the word of God

made flesh,

who rescues us

from our enemies.

So,

Lord,

be glorified,

be magnified,

Lord.

Lord,

bless your people

and may we be encouraged

through what we just heard.

I ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.