Psalm 12; Honest with God: A Psalm for the Disillusioned

If you have a copy of God's word, turn with me to Psalm 12.

So go to the center of your Bible, open it up, you'll find the book of Psalms.

Turn to Psalm 12.

If you need a Bible, you'll see one in the pew in front of you.

It'll also be on the screen and it is in the bulletin as well this morning.

We're looking at Psalm 12.

We've been working our way during the summers through the book of Psalms, looking at various Psalms, and we're doing that this summer.

Follow along with me.

This is God's word.

Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone, for the faithful have banished 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 master over us?

Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, 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.

This is God's word.

Let's pray and ask for God to be with me as I preach the word, but also with you as you receive it and hear it this morning.

Let's pray together.

Holy Spirit, we do pray for those two things.

I pray that you would be near to me.

Give me clarity, give me humble boldness to proclaim this passage that you've given us this morning.

You have brought us here.

We're in lots of different places, struggling with lots of different things.

But you have this word for us this morning.

And it's no accident that we're here.

I pray that you would give everyone in this room attentive hearts.

Help them to focus in the midst of all the things going on in their life.

I prayed this and have been praying this, but put us on the edge of our seats.

Give us an eagerness to hear your word this morning and what you have to say to us.

Bring revival to this place and to our hearts.

And revival means conviction.

It means seeing our sin, but it also means seeing the glory and the beauty of Jesus.

That's what we want.

We want an encounter with Him through the Word and Spirit.

And so please do that in Jesus' name.

Amen.

When was the last time you believed something that you heard for the first time?

When you heard something for the first time and actually believed it.

When was the last time that's happened?

You know, one of the things I've noticed in my life over the last several years is um I've become disillusioned in some ways, I feel like.

Maybe you could call it skepticism, skeptical.

Uh, and then it's uh you can maybe even say cynical.

I'm skeptical of the news.

I'm skeptical of politics.

I'm skeptical of the ads that I get and the things that people are trying to sell me, thinking, you know, I'm selling me some product that's supposed to completely change my life.

And the whole time I'm thinking, you don't care about me.

You're just wanting to make money.

It shows up in my news feed on social media because I know that the algorithm behind it, it is feeding me what?

Exactly what I want to hear.

And AI's even gotten in on this.

I mean, I see a video or I see a picture, and some part of me immediately now goes to, this is just made up.

They've doctored this picture and manipulated it or this video in such a way, is that real?

Is most often my first question.

And I think some of you this morning have quietly adopted that new default setting in your life as well.

We just assume it's spin, we just assume it's an angle, it's manipulation, and assume it's not true until proven otherwise.

And that is an exhausting way to live.

And it's everywhere, it's everywhere around us, but did you know it's nothing new?

David knew what it was like to feel that way three thousand years before AI existed, before cable news and before social media.

And in Psalm chapter 12, we see a prayer from a man who is surrounded by voices that he cannot trust.

Psalms 12 · chapter mention

And he is wondering, you heard it as I read, is there any honest person left in this world?

But David doesn't stay there because he finds a pure word.

He finds an anchor to anchor himself in, a word that is unchanged and true and pure and that is strong enough to hold him in a world that is spinning.

We need that anchor too.

I need that anchor.

We want to be anchored the exact same way we see David is anchored in this psalm.

And so, how does it happen?

Well, a few ways.

We grieve, number one, grieve the words that have failed us.

Secondly, we trust, trust in the word that never fails.

Lastly, we stand on the word that keeps us and holds us.

We grieve, we trust, we stand.

So let's look at all of those in turn this morning.

Let's start with our first point.

We grieve the word that fails us, the words that fail us.

Look at verse one.

Let's just work through the text.

He opens here not with an observation, but with a cry, save, O Lord.

This is the language of someone who's drowning.

The godly one is gone.

The faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

This isn't literal.

This is the way he's feeling in this moment, as he is surrounded by dishonesty.

He feels like he is all alone in his devotion to the Lord.

And it's like there is no one around him that he can trust.

This is grief.

Verse 2, he gets very specific about what's surrounding him.

Everyone utters lies to his neighbor.

Flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

Notice the word neighbor.

These are not strangers.

This is harm done within relationship among people who actually know each other.

The phrase I found very interesting, a double heart.

Lots we could dive into that, but it literally means a heart and a heart.

We wanted to summarize it.

It's getting at a split allegiance.

That is getting at a divided heart.

These people here that he's talking about know exactly what they're doing.

They have chosen to serve two masters, and they are using their words to hide it.

And I think notice the pattern here: heart divided first, then words are where it shows up.

And that's what we see all the way through the scriptures.

Jesus says, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So to say it another way, word problems are heart problems.

And that's what we see in this passage.

And it reveals itself, notice, with flattering lips.

And so not lips that just outright lie, lips that flatter.

And that's what really what makes this so dangerous.

It doesn't feel bad necessarily.

It doesn't feel like an attack.

It actually feels good and normal.

Maybe some of you are familiar with phishing emails.

Maybe you've even gotten one of those phishing emails from me, from me.

It's actually a pretty common thing with pastors, me included, but someone will send an email that has my name on it, maybe even my picture on it, even styled and written the way that I would write.

And they're asking for an urgent favor.

They're asking sometimes for gift cards or something they need, and they need it right now.

And normally it says, because I'm in a meeting and I can't help you.

And it's never me.

Always check the email address on those things if it feels off.

But why do scammers continue to do that?

Well, because it works.

It's dressed up in exactly the right tone, and it's warm and it's familiar and it's friendly, and it sounds trustworthy.

That's flattering lips.

You see, words don't have to be harsh to deceive you.

In fact, they're usually not.

And that's what makes verse two very unsettling, I think.

David is describing something here, not obvious liars.

He's describing people who sound exactly like they should.

Okay, verses three and four.

Notice where the double heart leads.

This divided heart.

And remember, it comes out with words and it leads to boasting.

And finally, with our tongue, we will prevail.

Notice the arrogance, who is master over us.

The word prevail there is very interesting to me.

It's a win-lose word.

Just trying to get in the upper hand.

If you prevail and want to prevail, you want to win.

And so this isn't just dishonesty anymore.

A divided heart doesn't just mislead, it competes.

And starts to weaponize words in order to win and in order to put people in their place.

And some of you have been under those types of words.

And you can remember things and sentences exactly that have been said to you over the years by a parent or a coach or a spouse.

Words that have come from exactly this kind of heart.

But here's where it gets very personal.

Because you know what we like to do with the Bible.

We like to keep the Bible out there.

Those wicked people, those liars and deceivers.

Well, someone has wounded us, yes, but it forces the question for us to ask this morning.

How has our divided heart, how has our words wounded and hurt the people around us?

Because you see, a divided heart doesn't only wound through using words as weapons.

Sometimes it's much more quieter than that.

Sometimes it's the gap, and this really does wound people.

It's the gap between what we say and how we actually live.

It's the compliment that costs nothing because it's not true.

You're just saying it.

It's the I I'm fine, I'm good when you really aren't.

And you have no intention at all of praying.

In fact, you don't even remember three minutes later because you were just using that as a way to stop the conversation and end the conversation.

Or the version of yourself and your life that you post on social media that looks nothing like what happens inside your home and the life that you're actually living.

You see, the moment you're sure this psalm is about someone else, it's usually at that moment that this psalm is talking about you.

Sometimes we experience divided hearts from other people, but oftentimes it's our divided hearts that people are actually living under.

And sometimes a divided heart shows up in our faith and how we practice our faith.

And we know this.

I know what I feel this pull to hold on to this language of Christianity and this spiritual language, but yet quietly just live like the rest of the culture is living because that's what they have decided is normal.

See, not one dramatic betrayal, but just a slow drift when your words stop actually matching your life.

One accommodation at a time.

And so what do we do?

Well, don't get cynical like me.

Don't get skeptical.

Don't get angry.

We grieve.

That should lead us to grief as we think about the world in which we live and our role in that.

And we cry out like David, save, O Lord, save us.

And we confess the ways that our words and our double-mindedness and double hearts have hurt others.

We don't explain it away, we name it, and then we move towards repentance that leads to life.

Secondly, we trust.

So if we've been wounded by double-hearted people, and we also are double-hearted oftentimes and wound others, then the magic or the million-dollar question is well, who can we trust?

Is there a word anywhere that we can actually trust completely?

That's where he goes next.

Look at verse five.

First time God speaks, and the only time he speaks in the Psalm, and notice who God speaks to first.

Not the boasters in verse four.

He speaks to the poor and needy.

Ordinary people who have been made vulnerable by exactly the kind of divided-hearted flattery and deceit that David has described in this passage.

People who have been taken advantage of and they're easy to take advantage of, and easy to talk over, and easy to be plundered with words.

And notice God doesn't step in here and say, take that, you boasters and you proud, arrogant people.

He doesn't step in to win the argument with the proud.

He steps in for the ones that they've been stepping on.

And what does he step in to do?

To deliver and protect.

God's words deliver, rescue, and protect.

And so often our words oppress and tear down.

Verse 6 tells us why this word can be trusted.

It's like silver refined, the word of the Lord in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

This is really the whole contrast the psalm has been building towards human words, flatter, deceive, double-hearted God's words, no flaws, no hidden motives, nothing underneath it that doesn't match what is said.

You get this concrete image here, refining silver means melting down until all the impurities are burned away and there's only pure metal left.

And the seven times doesn't just mean that it's thorough, it means complete in the scriptures.

Seven means completeness.

And so God's word, not mostly pure, entirely pure, nothing false remains.

Think about this idea of testing for a moment.

We just finished a few months ago this new building and our sanctuary.

And before anyone stepped foot in this new building, this building was tested.

It was inspected.

The elevators, for example, weren't just trusted because they look safe.

You get inside an elevator, you'll see a certificate in there that's saying this has been certified.

It's been tested to hold a specific weight.

It's been tested under this load.

It's been expected against a certain standard before a single person steps inside of it.

Nobody is getting into the elevator just trusting your gut.

You're trusting the certification that was earned before you showed up.

That's what verse six is getting at.

Telling us about God's word.

It's not asking you to trust it because it feels reliable.

It's saying God's word has been tested, purified seven times, proven completely, you can trust it with your life.

And so then the question is: well, what about us?

Would we ever pass that kind of inspection ourselves?

And the answer is no.

Because we know how that inspection would go.

And I say that because what we need is not a better version of a broken system.

We need a whole new system altogether.

We need a word from the outside, a word that doesn't come from a divided source to begin with.

And we've got it.

And it's the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, the Bible has been pointing since this and towards this since the very beginning.

And there came a point in human history when God's pure word wasn't just spoken, but it became flesh.

When God took on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, remember the beginning of John, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And remember, if you keep reading, Jesus, the word, was full of what?

Grace and truth.

Jesus is the one person in human history where there was never a gap between what he said and how he lived.

There was no double heartedness.

One heart.

All the way down from top to bottom.

He had a perfect reputation and he gave it away.

And he walked in a world just like the world we're living in.

The world David describes, full of lies and betrayal, and flattering lips, and he didn't try to protect himself.

He lived a perfect life.

He went to a cross and he absorbed our sin and our lies and our flattery.

And on the cross, he said, It is finished.

And through Jesus' perfect life, he gives us his perfect record of righteousness secured.

Not by what we have performed, but through what he did.

And so Jesus is verse six is pure word in flesh and blood.

And here's what that means for you this morning.

You don't have to win.

We don't have to prevail in our exchange of words anymore.

When someone flatters you or lies about you or tries to prevail over you with their words, you do not have to fight back and protect yourself because there's nothing left to protect.

Jesus has secured you and your identity and your record.

And you can even be misunderstood.

And this is so hard, but be genuinely and unfairly misunderstood.

And when that happens, oftentimes, if you're anything like me, I start panicking to correct the record.

No, you don't understand.

We don't have to do that because the record was never in our own hands to defend in the first place.

Jesus is your defender.

Our record stands on his.

And when someone breaks your trust this week, and they will, we don't have to immediately turn it into, well, I can't trust anyone anymore ever.

The gospel allows us to grieve, to repent, and to repair, and to forgive.

You see, your ultimate trust was never supposed to rest on them in the first place.

And so, whose word are you trusting this morning?

The words that are plundering you?

Or the word that has already secured you.

Lastly, this morning we stand.

Look at verse eight.

Go through this briefly.

I just want you to see it.

On every side, the wicked prowl.

Think about that prowl that's not passive, that's someone circling, that's hunting language.

As vileness is exalted among the children of man.

And so they're actually celebrating things that should be shameful.

And these are not new people.

These are the same people that have flattering lips and double hearts and the same boasters of verses one through four.

And I tell you that because the psalm doesn't end with the wicked getting defeated.

It ends with them still circling and the godly still trusting God's word rather than the circumstances around them.

And so if that's still the world in which we live, and we see it very clearly in the psalm, it doesn't all get resolved.

People don't all of a sudden start telling the truth around us, then where's our hope?

Well, look at verse seven.

Our hope is in the Lord who will keep us and guard us from this generation forever.

Notice a few things.

Not just God, but the Lord.

All caps, I point this out a lot.

That's important.

That's God's covenant name, the name he gave himself when he bound himself to his people.

And it's attached to every promise that he's kept.

God is a promise keeper.

And so David is calling on the God whose name is synonymous with keeping his word.

He's calling on the ultimate promise keeper.

And then the question is, okay, well, how do we know he's actually going to do it?

Well, how do we know that he's going to keep it?

Well, because he already has kept his word.

He came into this world.

The word made flesh in Jesus came into the world to live for you and die for you to secure your record on a cross.

It is that word that was willing to die for you, who is making this promise to keep you and to guard you.

And notice in the passage how long?

Forever.

Some of you who know me well know that I get motion sickness very easily.

My kids especially know this.

They've been to a few amusement parks with me.

I don't do well on rides.

I used to be able to, but I can't.

I also, boats, I normally end up getting seasick in some way.

The only thing that's ever worked for me is the dramamine patch that you put behind your ear.

And then you I've got to start it like days ahead of time.

And so I put that on and it works pretty well.

Does it stop the boat from rocking?

Does it stop the ride or slow it down?

No, the motion outside doesn't change a bit, but what changes is something inside of me.

Something inside of you through this patch regulates so that you don't get thrown into chaos by the motion that you can't control.

You are able to stay steady when everything around you is moving.

You see, the fact that God is guarding and keeping you, that is what steadies you.

The world keeps spinning, but now you're not spinning with it.

And like the patch, it works on the inside.

Something happens on the inside of you.

Only this is not something that you wear like a patch behind your ear.

It's something, a promise that we hold on to with everything we've got, that God is going to guard us and he's going to keep us forever.

So much of flattery and dishonesty and posturing and double-heartedness.

I'm sure we could say other things here, but so much of it comes from fear.

We're fearful.

This is why we often are not completely honest.

If I were completely honest, that person is not going to love me, and they will not accept me, and they won't stay.

Why do we posture?

Why do we get angry and want to put people in their place?

We're afraid.

And here's one from yesterday from your pastor writing this sermon.

I was writing and I caught myself, and I'll do this from time to time.

I'm actually really growing, but uh I'll I'll fall into this and I'll get hooked into this loop, and I'll start like focusing on every word, and I'll start getting really anxious, trying to be perfect, over-preparing.

And yesterday I was able to stop and get curious and say, What's going on with me?

And you know what it was fear, fear of failure, fear of standing up here and looking inadequate, of not looking competent, of looking silly, fear instead of resting in the fact that I'm already held, that Jesus is keeping me, that he is guarding me.

And you see, a promise like verse seven, you see, it starts to undo our fear, because if you are guarded and kept by God, you know what that means?

We can stop trying to guard and keep ourselves, which is exhausting.

And so do you see the freedom that this actually brings us?

And when that starts happening, when it starts to get inside of us and starts to change us and get a hold of us, and we start to believe it by faith.

Yes, the world keeps spinning, but now instead of panic, we have peace and rest instead of restlessness and calm instead of being cynical and honest instead of posturing, and we can say, I'm fine, and actually mean it.

And we can say we're not fine when we're not.

We can give a compliment that is real, and we can start being the person whose words do not need double checking.

Why?

Because you are guarded and kept and you are free because you are secure.

Our reflex, our reflex of cynicism and skepticism, and always wondering if someone's being straight with me, that's probably not going away by Friday.

You'll get another email this week that you're like, hmm, that's not quite right.

Or you'll see a headline and you'll look at it and you'll say, That's just spin.

That's just an angle.

You'll get another news feed and you'll say, Oh, I know exactly what's happening.

I keep getting the same video over and over.

They're just trying to hook me in and give me what I want.

But here's what I want you to understand.

You do not have to spend the rest of your life hunting for one voice that you can finally trust because you already have one.

You have the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, and his word to us, a word that's been tested seven times and it's been proven on a cross.

It's a perfect love that drives out the fear behind all of our posturing and lying and flattering and double-heartedness.

It drives out your fear and the fear of the people around you.

And so this morning, let's grieve honestly.

Let's trust completely and let's stand, not because the world stopped spinning, but because we've got an anchor.

You've got a word that holds.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for being trustworthy.

Thank you that your words never fail us.

Thank you for your forgiveness.

And we ask your forgiveness for our divided hearts, for our flattery and our performing and the fear that makes us guard ourselves.

And Holy Spirit, would you convince us and settle that promise that you will guard us and keep us so much that it changes us, changes the way we talk, and changes the way we interact with one another in the world.

Ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.