Pure Words of God

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 heart they speak.

May the Lord cut off all the 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 men.

It doesn't take too long in this psalm before you realize it's not one of thanksgiving or praise.

But this is a psalm of lament.

And if you look at the psalm, you'll find that a third of the psalm is made up of laments.

So from that we can kind of get an idea of how important a role that is for us in our Christian growth.

But also it gets us to see how real some of these struggles are in our life.

Because God has laid it on the heart of David and the other writers to bring laments out.

So what I want to do is just focus on the aspects of a lament as we look at the psalm.

And just see how it helps us and what exactly is going on here.

And as you guys know, a lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow about a trial or trouble that's going on.

And then there's a cry out to the Lord for help from that.

So as we look at Psalm 12, the first part of a lament is the cry.

And we see that in verse 1 where David says,

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

For the faithful have vanished from among the children of men.

So we see right from the beginning that he's crying out to the Lord.

And the problem that's going on is that he feels alone in his struggles.

His struggles in following the Lord and having a pure and righteous life.

And those around him that were once godly are gone.

So whether it's people close by or people around him, people that are in authority over him,

there's this oppression that has come in as everyone who was once their support he feels is now gone.

Now, this is a lament that's not a personal one, although it sounds at first like it.

But it's a lament that affects the whole family of God, the people of God.

So not only does it affect them in that it's the people of God that are turning away from God,

but it's those few that are left that are wanting to stand strong that are feeling the effect of those who are pulling away.

The second part of the lament is the complaint.

And that's pulled out in verse 2 where David is talking about what the real problem is.

And that's basically the lies, the flattering, the double talk, the hypocrisy.

It's the, I'm not sure who my friends are because on one hand they tell me things they want me to hear,

but behind my back it's something else.

So that just adds to the cry.

It's feeling like that you're alone and at the same time you don't know who to trust.

And I think we can all relate to this.

I know I can and I'm not the only one that has family issues,

but we all know there's people who talk and act one way to you.

And then when you're not there it's something different.

And it's hard for family or friends to relate to that.

Like if you're the one doing it, it's hard to connect with that coming from someone who's a friend or family member

because it just doesn't make sense, especially I think for Christians

because that's not how God calls us to roll.

That's not how we are to live.

So we have examples of that I'm sure in our own life,

but there's also examples all through the Bible of how this has taken place.

So here there isn't an exact example that's being talked about.

The thought is that this was taking around the time of Saul's reign.

So we have Saul and his persecution against David, which was just years of relentless, like wanting to kill David.

And just to get into the details of all that was involved, that was pretty oppressive for David

and for him to at one point have a chance to kill Saul and then him not

because he knew that God anointed him was really just a testimony to us on how God will protect us

when we do what he calls us to do, even when every part of our body wants to just deal with the problem,

which in that case was to kill Saul.

Another example that I was thinking of was with Joseph and his brothers.

We just finished reading through that section in children's ministry.

And just the fact that Joseph was just seeking to do what God was calling him to do.

And it seemed like at every turn he was being lied against by his brothers, sold into slavery.

You know, he tried to be a good slave and then he was lied against and thrown into prison.

So it was just time after time where he's being bombarded by these lies and hypocrisy.

And in the end, God was still protected, just like he did with David.

And then finally, the biggest example of all would be Jesus Christ

and the lies and the accusations that he endured

all because of the people who wanted to keep their political power.

They wanted to keep their status.

And in order to do that, they thought they needed to lie and accuse Jesus and ultimately kill him.

And they did, but we know the story doesn't end there.

So praise be to God for that.

So we have the cry and the complaint.

And next we have the petition, which is in verses 3 and 4.

And this is the crying out to God for help.

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,

the tongue that makes great boast.

And those who say,

With our tongue we will prevail,

our lips are with us,

who is master over us.

So here we have

we have the description of

people who are very boastful and selfish.

They're very self-centered.

There's no

looking to God for anything.

They are master over their own lives

and they don't need God there.

David knows this

and this is the problem that he's dealing with

and he's asking God for help.

And just while we're

we're talking about

these type of people

who look at just themselves

and not to God

and are proud

and boastful,

these are the type of people

that we all know can ruin relationships.

They ruin families.

They also split churches.

I've been in one where that's the case

and I know you guys have heard about it.

So as we are on this section,

I just wanted to take a moment

just to

just to tell you to guard yourself

against falling into that temptation

of

thinking more about ourselves

and less about God.

Because as we start to do that,

then

Satan is going to do everything he can

to keep you from looking to God.

And when you're looking to yourself,

that's when you don't need God

or so you think

and things fall apart.

So

continue to

to focus on Christ.

The next section is in verse 5

and that is

the response that

that David gets back

from God.

not all Psalms

have this type of response back.

Some of them

there's that plea

and there's that

asking God for help

and then

there's

there's a kind of a

preaching to oneself

as they

remind themselves

of

God

and how

he's the protector

and he will

come through for them.

But here in verse 5

we actually get a word back

from the Lord.

Because the poor

are plundered,

because the needy groaned,

I will now arise

says the Lord.

I will place him

in the safety

for which he longs.

In that case

speaking of the

the poor

and the needy.

So

God sees

what's going on

and God

judges those

who sin against him.

Those who

oppress

others.

So we can

take heart

in that

in that response

from God

knowing that

at times

we want to fix it

but

God knows

what's going on.

God has a plan

and so

we do

our part

by not spreading

those lies

and hypocrisies

and we let God

take it from there.

And

the last part

of lament

is a statement

of confidence

and that usually

comes

towards the end

as the psalmist

is reminded

of

who God is

and who he is

for us

and we see

that in verse

six and seven

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.

In that last part

verse seven

you will keep them

speaking of the

poor and needy

God will keep them

and then he will

guard us

from this generation

forever.

So that's

that's the promise

that we have

that we know

we can hold on to.

And one

one phrase

that as I was

reading through

this kind of

kind of stuck

in my mind

was that he was

talking about

silver being

refined

and I just

wondered

why

why silver

like why did he

pick silver here

and not gold

because to me

gold is

is worth more

you know

if

that to me

would be pure

maybe because

it is worth more

but not necessarily

and I looked

around a little bit

but didn't really

see a whole lot

on why silver

was used here

so I'm just going

to give you

my own interpretation

and may not be

biblical but I think

it's still something

that's helpful

to hold on to

and that was

as we see gold

used in the Old

Testament

a lot of times

gold is

is more for

decorative reasons

more for display

whereas silver

is something a little

bit more attainable

silver is more

for something

that's

I don't want

to say useful

but like

for utensils

or bowls

you know

a silver utensil

would be something

you could use

the gold plating

on something

may not be

necessarily

something you

could use

so in thinking

of the words

of the Lord

and then being

at like something

pure

but attainable

and usable

that that made

more sense

to me

so the words

of the Lord

being like

like pure

holy silver

that we're able

to use

for whatever

God calls

us to use

just made

more sense

and thinking

of that

purification

process

that they

take silver

through

to refine

a metal

seven times

as they melt

it

and then pull

the imperfections

and the dross

off the top

of that

melted

precious metal

you just get

the idea

of this

total pureness

when it's done

they said

that the

that the person

doing

the

the purifying

of the silver

would look

at the surface

of the silver

and he should

be able to see

his reflection

increase

as he pulled

off those

imperfections

and the

the dirt

and all

that got

mixed into

it

and to me

that was a

beautiful picture

of what Christ

is looking to do

he's looking to

see a reflection

of himself

and so that's

a good example

of what he

does with us

is to continue

to refine

us and purify

us

and then the

last

the last

verse

just as

the

the psalm

ends up

is

kind of

a reminder

that

that God

is going to

guard us

from this

generation

which is the

end of verse

seven

he'll guard us

from this

generation

forever

this generation

of godless

self-centered

people

that

they spread

lies

it sounds

rough to say

it like that

but really

that's the

goal of a lot

of people

is

they're looking

out for

themselves

and with

that comes

lies

and hypocrisy

and so

that's the

generation

that we live

in

and it wasn't

just at

David's time

but it's

something that's

ongoing now

so

for him

to say

guard us

from this

generation

forever

makes sense

because

it's not

his generation

but it's

ongoing with

us

we deal

with that

as well

and then

in verse

eight

it being

on every

side

the wicked

prowl

you know

it's all

around us

you know

it isn't

something

that

decreases

and we

know

that the

world

is

getting

worse

and not

better

that's

just a

happy thought

to think

about

on this

Friday

night

isn't

it

but really

what David

wants to

say

through all

this

is to

tell us

the truth

about

what's

going

on

and the

fact

that

God's

promises

are there

to hold

us up

even

those times

where we

feel burdened

down

with grief

we feel

burdened

down

like

everyone

is against

us

but God

sees us

there

God

knows

that

we're

there

and he's

able to

lift us

up

and that's

what he's

able to

guard us

against

knowing

what is

out in

the world

so

the point

of all

that

as I

went

through

it

was

to cling

to the

words

of God

because

that's

what's

what's

whole

that's

what's

pure

and true

and it's

the words

of men

that are

not

and it's

so easy

to think

about what

men say

and what

they feel

and how

you know

they affect

us

how we're

doing

well

towards

men

but to

keep

God's

word

in view

as what

truly

matters

is

will benefit

us the

most