The Psalms, they just reflect life.
It's no wonder that their intended, their initial intention was to be incorporated into the liturgy of Israel's worship.
They don't water down anything about the realities of this life, do they?
They don't try to sugarcoat anything.
They actually speak to the rawness of hardship, to the confusion of understanding, on one hand, what God has proclaimed himself to be,
seeing examples of that, living out examples of that goodness of God in real time,
but then also being confused at why they don't seem to experience that at all times.
I mean, just over and over and over, it's this struggle, isn't it?
They acknowledge the tremendous hardship and doubts that are part and parcel of human existence,
but they help us to process life in light of God, who he is, and how he promises to act.
And we come to these things, and we think about them, and we can apply them in various ways, of course.
And how can we not sit back and think, okay, this is not only the experience of Christians,
this is the experience of just humanity, right?
We live in a fallen world.
We struggle with life in a fallen world.
How is it possible that anybody who doesn't know Christ,
who doesn't understand the things that have the promises of God,
the hopefulness that is the person and the work of God,
how can they cope with these things?
We come to them, and the Psalms are quite helpful for us
because they acknowledge the realities of the difficulty of living life under the sun,
as Solomon called it,
a fallen world, tremendous hardship and suffering,
while also helping us to interpret those things in light of the promises of God.
David and the other psalmists,
they show us what it looks like to face the realities of life
while still clinging trustingly to God,
trustingly to Christ.
The situation presented in Psalm 12
is probably best understood as an expansion
on the idea that is put forward in Psalm 11 in verse 3,
where we're told that the moral foundations of society were being destroyed.
They were eroding.
We dealt with that in great detail last week.
It's as if when we get to Psalm 12,
certainly these two are connected,
David is now unpacking what that means.
He's unpacking what the moral erosion of society looks like,
and in this case, he's narrowed his focus.
He's not including every possible circumstance
or every possible moral decline.
He's zeroed in on just one facet of it.
He's highlighting the unrestrained deceit
that has permeated his culture.
Lies are everywhere.
Flattering lips,
double-hearted speech,
boasting,
so much so that David looks around and he says,
there's no more faithfulness left.
Everybody,
it has permeated our society
so that the moral foundations have been destroyed.
I can't find righteousness and honesty and truth anywhere.
His world was dominated by the destructive power of the tongue
as he explains it here.
And so David does what he always does.
He brings that observation to the Lord.
He makes his complaint,
if we can call it that,
really probably lament is the better word.
He makes his lament to the Lord,
and he asks for God to act.
He asks that God would rescue the faithful
from such a terrible predicament,
that he would bring resolution to it,
that he would do something.
But then he also reaffirms his confident hope
that believers have in taking God as their refuge.
So while seeking the Lord's help for present issues,
David teaches us that we must also just trust in his promises
and trust that his purposes are good
as we wait his action.
Easy thing to say to do.
Really hard thing to live, isn't it?
Let's think about just the structure of the psalm itself.
Just briefly, I think it will be helpful for us in this case to do it.
As a song for worship, Psalm 12,
contrast, really the primary thing happening here,
it's contrasting the deceitfulness of the wicked,
the deceitfulness of the world,
if we're going to think of it in connection to 1 John 2
that we read a minute ago.
The deceitfulness of the world
is being contrasted with the absolute trustworthiness of God.
In the first half, we're presented with,
this is the deceit-dominated society.
In the second half, we are lifted up by the reality
that though we can trust no one else,
we can trust the Lord.
His words are pure words.
He is able to be trusted.
While we live in a society
in which using deceptive means
to take advantage of people is all too common,
we can actually always trust the word of God.
Deceit may reign in our world.
God's truth will ultimately prevail.
And there is a chiastic structure to this.
I know we could probably find a chiism everywhere in the Psalms.
I don't intend to just confuse you with that,
but it is actually helpful to us.
It's interesting to see it in this case.
There's a diagram for you on the screen
so that you can see what I mean.
Remember, a chiism, it takes a particular poetic shape
to emphasize a particular point.
So verse 1 corresponds with verse 8.
Verse 1 deals with the fact that the faithful have vanished.
Verse 8 closes that same thought by saying,
David is surrounded by the wicked.
So think about how those relate together.
David looks around.
He's observing his situation.
He says, there's not faithfulness anywhere.
And then he connects that then at the end with,
I'm surrounded by the wicked, right?
And then as we move a little bit closer,
a little bit more narrow in the structure,
verse 2 corresponds to verse 7.
In verse 2, we're told that his society is dominated by deceit.
In verse 7, in contrast to that,
David emphasizes that God will keep his word.
That all around you is lies, flattery,
but God's going to keep his word.
He's not deceiving you.
And then it moves in a little more narrower,
where verse 3 corresponds to verse 6.
Verse 3, what do we find?
God will judge these deceivers.
David prays for that.
He says, let them cut off their tongues, he says.
Cut off the person who boasts.
And what do we find in verse 6?
That God's words are pure.
The fact that God's words are pure
is an indication of his righteousness,
which gives him the right and the authority
to carry out the judgment that is displayed in verse 3.
See how they're connected?
And then we get to the very center of the chiasm.
This is kind of the point.
It's driving the focus here.
In verse 4, we have the speech of the deceivers.
Verse 5, we have the speech of God.
God makes his statement.
Now that's helpful for us,
because it helps us to understand
what David is doing poetically,
in song, in rhyme, in lyric,
in order to emphasize a particular truth.
That in this world,
there's lies and deceit,
it's inundated with it,
but you can trust God.
You can trust the Lord.
His words are pure.
That's the main drive of this psalm.
If you don't get anything else out of what I say,
that's the main drive.
That as you look around the world around you,
and you get discouraged at the fact
that you can't trust anybody,
you can trust the Lord.
You can trust his word.
You can cling to him.
He is trustworthy.
He is a true shelter and refuge.
So let's unpack it.
Let's unpack it all by considering
two distinct things.
We want to consider the real experience
of living in a society
that is dominated by lies,
and then we want to consider after that
how we can find hope
in the pure words of God, okay?
Number one, look at a deceitful society.
Deceitful society.
Verse one again.
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 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 for us?
Now it's interesting to me
that David speaks,
that before David speaks
about the specific issue
of a deceit-dominated society,
he first states that there seem
to be no faithful people left
among the children of man.
What's he communicating here?
Not just the reality
that he's surrounded by wickedness,
but there's no trace of faithfulness.
The emphasis is on a different thing.
I think he's communicating
that feeling of loneliness
and isolation
as one who truly wants
to live in obedience to the Lord.
He observes the world around him.
Finding truly faithful people
was incredibly difficult to do.
Perhaps he's discouraged
over the fact that
many who would have been committed
to obeying the Lord,
standing shoulder to shoulder
with David at some point
in honoring the Lord
and worshiping the Lord
and being faithful to him
and living in holiness
according to his law.
Maybe he's discouraged
by the fact that those people
now are walking
in the counsel of the wicked.
They're standing
in the way of sinners.
They're sitting
in the seat of the scornful,
the scoffers.
The moral foundations
were collapsing around them
and he felt alone
in being concerned about it.
Surely you understand
what this is like.
You can not only be discouraged
at the great wickedness
that is our world,
but then it's devastating
when you look around
and you say,
this person used to say
they love the Lord.
They used to stand with me
on truth
and now I can't find
faithfulness anywhere.
The faithful have vanished.
It's an emotion
so often felt
by those standing for truth.
It's overwhelming
to consider the raging
wickedness of society.
Even more challenging
to see those
who once contended
for the faith
now abandoning that faith.
It can be spiritually
debilitating, can't it?
The feeling of loneliness.
Elijah experienced that,
remember?
After this tremendous victory
over the prophets of Baal,
Elijah cries out to the Lord.
He runs to the wilderness.
He cries out to the Lord
and he says,
he says,
Lord, will you just take my life?
I'm the only one left, God.
There's nobody left.
Which, of course,
is an emotion
that we often feel
but isn't actually
conveying truth, is it?
God always has his remnant.
He's always doing his work
and that's exactly
how God responded to Elijah.
He said,
Elijah,
stop whining.
I got 7,000 people
in Israel
that have not yet
bowed the knee
to Baal, Elijah.
Just keep going, Elijah.
We know what this is like.
This is common
in the scriptures.
It's common
in our real lived experience.
Things being so bad
that the faithful
seem to have vanished
and what does David do
in response to that?
Save us, God.
Do something, God.
Rescue the faithful
that remain.
But then beginning
in verse 2,
David explains
the particular issue
at hand
and you'll notice
that it all has to do
with sins of the tongue.
Four different kinds
of sins related to speech
are mentioned here.
First, David says
that everyone is lying
to everyone else.
Everyone utters lies
to his neighbor.
Culture is dominated
by deceit.
And based on the impact
that these sins had
on the vulnerable
in verse 5,
what we find is that
this isn't merely
just like vain lies.
This isn't stretching
the truth to make ourselves
look better to other people.
That probably is happening.
This sounds like scheming.
Deceptive schemes
meant to take advantage
of others
in order to benefit
oneself.
Then David recognizes
flattery
as a particularly
devastating problem.
We might understand
flattery
as smooth talking.
Offering
disingenuous compliments.
Or feigning interest
in a person
in order to gain
something from them.
ladies ever
get hit on
by a smooth talker?
Some of you
married some smooth talkers,
right?
It worked.
Feigning a little bit
of interest,
overdue compliments
that they don't really
intend in order
that they might
gain something
from you,
of course,
that happens
all the time.
It's a sin
frequently overlooked,
to be honest with you,
but routinely present
among Christians.
People using
flattery in order
to advance
themselves in the church,
in order to gain
maybe some kind
of power,
in order to
do something,
in order to
have advantage
for themselves.
it's disingenuous.
Still,
the scriptures
speak of its dangers.
Solomon said
in Proverbs 26
that a flattering
tongue works
ruin.
It's not
merely that
you're giving
somebody encouragement
that you don't mean.
It's going to
ruin them
is what it does.
Daniel said
that flattery
would be
key
to the seduction
of the Antichrist
at the end of the age.
Daniel 11,
32.
He will be
by nature
a flatterer.
Jude included
flatterers
among the ungodly
who will face
God's eternal
judgment
in Jude 16.
And yet,
it seems to be
a sin of the tongue
that Christians
don't speak
much about.
Rather,
they tend
to indulge it.
Third,
David speaks
of double-hearted
speech.
double-hearted
speech.
James Johnston
describes it
this way,
the double-hearted
man is thinking
two things
at the same time.
What he wants
and what he needs
to say
to get what he wants.
Truth
takes a backseat
to selfishness.
sin.
And then the final
kind of sin
is in verses
three and four,
which underscore
boasting.
The people
that David
sees,
they've gotten
so good
at deception
that they now
boast of prevailing
over God
and his people.
Their strength
is in their ability
to persuade
people.
and they know
it
and they're
using
that ability
to
gain
advantage
for themselves
and to
abuse
the vulnerable.
They've
deceived
themselves
into thinking
also that
they're going
to get by
with it.
Now it's bad
enough
for these
kinds of sins
to exist
in society.
It's devastating
when they are
commonplace.
I mean,
who can you
actually trust?
We know,
our society
is no different
than this,
right?
We can look,
we see this
corruption
everywhere.
We can point
to politicians
or maybe
used car
salesmen.
That's low
hanging fruit,
right?
We can say
that,
okay,
we all get
that there's
probably a lot
of deceit
going on there.
A little bit
of flattery
happening there.
Certainly
some boasting
going on.
But this is
everywhere.
We see this
in the medical
community,
don't we?
On both
extremes of it.
On one side,
we see
pharmaceutical
companies that
are pushing
medicines that
are very,
very expensive.
And when you
watch those
ads,
what is it?
They get to
the part
where they
actually tell
you what
the medicine
does to you
and it's
like super
fast and it's
like this may
cause you to
die,
but these
people are
really happy.
They're really
happy about it,
right?
You go to the
other extreme
and you have
the naturalists
that are giving
themselves over
to lies and to
slander and
conspiracy just
to make a point
to drive all
of that influence
away from the
pharmaceutical
company over
to their
side instead.
And then you
get to the
end of it and
you go to the
doctor and you
think,
well,
who can I
trust here?
This doctor
seems to be
taking advantage
of me.
This person
seems to be a
quack.
Who can I
actually trust?
And you may
determine,
I don't know
that I can
trust anyone.
And maybe you
can't.
It's not just
that.
Again,
that's maybe
low-hanging fruit.
Journalists
understand the
power of the
tongue,
don't they?
They understand
it well.
They use it to
their advantage.
They know how
they can formulate
their words in
order to drive a
particular emotion.
And we see it
constantly in these
election cycles,
don't we?
Driving fear on
one hand in order
to push people to
one particular
candidate,
right?
Driving maybe
empty promises on
the other hand with
the language that
they use,
all reporting on
the same thing,
but using language
to their advantage
in order that they
might deceive.
Now,
that's not
universal,
but they
understand the
power of it,
and it certainly
is commonplace.
Perhaps there's
no greater place
where this
is seen
and where the
danger exists
than in the
church.
Charlatans
who understand
that they have
the power of
persuasion,
and they stand
at a pulpit
Sunday by Sunday
and they know
how to manipulate
the people that
hear their voice
and they will
work that to
their advantage
to build a
platform or
influence or
pad their
pockets,
whatever it may
be.
We can look
around,
we can see
every part of
society and say,
yeah,
I get what
David was
saying.
Everybody's
kind of lying
here.
Everybody's
trying to take
advantage of me
here.
people are
boasting that
they're good
at it.
What do we
do?
Save us,
Lord.
Help us,
Lord.
Almost every
lament David
has offered
involved these
sins in some
way.
Have you noticed
that?
In all these
Psalms, so much
of it comes
back to sins
of the tongue.
The reason
for that is
that sins of
speech are
among the
most destructive
sins.
They have
the ability
to disintegrate
the moral
fabric of
society.
James makes
this clear
for us.
In James
chapter 3,
he writes,
the tongue
is a fire,
a world
of unrighteousness.
The tongue
is set among
our members,
staining the
whole body,
setting on fire
the entire
course of
life,
set on fire
by hell.
Every kind
of beast
and bird
and reptile
and sea creature
can be tamed
and has been
tamed by
mankind,
but no
human being
can tame
the tongue.
It's a
restless evil,
he says.
It's full
of deadly
poison.
With it,
we bless
the Lord
and Father
on Sunday
morning,
and with it
we curse
people that
are made
in the likeness
of God
Monday to
Saturday.
From the
same mouth
come blessing
and cursing.
Brothers,
these things
ought not to
be so.
He understood
the destructive
power of the
tongue.
If death
and life
are in the
power of the
tongue,
which is
what Solomon
tells us
in Proverbs
18,
what must
that mean
for a
society
that is
permeated
by lying?
Permeated
by flattery
and double
speech?
It was
David's
circumstance.
It's ours
as well.
And it's
not hard
for us
to see
why David
felt this
was a
desperate
circumstance
that needed
God's
intervention.
So he
prayed that
the Lord
would rescue
them and
that he
would do
so by
dealing a
decisive blow
to the
wicked,
cutting off
the flattering
lips and the
boasting
tongue.
Again,
the Psalms
emphasizing,
warning us
of the
reality of
God's
judgment,
his people
praying for
it,
and then God
responding with
the promise
of it.
Now,
before we move
on,
let's
consider
this.
Where do
we fall
into this?
Have you
ever broken
God's moral
law with
a sin of
the tongue?
Of course.
Most of us
are probably
pretty good
at it.
Have you
ever lied
or flattered
or deceived
someone to
gain some
kind of
personal
advantage?
Maybe you
did it in
your business.
Maybe you
did it with
your spouse.
Maybe you
did it in
the church.
Maybe you
did it with
friendship.
Whatever.
We're all
probably guilty
of it,
right?
This
judgment
against
deceivers
that is
prayed for
by David
and then
promised by
God later
in the
Psalm,
it extends
to all of
us who
have sinned
in this
way.
All of
us.
You and
me included.
So,
where does
that leave
us?
there is
some hope.
In fact,
it's a
certain hope.
There was
a man
who never
flattered,
who never
boasted,
who never
deceived.
Peter said
that Jesus
committed no
sin,
neither was
deceit found
in his
mouth.
Even when
he was
reviled,
he did not
revile in
return,
but he
continued
entrusting
himself to
the judgment
of the
Father.
The good
news of
the gospel
is that
though we
should be
condemned by
God for
our lies,
our sins
can be
forgiven.
Christ's
righteousness
can be
applied to
our account.
Peter
continues in
the next
verse,
he himself
bore our
sins in
his body
on the
tree,
that we
might die
to sin
and live
to
righteousness.
By his
wounds
we are
healed.
Peter says,
quoting Isaiah,
by repenting
of your
sin,
trusting in
Jesus'
atoning
death and
resurrection,
you will
escape the
judgment of
God for
your sins.
Jesus has
taken the
punishment for
sin,
and he
offers
forgiveness
and eternal
life to
all who
will come
to him
in personal
faith to
receive it.
This is the
promise of
the gospel,
the offer
of new
life through
Jesus Christ,
the perfect
one,
the sinless
one,
who takes
the place
of sinners
like you
and me.
So there's
the perilous
condition of
a deceitful
society.
Now we see
in the second
half of the
psalm,
we see the
trustworthy
God,
the trustworthy
God.
Three truths
in the second
half of the
psalm give
us hope in
perilous times.
The first
one is this,
the Lord
will save
the poor
and needy.
The Lord
will save
the poor
and needy.
Look at
verse 5.
This is
God's statement
now.
God is saying
these words,
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.
David
asks for
salvation
in verse
1,
which is
precisely
what God
promises
in verse
5.
He knows
the plight
of the
vulnerable
who are
the first
to suffer
in a
deceitful
society,
and he
will come
to their
defense.
That's the
promise here.
The Lord
hates the
wicked.
He seeks
justice
for the
helpless.
But we
need to
understand
what God
is actually
promising
here.
In the
context of
this psalm,
poor and
needy are
terms that
are representing
what Psalm
11 called
the upright
in heart.
Those at
whom the
wicked aim
their arrows
in 11
and verse
2.
David
includes
himself in
this group.
Just look
at the
very next
verse.
Or excuse
me, in
verse 7.
You, O
Lord, will
keep them,
your words,
you will
guard us,
he says,
from this
generation
forever.
He includes
himself in
this group,
this group
of poor
and needy.
Well, David
physically
speaking was
neither poor
nor needy,
nor weak,
nor vulnerable.
He was
the king.
He was
the king.
He had
power.
He had
wealth,
prestige,
and yet
he includes
himself in
this.
So that
forces us
to go back
and say,
well, what
is God
actually promising?
Is he
promising that
every person
who experiences
an injustice
in this life
will find
rescue from
that judgment,
that injustice
in this life?
No, that's
not the
promise that
he's making.
While God
certainly cares
about injustices
against the
physically vulnerable,
this psalm has
those who
are faithful,
especially
in mind.
Think about
it in
relationship to
Jesus'
ministry.
God's
concern for
the physically
vulnerable
is exemplified
in Jesus.
He was
constantly
gravitating
toward the
helpless
and the
needy.
MacArthur
emphasizes
often that
during the
three years
of Jesus'
earthly
ministry,
he
essentially
eradicated
disease
from Israel.
I mean,
everywhere he
went,
hundreds and
thousands of
people are
receiving his
healing touch.
Amazing.
He gravitated
toward those
people.
His heart
broke for
those people.
He wanted
to help
those people.
However,
miraculous
healings were
not the
purpose of
Jesus'
ministry.
He himself
underscored
the deeper
meaning of
the promise
that is
highlighted here
in this
psalm.
That God
will save
his people
represented
as poor
and needy,
weak and
vulnerable
from the
wickedness
of this
world.
He will
redeem
them.
He will
save
them.
He will
rescue
them.
It's a
promise
that's
guaranteed.
Think about
it in
Jesus'
own
teaching.
In Luke
chapter 4,
we're told
that
he came
to
Nazareth
where he
had been
brought up
and as
was his
custom,
he went
to the
synagogue
on the
Sabbath
day and
he stood
up to
read.
And the
scroll of
the prophet
Isaiah
was given
to him.
He unrolled
the scroll
and found
the place
where it
was written,
the spirit
of the
Lord is
upon me
because he
has anointed
me to
proclaim good
news to
the poor.
He has
sent me to
proclaim liberty
to the
captives.
And
recovering
of sight
to the
blind
to set
at liberty
those who
are
oppressed
to proclaim
the year
of the
Lord's
favor.
And he
rolled up
the scroll
and gave
it back
to the
attendant
and sat
down and
the eyes
of all
in the
synagogue
were fixed
on him
and he
began to
say to
them,
today
this
scripture
has been
fulfilled
in your
hearing.
Jesus
interpreted
Isaiah's
message
as referring
to his
gospel
purpose.
The
poor,
the
captive,
the
blind,
the
oppressed,
they
represented
sinners
in need
of
salvation
and
Jesus'
purpose
in coming
was to
bring that
salvation
through his
death and
resurrection.
Did he
meet the
physical
needs of
people?
Did he
care to
do that?
Absolutely.
Is that a
partial
fulfillment
of Isaiah's
words?
Of course
it is.
Is it
the point?
No.
Will Jesus
eradicate
all evil
in the
end?
Yes,
we cling
to that
hope.
But the
promises
made by
God
must be
interpreted
with their
spiritual
meaning.
When we
come to
a passage
like Psalm
12,
the promise
is not
a guarantee
that God
will bring
justice
to the
oppressed
in this
life,
though he
often does
that.
The promise
is that he
will bring
spiritual
salvation
for all
who will
repent
and believe.
Not a
single one
will fail.
The physical
fulfillment of
this promise
in Psalm
12 will
come at
the final
judgment.
All of
the wicked
will be
judged by
God.
All of
the weak
and vulnerable
who are
believing
will be
vindicated
in that
moment.
But the
spiritual
fulfillment
of this
promise,
it's already
taken place.
It was
fulfilled in
the crucifixion
and the
resurrection
of Jesus.
That's why
we can
hope in
it.
God
says,
I will
now
arise.
I will
deal with
it.
And he
did.
He dealt
with it
in the
person and
work of
Jesus
Christ,
bringing
salvation to
the poor
and needy,
the lost
and oppressed
by sin.
That's the
first thing
that gives
us hope.
Number two,
the Lord's
promises are
trustworthy.
They're
trustworthy.
Verse six,
the words of
the Lord are
pure words,
like silver
refined in a
furnace on
the ground,
purified seven
times.
Now think about
what the
psalm is doing.
Think about
the progression
here.
We're first
presented with
the predicament.
Here is the
deceitful
society.
This is
troubling.
We need
salvation from
this.
And then we
have God's
promise that
he will
redeem the
faithful.
And immediately
following that
promise, we
might look at
it and say,
well, if I
can't trust
anybody else,
what makes
me think that
I should be
able to
trust God?
And David
answers that
for us in
the very next
thing.
And he
says, oh,
listen, the
words of
God, they're
very different
from the
words of
this world.
They are
pure words,
he says.
They're like
silver that's
been refined
seven times.
It doesn't
have a single
trace of
dross or
impurity left.
That's how
trustworthy the
Lord's words
are.
You can trust
his promises,
David says.
In another
psalm, he
says, this
God, his
way is
perfect.
The word
of the
Lord proves
true.
He really
is a
shield for
all who
take refuge
in him.
That gives
us hope,
doesn't it?
That God
promises to
save his
people.
And that
his promises
never fail.
Says
Spurgeon,
so clear
and free
from all
alloy of
error and
unfaithfulness
is the
book of the
words of
the Lord.
The Bible
has passed
through the
furnace of
persecution,
literary
criticism,
philosophic
doubt,
and scientific
discovery,
and has
lost nothing
but those
human
interpretations
which clung
to it as
alloy to
precious
ore.
The
experience of
saints has
tried it in
every conceivable
manner,
but not a
single doctrine
or promise
has been
consumed in
the most
excessive
heat.
faith.
What a way
to say
you can
trust him.
It's true.
You can
believe him.
He'll never
fail.
Which brings
us to the
final promise
in verses
seven and
eight.
The Lord
will not
forsake his
people.
He will
not forsake
his people.
Okay,
again,
think about
the progression
here.
Here on one
hand we have,
okay,
here's a promise
of the Lord
for salvation,
and then that's
followed up
with the emphasis
that,
and you can
trust it,
you can
trust his
word,
which is
then followed
up by,
and he's
never going
to change
his mind.
He's never
going to
change his
mind.
He's never
going to
turn around
from this.
He'll never
forsake his
people.
Look at
verse seven.
You,
O Lord,
will keep
them.
You will
guard us
from this
generation
forever.
On every
side,
the wicked
prowl,
his vileness
is exalted
among the
children of
men.
In this
final note,
David confessed
his faith
in the
Lord.
In the
last verse,
the wicked
are still
prowling.
The vile
are being
exalted
by the
world still
yet,
but David
was confident
that God
would guard
those who
trust him
to the
very end.
there's a
shift that
has happened
here,
a shift
that takes
place
throughout
the psalm.
It opens
in verse
one with
fear.
Lord,
save.
But after
David considers
God's perfect
word,
his fear
transforms
to an
act of
faith,
the
circumstances
do not
change.
He's still
going to have
a hard time
finding faithful
people.
He's still
surrounded by
wickedness.
the world
in which
he lives
exalts
the vile.
That has
not changed.
What's
changed?
David has
changed.
David has
changed.
This is
why we
must remain
grounded and
rooted in
the scriptures.
Like the
blessed men
of Psalm
1,
our
flourishing
will only
come through
being planted
by the rivers
of water,
which is
God's
word.
In
perilous
times,
we have
the pure
words of
God as
our hope.
And as
we bring
our frustrations,
as we bring
our fears,
and our
concerns,
and our
laments to
the Lord,
as we come
to the
scripture,
and to
prayer,
what is it
that happens?
The circumstance
will very rarely
change.
God changes
us instead.
He puts
faith in
our hearts.
He strengthens
us.
He becomes
a refuge
for us
rather than
delivering us
from all
hardship.
Notice in
verse 7,
the Lord
has not
said to
remove the
faithful from
their circumstance.
Instead,
it is said
that He
will guard
them and
carry them
through their
circumstance.
our prayer,
like David's
in verse 1,
is often,
Lord, will
you just
fix this?
And God's
answer most
often is,
no, but
I'll fix
you.
And I'll
help you.
And I'll
strengthen you.
And I'll
encourage you.
The wicked
can do a lot
to us.
They can.
They have
great power
over us
in this
life.
They really
do.
But they'll
never be able
to rob us
of the
guarantee
of God's
grace and
salvation.
Never.
He will
not forsake
us.
He will
lose none
who belong
to Him.
He will
guard them
all to the
very end.
And David
was confident
of that.
So though
the foundations
of society
continued to
crumble
around us,
the stronghold
of God
will remain.
And all
who take
refuge in
Him,
and only
those who
take refuge
in Him
by faith
will be
blessed
forever.
That's the
words of David
that we close
with in verse
7.
Oh Lord,
you will keep
your word.
you will
guard us,
you will
guard your
people from
this generation
for how long?
forever
forever and ever