You can turn in your Bibles to Psalm 12 as we continue to work our way through the book of Psalms. Psalm 12, I'll read the psalm, we'll pray, and then we'll look at it in some detail. So verse 1, to the chief musician on an eight-stringed harp, the psalm of David. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
They speak idly everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things, who have said, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy. Now I will arise, says the Lord.
I will set him in the safety for which he yearns. The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. You shall keep them, O Lord. You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
The wicked prowl on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for Your written Word. We thank You that it's given by inspiration of God, that it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. So grant us ears to hear and hearts to receive these things. May you encourage your oftentimes discouraged church.
May you help us as believers in Christ to have the same sort of mindset that David represents in this psalm, and even more so, David's greater son. the ultimate object, subject, composer, singer, and prayer of this particular psalm. Again, forgive us now for all of our sins and unrighteousness and guide us by the Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well,
Introduction
I think there's a close connection between Psalms 11 and 12. We looked at Psalm 11 last week, and in fact if you look at Psalm 11, specifically in verses 1 to 3, For look, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow on the string, that they may shoot secretly at the upright and hard. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" So basically, in Psalm 11, verses 1 to 3, David, David's greater son, our Lord Jesus Christ, had either timid friends or sworn enemies that suggested, in light of the wicked opposition against you, you should just flee as a bird to your mountain. You should escape unscathed.
You should go rest. You should go to an island. You should sit back and not worry about the various trials and difficulties. In verse 2, he illustrates just how bad the danger is.
The wicked bend their bow. They make ready their arrow on the string that they may shoot secretly at the upright and hard. And then the question is asked, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? And by foundations, I think the psalmist means God's justice and law, the moral order of creation as summarized in the Ten Commandments, the undermining of the entirety of the moral structure of a society.
In other words, the prevalence of the wicked can lead to the vexation of the righteous. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Matthew Poole describes foundations this way, piety and justice and fidelity and mercy, which are the pillars or foundations of a state or kingdom. And again, I think the connection between Psalms 12, 11 and 12 are very clear.
I think Psalm 12 explains and somewhat amplifies the particular concern that we find in Psalm 11. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Of course, in Psalm 11, verse 6, the psalmist understands having God, and His perfections and His glory, that the final end of the wicked is to lose. God is going to cut them off.
God is going to decisively judge. God is going to rain fire and brimstone upon the heads of those who continually and perpetually and always resist His law and His rule. So Psalm 11 sort of directs us, verse 6, to consider the end of those foundation-wrecking wretches that Psalm 11.3 calls us to reflect upon. But I think Psalm 12 seems to answer the question, what about right now?
What about the difficulties I'm presently facing? And I think that's true for God's people. We know that the wicked lose. We know that God wins.
We know that there is a judgment to come. We know that glorification is promised to those who are in Christ Jesus, but damnation to those who continue impenitent and unbelieving. So I think in terms of Psalm 12, how do I navigate this present evil age? I get the final end.
I understand the final end. I know what's going to happen to them. But Lord, how do I know that your countenance, Psalm 11, 7, is upon me presently and currently while I live in the midst of this particular ethical cesspool? I think that's what's coming through this particular psalm.
And additionally, if you look back at Psalm 11, verse 1, in the Lord I put my trust, how can you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? Again, either timid friends or sworn enemies are tempting the psalmist to flee from the troubles to come. How does the psalmist comfort himself? Verse four, the Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven, his eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men, the Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence his soul hates, upon the wicked he will rain coals, fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup, for the Lord is righteous, he loves righteousness, his countenance beholds the upright.
What does the psalmist do to comfort him in Psalm 11? He contemplates God. In other words, he sees the importance of theology. He sees the importance of concerning himself with those perfections of God.
So it shouldn't surprise us in Psalm 12, he turns to the Lord in prayer. I think there's a good lesson here. Theology and prayer are very good for the soul. Theology and prayer are very necessary for the saint of Christ, the pilgrim in this weary land that is called upon to persevere and maintain fidelity to the very end.
So Psalm 12 is coming at the foundation destroying wretches with a bit of a different perspective. I know they're going to lose. I know they're going to be cut off. I know they're going to be judged extremely.
But right now things are hard. Right now things are tough. Right now things are difficult and so Psalm 12 is the prayer of David, but I think more importantly it's the prayer of Christ in his earthly ministry as he was opposed, as he was resisted, as he was rejected. The prologue in John 1 verses 10 and 11, he came to his own and his own received him not.
He lived amongst the opposition, he lived amongst the resistance, he lived amongst the revolutionaries against the God of heaven and earth. And I would suggest as well the contrast in Psalm 12 hinges on the wicked words of men in verses 1 to 4 and the pure words of God in verses 5 to 8. So what is Jesus teaching us? What is David teaching us?
What has the church historically learned from Psalms like Psalm 12? You need to lean upon the Word of God. You need to seek your safety in the Word of God. You need to seek your stability in the Word of God.
Why? Because the Word of God is pure. The Word of God preserves. The Word of God stabilizes.
The Word of God comforts. And so that's the contrast in the psalm, but
The Destruction of the Foundations
we'll take it up under two considerations. First, the destruction of the foundations in verses 1 to 4, and then secondly, the preservation of the righteous in verses 5 to 8. And I think in verses 1 and 2, what we have is the destruction itself. And again, I think this harkens back to 11.3, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
Well, the righteous can contemplate God, Psalm 11, and the righteous can cry to God in Psalm 12.
The Cry for Help in Distress
Help or save, this is a necessary response of the faithful in times of trouble. Brethren, we're not the first persons in the history of the church that have faced anything of oppression and persecution. In fact, in many respects, we're on easy street compared to what has preceded us in terms of trial, hardship, opposition, and extreme prejudice against the people of God Most High. Do you know what you get when you read church history?
Do you know what you get when you see the suffering saints? Do you know what you get when you read martyrs' biographies? Not autobiographies, but biographies. What you get is that they knew their God and they were faithful prayers.
In other words, in a situation where it looks like, at times, the foundation-destroying wretches are winning, what's our response? To fly away to a mountain? To go and buy an island? Again, I'm not necessarily saying you can't go and shimmy up Mount Sham for an afternoon to escape it all.
You go right ahead. But if the tendency or temptation in us is to retreat, instead of considering who God is, Psalm 11, 4-7, and praying to that God, help, save, Lord, there's distress, there's danger, there's problems, there's hardship, there's heartache. And the way that the psalmist describes the particular distress is that it seems that it's not just confined to the world. It's not just that the foundations of the civil state are under constant attack by the wicked and the godless.
Which they are, in our own day abortion, euthanasia, sexual perversion, theft. And I'm not talking about bicycles, I'm talking about something that far exceeds that kind of theft. I mean, there is wealth redistribution and transfer of an enormity going on. There's some foundation destroying wretches that are operative in our country.
But as the psalmist prays this psalm, it seems like he's also talking about and lamenting the condition inside the professing people of God. Notice in verse 1, help Lord, for the godly man ceases. It could be that they all just died. It could be that they all just ended.
It could be that they are in the grave bodily and spiritually present with God himself, but he speaks in these stark terms, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of man. What I think he might be indicating is that this isn't just an out there problem of foundation destroying. It can be an in-here problem of foundation-destroying as well. And if you ask the question, well, how is it that internally we have foundation-destroying wretches?
Well, I'm not going to necessarily brand them as wretches, but I will call many of them dummies. Ignorant, foolhardy, not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier, kowtowing and capitulating to culture instead of standing fast on the word of God? If that doesn't evoke this cry from us to the Most High when we reflect upon the state of the church in general, I'm not sure what will. In fact, I expect the pagans to destroy the foundations.
That's just like I expect that water is necessary for me to live. Just like I expect that oxygen is necessary for me to live. You're a pagan? Oh, I get it.
I see why you've got that battering ram. I see why you're targeting those foundations. I understand. Not that I condone it, not that I'm okay with it.
I think it's wretched, but I get it. When the church isn't faithful though, When the church doesn't care about foundations, when the church has relegated her position as the very house of God and the pillar and ground of the truth to either entertainment or self-help or do goodery or whatever other nonsense is going on under the guise of church today, that's a bit more disconcerting. And when we trace through scripture, we see that essentially what the psalmist is saying, again, David, Christ, and the church. The church, connected to her head, gets to pray these psalms as her own.
Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. What do you think is the sum and substance of that cry? I'm all alone. It's only me.
You say, well, that's not befitting our Savior. Of course it is. True humanity opposed at every step of the way, true humanity resisted and rejected. I'd question His true humanity if He couldn't pray this prayer.
What about Elijah? after witnessing the reigning of hell from heaven to consume the sacrifice that Elijah faithfully offered up and to see the defeat of the Baalists and the worshipers of Asherah, what do we see in the next scene? Elijah under a broom tree saying, you know, Lord, you can go ahead and take me home now. That's a strange response to such a grand victory. God's response is perfect.
Have a nap and eat. We're more spiritual than God at times, aren't we? You should fast longer. You should go shimmy up that mountain.
Show God you mean business. God's actually kind. He says, you know, have a nap and eat and get back in the fight. What was Elijah's gripe?
It wasn't any sort of a personal crisis in the heart of Elijah. Some have put him on the therapist's couch in 1 Kings 19. That's not the issue. I live amongst the covenant people and there's nobody around that's faithful to you?
It irritated the prophet. It frustrated the prophet. It affected the prophet. Christ as true prophet, according to his humanity, you don't think coming to your own and your own receiving you not would evoke some thoughts of, wow, I kind of feel like I'm all alone here.
What was God's message to Elijah? I've got 7,000 that haven't bowed the knee to Baal. You see a similar response with reference to the prophet Micah in Micah chapter 7. There's no more godliness in the land.
I'm all alone in the land. I get the wicked are set up for destruction, 11.6. I get you're going to rain fire and brimstone upon them. I get the portion of their cup is going to be visited in kind.
I get that. But right now, it's tough. It's hard. Trying to be faithful in a faithless age?
Trying to be persevering in an age where persons just don't do that? This is the scene that the psalmist is facing, the experience of Jesus. Listen to Samuel Pierce as he introduces this particular psalm. He says, with respect to the psalm before us, it concerns our Lord Jesus Christ.
It represents him as very greatly oppressed, as deprived of all human comfort, as calling on the Lord for help, as comforting himself in the Lord's righteous destruction of his enemies. He comforts himself in the Lord's promises which were pure. He goes on to say, our Lord Jesus Christ in our nature and world was for us and for our salvation the subject of the scorn of men, the malice of devils. He could not take our nature, but he must be the subject of all the sinless imperfections of it.
He could not come into our world by his mysterious incarnation and live in it without all spot of sin. He's not saying he sinned, but being affected by it, seeing it, doesn't it bug you when you see certain expressions of sin? It just should, you know, I'm not talking about, you know, honey, I can't believe you burned the roast. Abortion?
Made? A country of 40 million people is known for how many people they kill through medical assistance in dying? That's a claim to fame I'd rather not participate in. If we're outraged by sin, If we're irritated and frustrated with sin, how much more the sinless, harmless, holy, undefiled Son of God.
By this, all the rage of earth and hell, or he says, He could not come into our world by His mysterious incarnation and live in it without all spot of sin. By this, all the rage of earth and hell would be manifested. I mean, demon-possessed men ran to him and said, do not torment us. That's not ever happened to me.
The holy, harmless, and undefiled One was affected by sin in this present evil age. Let alone the theology of imputation, God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, taking our sin, heaping it upon the Savior, crushing Him in our place, and then taking His righteousness and heaping it upon us by grace through faith in Him. So brethren, when we pray Psalm 12.1, help Lord, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. Again, we don't see everything.
Like Elijah didn't see the 7,000 that hadn't bowed the knee to Baal. The way that Micah didn't see what God was doing, even in the ministry of Isaiah. Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries. So in some sense, it's a bit hyperbolic.
I don't think the psalmist is saying, not one, Never again, but it's that feeling or that experience or that distress wherein we think we're all alone. It's just us. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
Flattering Lips and a Double Heart
Notice the manifestation of the distress in verse two. They speak idly, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. Again, idle chat, godless chat outside the church, but inside as well. inside as well. Brethren, Matthew 12, Jesus is going to, we're going to give an account for every idle word that we speak.
What it would be like if we lived in light of that. I couldn't even begin to imagine how many idle words I speak in a given day. It's kind of terrifying. It makes me very appreciative that there is a refuge called Jesus and I find safe haven there.
But as he describes it, they speak idly, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak, with a double heart they speak. So the idle chat in the world and in the church and the flattery and double heart that characterizes the ungodly. You say, well, we don't flatter people within the context of the church. Yeah, we do.
A failure to speak truth to people is flattering them. If somebody comes up to you and says, do I have bad breath? And you say, no, it's like a sweet smelling rose. You're not ultimately helping that person.
Do you know what's problematic? We don't do that because we're afraid to offend the person that should be offended. Because we're super thick, thin skin. What do you mean as you're breathing fire?
What do you mean it's bad? Brethren, we have far more faults, far more shortcomings, far more sins than anybody that we know knows. So if it's only you got bad breath, thank you, brother. I'm gonna run to the bathroom and brush my teeth right now, straight away.
See, it kind of goes both ways. We don't want to hurt people, and that's okay, that's good. We shouldn't, you know, run down Wellington, and everybody here has bad breath. But if somebody has the guts, the faithfulness, to actually point something out, receive it.
You know, it's commonplace. What about you? Okay, we can deal with me another time, but right now, brother, clean it up. And I think this is what Solomon is getting at in Proverbs 27.
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. I mean, outside the church, isn't this characterized the world in which we live? They speak idly, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. Yeah, that's exactly the distress that we see.
That is exactly the distress that David experienced in the persecution by Saul and the usurpation by Absalom. This is exactly what our Lord Jesus faced in His earthly ministry every step of the way. And then
Petition for God's Justice
on the heels of this cry of distress in verses one and two, shouldn't surprise us that he turns to petition. He turns to his ask. In other words, he sets forth the problem in verses one and two, help Lord, four, to what he hopes is the solution and the answer and the response by the Father in verses three and four. And notice, it is that God executes justice.
You know, if you didn't know better, you would have thought I wrote the first 12 Psalms. It's been a long time emphasis in this pulpit is on the church taking seriously the demarcation between righteousness and unrighteousness and evoking as example the imprecatory Psalms of David. In other words, when David calls down the curse of God upon the enemies of God, not David. Have you seen that recurring theme in these first 12 Psalms?
Have you seen that the psalmist with keen eyes sees that clear divide and doesn't just say, oh, well, you know, that's the way things go. I guess I got to just live in a world filled with double-hearted men, with lying men, with deceitful, deceiving men, and just be settled in my life. No. And given the opportunity to pray, as he does here in Psalm 12,
The Specific Objects of Divine Justice
notice he prays for the execution of God's justice. Verse 3, may the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things. Again, the experience of David, Saul, Saul's henchmen, Absalom, Absalom's rebellion, usurpation against David, the lawful king in the kingdom, and the experience of Jesus. How does he characterize his opponents in John 8?
You are of your father the devil. The deeds of your father you want to do. He was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. When he speaks, there's no truth in him.
Should it surprise us or shock us that in the earthly ministry of our Lord, when he comes to his own and his own receives him not, that he sort of camps on the words that they speak? Yeah, the words describe or define or show forth what's in the heart. So may the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud of things. Notice the specific objects of justice in verse 4 who have said, This isn't theory, this isn't a theory all, this isn't sort of hypothetical, this is actually what was happening in the life and ministry of our Lord.
Who have said, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us? Again, it doesn't take but a moment's reflection upon the gospel narratives to see this fleshed out in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you take the flattering lips, when you take the speaking proud things, when you take the actual comments, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us? The assertion by the Sanhedrin that they were the sons of Abraham and John 8.
The implication of the Sanhedrin in John 8 41, we were not born of fornication, wink, wink. What are they implying? Jesus was. Oh no, they didn't.
That's not what my commentary says. Interestingly, in the Talmud, it predicates of Mary that she was a harlot. We were not born a fornication. What's the implication?
You were. Virgin birth, sure. Flattering lips for themselves. Proud and haughty words toward others.
Vicious, godless lies against the only holy, harmless, and undefiled one that has ever walked the earth. We get frustrated when people accuse us wrongly. And well, we should, that's injustice. But if they're not right on that, they're right on about a billion other things.
Not so with our blessed Savior. Consider as well the rejection of Christ. According to Jesus in John 15, 21 and 23, a rejection of the one sent is a rejection of the one who sent him. At the cross, who's there blaspheming?
Who's there cursing? Who's there giving their snide comments? Oh yeah, the thieves on the cross. Yeah, the rabble on the ground.
The chief priests and the elders. The chief priests and the elders. He saved others. Let's see if he can save himself.
Let's see if God is going to deliver him. The very act of rejecting the one on the cross is a rejection of the one who according to his purpose and plan was on the cross. So all the while with their flattering lips they patted themselves on the back. They said things like, I thank you Lord that I'm not like other men.
But all the while, they rejected God. They were practical atheists. That happens. People affirm a belief in God, but they live like there is no God.
And that is exactly what you see in the Sanhedrin. And
The Legitimacy of Imprecatory Prayer
I would suggest before we move on to verses five to eight, the legitimacy of this justice. Again, I can understand why at times there's a bit of discomfort for first-time Bible readers to get a little bit alarmed at the psalmist, David and Jesus praying, may the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things. Wow, I thought gentle Jesus meek and mild. I didn't think we were supposed to pray those kinds of prayers.
It's the lax talionis, it's the law of retribution, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. We're a little more civilized today. We define it this way, the punishment must fit the crime. I'd suggest that this response from God, cutting off a lying tongue is a punishment that fits the crime.
Isn't it? Perfectly consistent. I think we need to be careful of making the same mistake in Psalm 12 that we might make in Psalm 11. See, in Psalm 11, we hear about that fire and that brimstone and God's visiting with judgment, those who, you know, filled up the portion of their cup in their sin and lawlessness.
And we say, man, that seems a bit harsh, everlasting punishment. I mean, that happens within the context of the church. Every few years, there's a new book written that denies hell. I can't believe verse 6.
Seems shocking. Seems horrible. But we neglect verse 4 in Psalm 11. I'm sorry, verse two, the wicked bend their bow.
They make ready their arrow on the string that they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart. So in Psalm 11, we struggle with the judgment in verse six, but not the sin that predicated the judgment. And I think it's similarly the case that we struggle with verse three, may the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks proud things, but we don't struggle with verses one and two. It's misplaced, brethren.
The justice of God is legitimate. The justice of God is the righteousness of God. The justice of God is particular. It is just, it is right.
You can pray, Psalm 12, verses three and four.
The Preservation of the Righteous
Now let's look then at the latter half of the psalm, the preservation of the righteous in verses five to eight. The prayer also is a vehicle for prophecy. Aren't the Psalms great? The Psalms give us recording of conversations between the Father and the Son.
Don't they? Psalm 2, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the outermost parts of the earth for your possession. It's the Father talking to the Son. So the psalmist gives us these conversations of our God, the triune God.
The psalmist here gives us prophecy. In other words, it answers the real issue of Psalm 12. What do I do in this world of distress? What do I do when I feel alone?
What do I do when my heart is aching over the flattering lips and the double hearts and the lying tongues and the deceit and the wretchedness? In some sense, brethren, that stuff is even more foundational than the big three. It's the fact that men are full of lies that lead to these things. Look at Planned Parenthood.
Seriously? You wanna sell abortion under the guise of Planned Parenthood? Parenthood evokes notions of goodness, happiness, babies, joy, life. What do they do?
They sell abortion. Made. Medical assistance? Huh, I always thought medical assistance was to make sure you didn't die.
Yeah, I'm a simpleton, brethren, gotta tell ya. But I think that's how it all's supposed to work. Medical assistance is supposed to help you avert death, not bring it on and hasten it. But it sounds better, doesn't it?
Medical assistance in dying. People have affairs, not adultery. People engage in all manner of lawlessness, the big sins, because they're liars at heart, connected to the devil, who's a liar and a murderer. So the psalmist here is a vehicle now for the prophecy of God in terms of his response.
God's Promise to Arise and Deliver
Verse 5, the deliverance of the oppressed. Verse 5a, for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord. I will set him in the safety for which he yearns. God doesn't say, oh, you're just imagining the distress.
You're just imagining the problems. You're just, you know, making it up. That's not what God responds. God responds with a particular plan and purpose for action.
The petition is answered. The petition is prophetically addressed. The psalm then becomes a vehicle to comfort the rest of us. And that's what verse 5 does.
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord. I will set him in the safety for which he yearns. So the deliverance of the oppressed. underscores the response or the deliverance by God. Notice again in verse 5, for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise.
If you go back for just a moment to Psalm 3, verse 7. Psalm 3, verse 7, arise, O Lord, save me, O my God. Notice in Psalm 7 at verse 6. Arise, O Lord, in your anger.
Lift yourself up because of the rage of my enemies. Psalm 9, specifically at verse 19. Arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.
Psalm 10, 12. Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the humble. Psalm 12, 1.
Help, save, arise. Respond, do, intervene, govern, render aid. Verse 5, that's exactly what I'm going to do. It's exactly the manner.
God provides temporal intervention. In other words, in history, by his providence. But I think that the apex or the pinnacle or the defining moment of verse fives, now I will arise in what we read is in what we read in John one. What is John 1, 14?
The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. What is that? But God's, now I will arise. In the fullness of the time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.
God does see, God does hear, God does answer, God does vindicate His elect who cry out to Him day and night. And that is exactly the shape in which the psalm proceeds. Verse 5 is a world of comfort for the people of God. And look at how verse 5 ends.
It sort of deals with something I mentioned earlier. Sin is a harsh taskmaster. I can't imagine if I was in slavery in Egypt, I would look at the Egyptian taskmasters with fondness. Boy, I love those guys.
I love when they come by and they give me a little handful of gruel when they're not giving us leeks and melons. I can't imagine every day was banquet day, irrespective of what the Israelites wished for when they were in the wilderness. And I love it when he comes by and he whips me. Boy, is that ever great.
Right? Again, I don't need the experience of slavery to understand that I probably don't like the slave master. Doesn't Jesus use that convention in John 8, slaves of sin? Do you think the taskmaster in sin is any more gracious, gentle, or kind than the taskmaster in Egypt?
Notice how God speaks of this freedom, this liberation or deliverance rather from oppression. I will set him in the safety for which he yearns. Isn't that the sense you get from verse one? Help, Lord.
He's yearning for safety. He's yearning for comfort. He's yearning for stability. He's yearning that at least these foundation destroying wretches would be cut off at least for a time so that we can gain some ground back.
He's yearning for relief internally amongst the professing people of God. He's yearning for relief externally. God raise up a decent magistrate to execute justice upon wrongdoers in history. God promises it in verse 5.
For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise, says the Lord. I will set him in the safety for which he yearns. Ash makes the good observation. It is precisely by becoming the oppressed and groaning Messiah that Jesus comes to us as the God who arises to bring salvation.
In his undivided divine human person, Jesus Christ is the incarnate covenant head of his troubled people in every age and thereby. the one who brings us the salvation of God. Amen. Now I will arise, you see temporal vindication of the people of God on the part of God in time and history. Absolutely, positively.
But if verse 6 in Psalm 11 is pointing to the end of the wicked, verse 5 in Psalm 12 is pointing to the present and to the future. And then notice the description of the Word of God. What does he lean on in the midst of all this? If the wicked are characterized by double hearts, flattering lips, and lying tongues, where do you get your comfort?
You don't go down to the local, you know, lodge and get comfort from people who flatter, who have double hearts, and who speak incessantly in lies. You need a standard. You need some help. And the contrast is clear.
The words of the wicked, verses 2 and 4, the words of God in verse 6.
The Purity and Reliability of God's Word
Notice, the words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. It's proven. It's reliable. It's stable.
It is nourishing. It is sustaining. It is preserving. How is it that the oppressed make it in this present evil age when they're surrounded with the godlessness in this present evil age?
They comfort themselves in who God is, Psalm 11, 4 to 7, and they comfort themselves in what God has revealed, Psalm 12, 6. In other words, theology and the word and prayer, Psalm 12, 1, are crucial for pilgrims on the way. Absolutely, positively crucial should we sink under the oppression, should we sink under the persecution, should we sink in what does appear at times that the foundation-destroying wretches are actually doing a great job at it all. There's a way where you can know what they're doing. and not be completely burned out over it.
There's a way you can know what they're doing and not refuse or be in a place where you refuse to get out of bed. But did you know they're doing this and they're doing that and they're doing this and they're doing that? You know, just on a practical level, I can't control that. Take your biggest conspiracy theory.
I'm sure there's a few in here that have a few different ones. Your biggest one. I don't even wanna start naming them, because people are gonna smile and say, wow, you really are weird. Biggest one.
Do you know there is absolutely, positively nothing you can do about that biggest one? But if you're a wife today, you can submit to your own husband as unto the Lord and honor him. Dudes, you're not gonna probably solve the middle, the riddles of the universe after your 10 minute YouTube video. But you can get out of bed, read your Bible, pray, and be the best employee in your shop, and then go home and lovingly lead your bride.
How do they do it? Because they think about who God is. They pray to God and they trust God's Word irrespective of what their eyes may tell them. Well, it doesn't look like every oppressed and needy has been delivered.
Has God said it in verse 5? Yeah. Trust the plan. See, I think it's easier for us to fix the mysteries of the universe than a hurting marriage.
Well, did you know what happened back in this day and all the theories? Your kid's crying. Pick it up. Hug it.
I'm being respectful. It could be a boy, it could be a girl. We're there to solve everything, but for some reason, getting out of bed, reading my Bible, coming to church twice, You know, brethren, perhaps we're not as fit and ready to solve the mysteries of the universe that we like to fancy ourselves to be. What is the psalmist saying has been his steady diet?
What nourished, what filled, what helped, what sustained, what stabilized, what girded up the Savior in his earthly ministry? Words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. It's not only the purity of the word, but the preservation of the word.
God's Preservation of His People
Verse 7, you shall keep them, O Lord. I don't mean, I don't think he means the word. Of course God's going to secure and preserve his word. You shall keep them, the oppressed of verse 5, the needy who sigh, the needy who yearns.
Verse 7, you shall keep them, O Lord. You shall preserve them from this generation forever. How does he know that? Because of verse 6, because of verse 5. because of what God did with Israel and Egypt, because of what God did with his people throughout history, because of what God has done and shown himself to be.
So he can pray with confidence, you shall keep them, O Lord, you shall preserve them from this generation forever. So brethren, I would suggest be dependent upon that word And pray for an increase of faith to believe that word so that you can, with the psalmist, say verse 7, you shall keep them, O Lord. You shall preserve them from this generation forever. Let's just suppose for a moment you've got a bad life, horrible life, hard life, distress.
Every time you walk outside the door, the RCMP pulls up and shakes you down. They threaten to throw you in jail. Not because of crimes that you've committed, but because you're an altogether wonderful human being. Let's just imagine that you are surrounded at work by filthy, wicked, vile people.
Let's just imagine you go home and it's not much better there. What are you tempted to pray? Be honest, what are you tempted to pray? Help Lord, save Lord, take these afflictions from me.
I'm right there at the first of the line. I'm not gonna lie to you. I have prayed many a time, God, take the oppression, take the persecution, take the trial. Put me on a beach somewhere and let me just chill out, relax.
I love what Plummer says in his commentary on Psalm 12. What Christians need is not less trial or lighter affliction, but stronger and simpler faith. Hmm, beautiful. Verse six is where the psalmist gets comfort.
Alongside of his prayer, verse one, in light of his theology, 11, four to seven. You ever remember those bracelets and bumper stickers? WWJD, what would Jesus do? And arguably it was, you know, I'm at dinner tonight, I think Jesus would have the fish, so I'll get the fish.
Can't really be into a double cheeseburger with bacon, that just doesn't seem legit for Jesus, so I'm gonna have the fish. What would Jesus do? Hurting people of God, you know what Jesus would do? Jesus would recognize the problem.
Jesus would remind himself of the Father's perfections. Jesus would cry out for help in the midst of them. And Jesus would lean upon the Word of God. It's about as basic an application of the psalm as anyone could ever offer.
I realize that. That's it? That's what you got? I think that, for the most part, is the sum and substance of the Christian life.
You see, I think that, you know, again, like we do with our conspiracy theories, we shoot a bit high when it comes to the spiritual disciplines. You know I fasted 15 times last year? Yeah, but you didn't show up for church. You know I read my Bible five times last year?
But your home's a mess. Do you realize I pray for hours a day? But you can't keep a job. Like, come on, brethren.
Let's try to shoot a little lower and a little more effectively than solving the mysteries of the universe in terms of our conspiracies and excelling amongst our fellows when it comes to the spiritual disciplines.
The Wicked Still Prowl — Verse 8 Explained
Notice how the Psalm ends in verse eight. I think there are those commentaries, I'm sure I read one or two, that believe that the psalmist returns to lament. He starts with a lament, help, Lord, save, for the godly man ceases, the faithful disappear from among the sons of men. That's lamentation, that's a lament over the current situation of things.
So verse 8 seems a bit awkward. God does purpose to deliver the oppressed and needy. Verse 5. God will give the needy what he earns for.
Verse 5. How do we know that? Because the Word of God is pure. What does the Word of God promise?
Verse 7. He's going to preserve you. He's going to keep you. He's going to help you.
That'd be a good place to end the psalm, wouldn't it? On the high note of triumph for the people of God, preserved by God from now until the day they go to be with Jesus. Verse 8 comes with the wicked prowl on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men. Starts off in that lament, takes us to the very tip of Zion or the height of Zion, and says, eh, all right, back to where you came from.
No, I think the connection is this. If in Psalm 11 you realize that the wicked are going to meet their doom, verse 6, don't forget that. But the wicked might not meet their doom for a while. I think verses 7 and 8 are strictly, inextricably connected.
I don't think he returns to lament. I think he enforces the central lesson. that while you live in this present evil age, you're gonna be faced with seeing and observing the wicked prowl on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men. But you're living in light of verse seven, that God's preserving you. You're living dependently on verse six, the pure word of God.
Your lives are characterized by the sorts of cries of verse one. Your lives should be filled with the perfections of God from 11, four to seven. In other words, God is saying the wicked are still there. They prowl, they're horrible, they're monsters, they're beasts.
But even in the midst of horrible monstrous beasts who are hell-bent on destroying foundations, God is there and has you in the hollow of his hand. I think it just underscores the emphasis and it answers the question, what am I supposed to do in an age like this that is filled with people like that? Be faithful. Be prayerful.
Be contemplative on who God is. In other words, do what you're supposed to do and let God deal with the mysteries of the universe. Let God sort out the chaff from the wheat. Let God execute justice upon the objects of his wrath.
You just be faithful, whatever your calling, whatever your role, whatever your purpose. This psalm was true in the experience and life of David. Again, Saul, Absalom. Probably the two overarching problems in David's life.
I suspect that if you ask David, what troubled you more, battling Goliath in the Valley of Elah, battling Philistines and collecting, you know, foreskins or having to deal with Saul? He'd probably say, man, Saul was rough. Dude, you just went out and collected foreskins off dead Philistines and Saul was rough? And then I suspect, I don't know the mind of David, but I suspect that if you would have said, what was more difficult, Saul or Absalom?
My own son raised up. My own beloved boy. I taught him to throw a ball. I showed him how to do the sling.
I taught him of God. And he works the crowd. He usurps the kingdom. And I'm thrown out.
That's got to hurt, brethren. It was true in the experience of David. It's true in the experience of the true David. Just read the gospel narratives.
Just see the opposition that our Lord Jesus faced. I just want to end with this reminder with reference to the church. Bonar says, in terms of the psalm and the church, he says, the church as I, anointed with eye salve, has ever since been able to discern in the world resemblances to the same state of things, and never more clearly than now. Hence David, and David's son, and the seed of David's son, have ever found the strain of this song fitted to express what the world made them feel.
I would suggest, by way of conclusion, there ought to be urgent pleas for help from God when we feel alone. Don't indulge that feeling, I am alone, everybody's mean to me, nobody likes me. Pray, help, Lord. The realistic, rather, assessment of the departure from God.
Doesn't hurt to be a cultural analysist or do cultural analyses. The other one's messed up. a mess. Let it drive you to God and not away from God. For every YouTube video that you watch, pray, read, do something, you know, that you actually can manage with.
The earnest expectation for the justice of God. I remain convinced even more so 12 Psalms in. This is a major theme in the Psalms and we see it in the New Testament as well. God, we want justice.
I don't think that's a bad thing. A perfection of God is His righteousness, His justice. We image God, we're new creatures in Christ Jesus, of course we want righteousness, and it's not wrong to pray to God for it. The constant dependence upon the Word of God and the faith-filled recognition of the deliverance of God.
And the recognition as well that the preservation that God promises in verse 7, grounded in his word of verse 6, in response to the prayer in verse 1, help Lord, does not necessarily mean the deliverance from all problems and all distresses and all difficulties. In Matthew 8, Jesus gets into the boat with the disciples and there's still a storm. There is still a tempest. Christ in the boat does not mean the absence of trial.
Christ in the boat means help, sustaining power, persevering grace in the midst of the storm. And I think that's the emphasis that we find in Psalms like Psalm 12. And of course, if you're an unbeliever, you've got to pay attention to what is being said in this Psalm. And in 11.6, your end is not good, fire and brimstone.
If you look like the person in Psalm 12, I didn't even touch on this, I forgot. Verse 4, who have said, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? If that isn't the heartbeat of self-willed sinners, I don't know what is.
And again, I think that's symptomatic of the Sanhedrin. Who's Lord over us? Pilate tries to rebuff them from executing the Lord Jesus Christ, and who do you think you are? You push Pilate, we're gonna make a little phone call, we're gonna send a little email, we're gonna tell the emperor, the emperor that you wouldn't do what we said to do when it comes to this competitor to the emperor.
Whoa, blackmail through and through. So I think that what he says here is true of the Sanhedrin, but it's true of sinners. With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own.
Who is Lord over us? Unbeliever, you may think you are the Lord of your life. You may think you've got it all under control. You may think that all of this religious talk is so much for everybody else, but not me.
This psalm promises destruction. This psalm promises the smashing of mouths, the cutting out of tongues. It uses that very graphic illustration that 11.6 invokes as well. I don't necessarily think it's illustration.
Your end is not good. Your end is woeful. The righteous struggle in this present evil age to be sure, but you know what we got going on for us in the future? The new Jerusalem.
Emmanuel's land. World without end enjoyment of the blessed God. You know what you've got? Depart from me, you cursed. into hell, everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.
You need, unbeliever, what Psalm 2, 12 sets forth in terms of sinners. Kiss the son, that's the Lord Jesus, lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. The psalm is for David, the psalm is for David's son, the psalm is for the son's church, and the psalm is for the unbeliever. to hopefully shake you and rattle you and show you that if you, in this present age, are a lord of yourself and have rejected God from your thoughts, you're going to suffer the consequences and the punishment that is fitting and appropriate for a thrice holy God.
So take the psalmist's counsel and kiss the sun. That means to believe in him. Lay down your weapons. Lay down your arms.
Lay down your opposition and resistance and come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Psalter and for what it teaches us concerning God and concerning the situation that we face on a regular basis, and that it prescribes to us things to help us in the midst of those situations, help us to be a people that are prayerful, a people that do contemplate theology, the perfections of God, the being of God, and help us to be those who depend upon that Word, that pure Word, that refined Word, that Word that has shown itself time and time and time again through the history of the world to be that constant source of help and strength and fortification for the people of God. May you bless us, may you cause us to be dependent, and may you cause us to walk by faith in the blessings that you hold forth in your Word. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.