Does Words Matter?
Psalms 12
Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567
Being the primary method of communication words are extremely powerful and can be used to invoke a spectrum of feelings ranging from love, joy, and happiness to anger, disgust, fear, and despair. While speeches from the likes of Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln inspire noble aspirations to seek racial equality, liberty from oppression, justice, and a government for the people; speeches from the likes of Adolf Hitler, Genghis Khan, Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin inspire bigotry, blood thirsty conquest, genocide and the overall degradation of human life. When words no longer reflect our “true inner thoughts” they become “cheap,” leading to much confusion, misunderstanding and quarrels. Often they are used to satisfy the cravings of the “god of self” by deceiving and taking from others what little resources and time they have. Scripture says contained within the tongue is both the power of death and life (Proverbs 18:21) for with it one can either choose to praise God or tear down those made in His image (James 3:9-11). Since we live in what Charles Spurgeon calls “Romanism,” a time when there are many gods the chief of which is “self,” it has become very difficult for a Christians to tame their tongues when the world is persecuting and deceiving them of their livelihoods! The following sermon is going to show that the best way to handle the deceptive words of a fallen world is to seek God’s protection as outlined in His Word!
Lord Deliver me from the Propaganda of this World
“Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. 2 Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts. 3 May the LORD silence all flattering lips and every boastful tongue— 4 those who say, “By our tongues we will prevail; our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”
Psalms 12:1-4
With hyperbolic language King David cries out that he feels isolated because those who genuinely love and are loyal to God seem to have vanished from the face of the earth! Since it seems like the “finer a thing is the more vulnerable it is to perversion,” many people in his day were using their tongues to lie, flatter and deceive others in order to promote the god of self. With incredible arrogance many people of his day believed they were the lords over not only their own but other people’s destinies. Though their personal power came from their mastery over deceptive languages, which in turn exploited the defenseless, it was acceptable in their sight for such words were merely reflective of their double hearts, lack of love for others and insatiable desire to be “right” in their own sight! Even though God warned them that there “is a way that seems right to a man, but in the ends leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25), these “proud sinners” were “impudent, daring and threatened to run down all that is sacred.” As a result of their ferocious attacks and outright deception King David must have felt isolated like Elijah in the desert. They have rejected Your covenant God and now they seek to exploit my love for them and desire to treat them as Your image (Matthew 22:39; James 3:9)! Hoping to hear from the “gentle whisper” of his Creator, David fervently prayed that God would intervene and “silence their flattering lips and boastful tongues” (verse 3)!
Todays Christians often “feel the pressure of taking a minority and unpopular position in society.” Many in today’s society no longer believe in absolute truth but instead believe that truth is propositionally created and destroyed within the confines of one’s own mind. In believing it is not worth retaining the knowledge or bowing to their Creator (Romans 1:28), not only have they sacrificed “loyalty, faithfulness, and truth on the altar of selfishness and ego” they prosecute others who do not emulate their wayward lifestyles (John 15:18-19)! They pressure believers into “watering down” God’s word with the “human use of self-deceiving words” that subtly distort what is a sin, thus justifying their disobedience. For example, how many times have you said or heard a believer say one of the following statements:
“I have not chosen wrongly, but I am a victim forced into this lifestyle by a hurtful society, parent, spouse, and so on.”
“What I am doing is not so bad—especially when you compare it to what others are doing.”
“If you had a spouse (job, problem) like mine, you would drink (smoke dope, act out sexually, etc.) too.”
“God’s word was written by fallible, human beings and for a time period that no longer exists … so much of it is no longer relevant.”
“I have to control my life to make sure my needs are met.”
“It does not matter what I do for I am worthless, unlovable and incompetent anyways.”
“God wrote me off a long time ago so I might as well eat, sleep and party until I die.”
If one stands up and objects to their “exaltation of their own way” the lost, of this world deem one to be a naïve bigot for believing and submitting to what they consider to be foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18), after all who can truly know or prove what if any gods exist? In response to such persecution one cannot help but wonder if it is even possible to keep one’s way pure in a self-seeking society?
God’s Promise of Protection
Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will protect them from those who malign them.
Psalms 12:5
King David rejoices that the One who comes to the defense of the victims of deception, flattering lips and outright monetary and spiritual persecution is none other than the Creator of all things seen and unseen (Colossians 1:16)! God will act to fulfill His promises not only to be a stronghold and deliverer of His own (Psalms 12:2) but also to “bring the abasement and removal of the wicked” (Isaiah 33:11-12). As Christians we need not fear he who roars like a lion (1 Peter 5:8) or the spiritual forces of this dark world (Ephesians 6:12) for when there is no hope, like the children of Israel facing the Egyptian army by the Red Sea, we merely need to stand still and our God will rise and fight for us (Exodus 14:14)! Was it not God who guided David’s sling and the mighty Goliath was defeated (1 Samuel 17:50)? Was it not God who sent horses and chariots of fire to protect Elisha and his servant from the King of Aram (2 Kings 6:17)? And was it not God who sent His only Son Jesus to be stricken for our iniquities so that by His stripes we might be healed (Isaiah 53)? How many times has God risen from His heavenly throne at three in the morning to save you from financial, physical, emotional, and relational problems? I am not saying that God will always remove your difficulties or persecution in your life when you cry out Abba Father (Galatians 4:6), but merely that He will always stand up and fight for your spiritual well-being!
God’s Word is Absolute Truth
And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times.
In contrast to the “lies, deceptions, false honesty, treachery, perverse speech, and scheming” of the wicked, King David said the word of the Lord is “flawless,” like purified silver or gold. The God of this universe “condescends to make Himself known” to human beings through His word that says exactly what He means! His motives of love for creation are known. He does not change His mind with the sands of culture (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) nor are there any hidden motives or words contained in His love letter that contradict His actions. Unlike human words that can either help, hinder, wound, heal, speak truth or deceive; having been written through inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21) the Bible is more than paper and ink … it truly is the very bread of our lives (Matthew 4:4)! Let me tell you a quick story that illustrates how precious every jot and tittle of God’s word:
“I have read of a German Christian woman who was accustomed to mark her Bible whenever she met with a passage which was specially precious to her; but towards the end of her life she ceased from the habit, for she said, “I find it unnecessary; for the whole of the Scripture has now become most precious to me.”
Charles Spurgeon aptly calls the Bible an “oracle to the simple-hearted man in mental, moral and spiritual perplexity.” The devil cannot invent a temptation that is not met in its pages. What a comfort it is to leave the “arena of human controversy” and deceptive words to step into the “green pastures of revelation” that will truly set one free!
While very few Christians today have no problem agreeing with King David when he says God protects His own, very few agree with what he meant when he said scripture is “flawless.” Charles Spurgeon said “the words of God have been tested by blasphemy, by ridicule, by persecution, by criticism, and by candid observation” ever since they were given to humanity. The more cultural norms deviate from the written word the greater the incongruence between the “image of reality” we desire and that of the one written about in the Bible! Even though we are willing to state every word of God is “full of soul nutrients” and “infallible and sufficient standard of faith and practice,” to synthesize human “wisdom” of mathematics, linguistics, history, science, biology and psychology many Christians no longer believe the Bible has been written without error! While there are many Christian teachers of such professions that have faithfully reconciled human thought with divine truth, others use human wisdom as a weapon to prove God’s word contains significant errors. There is a great danger in thinking this way for if any of the words of God are fallible then the One giving the words has erred and if that is true then one simply cannot know which if any of God’s promises are true and worth standing upon. Is it not more likely that the passages that seem to contract each other in the Bible only do so because one has failed to interpret them correctly considering the varying linguistics of their respective cultures? Surely, we have not become so arrogant to believe the voices of the earth are superior to that of our Creator. If King David had thought this way, then he was foolish to stand upon the Rock of his salvation seeking protection! God’s word is not derived from our foolishness but is a flawless, love letter to humanity.
Standing on the Promises of God
7 You, LORD, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, 8 who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race. Psalms 12:7-8
Armed with the knowledge that unlike the flattering lips and deception of society God’s word is flawless, King David stood firmly on God’s promise of protection! Let me tell you a story from that illustrates this glorious truth:
“The French atheist Voltaire made these claims openly. He once said, “In twenty years Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear.” He wrote that in fifty years no one would remember Christianity. But the year he wrote that, the British Museum paid the Russian government five hundred thousand dollars for a Bible manuscript while one of Voltaire’s books was selling in the London book stalls for just eight cents. Fifty years after his boast, the house in which Voltaire wrote his atheistic literature was the headquarters of the Geneva Bible Society and was therefore being used to disseminate the Christian Scriptures.”
Unlike the “boastful, deceptive, self-serving words of the wicked,” the word of God is pure and as such one can believe in and stand upon every jot and tittle written! I want to leave you with two challenges. First, even though the “wicked often dominant human culture” and suggest God’s word is false, let your light shine for the Truth that set you free and can do the same for them as well. And second, like King David never stop praying to God. When you fear that your words will only be a human composition of foolishness then merely cry out “Abba Father” and the Spirit will groan your deliverance requests in a manner that will be a sweet fragrance unto God. So let us take delight in the Lord (Psalms 37:4) for He is truly our Rock and fortress in times of need (Psalms 46:1-3)!
Sources Cited
Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002).
Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible: Complete and Unabridged in One Volume (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994).
C. H. Spurgeon, “A Suitable Watchword,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 54 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1908).
Robert L. Jr. Hubbard and Robert K. Johnston, “Foreword,” in Psalms, ed. W. Ward Gasque, Robert L. Hubbard Jr., and Robert K. Johnston, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012).
James Montgomery Boice, Psalms 1–41: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005).
Gerald H. Wilson, Psalms, vol. 1, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002).
D. A. Carson, ed., NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2018).
Willem A. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 5 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991).
