Taking God at His Word Manuscript

SERMON TITLE: Taking God at His Word
TEXT: Psalm 12:1-8 Sermon (ESV)
SPEAKER: Robert Tansill
DATE: 11-7-21 (Evening Service)

You can find the sermon notes here.

WELCOME

Good evening, Gateway! I'm Robert Tansill. And as always, it is a joy to be worshiping with you. I have a question for you. Have you ever had someone who was a Christian say something to you that they meant with good intentions, but it came across as insincere and hollow? Like when someone says, “I’m praying for you!” Are they really praying for you, or is that just something to say? Oftentimes, it can feel more like the latter.

In fact, early in my ministry, I used to say that all the time. And then, one day, a friend challenged me by asking if I really was praying. I had to be honest with him (and myself) and admit that sometimes I didn’t. (Actually, most of the time, I didn’t!) It had become just something to say. Like saying, “I hope you are going to be ok!” I was so convicted that when I say it now, I will stop and take a moment to pray for that person. Yet, like with that situation, we often take for granted so much of what God has entrusted to us. Whether it is prayer, the gifts that he has given us, or something else, we find ourselves taking for granted what God has given us, and devaluing them in the process.

INTRODUCTION:

Tonight we will be looking at Psalm 12. And in this Psalm, we will see another way that we often minimize or downplay what God has entrusted to us. In particular, his Word. When you hear someone say, “I give you my word,” what comes to mind? Typically, it means that they stand by everything they have said. It’s a promise. It is meant to be trusted and therefore relied upon. And in our passage tonight, the Psalmist challenges us to take God at his Word. And this is especially important in light of its context.

Even though the exact situation for this passage is hard to nail down, one commentator sums up what is going on in the background this way, “The Psalm begins from a similar situation to others that appear in the Psalter. It again presupposes a society where the social order is near collapse. There seems to be no one you could trust; no committed people, no people who are true and on whose word you can rely. People speak smoothly and plausibly, and in regular circumstances you would trust them, but you suspect there is no substance to what they say and to the undertakings they give you.” (John Goldingay, Psalms for Everyone, Part 1, vol. 11, Old Testament for Everyone. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013, p. 40.)

I know what you are thinking, “We can’t possibly relate with this Psalm!” But hold on, because there is a lot that we can learn from it, and put into practice from this Psalm.

Listen to what the Psalmist writes in Psalm 12...

ANNOUNCE THE TEXT

Psa. 12:0 ¶ To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.

Psa. 12:1 ¶ Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

Psa. 12:2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

Psa. 12:3 ¶ May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,

Psa. 12:4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”

Psa. 12:5 ¶ “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.”

Psa. 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.

Psa. 12:7 ¶ You, O LORD, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.

Psa. 12:8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
(Psalm 12:1-8 ESV)

As we listen to these words, keeping in mind that we relate to God through His Word, the first thing this passage teaches us is that…

Point 1: Taking God at His Word…Means Making Him the Priority, and Not Man (Vv. 1-4)

In verses 1-2, you can hear the urgency in this “Community Lament” as the Psalmist calls out to God for help on behalf of his people. Who is this God that he’s crying out to? Specifically, he’s none other than Yahweh, the Sovereign, Covenant-keeping Creator of all things, which is signified by the word “LORD” and which is in all caps in your English translation. This is the God that all of humanity is responsible to, and who we will all give account for our actions one day (Rom. 14:12; Heb. 4:13).

As the Psalmist looks at all that is going on around him, he feels desperate, scared, and almost hopeless with what he is experiencing. Listen to his words in verse 1 from the New Living Translation, “Help, O LORD, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth!”

In a society that seems to be collapsing all around them, those who had at one time placed their faith in God by taking him at his Word have slowly degenerated into a people who have lost their sense of morality, where absolute truth no longer exists, and where it appears that every person is seeking to promote their own agenda. What does that look like specifically in this context?

Here’s how verse 2 describes it in the ESV, “Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.” No longer guided by God’s Word, they have become people who primarily use their words to persuade others to do what they want them to do. And they do it in an appealing and flattering way. Like the woman in Proverbs who seduces men with smooth talk and promises of what could be, they do so with false motives and with a selfish outcome in mind (Prov. 5:3; 7:21).

And how does the Psalmist respond to what’s happening? He calls for God to judge them for their actions in the harshest way describable. Look at verse 3, “May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts.” Now, just so you can get a feel for what these words truly mean, listen to how the translation called the Message puts it, “Slice their lips off their faces! Pull the braggart tongues from their mouths!”

Wow! How violent is that?! For the Psalmist, those in power are so abusive that he is begging God to take action against them. Why? Because of their injustice, and more importantly, because of their ability to persuade even “the godly” (v. 1). And what drives this abuse of power is the simple fact that they don’t think they are accountable to anybody but themselves. They make up the rules. They carry out justice when and how they see fit. And they believe they determine the course of history. And their primary weapon is their speech which the Psalmist draws attention to in verse 4 when he says, “those who say, ‘With our tongue, we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?’”

Can you hear the arrogance in thatstatement? Using flattery to move people to do what is contrary to the LORD, and boasting that they can make anything happen that they want, they honestly believe that they are their own masters and accountable to no one. Unfortunately, however, their flattery and boasting are having an impact, as even the “godly” seem to be disappearing. The “godly” are disappearing because they are shifting their allegiance from God’s Word to man’s words. They are listening to and trusting in the promises of what humankind will accomplish in its own strength.

Here is how one commentator describes it, “None of this talk, unfortunately, is mere hot air. It can have considerable effects. Destructive gossip, undemocratic legislation, language devalued by political correctness, the media’s drowning of quality in quantity, are all examples. All such words abuse the precious gift of communication. It is one of the ‘foundations’ which are being destroyed. So serious a matter is the abuse of words that a society which lets it happen must be one from which the faithful have vanished.” (Michael Wilcock, The Message of Psalms 1–72, The Bible Speaks Today. Nottingham: InterVarsity Press, 2001) Once again, if only we could relate, right?

But the Psalmist knows that this is not reality. As much flattery as man can muster and as much boasting as man can do, the reality is that he is not his own master, but is accountable to the LORD. And that’s why “the godly” must continue to take God at his Word, making his Word the priority in our lives rather than man’s.

But that’s not all. As we strive to take God as his Word, in spite of what we see going on around us, a second thing we need to do is seen in verse 5, which could be summed up this way...

Point 2: Taking God At His Word…Ensures Protection for the Humble and Needy (V. 5)

In verse 5, the speaker shifts from the Psalmist in verses 1-4 to the LORD Himself. Look at what Yahweh says in verse 5, “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.”

Folks, if you want to understand the heart of God, look carefully at this verse. So often, God is accused of being a tyrant, an ogre, and uncaring. And in all honesty, when someone dares to go toe-to-toe with him, asserting their authority over his, they can expect to feel his wrath. But in verse 5, we see those who are close to God’s heart and who he will defend at all cost. It’s not the one who uses flattery to manipulate others to do what they want, or the one who boasts about all their accomplishments. Instead, the text says, “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD.” With this verse in mind, we have to ask the question, “What is meant by the poor and the needy?”

At first glance, you might think that it has to do with those who are fiscally poor and in need. And I think that is a large part of what it means. But I also believe that it includes more than that. The Hebrew word used here for “poor” also means “those who are oppressed”. And in a number of the Psalms, David refers to himself as “poor and needy” (Psalm 40:17; 86:1). So, what I think is in mind here is anyone who has been afflicted and humbled by the trials and tribulations of life. It’s not just those who are being abused by others, which is the case in this Psalm. It also includes those battling cancer, those struggling with the pain of divorce, those struggling in their marriages or raising their kids, and those who have lost their jobs, just to name a few.

It includes anyone who is “groaning” because of their need and the sense of loss that goes with not being able to find a solution for it. In fact, the word “groan” used in our passage has in mind the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death, or those who have been wounded in combat. It is the same groanings Paul referred to in Romans 8:26 when he said, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” (NLT) These are the people to whom the LORD says, “I will now arise. I will place him in the safety for which he belongs.”

But what makes these people so special that the LORD would decide to get up and do something about their situation? In Isaiah 66:2 we see a hint in these words, “But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Simply put, they continue to take him at his Word in the midst of their groanings and the trials and struggles of life. These are the people that God helps to keep the chaos of life at bay in a fallen world. It doesn’t mean that the chaos of life is going to end. That will not happen until Christ comes back. But it does mean that God will keep them safe in the midst of it. And I believe that one of the ways he does this is by giving us a sense of his presence in our trials and struggles. It’s what the Apostle Paul would later refer to in Philippians 4:7 when he says, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (NLT)

For most, if not all of us, in every trial or struggle that we face, what we really want God to do is to take it away, right? I know I do! And sometimes he does. But more often than not, what the LORD chooses to do is give us a sense of his presence, or his peace, in the middle of the struggle. That is where we find our safety. Our safety comes from the confidence we have in the LORD that He is faithful to his Word, and will protect us in the middle of our trials and struggles. As our text says at the end of verse 5, that is the “safety for which we long.”

But we have to ask the question, “What does it mean to take God at his Word?” By that, I mean, are we just trusting in the words themselves, or are we trusting in the One Who spoke those words? And more importantly, what proof do we have that the LORD is always going to be faithful to keep his Word? Will he ever give us a reason to doubt His faithfulness?

In verses 6-8, the Psalmist tells us, and we can sum it up this way...

Point 3: Taking God at His Word…Means Resting In What is True and Perfect (Vv. 6-8)

Look at how the Psalmist describes the words of the LORD in verse 6, “The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.” What do pure and perfect words look like? And what reason do we have for continuing to take God at his Word? Well, let’s look at two passages in the New Testament that I think will give us our answer?

First, in John 1:14, as the Apostle John is describing who Jesus is, he says this in the New Living Translation, “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” And in Hebrews 1:1-2 , it says, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son.” (NLT)

Folks, the reason why we can continue to take God at his Word is because he has given us proof that he is faithful to keep it, and always will be, even in the middle of our trials and struggles. Essentially, in Jesus, God has put flesh to his Words and has given us a tangible example of his never-ending faithfulness to his people. The pure and perfect words of God that the Psalmist is talking about are found only in God’s final Word which the Old Testament was pointing to, the Word that became flesh, who is Jesus.

Author and Pastor, Tim Keller, is right when he says, “Suffering is unbearable if you aren’t certain that God is for you and with you.” (Tim Keller, Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering, p. 58) We can be certain that God is with us because not only has he given us his Word, but he put flesh and bones on it. As God’s final Word, Jesus was sacrificed on the Cross on our behalf, and rose again to life, giving the certainty of eternal life for those who trust in him, just as God promised.

This is why the Psalmist, and us as well, can say with confidence in verse 7-8, which the New Living Translation puts like this, “Therefore, LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, 8 even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land.”

Just like the poor and needy, who are being oppressed in verse 5 of our Psalm, continue to take God at his Word despite their suffering, we are called to do likewise. How? By looking to Jesus in the midst of your trials and tribulations, whatever they may be, and taking him at his Word when he says, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NLT). Let me say it one more time, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

Let's pray together.

CLOSING PRAYER:

Father, as we prepare to share the bread and the cup together, we ask that you would use these elements for our spiritual good. As we take these elements, remembering all that Jesus has accomplished for us, words can not express how grateful we are for all that You have done for us through His sacrifice on our behalf. In Him, we are cleansed from our sins, made righteous, restored into a right relationship with You, and promised eternal life with You. We know that we don’t deserve this. We deserve hell. Father, thank you for not giving us what we deserve. May we continue to take You at Your Word in all that we do. And in doing so, may we bring glory to Your Holy Name. We ask all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.