of faith. Glory, good morning church. And once again, welcome in the presence of the Lord. Hey, it's so good to be able to stand here this morning and witness the pastor come up and just talk about foundation that has been laid from many, many, many, many years. And we see the fruit here of your labor. And so we thank you for all those times that you don't even know that you've invested in these young men who are now generals in God's army too. So when we say we serve a good God who knows the beginning and who knows the end, man, we celebrate and we say thank you Jesus. He is truly a good God. Amen. So welcome family in Christ. We do everything in Christ. We do everything through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Not in our own strength. This morning, I just I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. And I'm so thankful we should never get to a place where we take the presence of the Holy Spirit for granted. And we thank Him for His presence this morning. This morning, we continue in the book of Psalms. And if you've journeyed with us, we've journeyed all the way from Psalms 1. We at Psalm 12 right now, we use it as a bit of a palate cleanser as we are journeying through the landscape of God's Word, the other books. So this morning, this is where we find ourselves. As we've already mentioned, please do check out our podcast. Part being the app for the rest of the sermons gives you a little bit of background into the book of Psalms as well. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we come to you this morning. Ever so grateful and thankful that we can be found in your presence. Lord, truly, this is your goodness. Lord, you are a sovereign mighty God. We stand here, not in our own strength. We stand here because you are a good God. We stand here because Lord, you have called us, you have chosen us. Father, so we thank you Lord that all that we do, we look to you. We ask a Lord that you prepare fertile ground for your words this morning. Lord, I pray that you will anoint my lips of clay. Get me out of the way, Holy Spirit, and Lord, you take control. Father, this is your word. This is your church. We belong to you. All that we are is because of you. So we hand it all back to you right now in the mighty name of Jesus and the church of rebirth in agreement says amen and amen and amen. So family, I've got a lot to say but I'm cognizant of the time and I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit to lead me where this is concerned. And we're going to get right into the reading of God's word. If you are at Psalm 12, give me an amen, please. Amen. Right. So Psalm 12 and I've titled my sermon this morning, man's word versus God's word, as you can see on screen there. Man's word versus God's word. Let us read. To the choir master, according to the shamanist, a psalm of David, save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone. For the faithful have, sorry, let me just interrupt here. Do we have, okay, there we go. Before we get into the reading of that psalm, I've put on screen here just two versions of it to help us along. And as you can see, we've got the dynamic version and we've got the fairly literal version. I started reading from the ESV, which is the fairly literal version, but we've got the dynamic. And the dynamic, I'm not going to read right now, I'll get into it as we go through the different verses. As we know, the literal version talks to more translation word for word from the original manuscript and the dynamic more idea for idea. Okay, so let us get into the reading of Psalm 12 again. To the choir master, according to the shamanist, a psalm of David, 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 over us? Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise, says the Lord. I will place him in the safety for which he longs. The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever. On every side, the wicked prowl, as violence is exalted among the children of man. God bless to us the reading of his word, amen. So the author is identified as David, as we see, Psalm of David, as it is written there. We are still in the book, book one, in relation to Psalms, divided into the five different books, going to listen to our previous Psalms, our previous messages on Psalms, to get a little bit more depth in depth into that. So like I said, we are in book one, which is from Psalm one to Psalm 41. So the Psalm is written to the choir master, who is perhaps known as the chief director of music, or perhaps to God himself. The Psalm is accompanied by an instrument, as we know these are hymns, normally accompanied by instruments. And in this case, an eight-stringed instrument, a lyre. And then we also have the Hebrew term shamaneth, which is unknown, probably referring to a style of music. The genre that this particular Psalm is part of is a community lament Psalm. Okay, so not an individual this time, but more a community lament Psalm. The main idea around the Psalm is that the Lord will rise up, the Lord will protect the poor and the needy, and he will punish the wicked. He is true to his word, amen. So we're not given any particular background as to when in David's life this occurred, why this occurred, what was happening. But we could surmise that it was perhaps after his time of service in the palace, when he was on the run from Saul, where lots of people were talking against him. He could even have been when he was on the run from his son Absalom, where people were also talking against him, where there was lots of lies and back biting and all of those things around him. But what comes through the Psalm is also that there is a complaint against a system that is prevalent, because we don't see a complaint where it is a complaint where one person is punishing one person, one person is oppressing one person. We see a complaint where the poor are being oppressed. So this is coming from a system which is at play at this point in time. The complaint against the system that is plundering and oppressing. The theme of this particular Psalm is man's deception versus God's word of promise. Man's words of deception versus God's words of promise. And it's a very sad state that we find ourselves in as the world, because we've navigated and taken the off-ramp more and more and more towards. I know the word of God says this, but we add a little bit of dilution and we have reasons as to why we want to dilute the word of God. So this is coming through strongly in what the psalmist is writing about today. So there are three questions that I would like to answer as we navigate this landscape today of Psalm 12. So question number one, what is the origin of deception? What is the origin of deception? And we've got to really keep in mind what deception is. What is the lie? Question number two, how can we believe in God's word of promise? How can we believe that God's word is true? And question number three that we'll get as we journey through Psalm 12 is why is man susceptible to deception? Why is man susceptible to deception? So we'll answer those three questions as we journey on. So question number one, what is the origin of deception? And we know in Genesis 3 we saw in the Garden of Eden the serpent that spoke to Eve, that introduced deception, that introduced a lie. We see Eve getting Adam to believe in the deception, to believe in the lie as well. And then we see obedience to deception. We see obedience to deception. We see believe in the lie. And we also see consequences to the believe in deception. We see the cutting away from the presence of God. We see spiritual death that happens instantaneously. John 8 verses 44, this is Jesus speaking of the devil. John 8 verses 44, he says, he was a murderer from the beginning. He was a murderer from the beginning. He's called spiritual death of Adam and Eve through them obeying deception. He says he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth. Because there is no truth in him, there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character. For he is a liar and he is the father of lies. We can have no doubt about where deception and lies originates. Do not be deceived. There is a root from where deception comes, amen. Verse 2, in Psalms 12, that word lies that we have here. Everyone utters lies has also been translated in other translations as idol, idle words of no value. It's also been translated as empty, no depth. It's also been translated as vanity, vanity, meaningless, pointless, like smoke. Here now gone tomorrow. This is the lie that we're talking about. This is the deception that is coming to the fall. Now, we saw Satan in the garden of Eden giving a lie to Adam and Eve and one might think, okay, it came pretty normally words and it was coming against the word of God. No, God didn't say that. Refuting what the word of God says, no, the word is not true. The word is not true. Surely God didn't mean that. Why are you believing the word? Deception coming in. The creativity in lies has evolved to where we are presently. This is what we've got to be aware of. When Satan comes, he always comes very, very, very, receptor. You and I are very receptive of the way he approaches us. He doesn't come dressed in. I'm the father of lies. He doesn't come in. I am presenting you with lie right now. He's become very, very creative. But what we should know is the agenda is still the same. Next we cover Neil Postman, who's amusing ourselves today. Neil Postman was an author, lecturer, media theorist, and cultural commentator, perhaps best known for his criticisms of technology and television. In his 1985, I'm using ourselves to death, poet discourse in the age of show business. He theorized that ideas displayed through a visual media like television would dilute politics, news, and other important matters into factless entertainment. He argued that television is altering the meaning of being informed by creating a species of information that might probably be called disinformation, misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented, or superficial information that creates the illusion of knowing something, but which in fact leads one away from knowing. The average American adult spends over 11 hours every day inundated with TV, radio, apps, and other forms of media according to a 2018 study. Because at the last year the data was available, yes. One of the best parts of Postman's book is in the foreword in which he contrasts the timeless dystopian novels of George Orwell's 1984, "Without Us Huxley's Brave New World", slightly truncated, and in his words. One more well feared were those who had banned books, but Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one, or well feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to acidity and egoism, or well feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of relevance. More well feared we would become a counted culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture. As Huxley remarked in "Brave New World" revisited, "Be single libertarians and rationalists who are ever only work to the Post hearing, fail to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984 Huxley added, "People are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. Ensure or well feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. Does this all sound flippant familiar to you? Huxley was right. I should emphasize Huxley wrote this in 1932 and a postman's analysis was 22 years before the iPhone. Isn't that sobering? So like I said before the word lies is also translated into that which is idle, that which is empty, that which is vanity meaningless. And we being fed this time and time and time again, the enemies agenda is actually to desensitize us, to keep us so occupied that we have no time for the truth. We have no time to get into the truth. How much easier is it to dilute the word of God if we never get into the word of God? You would believe anything if you don't know what the word of God says because we have no time. Being kept away from the word of God, the word of truth can be as damaging as believing the lie. Back to Psalm 12. A broad overview of what we're finding verses one to two is basically a complaint or a lament to the Lord outlining the situation that we have, the state of the nation at this point in time where the godly and the faithful have disappeared or vanished. Verses three to four, the psalm evolves from a lament now into a prayer for action. And verses five to six, the Lord responds then with promise. Verses seven to eight, the declaration of assurance in the Lord. So if I were to align the psalm with any particular passage of Scripture in the form that it takes, I would align it with second chronicles seven, fourteen, one that we know very well. If my people who are called by by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn away from their wicked ways. I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin and I will heal the land. That is what I would have likened or align the psalm to. That particular passage of Scripture was given to Solomon after he had bought the temple or the house of the Lord. The Lord gives him revelation and says to him that in second chronicles seven, fourteen is what I want to give you as a charter for life. So the same that David is writing here, the Lord speaks to the generations to come after. Raymond Dillard calls second chronicles seven, fourteen, a charter for the rest of Israel's history. I put it to you that that is still valid today, a charter for us in this day and age. A remedy against the lies and deception, a remedy against the sickness in our land is when we humble ourselves and pray. When we turn away from our wicked ways, when we seek the Lord and not seek the content and the deception of man. The structure of Psalms 12 has what we call a chiastic structure. So chiasms, chiastic structure basically presents a statement and idea and then turns around and presents the same ideas in reverse. So each statement is being given a letter. So each new idea is given a letter a. New idea again, b. Next new idea, c. The same is then presented in the inverse order. What is the reasons for chiasms within scripture? Number one, it aids memorization. Okay, aids memorization. Number two, it could be to emphasize different points that are being made and it could be used as an art of persuasion as well. Okay, chiastic structure. Let's have a look at it. So like I said, an idea is being presented here. A, the same idea is being presented at the end of the Psalm. So what's being presented here? Savor Lord, godly is gone, faithful and vanish. So we've got ungodly and unfaithful people here amongst the children of man. Here, oh, girl Lord, the Lord is protecting and guarding. We still have the wicked and the vile amongst the children of man. So the same type of idea, but being as it was put here first, it's now put here, lost. This is part of a chiasm. So b. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart. So flattering and a deception. The words of the Lord. So everyone's words here are words of flattery and deception. Here, put against the words of the Lord, which are pure and refined. Same type of idea. Then we look at here, a prayer where the Lord is called upon to take action against these. And here we see the Lord coming into action, arising and taking action. We also have something here in verses three, a chiasm within a chiasm. As you can see, it says, going from flattering lips to tongue and then starting from tongue to lips. Once again, just emphasizing what it is that the psalmist wants to come out of that. Okay, so let's move into verses one and two of Psalm 12. So like we said, it's a lament Psalm and we see immediately a heartfelt cry out from the psalmist to the Lord. Do you notice that Lord once again is all in capital letters? Okay, Lord all in capital letters talking to the name of God, Jehovah or Yahweh. So as God told Moses in Exodus three, he said to Moses, I am who I am. I am who I am. So it's literally the verb, the active verb, a state of being. God is who he is. He is exclusive. He is unique. He is only defined by who he is himself and nothing else. He is defined by his own character. That's who God is. Amen? So we also see here at the conjunction four, the complaint is introduced. Godly is gone. I mean, the Godly is gone faithful as vanished and then goes into the lament that is just a state of deception all around. He complains that the Godly are gone. Faithful have vanished. This can be viewed in one of two ways. Number one, that maybe as time has passed that the faithful and the Godly have passed away and those that are coming up behind don't display this. Or they could be that those who used to display Godly and faithful behavior no longer do. They no longer do. They were on this part of righteousness but they no longer are. The Hebrew word for Godly is Hasid which means covenant loyalty or love. Covenant loyalty or love. So the perception of the Psalmist is that those who love by the requirements of the covenant are diminishing or have totally disappeared. So when we're looking at the covenants, he could be talking of one or of two covenants, I think here. So he could be talking about the Mosaic covenant which is a covenant of condition where either we have blessings or curseings brought about as a result of obedience or disobedience. So he could, this covenant, the Mosaic covenant could be worrying the Psalmist and thinking, "Hey, I know that the Lord said there is a consequence for our actions and our decisions. Are we bringing curses upon ourselves?" Due to Ronny 11 verses 26 to 28 says, "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord that I am giving you today, the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn away from the way that I commanded you today by following other gods which you have not known." There is a consequence for our decisions. Blessings or curses, life or death. Part of the Mosaic covenant was the 10 commandments that Pastor Bevan is still coming back to or the last five left us hanging there nicely on the first five and I was saying to Pastor Bevan, "Man, what a joy to hear the response of the congregation where they were like, "Ah, you can't leave us hanging Pastor. You can't let joy to hear the congregation crying out, "For give us more word, glory, glory, glory." We thank God for his goodness. So verse two identifies those who speak deceptively has the problem. This is a violation of the covenant of the ninth commandment in Exodus 20, says, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." So this could also be bothering the psalmist. The psalmist in the second part here, where he's talking about the flattering lips and the double heart, is actually identifying a dissonance between what the people say, what is coming out of their mouth versus what they think, what is actually on their hearts. Standing here and I'm saying these things to you, I'm telling you what it is you want to hear. I am flattering your ears, but what is in my heart is malaligned with what I'm saying, misaligned with what I'm saying. In short, the psalmist is saying that people in the system are hypocrites. He is saying there is hypocrisy which is rife. Proverbs 6 verses 16 to 19 says that your six things which the Lord hates, seven which he detests. And as part of 17, let me read the whole thing to you. So six things which the Lord hates seven that are detestable to him, haughty or proud eyes, a lying tongue, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush to evil, a false witness who pulls out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. If the Lord hates and detests these things, why are we so comfortable? Why are we so comfortable with the lie? Why are we so comfortable with deception? Could it be that we have become desensitized as time goes on? It's not that bad. It's not that bad. Don't be holier than doubt. What's a little small white lie here and there? The Word of God tells us that the root of lies comes from the Father of lies. It's not what goes into our mouths that defiles us. It's what comes out of our mouths that defile us. The Psalmist also could have the Davidic covenant in mind. We remember that the Lord through the prophet Nathan had said to David that his lineage would last forever, that his kingdom would be established forever. So he could actually be reminding God of his promise. He might be looking at this and thinking, "The situation, what I see right here, hey, but Lord, didn't you say?" And what I'm seeing here right now looks very far from your promise. Actually, your promises look like they could be in jeopardy, Lord. Second Samuel, chapter 7, verses 11. This is what the Nathan prophet had said to David at that time. The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you. When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you. Your own flesh and blood, I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will bow their house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men. I will just go a little bit down to verses 16. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. So the psalmist could very well be reminded of what it is that God has promised and said, "Lord, I see how things have disintegrated, how things have degenerated. Do you remember the promise that you made to me? Do you remember the promise that you made to me?" Verses 3 to 4. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips. Remember he's now moved from complaint and lament now into prayer. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts. Those who say without tongue, we will prevail. Our lips are with us. Who is master over us? So the psalmist is actually praying here that God would invoke the promise of the covenant. Lord, you said that those who are disobedient, those that are speaking these lies would be bringing curses upon themselves. So Lord, you said this, cut them off. Cut them off, Lord. And you also then add pride and a denial of God himself to the mix. Those who are saying our tongues will prevail. Those with the tongues are making great boasts. Those who are pride. Those who are saying, this is, I am the originator of everything that I have. It all belongs to me. I did this, even when you went on your knees, when times were not so good. But when you came out of it, I did this. I am the master of my own destiny. This is what is grieving the psalmist so that he prays and makes an imprecatory statement. Verses 5 to 6. Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise, says the Lord. I will place him in the safety for which he longs. The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver, refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. So David has spoken in verses 1 to 4. And now we see the Lord responding. And Kydner points out that this is the first time, it was the first time in the first Psalm, rather, to contain an answering oracle from the Lord. The Lord is very aware of what is happening in the lives of his people. We're reminded of the Lord hearing and seeing the groaning of the people in Egypt. And the Lord coming to the rescue. So is the promise that comes out here. The Lord is moved to act. Isaiah 59 once is, "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear. God hears his children. God sees the struggles of his children." Spurgeon says, "Nothing moves their heart like the cries. Nothing moves the heart of a father like the cries of his children." So David places confidence in the Word of God in verse 6. And we see many instances in the Bible the Bible testifies to the Scriptures being faithful and the Scriptures being true. Jesus himself affirms confidence in Scripture in the Word. Matthew 5 verses 17 to 18. Jesus says, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass away from the law until it is all accomplished. The Word is true and the Word stands." Jesus said so. John 17 verses 17. Jesus prays a high priestly prayer for all believers. He says, "Sanctify them in the truth. Your Word is truth." Question number two, how can we believe in God's Word? How can we believe in God's Word? The truth is we say that we can have faith in the Word of God because Jesus number one has endorsed it and because of what Jesus has accomplished. Cross of what Jesus has done. Now if I look at the purifying and the testing process of silver and the reference to seven and seven is the number of completion, seven is the number of purified. I'm reminded of what Jesus stood on the cross. I'm reminded of the full testing of Jesus Christ, wholly and innocent on his way to and on the cross. I'm reminded of the complete work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus, both God and man, willingly subjected himself to the cross. Now there was a whole and just to save a little bit of time as well. There was a whole journey up to the cross. We see the hypostatic union of Christ, both man and fully man and fully God emerging as we see the story of the cross emerging. We see Christ's prayers, his concern, he being troubled before getting arrested. We see how we prayed in earnest while the disciples slept. We see the fault after being arrested. We see the false trial that happened. Jesus was surrounded by deception and lies just like what the Psalmist is complaining about. There was a false trial. Now Jesus was being accused of a capital crime. He was being accused of being, I'm saying I'm God. He was arrested at night. They had a court case, a trial at night. This was against the the Pharisee legislation. The Pharisee said, for a capital crime, you've got to have this type of court case, this type of trial during the day and a whole day had to pass as well before you deliver a verdict. Here they decide to have a trial under the cover of darkness. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Easier, easier to go forced with a lie in the darkness instead of the light. Also at this false trial, we had false witnesses that were coming to the fort, testifying against Jesus. The false witnesses couldn't get their own story straight. They were contradicting one another. And according to what the word says, those witnesses that were giving false testimony in a capital trial like this, they themselves should have been put to death. That's not what occurred. So Jesus is finding himself in exactly the same situation that the Psalmist is describing. Now we know that David pretty much has a prophetic gift over him. So he could have been talking about what was going on here at the present time. He could be talking about the future, what would happen to Christ. He could be talking about what would be happening in our very day to day. So we see this false trial that proceeds and then to ratify the false trial during the day they go and hand Jesus over to Pilate. They go and hand our Messiah over to Pilate. But none of this takes God by surprise. None of this takes God by surprise. As heinous as this crime is, Matthew 27 verses 27 to 31 says, "Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's headquarters and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews," they said. They spit on him and then they took the staff and they struck him on the head again and again and again. That's where the thorns were. And then and after they had mocked him they took off the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to be crucified. Jesus, the word had every opportunity to tap out. Every opportunity to tap out but he endured the humiliation. He endured the humiliation of going to the cross, the journey to the cross. He endured the humiliation of being nailed to that cross for you and I, fulfilling what is written. When I read Psalm 12 verses 6, talking about the Lord's promises that are pure like a silver refined in a furnace purified seven times over, I'm reminded of Jesus the Holy One who did not need purifying but took on the weight of our sin. He endured separation from the Holy Father so that we could be put in right standing with our Holy Father so that we could be purged of sin and the stench of sin. I'm reminded of the seven statements of victory that Christ made on the cross, demonstrating that hypostatic union of Christ that I spoke about, both man and both God on the cross unto completion. Fully God, fully man, stole fully God but denied access to his divinity and to endure and to fully overcome the flesh. The only one that was perfect and holy to be a substitute for our sins. The statements, the seven statements that God made on the cross demonstrated his love, his compassion, demonstrated his obedience to the Father. Each statement was unto victory on the cross, a mutilated bruised and bloody messiah for you and I. We see his compassion for others as well as his divinity on display. So when we look at some twelve and we see the word that is true, the word that is pure, the word why can we trust in the word because the one who is called the word has been tried and tested on the cross. These are the statements that is made on the cross to completion. Father forgive them for they know not what they do from Luke 23 verses 34. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. If you remember the Sermon on the Mount, he said pray for your enemies, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. Here's a demonstration of what God was preaching, true to his word, true to his word. Number two, remember each one of these statements is a victory. God had the opportunity, Jesus Christ had the opportunity to say enough. No ways, this is too much, but he had you and I in mind. He had you and I in mind. Today you will be with me in paradise. I love this. He's talking to the thief on the cross who just before that was cursing and ridiculing it. Father forgive them for they know not what they do, forever interceding on our behalf. An intercession leads to the salvation of somebody right there. Somebody hears the call of that intercession and says, "Lord, remember me. Remember me." And a statement of God's divinity and saying, "Today you will be with me in paradise, the promises of the Father." The humanity that comes out, the humanity that comes out here, Jesus Christ is on the cross, petted, bloodied, bruised. And he looks down on his mother and he still cares about what is going to happen with her. He still cares about what is going to happen with you and I, petted and bloodied and bruised. Who is on his mind? Who is on his mind? Woman, behold your son showing John the disciple. To the disciple, behold your mother. And we know this is not allegorized. This is not spiritualized in any way because we see afterwards that Mary's mother went home with the disciple. This was genuine caring for the human needs of his mother. Humanity displayed on the cross, yet he overkind. I thirst from John 19 verse 28, a direct quote of Scripture from Psalm 69 verses 21, showing, like I said, the hypostatic union of Christ fully God but not tapping into the divinity. Here we see his humanity. I thirst. The man Christ endured and overcame experiencing the same physical needs that you and I have. But there was only one that we could do it. Statement number five, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me from Matthew 27 verses 46, also a direct quote of Scripture from Psalm 22 verses 1. Jesus in full obedience and to amen takes on the full weight of our son, takes on the full weight of our son and is separated from the father. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Direct quote from Scripture. God is endorsing the Scripture all the way along. It is finished. John 19 verses 30, it is a complete work, a completed work. Christ completely in control brings about completion to the mandate for which he was sent here on earth, according to his own will. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And if you focus on the word, I emphasize Christ's willingness to be submitted to this torture, to this humiliation for you and I. I commit my spirit, willingly going to the cross, fulfilling the word of the law and of the prophets. Jesus' words in the cross demonstrated his truth and validated everything written in the word of God. His words were not tainted by flattery and deceit. His word is fully, fully dependable. His word is truth. Verses 7 to 8, you, O Lord, will keep them. You will guard us from this generation forever. On every side, the wicked prowl, prowl, as vileness is exalted amongst the children of man. So, there's two scolds of thought regarding verse 7. So, your Lord will keep them something that is talking about the words that he was talking about in the previous stanza. So, I will keep my words as a school of thought and some of the translations, as you can see, already make the decision for you and says he's talking about protecting the oppressed. But either one fits, God is true to his word, always will be and God will protect his children, no matter what it is that we go through. In him, we have a peace that surpasses understanding because we know we have an expected end. Amen. Interesting. When the psalmist is referring to the lion generation, he's not referring to foreign nations. He's not talking about what's happening afar there. He's talking about what's happening here. He's talking about what could be happening right here in the church, in our homes. We need to look here first before we look any further. When we see here at this particular statement on every side, the wicked prowl, violence is exalted amongst the children of man. Do you remember the psalmist started out with that as well, talking about ungodly unfaithfulness amongst the children of man. So, the emphasis that's coming out here, that wickedness, evil, deception and all of that, it's part of this life, this tainted DNA that we have. We saw in the middle of the Psalm where our trust lies, in who our trust lies, in whose DNA we trust. Two parts are always highlighted, the part of light, the part of darkness, part of blessings, the part of curses. It leads me to the last question, why do we remain susceptible to the lie? Why do we remain susceptible to the lie? In 100 years, in 2124, we will all be buried in our relatives and friends. Strangers will live in our homes, which we've bought so hard to build, and they will own everything we have today, including that part of each other's fortune. Our descendants will hardly know who we were. How many of us know our grandfather's father? After our death, we will be remembered for a few years. And a few years later, our history, our photos, our themes go into the dust of a billion. We won't even be remembered. Maybe if one day we start to analyze these questions, we will understand how ignorance will weaken the dream of obtaining every box, always having more and more, without having time for the things that are really worthwhile in this life. I have changed all that to live and enjoy those walks I've never taken. That is the truth of where we are. I'll focus this morning. Where is our focus? Why are we susceptible to the lie? Because we've taken our focus off of the cross. We've taken our focus off of the word. We are inundated by empty. We are inundated by idle. We are inundated by deception. And we are susceptible to that because our focus are on the things of this world. We are not building eternity. We are building temporary. How sobering is it that what we've placed so much emphasis on comes to nothing. Doesn't it remind you of Ecclesiastes where Solomon is ranting and raving. Vanity. Everything is vanity. What does it mean? It's emptiness. What does it mean? But he gets to the end and he talks about the fear of the Lord is what it all means. David is complaining about the same thing here. We have the wicked amongst us. We have the deception. We have the lies. He starts the psalm with it. He ends the psalm with it. But amidst all of this chaos, there is one to whom we can look. There is one to whom we can depend. There is one who's done a finished work on the cross. We are susceptible to deception when our focus is not on the true Word of God. When our focus is not on the Word, a price has been paid for you and I. We see what Christ has endured for you and I. Christ has imputed righteousness to us. But a response is needed to that. Psalm 12 is a stark reminder of where we find ourselves in this day. But Christ's Word and he sacrifice on the cross remains the same. Psalm 40 verses 4 says, "Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie." Father, we come to you this morning and we thank you, Lord, for the reminder of the truth of your Word, the tested Word of God. Father, we thank you this morning for your sacrifice that you made, that you would come down as God to this earth and walk amongst us as man and your punishment and humiliation, Father, so that we might have the righteousness of God. Father, I pray this morning that you administer to our hearts, that you administer to our souls, our spirits, this morning, O Lord. Father, that it would become revelation in our lives of what it is that you've sacrificed for us. How will we escape? How will we escape, Lord, if we ignore so great a gift? Father, we thank you for the gift of righteousness that is made available for us this morning. We repent before you. We repent, O Lord, for doing it our way. We repent, O Lord, for thinking that we are the masters of our own lives. Father, we seek your face this morning and ask that you would heal us and heal our land, Lord, help us to walk in spirit and in truth with you, Lord. Help us, O Lord, to put our hands to the plow and not to turn back. Help us to do this, Lord, to walk this walk, all for your glory, nor for your honor.
