Psalm 12

Order of Service

• Scripture Reading & Sermon — Psalm 12
• Closing Prayer

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Sermon Title: The Faithful Have Vanished — Fallen Speech and the Pure Word of God

Scripture: Psalm 12

I. Wicked Speech (Psalm 12:1–4)

A. Background: God and Man as Speaking Beings

1. God's most distinctive feature in Scripture is that He speaks — Genesis 1:3 — His word creates out of nothing
2. Man's first image-bearing act is also speech — Genesis 1:26; Genesis 2:19 — Adam names the creatures as God named elements of creation
3. Speech is the most distinctive characteristic separating mankind from other creatures
4. The Fall distorts this gift, turning speech meant for God's glory into an instrument of evil

B. Four Forms of Wicked Speech (drawn from James Montgomery Boice)

1. Empty, vain speech (Psalm 12:2) — the Hebrew word means emptiness; irresponsible, insincere, substanceless talk
2. Flattery (Psalm 12:2) — smooth speech (chālāq) motivated by selfish gain; Fallen man as a sleazy salesman presenting a false product of himself
3. Deception (Psalm 12:2) — the Hebrew reads a heart and a heart (double talk); using words to mean the opposite of their true definition; common in politics
4. Boasting (Psalm 12:3–4) — the ends-justifies-the-means mentality; Who is master over us? — wicked speech flows naturally from rejecting God as moral lawgiver

C. Sophistry as an Ancient Parallel

1. Plato's Socrates debated the proper use of rhetoric against the Sophists, who traveled town to town using eloquent speech for power and personal gain
2. Paul confronts the same spirit in 1 Corinthians 1–2 — he is accused of lacking eloquence, but insists the gospel's power lies in its content and truth, not smooth rhetoric

II. God's Pure Speech (Psalm 12:5–6)

A. David does not turn inward when confronted with wicked speech

1. He does not conclude that his own speech is pure by comparison
2. David himself was guilty of wicked speech — see 2 Samuel 11 — he used smooth, deceitful words with Uriah to serve a selfish end
3. He looks upward to God, not inward to self

B. God's Speech is Pure Because It Lifts Up (Psalm 12:5)

1. Wicked speech tears others down to elevate self; God's speech reaches down to lift others up
2. cf. 1 Corinthians 13 — love builds up, encourages, and lifts others
3. A challenge to self-examination: even in private thoughts, do we demean others to feel better about ourselves?

C. God's Word is Refined and Trustworthy (Psalm 12:6)

1. Like silver purified seven times — the image conveys absolute purity, with no dross remaining
2. God's words are the standard against which all human speech is measured

III. David's Comfort in God's Speech (Psalm 12:7–8)

A. The Psalm ends as it began — wicked speech still surrounds David

1. God does not perform a dramatic, visible act of judgment before David finds comfort
2. The comfort is not contingent on circumstances changing

B. David's sanctuary and safe haven is the Word of God itself

1. In the midst of the swamp of perverted speech, God's pure word is David's ark
2. Application for today: social media, news, and politics are saturated with distorted speech; the temptation is to demand a visible act from God
3. David's answer: go to God's word — that is where pure speech is found, and that is our peace

C. Practical Challenge

1. Do our words — and even our private thoughts about others — build up or tear down?
2. The Pharisee and the tax collector: we must resist the pride of comparing our speech favorably to others (Luke 18:9–14)
3. In Christ, we are united and called to speak words of love, grace, mercy, and truth — words that imitate God and glorify Him