a blessing and fits well with the theme of tonight's message, what a joy in a world full of lies to be able to think upon the truth of the Word of God. Psalm 12, Psalm 12 tonight and we've been taking the opportunity between a series on a Sunday night to cover some of the Psalms and God willing we will come back to come back to studying some more as time allows but I do feel like the Lord is giving me some direction for new series and I really had two themes on my heart to share and I was thinking which one first and what will I do and I think the Lord's given me liberty to just go ahead and do both and so God willing in the near future we will be commencing a series, a new Sunday night series in the book of 1st Corinthians, an exposition of the book of 1st Corinthians then I will be also taking the time, hopefully about once a month, to do a lesson with you on why we hold to the King James Bible, a very important issue in our day and one that needs to be understood. And so, I've got a bit of a plan there, praying the Lord will guide and direct Next weekend Brother Currie will be preaching for us Sunday night to help lighten my load so I can do the final conference preparations in the coming days and then the week following we have our Bible conference and of course you'll be hearing from a number of speakers including myself but then God willing shortly after once we get past the prophecy conference we will get into 1 Corinthians and then as the Lord enables we will try and also do some lessons approximately one a month on the KJV. So I think Psalm 12 is a great way to get our hearts prepared for that because we have in Psalm 12 some of the most powerful verses on the preservation of the Scriptures. So let's go to Psalm 12 if you're not already there and why don't we read the Psalm together. It's just eight verses and we'll read all together on the count of three. 1, 2, and 3. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. They speak vanity, every one with his neighbor, with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things. Who have said, with our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted.' And the title of tonight's message is, Total Truth in a World of Lies. We are living in a world full of lies, are we not? And isn't it wonderful to have the total truth of the Word of God? So let's pray. Lord, we ask for your blessing upon this study tonight. Lord, I pray that you would use it to meet the needs of the hour, Lord, meet the need of every heart. We thank you that your word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Help me to be your conduit tonight, your minister, your messenger, to communicate your truth to each one, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Psalm 12 is one of the psalms of David, you will see that right up the top of the psalm in the title there, to the chief musician, upon Shemineth, a psalm of David, David the king, the shepherd, the one who was used of God to pen so many of the psalms. And as you look at the structure of this psalm, it can be divided really into three sections and hopefully you've got your hand at your sheet, you can fill in as you go if you'd like to follow the outline there. In verse 1 and 2, David cries out to God for help. light of the dwindling numbers of godly trustworthy people.' So David is calling upon God because the godly are in decline, the wicked are on the increase. In verse 3 to 5, David then expresses confidence in the sure intervention of God and this confidence is rooted in David's understanding of the nature of God as well as the fact of God's spoken word on the matter. And then in verse 6 to 8, David finds comfort in the fact of God's perfect Word. The faithfulness of the Word of God is a rock to the believer in a world filled with liars and ungodly men. So that is the psalm and that is the structure and the expository idea, someone has suggested, is this, in a world that lives by deception and tyranny, God's words are the only true words. And so I want you to see that as we go through the psalm, you will notice in the first part of the psalm, David is dealing with the words of the wicked. their flattery, their lies, their proud words and then we have this wonderful contrast in the Word of God, the Word of God as pure and before I really studied this psalm in earnest I used to feel like verse 6 and 7 kind of didn't fit but when you begin to really understand it you can see how it works in the flow of the psalm, David is dealing with the vain words of the heathen, the ungodly words of the wicked and then he turns the attention to the pure words of God, the words that are trustworthy, the words that can be depended upon. So, we're dividing our psalm into three parts for our study tonight, if you're taking notes there following the outline. The first heading is this, the psalmist's appeal to God. The psalmist's appeal, the word appeal is your fill-in for the blank there, to God and we can see that in verse 1 and 2. And verse 1 commences with what word? help, so that's a plea isn't it, help Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. So observe the cry in this appeal, the cry in this appeal, help Lord, help Lord. David is crying out to God for help. That's a good prayer to pray, isn't it? Just a simple two-word prayer, God help me. Well, that's three words but help Lord, help me Lord, I tell you what, we need help, don't we? How we need help in every aspect of the Christian life. Help to serve God, help in times of trouble, help in times of trial, and here David is calling on God to help him. Learn to do that, learn to pray, Lord help me, help me now as I teach this Sunday school class, help me now as I minister to this person or as I witness to this individual. Very often, even while I'm preaching, that prayer's on my heart, I need help Lord, help me Lord, I'm struggling at the moment or help me Lord, there's a battle here and so we can just fire that prayer up to God and God is a God who answers and a God who helps us in our lives and intervenes. then look at the catalyst for the appeal. What was it that was motivating David to pray for God to help, for God to intervene in this situation? Well, you'll notice that there were two realities that were motivating David to pray and ask God for help. The first reality was that the godly were on the decline second reality that he was faced with was the wicked, the ungodly, were on the increase. So he says, help Lord, why? For the godly man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. So, this moved David to prayer and I think there's a good example for us right there. When we see the deplorable state of affairs, it should drive us as believers to the place of prayer. It's one thing to point out the evil in the world and the wickedness in the world and the things that are going on but could I ask you the question, does that ever drive you to the throne of grace? Here, David is faced with a situation where the godly were on the decline, the wicked were on the increase and that drove him to pray and to ask God to intervene in the state of affairs that existed. let's look at those two issues that help David to pray this way. Number one, the decline of the godly and this is expressed in two ways. David says, the godly man ceaseth. That word ceaseth means to come to an end, to fail and so David was faced with a situation where there were not many godly people. Could I just say this, if that was a problem in David's day, how much more is that a problem in these apostate days we are living in, just prior to the rapture of the church? I mean, if David was faced with this problem, that there were few people of integrity, few godly people that could be trusted in his day, how much more do we face the same situation today? We are living in a day where godliness is on the decline, that's just a fact, you say that's so negative, it's just the reality, but the solution is prayer, help Lord, help us to stand, help us to shine brightly for the truth, help us to reach others for Christ, but we have to be realistic about the situation that exists. And you will notice right in the last verse of the psalm, in verse 8, that David talks about the fact that the wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. You see that? So, if you have vile people in positions of power, ungodly, wicked people in positions of power, guess what that does? That promotes a culture of wickedness, that promotes a culture of ungodliness in a nation. Do you want to, if you want to get a sense for the moral situation in a country, look at the kind of people they elevate to positions of power. Look at the kind of people who are elected to parliament. Look at the kind of people who are in those positions of power and you'll get a sense for how the nation is doing. That's a reality. and we're not here to be politically correct, we're here to be true to the Word of God. The Bible says that the wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. Now, we don't hate anybody, we understand that we are all sinners in need of a saviour but could I just say that there are some seriously wicked people in our parliaments today? seriously wicked people who are pushing seriously wicked agendas, we should not therefore be surprised that the culture and the environment of the nation goes down when those kinds of people are exalted to positions of power. That's what the Bible says and it's a truth. And so, this was a concern for David, help Lord for the godly man ceaseth dwindling in numbers, he expresses it this way, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. The word faithful there has the idea of one who is reliable or trustworthy. And of course, that's something in decline, isn't it? It's very hard to find faithful men, reliable men and women today, men and women of their word, men and women who are trustworthy and of course, within the Christian context, godly men and women who are faithful, men and women who are reliable and trustworthy, men and women of their word. And so, this was what was driving David to pray to God for help. Because godliness was in decline, wickedness was on the rise. And that is certainly the reality in our nation today. Wickedness is on the rise, being promoted at the highest levels at time. Godliness is on the decline. What's our response? Help, Lord. We need your help. Take it to prayer. So, the faithful are few. are few faithful people in the world today. And so, we should, by God's grace, endeavour to be a faithful people. 1 Corinthians 15 58 exhorts us, therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. How we need to be a faithful people. faithful to God, faithful to His Word, faithful to the local church God has called us to minister in. How we need that today. So, this is what moved David to pray, the catalyst for this appeal, the decline of the godly and then secondly, the discussions of the ungodly. Look at verse 2, they speak vanity, everyone with his neighbour. flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak?' This was also a cause of distress for David. Remember David was the king of Israel for many years, about 40 years wasn't it? I think it was about 40 years in total and David knew what it was like to have people flatter him to try and gain favour with him. And I can imagine that if you're in a position of power in politics, you would have to face this at times where people will try and butter you up, try and flatter you to try and gain favours but they have an evil motive perhaps or an ulterior motive. So, the character of the ungodly is revealed in their words. They speak vanity, everyone with his neighbour, with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. So, the words of the ungodly are characterised by two things here. Firstly, they are empty. The word vain there means empty. They speak vanity, everyone with his neighbour. what the word vanity means, it means empty, it means purposeless, it means something which is worthless or hollow. You ever heard a conversation that has a hollow ring to it? It's empty, it's devoid of substance, there's nothing really of value in that conversation. Think about that, what a description of the bulk of conversations that go on in our world. sometimes they're sinful but very often there's just... There's just not really any substance to them. There's no real value to many of the discussions and the conversations that go on in the world today. And could I just add this for the modern world with its technology? Most of the chatter online is also vain and empty. Most of it is useless. Most of it is rubbish. In fact, you go onto social media and most of the chatter on social media is just rubbish. it's just emptiness, it's wasting time and so David is concerned about this, that there was this vanity, people speaking vanity, everyone with his neighbour, concerned with things which are of no eternal value. Now of course this would include discussions of sinful things as well because Psalm 10 verse 7 says, So vanity is put in the mix here with these other things, cursing, deceit, fraud and mischief and of course we understand that unholy conversations encourage unholy living. Did you know that? Because the world talks flippantly and lightly about abominable things, it dumbs down people's conscience towards those things. Did you understand that? Before our nation accepted certain sins, very often the pathway to acceptance began with the sitcoms and the comedies where certain sins were portrayed as something to be laughed at. And what that actually did was lower people's conscience towards those sins to where they were more willing to accept them. So the character of the ungodly is revealed here by their words. Their words were empty and also then deceitful. With flattering lips and with a double tongue do they speak. The flattery of the lips. Now this word flattery comes from the Hebrew word that means smoothness. You ever met a smooth talker? they're really smooth with their words but you get to know them over time and there's something underneath that's sinister or something that's going to harm you. And you say, well what is flattery? Well flattery is insincere praise, it means the individual doesn't really mean what they say when they're praising you, they are heaping words of praise on you because they have an ulterior motive or they're trying to get something from you, okay. Webster's Dictionary defines flattery as false praise, commendation bestowed for the purpose of gaining favour and influence or to accomplish some purpose. Now there's nothing wrong with genuine praise. and thanking one another for maybe a service rendered, that's appropriate, thank you for your service, thank you for your help here or I appreciated that sermon or appreciated that whatever, that thing you did for me, that's sincere praise but flattery is there to cover another agenda. something, the flatterer has something to hide and that's why they go over the top with heaping praise on you. And listen to what God's Word says about this, Proverbs 29 5 warns, "...a man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet." Do you hear that? "...a man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet." So if someone is flattering you, watch out for the net that's been put in front of your feet there. could wind up in big trouble and because there's another motive there underneath that's very dangerous. And flattery is one of the chief weapons interestingly used by the strange woman. With her flattery she causes him to yield in sincere praise to get a sinful outcome. So the flattery of their lips, dangerous and this was what David was facing, David as king would have faced this probably in his court where people would flatter him as the king because of his high position to try and then get their own agenda accomplished. Look at the other description here, with flattering lips and with a double heart they speak? A double heart. Now, this phrase, double heart, in the Hebrew it's literally, heart, heart, a heart, a heart. So, a double heart is having, the picture there is having two hearts, okay, one that is expressed through flattery which gives the appearance but then underneath there's another heart that has a different agenda. So, as one author says, with one heart they fawn and flatter, saying things which might please, with another heart they harbour mischievous thoughts and intents. They have two hearts, one to speak smooth words and the other to imagine mischief. I like what Spurgeon says, he who puffs up another's heart has nothing better than wind in his own. If a man extols me to my face he only shows me one side of his heart and the other is black with contempt for me or foul with intent to cheat me. Flattery is the sign of the tavern where duplicity is the host. So watch out for the flatterer. and be careful about that. I've experienced that a little bit myself before and I won't go, I think I've given the illustration before, about one man who came here for a while and it went beyond sincere praise. I've no problem when people say, Pastor, that message was a blessing to me this morning. That's not a problem, praise God for that. And the other Sunday I preached a hard message and I got a hug from Mark Hassage for it, you know, and praise the Lord Pastor, you know, that was edifying, that was encouraging. No, that's not a problem, that's sincerity, okay, that's having a thankful spirit, not a problem with that but this particular individual, it was just, you know how you can feel a little bit uneasy sometimes? And that's because the flatterer is trying to hide the true condition of the heart, there's something there that's not right and we don't know sometimes what the motivation is. and one Sunday I stepped out here and after prayer meeting and he got in real close to me and there was a warning light right there and he put his arm around me and pulled him real close and I'm like, you know, and he said, do you know what, they really love you in there and I'm like, yeah. Let me get out of here. And anyway, eventually that man's true colours came out and the viciousness. So the flatterer has an ulterior motive and you can eventually learn to tell the difference when someone is buttering you up as opposed to when someone is just genuinely thanking you for something. this is a feature of the ungodly world, it happens all the time out there, people trying to get their own way, trying to achieve their own agenda by flattering people and it's the power struggle and everything, it can get very nasty. So, David appeals to God in light of all of this that's going on, he says, help Lord, I need help, I need your help. because of all this that's going on. Notice secondly tonight, the psalmist's answer from God, verse 3 to 5. The psalmist's answer from God, David finds the answer to his heart cry in both the character of God and God's direct answer to him. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things. So God is going to deal with these ones. So David finds comfort now in the character of God and there's also a quotation here of what God said about this situation. So David knew, letter A under the heading there, David knew God's character and we see a pattern in the Psalms of David. We have what's called a lament, where he laments about the situation, not complains but there's a lament there, it's the sorrow of his heart, the struggle of his heart before God and he pours that out to God but then he quickly arrives at the position of faith, looking at things from God's perspective. So, David takes comfort here in the character of God and David knew that God would do at least two things here. Number one, David knew God would judge the wicked. David knew that God would judge the wicked. Verse three, the Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things. People may mock today at the concept of the judgment of God Could I tell you something? The Bible is absolutely clear, God is just, God is holy and God will judge the unrepentant. That's just a fact of the Bible. That is a fact of the Word of God. The Bible is not ambiguous on this point. If you do not repent and receive the forgiveness that is offered in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who loved you and died on the cross, shedding his blood for your sin, was buried and rose again, you will face the judgment of God. is just so clear in the Bible, the Lord shall cut off, strong word there, God is going to judge and deal with those flattering lips because it's more than just a surface thing here, there's a wicked heart behind that, an unrepentant heart. So, David knew that God would either cut off such who use flattery with their lips by inflicting some judgment in this life, says one author, or everlasting punishment hereafter by taking them away by death out of the world or by casting them into hell where all liars and deceitful persons will have their portion. What does Revelation 21 verse 8 say? But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.' Yes, a lie is enough to send us to hell and that's why Christ came to die. You say, I'm not a very bad sinner, have you ever told a lie? every one of us have lied at some point in our lives, that's why we need forgiveness, that's why we need the gift of salvation. You can't earn your way to heaven, you can't get rid of your sin by doing good works or seeing the priest, the only one who can wash your sin away and deal with your sin is the High Priest, Jesus Christ, and He can save you. So, God would judge the wicked, David knew that. Secondly, God would humble the wicked, Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh... what kind of things? Proud things. So we're getting a bit of a profile of the wicked person here. They speak with flattering lips and they also speak proud things. What kind of proud things do they speak? Well, we have the content of those proud things in the very next verse. Verse 4 says, who have said, with our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own, is Lord over us?' That's proud, isn't it? That's pride. So, God is going to judge the wicked and God is going to humble the wicked because they are proud. So, in verse 2 we noted the vanity and the flattery that were features of the words of the wicked, now the psalmist adds that they also speak proud things and in verse 4 we have the content of those proud things that they say. With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are our own. Do you see the rebellious spirit there, the attitude of autonomy and independence? What is the individual saying here? I can say whatever I want, my lips are my own, I'm not under anyone's authority, I'll say what I want, I'll do what I want, Essentially, you take that philosophy of life, I'll go where I want to go, I'll do what I want to do, that's the attitude, isn't it? That's the anti-God, anti-authority spirit that is the majority spirit in our world today, let's just be real about that. No one is going to be my authority. I don't respect the police, I don't respect any authority in my life, it's just my life, I'll do as I please, I'll say whatever I want to say, I'll just go wherever I want to go, it's my life, I'll do what I want. That's a spirit of rebellion against God. With our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own. They believe they're free to use their tongues as they please. You know, some Christians seem to think that that's their right as well. just spew out whatever they want to say. It doesn't matter how much damage they do, doesn't matter whether they hurt someone else's character, I'm just going to say what I want. After all, I'm entitled to my opinion. You are not entitled to an opinion that is against God's Word. As a Christian, you are not entitled to an opinion that is against the Word of the Living God, nor are you entitled to an opinion that is spoken with a carnal spirit. Is that okay? I think that's true. As Christians, we come under God's authority and that means we don't just say whatever we want to say. We don't have the attitude that I'm just entitled to just speak whatever I want to speak and I have no accountability to anybody. That is a spirit of rebellion against God. You know, there are some out there today that say that speaking in tongues is a sign of maturity. I like what one preacher said, True sign of maturity is not speaking in tongues, it's controlling the one tongue you do have. You know the Bible actually backs that up, James 3.2, it says, if any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, meaning a mature man, and able also to bridle the whole body. I'm a mature Christian, I've been saved for 30 years. Have you learnt to shut your mouth yet? Have you learnt to control your tongue yet? Because I don't care if you've been saved for 40 years, and by the way, not taking that away from you if you've been saved that long, but if you still can't hold your tongue and you can't stop sowing seeds of division in every church you go to and you can't stop running your mouth around town and backstabbing this one and that one, God's Word says you're not a mature Christian at all. Doesn't matter how much knowledge you have, doesn't matter how much you've studied, doesn't matter how many books you've read or how many books you've written, if you can't control your tongue with God's help, you are immature. Sorry, that's what the God's Word says. James 3.2, the perfect man, the mature man, is one who has his tongue under God's control. think we should aim for what David said in 2nd Samuel 23 to the Spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue get the Word of God into your mouth speak the Word of God speak the truth to others and God can use that and let the Holy Spirit use you let the Spirit of God control you so you see this anti-authority sentiment here our lips are our own and what else do they say look back there verse 4 who is Lord over us of sounds like 21st century Australia doesn't it? You're not going to tell me what I can and can't do. Could I say as an Australian, I think I can say this, respect for authority is not one of our strengths. I'm not talking about blind allegiance to authority, if someone's committing a crime or against the law, we can call that out, we're not talking about worshipping leaders but I'm just saying, as a general rule, our culture in Australia is not really one of respect for authority. I know, occasionally I ring someone in America connected with church work, yes sir, yes sir, yes pastor, they're so respectful in how they speak to you if you're in a position of leadership. is Lord over us?' In their arrogance they were basically saying, I can do and say what I want and I'm accountable to no one. If that was a problem back in David's day, may I suggest it's also a problem in our day. Disrespect and disregard for authority. but I'm your mum. I don't care, you're not going to tell me what to do. Yeah, that's the attitude and they carry that into church. Oh yeah, the pastor, yeah. It's like if you're in a position of authority, you're the last person they'll obey. They'll listen to some, you know, rebel down the road from them but not the pastor. I'm just saying, that's an anti-God spirit, that's not of God. That attitude is not of God. That's why some people, sort of on this theme because we've been studying the church in our class, that's why some people never join a New Testament, biblical, Bible-based church. Do you know why? They have a problem with authority. They don't want to come under the leadership and authority of a man of God. again, I'm not talking about blindly supporting a pastor who's in sin. If a pastor's out in line with the Word of God, you don't have to support him. But you should, as a Christian, get yourself connected to a biblical church and come under the authority of a man of God who is called to be in that position. That's good, one person agrees with that, so we're doing well. I'll just say this, if you have a problem with God-ordained authorities in your life, you may be sure that pride is at the root of it. What does it say here? They speak proud things. Who's Lord over us? What's the root of that attitude? Pride. If you have a problem with authority in your life, you have a problem with pride. You're proud. So David knew God's character, God would judge the wicked, God will humble the wicked. I'll tell you what, we're living in days of tremendous rebellion against authority and I think that even includes, I mean we've got, there's three, you have the authority of parents, you have the authority in the church of the pastor, you have also the government authorities, And we don't have to agree with everything that maybe governments choose to do, but we should salute the uniform, as it were, we should respect the office. Okay? I don't agree with everything that our Prime Minister is doing right now, but I honour and respect his office. We should respect that office. Because that's a God-ordained authority. So I know, as Australians, we're very good at sort of bagging our politicians. In fact, I heard one preacher say, if you put every politician in a bag and hit it, you'd hit the right politician every time. But, you know, we make jokes like that, but in... Sorry, Tony. But... But in reality, we do need to honour those who are in authority, even if we don't agree with them, on everything. Government is there for our protection and Romans 13 does say we are to pay our taxes and those sorts of things. So, the psalmist's answer from God. David knew God's character. Number two, David received God's confirmation, verse 5. So in verse 3 and 4, David is expressing his confidence in God, but now in verse 5, David records God's own word on the matter. You notice he quotes God here, verse 5, So in verse 3 and 4, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David is expressing his confidence towards God and his character. In verse 5, David is quoting God, this is a direct quotation from the Lord, saith the Lord, now will I arise, saith the Lord, I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. So, God would be moved to intervene in the lives of his people and there would be two things here that would move God to act on the behalf of his people. we could summarize it this way, number one, the sufferings of his people. Notice the word oppression there, for the oppression of the poor. You know, God's Word is, does say something about oppression? Oh, the Bible and the Christianity is all about oppressing people. Actually, no, the Word of God is about, is actually about freeing people from oppression and God is against oppression. Here it is, God says, I'm going to arise and I'm going to act because of the oppression of the poor. the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy.' So we could say, the sufferings of his people move God's heart in compassion to act and then secondly, the sighing of his people, for the sighing of the needy. And I like that, you know, that God hears our sighs as well as our words. Do you have a sigh as a Christian sometimes? Not a sigh of discontent but a sigh of sorrow, a sire that comes with a heavy burden. Don't you love God's attention to detail in our lives? He hears the words we pray but He hears the sires of our hearts too and even our audible sires, He takes note of those and even our sires are powerful prayers before God. So God hears the heart sighs of his saints. And God's answer here, what would God do? Well, he would arise and he would then provide a place of safety from the oppressors. So we're getting a picture here. David is dealing with sinful oppressors, people who are trying to abuse others, oppress others, and they're using flattery to cover their wicked motives there and what they're hoping to do. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.' You say, what does that mean? Well, it has the idea of blowing at someone. So it's a vivid picture of someone who's just so against you that they're puffing and panting in their attempts to get at you and to try and damage your life. It's not a very nice picture, is it? Of human nature. I will set him in safety. I find great comfort in that. God is able to protect his people in a wicked world and put us in a place of safety. That's God's protection, isn't it? There's no safer place to be than in the safe place provided by God. Now, the context here, it's referring, it would seem, primarily to physical protection. God is providing protection against the oppressors But I think there's a beautiful little application here too, that God provides spiritual protection for his children. The word safety there is frequently translated salvation in the Old Testament and I got to thinking about that, how that God has put us in the salvation place as Christians. that's a safe place, isn't it? To be saved. The fires of hell can't get you there, the devil and his demons can't get you there when you are in the salvation place and God has you there and you are secure when you're saved for all eternity. So, we have the psalmist's answer from God. Notice number three now, the psalmist's assurance in God, verse 6 and 7. words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.' Now, hopefully from studying those first verses, you get the contrast here. What have we been looking at? Flattery, vain words, proud words. Now we come to the words of God, what a wonderful contrast, a contrast here between the words of the wicked which are empty, which are vain, which are sinful and the pure words of the living God. here we have in Psalm 12, 6 and 7, two of the most important statements in the Bible concerning the Scriptures. Now, there are others as well, but these are some of the grandest, most important statements about the character of the Scriptures. The words of the Lord are pure words. silver, tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times, thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.' So David believed, firstly, here, this was his assurance in God's Word, he believed in the purity of the Word of God, verse 6. The purity of the Word of God, look at the declaration of the words purity there, the words of the Lord are pure words. Isn't it a blessing to have the pure word of God in a world that's full of liars? Isn't that the picture there in Psalm 12? David's surrounded by liars, they're flattering, they're there to deceive, they're speaking proud things, but then he says, ah, but the pure words of God, the pure words of God, the words of the Lord are pure words. You know we believe, let's just drive a few stakes in the ground tonight as to what we believe about the Scriptures, we make no apologies for saying we believe in the purity of the Word of God, we believe that the Word of God is infallible and without error. doesn't contain the Word of God, it is the Word of God. It doesn't become the Word of God when I feel some sentimental feeling, it is the Word of God. Whether you like it or not, it is the Word of God. Whether you accept it or not, this book is the pure Word of God. Proverbs 30 verse 5, every word of God is pure. He is assured to them that put their trust in him. John 17 17, Jesus said, sanctify them through thy truth Thy Word is truth. What's your truth? Never mind what, there's no such thing as your truth or my truth, there's the truth. You don't create your own truth. As if you can create your own truth, very often all that is is a lie. God's Word is true. God's Word is pure, the declaration of the Word's purity, the Bible's claim about itself. Study the Bible's claims about itself and test them. Find out, you'll find that the Bible's claims about itself stack up to scrutiny. You know there are sceptics that have set out to try and disprove this Bible as a bunch of fairy tales and have come out, Christians the other side, because they found out God's Word was exactly what it said it is, the Word of the Living God. God's Word is pure. You know, if you would know spiritual purity in your heart and in your life, you're going to have to get the pure Word of God into your life. True? This book is the purest thing in the entire universe, in the entire world. That's why it's called the Holy Bible, right? the Holy Bible and you're not going to know much holiness in your life unless you have the Holy Bible in your life. Saturating your life, working in your life. That's why as a church we don't believe in church tradition over truth. We believe that this book is to be the foundation for everything that we do. The sole authority of faith and practice. Psalm 119 verse 9, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. John 15 3, Jesus said, now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Ephesians 5 26 speaks of the washing of water by the word. Let me just encourage you, if you would know purity and holiness in your life, you've got to get your life under the fountainhead of the Scriptures and let the Word of God rinse through your life and just saturate your life and it'll purify you. We had it sung to us tonight, Philippians 4.8, finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. How much good report do you hear on the news? If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. There's a place for keeping in touch with world events but if you are constantly thinking on everything that the media is spewing out, you're going to be a very miserable person. declaration of the Word's purity. Number two, the illustration of the Word's purity. Look back at verse 6 again and look at the illustration that David uses to impress upon our minds the absolute purity of the Word of God. The words of the Lord are pure words, that's the declaration. Look at the illustration, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Now, you have to understand that David is referring to the ancient method of purifying silver. I don't know, maybe they used the same method or something similar today with heat to remove the impurities and so you would have the silver go through the furnace and that was to remove the dross, to remove the impurities and the imperfections from the silver so that you would have a purer form of silver. Now David is saying, you imagine now some silver that has gone through this purification process, not once, not twice, but seven times. what's the picture? You've got silver with no imperfection in it, no impurity, it's totally pure because it's been through that refining process. And that's the illustration that David is using here to impress upon our minds the purity of Scripture. Now don't misunderstand, David is not suggesting that like silver the Word of God had to have corruption removed for it never had any corruption, it's always been pure. He's just simply using pure silver as an illustration of the purity of God's Word. So silver speaks of the preciousness of the Word of God, doesn't it? It's as silver, tried in a furnace of earth. How valuable is the Bible to you? Well, hear what David said about that. Psalm 19 verse 10, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Psalm 119 verse 72, David said, the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Silver speaks of the preciousness of God's Word, the number seven speaks of the perfection of God's Word, the number seven in the Bible is the number of divine completion, divine perfection. So there's another reference there to the perfection of the Word of God. So hopefully you're getting a sense for the reality of the Bible, it's a pure book, it's a perfect book, it is a precious book. so we have the purity of God's Word. Number two, the preservation of the Word of God, the preservation of God's Word. Verse seven, thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Let me ask you a question, do we have the pure perfect Word of God today? Yes or no? How can you say yes? because the verse tells us, doesn't it, that God is going to keep His Word. You know, there is a strange teaching out there amongst some Christians that they say God inspired His Word but we're not sure if we've got the completed Word of God today. I just happen to believe in a God that's powerful enough to not only inspire His Word but also to keep His Word. I believe in a God who has the power to preserve His Word and that is what we have seen God do down through the ages. You think of all the attacks against the Bible, through the dark ages, the burning of Bibles, the burning of Christians at the stake for owning a Bible, the attacks of scepticism in our day against the Bible and yet the Bible still stands. Still, the Bible has come through the flames of persecution and through the fiery attacks of the devil and it stands still because it is preserved, it is kept by the power of Almighty God. You know, if you have faith in God, you won't have problems believing in a perfect Bible. Word of advice, don't ever get too smart for the Bible... really annoys me, some of these preachers now, they're just getting too wise for the Bible. You are a pipsqueak compared to God's knowledge. You know nothing, we know nothing, we're tiny, we're just tiny little pygmies when it comes to really understanding the grand truths of God's Word. You've got these people that want to, you know, get all philosophical about, you know, the Bible and whether it's accurate and reliable because, you know, they've done one month of Greek or something. call them armchair critics, YouTube theologians. God deliver us from YouTube theologians. The fact you've listened to hundreds of videos on YouTube does not mean you're mature either by the way. You might have a head full of YouTube knowledge but you may not be well grounded in the Scriptures. That's a big problem today, people come to church, I don't want to do the A to Z course, what do you mean ABCs of Christian faith? I've listened to all this guy on YouTube for five years. Well that's all the more reason why you need to be grounded. depending on who it is. You may have picked up some viruses there. I'll tell you what, this is a distraction, I know, but I feel relieved when sometimes when I say it, people say, I've been listening to this person and I say, who is it? Oh, okay, he's not too bad, you know, because I'm just assessing which way is this going to go. And if that's the kind of Christianity you want, well, enjoy it. Go and watch YouTube but don't come and cause problems here, please. The same door that brought you in is the same door that can take you out. I'm serious. You might just need to understand that we stand for some things here and let me just drive this stake in the ground, we unashamedly stand for the King James Bible in this church. And I'm not trying to be unkind to you if you don't understand those things yet and maybe you haven't had a chance to be exposed to why that is. It's not a tradition thing, it's based on solid, factual reasons and biblical reasons. And if you're open to learning about those things, you're welcome here but if you come in with an agenda that is anti that position, it's not going to work. are plenty of NIV loving churches out there, you can go and join one of those but don't come and try and change that here because I guarantee you we're not changing on that, by the grace of God. that's because we believe that the King James Version is based upon the correct Greek and Hebrew texts that has been preserved by God. The modern versions are based on a very small corrupted group of manuscripts and you have this problem where the name of Christ has been deleted many, many times, you have whole verses ripped out of the modern versions. Oh it's just, excuse me, there is a problem if you have whole verses ripped out of the Word of God, you don't see a problem with that? So the person of the word's preservation. Look at the double emphasis here on God as the one who preserves the word. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. I love those phrases. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Where is the psalmist's focus? On God. God is the one who keeps his word. God is the one who's preserved his word. If you can get your eyes onto God, you have no problem believing in a perfect Bible. actually really comes... the whole issue comes... well, there's multiple strands to the issue but one of the big parts of it is faith. Many are choosing scepticism over faith in relation to the Scriptures. God did not inspire His Word and then just leave it to be lost over time. God has preserved His inspired Word. Do you know, despite all of the attacks, the Bible is still the world's most printed and best-selling book in all of world history. Isn't that amazing? Guinness World Record states, quote, the best-selling book of all time is the Christian Bible. It is impossible to know exactly how many copies have been printed in the roughly 1,500 years since its contents were standardized but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between five and seven billion copies. That's amazing isn't it? it is impossible to state, it's impossible to describe the effect the Bible has had upon our entire world. It's impossible to really quantify how much this book has shaped our nation and many people don't want to acknowledge that but you can't deny it. Everywhere you look and of course some of it's been thrown out now, whether it's prayers in Parliament, whether it's swearing on the Bible for ceremonies, this book has shaped our nation and you ought to be thankful for that. And I know we acknowledge that the British did some terrible things when they came here, but let me just say this, you ought to be very thankful that we were settled by the British, not by the Spaniards or the French. You think the British treated the Aboriginal people badly? Study history and find out what the Spaniards did in some of the places they colonised and find out what the French did. It's naive to think that this nation would never have been settled and it would just have remained a pristine paradise. now. It would have been settled, at that time in history, the colonial powers were settling places all over the world and we understand there's some imperfections in our nation's history but we should be very thankful for the good that's there as well and we should be thankful that our nation was founded imperfectly but it was, or at least it was influenced, I should say, by the Bible. you throw this book away and you do away with all of our Christian heritage, Judeo-Christian heritage in our nation, we're going down. We're in big trouble and history will prove that correct. So the preservation of the Word of God, the person of the words preservation, thou shalt keep them O Lord, thou shalt preserve them. Look at the period of preservation and we're nearly finished here. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt preserve them from this generation, for how long? Forever. David had confidence that God's word would be preserved forever. Ecclesiastes 3.14, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Psalm 119.89, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Matthew 24 35, heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. That's the Word of God, we serve a wonderful God and we have the Word of God which is indestructible, it is infallible, it is pure, it is preserved, it is inspired, it is without error, that is the Word of God. Satan has viciously attacked the Bible and one of his biggest attacks in the English-speaking world in the last hundred years or so has been the modern versions. You go right back to the book of Genesis and what did Satan... what's the first recorded words of Satan on earth? I know he said the I wills in heaven but the first recorded words to man, hath God said. doubting, casting doubt upon the Word of God and Satan has been busy ever since. And I hope that you won't just switch me off but that you'll come back and hear the presentations on why we hold to the King James Bible and understand why there are good biblical reasons, logical reasons, historical reasons and factual reasons why we stand there as a church. not because we're just trying to hang on to some tradition there, there is a reason for this, solid, factual, historical reasons and so I think Psalm 12 will help prepare us for that. So God willing, we'll be into that in the near future and pray for me as I just prepare each of those presentations. So, would you agree with me that the Bible is the most important book in the universe? Could I ask you this challenging question then, how much time do you give to read the most important book in the universe? How much time do you give to study the most important book of the universe? How much time do you give to memorize? That's kind of challenging, isn't it? Yes, amen! It's the most important book in the world. Do you treat it as such? How much time do you give to it? How much time do I give to it? It's a challenge for all of us, isn't it? It's the most important book in the world, let's give it the attention it deserves. Let's bow for prayer as we close our service tonight. The total truth of God's Word in a world that's full of lies. Father, we thank you for your Word tonight, that it is pure and it is preserved and how refreshing it is to our hearts and to our lives in a world that's full of lies, a world that's full of flatterers, world that's full of people who speak proud things and wicked things, we thank you that we can open the pure book of God and have it wash into our hearts and our lives and purify us. So help us to stand and to be true to your Word in these days, in Jesus' name, Amen. Okay, if you have your hymn books there, let's turn to Hymn 868. Bible stands, let's be upstanding, the Bible stands like a rock undaunted with the raging storms of time, its pages burned with the truth eternal and they glow with a light sublime. The Bible stands like a rock Undaunted mid the raging storms of time Its pages burned with the truth eternal And they glow with a light sublime The Bible stands though the hills may tumble