Psalm 12:5-8

What is our response to difficult circumstance?

• When the world seems to be crumbling down around us, when our beliefs are consistently being challenged, when we feel as if we are about to crumble... where do we turn?  Where do we find our hope?
• Psalm 12 is one of the many, many Psalms that shows us one of the most God honoring human beings response to these sorts of circumstances.
• And the study of David’s life and his response to life’s circumstances are highly important and relevant to us today.
• In fact, I would go so far as to say that, other than Jesus, David is the most important human being in scripture to consistently study.
• Why?  More has been written about David than any other Bible Character:

Abraham and Joseph - 14 Chapters

Jacob - 11 Chapters

Elijah - 10 Chapters

David - 66 Chapters not including the Psalms or the 59 references to his life in the New Testament.

• This is no accident.  There was something about this man’s life and this man’s heart that God wanted to draw our attention to.
• And I think, in relationship to the Psalms, one of the primary things that God wants us to see and to emulate is David’s response to difficult circumstances.

Psalm 12 can be broken down into two parts.

1.  vs.1-4 - The apparent hopelessness of David’s circumstances.
2.  vs.5-8 - The source for hope in the midst of hopelessness.

We’ve discussed vs.1-4... now I’d like to draw our attention to part 2, David’s source for hope.

And it begins in vs.5

• What does David do here in vs.5?  David quotes God.  He refers to four passages of scripture here, three from the Psalms and one from Isaiah.
• I think that it’s important to note that David doesn’t use a direct quote from any single Biblical text.
• God had never said these words in this order in any other recorded place in all of scripture... and I think that this was intentional on the part of David here.
• David is not speaking for God here... instead he’s communicating to the reader the necessity of a personal  and intimate knowledge of the Lord.
• See, the source for David’s hope, in all things, was God.  It was based on his knowledge of and relationship to God.
• In reading any one of the 70 or so Psalms that David pens in this book... not once do you see David call out to God timidly... not once do we witness David unsure of whether or not he should be speaking to God a certain way or asking God to do certain things.
• And while many of the Psalms end without a definitive resolution to David’s surrounding circumstances David’s conclusion is always the same: “My circumstances seem hopeless but You’re God and You’re in control and You’re just... so I wait and have hope.”

And David’s reason for this resolve is found in the next two verses, vs.6-7

• David’s resolve is in the tried and tested truth of God’s Words.

• Now, last week we discussed how you and I can have confidence in the idea that God has preserved His Words, through the process of time and translation.

• And, it is because God is the one responsible for the preservation of His truth that you and I can say, with confidence, that the Bible that we have today is accurate... it has accurately recorded God’s message to human beings from Moses (or Job for those of you with a little Bible chronology background) to John the Apostle.

• That being said, what we need to need to be able to understand and apply here in this text is that, when difficulty and challenges come... and they will come... our hope and our survival will be based on our knowledge and understanding of who God is and what God is doing as it has been revealed to us through what God has said.

• A very common philosophy for religious people in general is to turn to the Bible for topical application that is relevant to our current circumstances.

• And because we have so many wonderful Bible study tools at our disposal what ends up happening, in so many God followers lives, is that we begin to rely on what I like to call a quick fix faith.

• Here’s what I mean by that, and understand that I’m not saying this is a wrong way to search for God’s truth to speak into our lives and our circumstances... what I’m saying is that this method was never meant to be our Modus Operondai, our M.O., our go to response to difficult circumstances.

• God gave us His Word so that, as we apply ourselves, we might grow in our understanding and application of it’s truths.

• So... example... Let’s say someone is struggling over this topic of divorce... maybe it’s personal, maybe it’s because of a friend or a loved one... but whatever the reason they are looking for a way to respond to this topic in their lives.

• And so they research... they do a word search on “divorce” through one of the many wonderful Bible study tools online.

• Then they do a topical search online to see if there are any books about the topic or random blogs that are available to read.

• Maybe they talk to a pastor or a godly friend that they respect.

• And this isn’t bad... this is excellent and it’s certainly many, many steps ahead of what most people would do.  This takes initiative.

• But, for the individual who is serious about consistently living a godly life, about responding to their circumstances in a god honoring way... it’s not enough.

• You know as well as I do that some times you just can’t wait until after you’ve done all of the necessary research before you respond to some things.

• Life doesn’t always work that way, you can’t package it into this nice little formula every time.

David draws our attention to this very point in the last verse, vs.8

• Evil’s everywhere, wickedness is everywhere... and the ability to make immediate, God honoring decisions is an absolute necessity in the life of anyone who intends to be used of God.
• We have been given a gift... an amazing gift.  We’ve been given the completed Word of God.

How are we using it?

• Understand that there is no down time in the pursuit of godliness.
• While we experience periods of life where we are fortunate enough to be in between spiritual crisis and/or difficult circumstance we need to be more intentional with our Bible reading, we need to seek a deeper and more intimate knowledge of God.
• Like David, we need to know God words in such a way that we are able to speak and respond with God’s heart in confidence.
• We need to prepare ourselves to respond in those circumstances where we don’t have the luxury of time.

The Bible on the Preservation of the Bible

Introduction: 

- How can you have any confidence that the book that the Bible that you hold in your hand is anywhere near to being the inspired Words of God?

- There are a lot of things to consider when you begin to think about this topic.

1. Any English translation of the Bible is, at best, a translation of a copy of the originally inspired texts.
2. Culturally we are so much different than the people whom the Bible was written to over 2,000 plus years ago, there has to be a number of things that we can’t really fully understand.
3. The Biblical accounts, in telling some of the same stories, have what appears to be conflicting information in them.
4. There are a number of other texts that people suggest to have been of Biblical origin and yet, we do not include these texts in the list of 66 books that make up our Bible.

- And the list could continue . . .

Transition Questions:

• How do we respond to so many voices of criticism?
• How can we have confidence in the accuracy of the English translations of the Bible that we use?

Mini-Series Intro:

In our Sunday Night series through the articles of the faith we began our discussion with article one - the Bible.We discussed a number of things in that study. (Inspiration, General and Special Revelation, Absolute Truth, and so on) Tonight, David adds one more to the list that helps us respond to so many of the claims that stand in opposition to God’s Word today. Psalm 12:6-8The concept that David deals with in this section of the Psalm is the preservation of God’s truth.When we talk about preservation what we’re talking about is the process by which God has supernaturally protected His word through many reproductions and translations.  The idea of preservation holds that God has faithfully superintended His Word down through the ages, so that even today, some 3,500 years after portions of the Bible were written down, we can say that what we possess, what we love and what we read are the very words of God.Now this is a huge topic, there are a lot of places we could take this discussion and a lot of information that is significant concerning how God preserved His Word through human authors and translators.So what we’re going to do is split this up over the next few weeks (perhaps 3) breaking down this information into 3 categories (a fourth will be available on-line)

1. The Bible on the Preservation of the Bible.
2. The application of vs.6-8 in the context of this Psalm.
3. The Custom and Culture Question.
4. The Historical Preservation of the Bible. (Online)

The Bible on the Preservation of the Bible:

Now . . . it’s important to understand that we are working off of one major assumptions.We’re working off of the assumption that the original autographs, that is, the writings of the original authors were divinely inspired.  Sadly, none of those original autographs have survived to this day.  In other words, you can’t go anywhere in this world and find a scrap of paper containing the actual writings of Paul, John, Moses, Peter, James, Daniel, Isaiah or any of the other biblical writers.  Since that is true, how can we be confident that the Bibles we possess today are in fact accurate and are the very Word of God?  And to answer this question we need to begin with the Bible itself . . . more specifically the claims that God makes about His recorded Word.

The Old Testament on Preservation

• Psalm 12:6-7
• Numbers 23:19
• Psalm 89:34
• Isaiah 40:8
• Psalm 119:89

The New Testament on Preservation

• Matthew 5:18
• Matthew 24:35
• Titus 1:2
• 1 Peter 1:25

Conclusion:

To my mind, the conclusion from these verses is crystal clear: God had indeed promised to preserve His Word! The internal evidence is overwhelming!  I have given you nine passages that explicitly state God’s intentions in this matter.The question I have for you is this: How many times does God have to say anything before we can conclude that He means it?  We have the promise of God, Who cannot lie (Heb. 6:18) Who identifies Himself as the “Faithful and True Witness” (Rev. 3:14) that He will forever perfectly preserve His Word.  However, while that may be all the evidence Bible believers need, that is not all the evidence we have.  If you’d like more information, more will be available online.

The Majority Text (i.e. Textus Receptus or Byzantine Text)

      The other text family had its origin in the city of Antioch in Syria.  The scholars in Antioch took a more literal approach to biblical interpretation.  They considered the Bible to be more than mere allegory; they believed it to be the very Word of God. As a result, they were diligent in seeing to it that they were faithful to copy it correctly, employing many of the same techniques of their Jewish predecessors.  It is this textual line that has given the world many of the great Bible translations: The Erasmus Greek Text, 1522 (Later to become known at as The Textus Receptus, 1633); Martin Luther’s German Bible, circa 1530; Tyndales Bible, 1522; Coverdales Bible, 1535; The Geneva Bible, 1560 and the King James Bible, 1611.

      While the new versions rest on a total of 45 manuscripts, those versions that were translated from the Majority Text rest on over 5,210 manuscripts!  The overwhelming number of manuscripts agrees with the Majority Text.  By the way, when the Nestles-Aland 27^th Text is compared to The Textus Receptus, you find that there are some 3,000 words omitted in the Nestles-Aland text and some 20 verses are also omitted.  Among the verses omitted are: Acts 8:37 and 1 John 5:7.

      This is astounding when you consider that Caesar’s Gallic Wars, which was written in 52 BC has only 9 good manuscripts supporting it and the oldest dates from some 900 years after the time of Caesar!  The Iliad by Homer was written in 900 BC. There are only 643 copies. The earliest copy was made about 400 BC. The textual tradition of the Iliad ranks a distant second to the NT tradition when you consider MSS numbers, age of documents, and quality of texts. Tacitus was a Roman who lived from about AD 55-117. His two long works are Histories and Annals. Only four and one-half of the fourteen books of Histories survive, while only ten of the sixteen books and two partial books of Annals survive. The text for both depends on one ninth century MSS and one eleventh century MSS.

      When you total it all up, the New Testament rests on over 86,000 fragment and manuscripts.  There is more evidence for the accuracy of the New Testament than there is for any ancient writing, period! Do we have the Word of God?  Absolutely! 

      While the Majority Text has much more evidence in its favor against the Alexandrian Text, some would argue that the Alexandrian texts are older, and therefore they are more reliable. 

The Alexandrian Text

      This text family receives its name from the fact that it originated in Alexandria Egypt.  It was the work of such early church fathers and Clement and Origin.  Both of these men are held in high esteem by biblical scholars, but it should be noted that both of these men rejected a literal interpretation of the Bible, leaning instead toward an allegorical interpretation.  This simply means that they believed the Bible was a collection of spiritual stories designed to teach truth.  Much could be said about these men, but it is enough to know, for now, that they did not accept the Bible as it was literally written.  This fact alone makes the texts that they had a hand in creating suspect.

      This family of texts rests on about 45 manuscripts, many of which are very ancient, some dating back to around 330 AD.  The two primary texts in this family are called Sinaiticus (Codex Aleph) and Vaticanus (Codex B).  These are the oldest known manuscripts in existence.  Both date from the 4th Century.  Codex Aleph was discovered in the 1840's at a monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai by a man named Count Constantin von Tischendorf. He saw several old leaves from ancient books in a pile to be used to start fires in the kitchen.  Upon inquiry, he discovered that they had an even older book in the monastery. The monks then showed him the manuscript known as Sinaiticus.  This ancient manuscript contains over 12,000 corrections and revisions by someone other that the original copyist.  It also contains several spurious books such as The Shepherd of Hermes, The Gospel of Thomas and the Didache.  All of these books have been rejected by the believing church for nearly 2,000 years.

      Codex B was discovered in the Vatican library in 1481. It too, dates from the 4th Century.  This manuscript is the one most relied on by modern Bible translators. This codex has been heavily corrected by Roman Catholic copyists.  By the way, the King James Translators knew of the existence of Codex B, but chose to avoid it.

      What is interesting is that these two manuscripts, which form the basis for all modern versions of the Bible,disagree with one another over 3,000 times in just the four Gospels alone!  There are 43 other manuscripts that support this textual family.  Remember, every new version of the Bible, with the exception of the NKJV (It gets its footnotes from the Alexandrian line of texts), was translated from Greek texts based on these manuscripts.  A whopping total of 45 manuscripts stand behind all the new versions of the Bible.

      These texts were taken, translated, collated and come to us today in the form of the Nestles-Aland 27^thGreek Text.  This text is considered the standard by most Bible scholars.  Yet, it still only rests on some 45 manuscripts!

(Extra Notes) The Preservation of The Bible

      The Hebrew word and the Greek word for canon mean a reed, stalk or staff.  From this translation came the meaning: measuring rod or standard.  For the Christian, the canon refers to the authoritative body of divinely inspired truth which make up our 66 book Bible.  The term canonicity refers to the qualification for entry into the body of literature that make up the canon.  The antecedent to the canonicity of a text is canonization, which is the acknowledgment of the authenticity and authority of the writing by the community of believers.  Only after a book had been held to the standard of inspiration by God that was recognized by men of God and preserved by the people of God did it become canonical and enter into the finalized canon.

      For the OT there were 4 principles which governed the development of it’s canon.  They are, 1) Is it authoritative? Does it speak with divine authority; 2) Is it prophetic? Was it written by the prophets Moses or a subsequent man of God in the prophetic tradition of Moses; 3) Is it authentic? Does it tell the truth in line with previous revelation; 4) Was it received by the people of God? Was it accepted generally by the people of God who read, copied, and collected it with the other Scriptures?

      We begin our study for the authority of the OT canon with Moses who was the greatest prophet and consequently the most authoritative source for it’s development (Deut 34:10).  Moses was the given the authority to be God’s prophet and spokesman and serve as the mediator of His covenant to all of Israel (Exod 3,4).  God then validates this authority through mighty works surrounding Moses prophecies (Deut 34:11-12).  Within the writings of Moses we find God’s instructions concerning those chosen prophets who would follow Moses as authentic, acceptable by the canon, spokesmen for God.

      With the arrival of the incarnate Christ we are given another authority to the OT canonicity.  On many occasions Christ references the OT as the authoritative Word of God. (Matt 23:35; cf. Luke 11:51)  With this and with numerous other references to the OT in His teaching He acknowledged the authority of the Hebrew canon (Matt 4:1-4; 5:17-19; 13:48; Luke 24:13-27, 44-45)

      For the NT similar principles were followed as to that of the OT Canon.  They are,  1) Does it have apostolic authority? This does not necessarily mean it was written by an apostle, but does it bear apostolic authority or approval; 2) Is it prophetic? As in the OT era, so too in the NT era there were prophets, spokesmen for God (Eph 2:20, 3:5);  3) Is it authentic? Does it tell the truth in line with previous revelation? 4) Was it received by the church? Was it read, circulated, copied, collected by the NT people of God (cf. e.g. Col 4:16)?

      As Christ came to earth He directly fulfilled the prophecies concerning the promised Messiah and the return to canonical prophecy and writing (Deut 18:15-19). Like Moses, Jesus’ authority was validated by the miracles and signs He performed (John 10:38).  Therefore, as Moses was the mediator of the Old Testament Canon, Christ is the mediator of the New (Heb 8:6).  On the basis of Christ’s being the Son of God and in line with His revelatory ministry as the Word of God we find our base for the development of the NT canon.

      The canon of God’s Word is closed today.  There are clear indications in the NT that once the body of the apostolic teaching was delivered the Word of God was complete (Jude 3; Rev 22:18-19)  In Revelation 22:18-19 we have the prohibition of any addition or subtraction of God’s Word.  If the Lord has given us His complete and truthful Word it would be foolhardy to attempt to manipulate it in any way.  While man may grow in their understanding of the Holy God and while there may be discoveries of various texts of scripture there will be no deviation from what has already been revealed.

      The original OT and NT texts were transmitted through scholars who dedicated their lives to preserving the text's accuracy when they handmade copies. The great lengths the scribes went to guarantee the reliability of the copies is illustrated by the fact that they would count every letter and every word, and record in the margins such things as the middle letter and word of the Torah. If there was a single error that was found, the copy was immediately destroyed.  However, the issue of textual variance is of little significance to the Christian faith in that the texts in question do not specifically deal with, or are not exclusively used to solidify formal doctrine and/or beliefs.

      I personal prefer to use the critical texts over the majority texts.  I say this for 2 reasons: 1) There is less variance in the critical text as they relate to one another; 2) It would stand to reason that the texts that were circulated and handled the most would be the least preserved.  

      In regards to translation of the original text into various languages there are two methods that are used, formal translation and functional translation.  Formal translation holds to a word-for-word translation, as much as is possible, of the original text into a given language.  Functional translation seeks to take the original words and translate them into socially relevant terms and concepts in order to aid understanding.  Any work to translate the inspired Words of God through human intellect, emotion and will is dangerous and should be held in the most sensitive areas of our understanding of God’s revelation.

      I personally prefer to use the New King James translation for my study and delivery when in the OT due to the poetic flow of the language and the care with which it was developed.  When in the NT I prefer the New American Standard or English Standard Version having found them to line up more closely with the Greek New Testament.

      Although we have no access to the original autographs of scripture we have access to copies and translations.  In as much as copies and translations preserve the text to the autographs, they are the inspired Word of God.  While it may be true that those who copied and translated the originals may have mistook some words and phrases in their work and erred in some lesser and lighter matters, we have our confidence in the fact that these errors do not effect any momentous article of faith or practice and therefore such translations as ours may be regarded as the rule of faith.  Off of these statements we can firmly believe that the English Bibles we hold in our hands today are the inspired Word of God, albeit in a derived sense.

Psalm 12:3-4

Introduction:

Last week, in Psalm 12:1-2, we noticed that this Psalm is a Psalm of loneliness amongst God’s people.

• David says in vs.1-2
• So this is a Psalm that’s meant to bolster individuals who find themselves to be the only faithful and devoted follower of God amongst any number of other God followers. 
• But this isn’t David’s rant against his circumstances, this isn’t a rant against the fact that David wasn’t getting his way... instead this is David’s plea for perspective and support.
• But just so we can help to understand and personally apply what David is praying here, we asked the question, “how do we know when we’re in similar circumstances and can make a similar claim?”
• And as we saw last week, David gives us 3 hints as to what would constitute a similar experience.

1) Idle Speech

• This might be better described as a religious person who has a number of relationships with unbelievers but has no testimony of their relationship with God as well as no thoughts or plans to introduce this person to the Gospel.

2) flattering lips

• Flattery, by it’s very definition is excessive and insincere praise with which there often is an ulterior motive.
• This section of the text deals with our hearts motive and with the ugly side of religious politics.

3) a double heart

• The saying literally goes, “they speak with a heart and a heart.”
• There are a number of applications to this phrase, some of which we mentioned: double talk, gossip, and deception.

Tonight we’re going to look at the next 2 verses and add two more element to the “heart and a heart” equation - pride and empty words.

vs.3

As we look at vs.3... let me ask you a question... what’s your breaking point?At what point, in a relationship, in a church, in a friendship, do you just throw up your hands in frustration and walk away?Maybe a better way to phrase the question is, at what point do you stop trying to make a difference?David’s prayer here, in vs.3 of this text, is essentially, “These people, who claim to know you and serve you God, but are so self focused and proud... these people are hopeless.  Nothing can be done for them.  Wipe them out, take them off the face of the planet, end this endless game of passionless service and obnoxious lying.”That phrase there, “cut off all flattering lips,” is David’s way of saying, “Silence these people forever.  Cut them off from the face of the planet.” What was David’s breaking point?  Pride and empty words.But remember, David’s not speaking in general about wicked people, he’s not raging against the machine of sin in the world.David is speaking in specifics... he’s speaking specifically about God’s people... and so, in the next verse David gives us some detail concerning exactly what pushed him over the edge, 

vs.4

“With our tongues we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?”Let me attempt to break this down for you in a way that speaks to a position and condition of the heart that threatens to destroy God followers.It’s this idea that, if I say all the right things and say them at the right time and in the right way then I’m an amazing witness for God and I’m a spiritual giant in my faith.Now here’s how this lie manifests itself in the individual - accumulation of knowledge and information without any change and transformation.Here’s how this lie manifests itself in a family - the focus becomes on controlling the information that’s coming in and on shutting the world out as opposed to raising up a child in the way they should go.Here’s how this lie manifests itself in a community of God followers (i.e. church, group of friends/co-workers) - 2 ways: 1) the belief that a church will grow because of good sermons or that the church will grow because of dynamic programs... Here is something you may find interesting.  In some of the most recent studies concerning church growth and development done by the Barna Research group, Lifeway Research and the Euvangelion  the statistics concerning the reasons why people visit a church are (loosely for time’s sake):

• Advertising................................12%
• Web-Page or Internet.......................17%
• Invited by someone from the church.............71%

The other way this lie manifests itself is through uninvolved complaining.  Talking about how the church is all talk which is, in essence, nothing more than more talk.

Conclusion:

Friends... this is the reason that the new testament authors say things like, “Faith without works is dead...” this is what compelled Jesus to say, “by your fruit you shall be known.” This is even part of the hidden meaning of the parable of the good samaritan.If Jesus had simply wanted to tell a morality tale about being moved to compassion to reach out, he could have made the third person, the one who stopped to help, anyone. A Jewish lay person would have been nice. The crowd would have eaten that up. They would have felt very satisfied at a tale about the “all talk, no action” decisions of the priest and Levite, who is an assistant to priests, versus the common folk who know how to put faith into action, who can walk the talk. But Jesus added that extra little provocation. I wonder why? Could it be that he didn’t want his listeners to feel satisfied with his teaching? Did he want to leave them, and does he want to leave us, unsettled? I suspect he does. It’s not the first place, nor the last. He doesn’t make it easy to recognize the bad guy, does he? Oh sure, we can shake our head at the priest and the Levite, who walk by, maybe out of fear, maybe over their concern for ritual purity, or maybe just pure busy-ness. But instead of letting us believe we would be the good ones, he holds up a flash light, shining into the shadow places of our own hearts and souls.

Psalm 12:1-2

Introduction:

Do you ever feel like you are alone in your spiritual convictions and alone in your passion and pursuit of God?In this Psalm David, the author, is at this place.

vs.1

Notice that David is not saying that he is surrounded by the ungodly but the godly.This isn’t a typical religious war cry against the wickedness that is in the world or even a plea for understanding because David is being wrongfully pursued by Saul.This Psalm is a Psalm of loneliness amongst God’s people.In application to today this would be the outcry that comes from within the walls of a church community, or from a Christian home . . . it can be applied to someone’s workplace where there are other individuals who claim to have similar beliefs and convictions about God.Basically, this Psalm is direct relating to individuals who find themselves to be the only faithful and devoted follower of God amongst any number of other God followers.Now, two words of warning before we get into this.  One, this is not a passage that’s to be used to bolster someones personal preferences within a God following community.Two, David isn’t jumping to the conclusion that he’s the only one that is right and attempting to live righteously based on some flighty belief that has become an unmovable and unteachable conviction . . . so don’t look to this passage for that kind of support either.So, how do we know when we’re in similar circumstances and can make a similar claim?David offers us some hints to his experience that will often, if not always, be the telling signs of any group of self-proclaimed God followers who are living on the outside of God’s will.

vs.2 - Three hints are given here: 

  1) Idle Speech

• Idle Speech insinuates an attitude and by-in-part actions.
• This might be better described as a religious person who has a number of relationships with unbelievers but has no testimony of their relationship with God as well as no thoughts or plans to introduce this person to the Gospel.
• The greatest gift and the most beneficial truth you have to offer any relationship is the reality of a relationship with God.

  2) flattering lips

• When is flattery a good thing?  Think about it for a moment . . .
• Flattery, by it’s very definition is excessive and insincere praise with which there often is an ulterior motive.
• People flatter others for bad purposes . . . to get something out of them, deceive them, or cheat them.
• King Solomon must have endured a great deal of it at his court, because the Book of Proverbs, which he wrote, warns often against flattery. (e.g. Proverbs 26:28; 28:23; 29:5)
• This section of the text deals with our hearts motive and with the ugly side of politics within God followers relationships.
• Often the most damaging thing that you can do to an individual them is flatter them . . . and there are many forms of flattery that are damaging.

~ Allowing a person to continue in sin while acting as if nothing is wrong is flattery.~ Giving a person a responsibility which they are not gifted for is flattery.~ Going out of your way to please an individual above God is flattery.~ . . . and the list could continue.

• Needless to say we must be vigilant in our relationships, we must be faithful to God’s Word, and we must be obedient to God’s leading . . . even if it means an uncomfortable social situation.

  3) a double heart

• This is another Hebrew idiom that appears so frequently in the Old Testament.
• The saying literally goes, “they speak with a heart and a heart.”
• Now this is an interesting one because the meaning of this idiom is so far reaching and each meaning applies.
• On one end the reader could apply this to the idea of double talk, meaning saying one thing to deceive while you do something completely different.
• Another application comes from the two faced approach to gossip, being nice to someones face while tearing their reputation to shreds to other people.
• There are a number of other applications that apply here . . . however I believe one of the most important has to do with word play, playing with truth.

~ Word play is one of Satan’s greatest weapons against God.  We watch it happen in the garden and who can forget when it happens to Jesus in the desert.~ Same game, two different outcomes.~ Word play is a dangerous weapon because with it believers have very often found means for justifying their actions and/or inactions.

We’re going to build on this concept a little next week.  For tonight I want to leave you with a word of encouragement and a challenge.

Challenge:

Who are you pursuing God’s work and will with? Are you doing it alone?If you feel alone in your godly opinions and pursuits while at the same time belonging to a local church and/or being in the company of others who profess to have your beliefs what are you doing about it?  Prayer?  Loving Confrontation?

Encouragement:

You’re not alone.1 Kings 19:9-18