You will guard us from this generation forever. (Psalm 12:8)
Psalm 12 is a generational psalm. The focus of this prayer is a concern over what the future holds for our children, our grandchildren,
and our great-grandchildren.
Notice how it begins: “Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of men” (Psalm 12:1). The godly have gone. The faithful have vanished! We want our children to be surrounded by godly examples, and models of faithfulness but, David says, “That’s hard to find today!”
Evil was being called “good” and good was being called “evil” by the culture. Everything seemed upside down. What hope is there for our children when this is the world in which they are growing up?
This psalm speaks powerfully to our situation today. God has given us a prayer in the Bible for times when we fear for our children. What does the future hold for them?
In response to this, I want to first offer an analysis of the assault that our children are facing. And second, a strategy for prayer and for action.
Analysis of the Assault Our Children are Facing The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)
Notice what we are being told here: There is a particular work of Satan, referred to as “the god of this world” in the verse, to bring blindness to human minds.
Satan is always doing this, and the reason he’s doing it is that the good news of the glory of Christ is like a bright light. Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) and Satan has to pull every trick in the book to keep people from seeing his glory. How does he do this?
Jesus says, “Satan is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). All lies ultimately have their origin in him. Lies are his strategy for blinding the minds of each generation to the glory of Christ. The lies take different forms in each generation, but the overarching strategies have been essentially the same since the Garden of Eden.
Psalm 12 points to three brands of deception, all of which Satan uses to keep people from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The three varieties of deception are: Vanity, flattery, and blasphemy.
Three Brands of Deception 1. Vanity Everyone utters lies to his neighbor. (Psalm 12:2)
Several commentators point out that the word translated “lies” here literally means “emptiness.” David has a particular type of deception in view: “Everyone utters emptiness to his neighbor.” There could hardly be a more powerful description of our culture today.
There’s great deal of conversation right now about the whole business of spying—the NSA (National Security Agency) listening to phone calls with a view to enhancing security, etc.
I enjoyed a satirical piece from a journalist in London who said that the person she felt sorry for is the poor guy at the NSA who has to sift through endless emails, voicemails, tweets, texts and Facebook™ posts, the vast majority of which are of absolutely no consequence whatsoever!
Those who are young are growing up, and we are living, in a world of trivia where “everyone utters emptiness to his neighbor.” It’s a world dominated by the next game, the most recent reality show, or the most shocking sound bite. We’re all talking about nothing.
The effect of all this is that serious conversation feels really odd. Someone says, “What do you believe about God?” and everyone feels that this kind of talk is too heavy.
Satan’s “vanity brand” aims to keep you from ever thinking seriously about life. It is possible to go through high school, college, career and retirement, without ever seriously asking: Who am I? Why am I here? What is life for? And what lies beyond?
Satan is in the business of blinding people’s minds so they “cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” It is possible to go to church, hang out with your friends, and never think seriously about the meaning of life. Vanity is one of Satan’s primary strategies for accomplishing this.
2. Flattery With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. Psalm 12:2
May the Lord cut off all flattering lips… Psalm 12:3
Flattery always becomes the spoken language in a culture where people give themselves to vanity. It’s saying only what other people want to hear and hearing only what you want other people to say.
Flattery is Satan’s second brand of deception. If you only hear what you want other people to say, then you end up not being able to see the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This desire for flattery runs deep. Isaiah describes God’s people as:
“Children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord, who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things… Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.’” (Isaiah 30:9-11)
We just want to be affirmed, so don’t tell us about the Holy One of Israel, because we know that we aren’t holy. That will make us uncomfortable.
Our children are growing up in a world where even in church, many hear smooth things, and not much about the Holy One of Israel.
Jesus said the work of the Holy Spirit begins with convincing of sin and righteousness and judgment. There won’t be much of that going on in flattering ministries that stroke your ego by saying smooth things. That kind of ministry only leads to a generation of kids who grow up in church and yet cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ!
Our Lord spoke about this in John 5:44: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”
3. Blasphemy Those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?” (Psalm 12:4)
This third brand of lying shows itself in defiance. The person who has bought this clenches his or her fist and says, “It’s my life. I am the captain of this ship. No one rules this life but me! I will find my own way. I will be my own lord and savior, my own master, my own guide.”
The word to describe that is blasphemy. I looked it up in the dictionary:
- The act of insulting or showing contempt… for God.
- The act of claiming the attributes of deity.
It’s putting yourself in the place of God. And this brand of deception goes back to the Garden of Eden.
The Parable of the Sower
(sometimes called the Parable of the Soils)
is a parable of Jesus found in
Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15
and the extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas.[1]
Jesus tells of a farmer who sows seed indiscriminately. Some seed falls on the path (wayside) with no soil, some on rocky ground with little soil, some on soil which contains thorns, and some on good soil. In the first case, the seed is taken away; in the second and third soils, the seed fails to produce a crop; but when it falls on good soil, it grows and yields thirty-, sixty-, or a hundred-fold.
Jesus later explains to his disciples that the seed represents the Gospel, the sower represents anyone who proclaims it, and the various soils represent people's responses to it.
Text[edit]
"Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.
Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.
Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said,
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
— Mark 4:3–9 (ESV)The explanation given by Jesus.
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them,
"To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God,
but for those outside everything is in parable, so that
'they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.'"
And he said to them,
"Do you not understand this parable?
How then will
you understand all the parables?
The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path,
where the word is sown: when they hear,
Satan immediately comes and
takes away
the word that is sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy.
And they have
no root
in themselves,
but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution
arises on account of the word,
immediately they fall away. And others are the
ones sown among thorns.
They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."
— Mark 4:10–20 (ESV)
It is always important to study Bible verses in context, and it is especially true with 2 Peter 3:9, which reads, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (KJV). The second half of the verse, “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,” is frequently used to argue against the doctrine of election.
The context of 2 Peter 3:9 is a description of scoffers who doubt that Jesus is going to return to judge the world with fire (2 Peter 3:3–7). The scoffers mock, “Where is this coming?” (verse 4). In verses 5–6, Peter reminds his readers that God previously destroyed the world with the flood in Noah’s time. In verse 7, Peter informs his readers that the present heavens and earth will be destroyed with fire. Peter then responds to a question he knew was on his readers’ minds, namely, “what is taking God so long?” In verse 8, Peter tells his readers that God is above and beyond the concept of time. It may seem like we have been waiting a long time, but, to God, it has been a blink of an eye. Then, in verse 9, Peter explains why God has waited so long (in our view of time). It is God’s mercy that delays His judgment. God is waiting to give more people the opportunity to repent. Then, in the verses following verse 9,
Peter encourages his readers to live holy lives in
anticipation of the fact
that Jesus will one day return.
In context, 2 Peter 3:9 says that God is delaying
His coming in judgment in order to give people
further opportunities to repent.
Some of the confusion regarding the meaning of 2 Peter 3:9 is the wording of the KJV translation: “not willing that any should perish.”
Not willing makes it sound as if God
does not allow any to perish.
However, in 17th-century English, willing carried more of an
idea of desire than of volition.
The modern English translations of 2 Peter 3:9 render the same phrase “not wanting” (NIV and CSB), “not wishing” (ESV and NASB), and “does not want” (NLT).
In no sense does 2 Peter 3:9 contradict the idea that God elects certain people to salvation. First, in context, election is not at all what the verse is talking about. Second, to interpret “not willing that any should perish” as “does not allow any to perish” results in the false doctrine of universalism. But God can “not desire” anyone to perish and still only elect some to salvation. There is nothing incongruous about that. God did not desire for sin to enter the world through the fall of Adam and Eve, yet He allowed it.
In fact, it was part of His sovereign plan. God did not desire His only begotten Son to be betrayed, brutally tortured, and murdered, yet He allowed it.
This, too, was part of God’s sovereign plan.
In the same way, God does not desire anyone to perish.
He desires all to come to repentance.
At the same time, God recognizes that
not everyone will come
to repentance
It is undeniable that many will perish
(Matthew 7:13–14).
Rather than being a contradiction to 2 Peter 3:9, God’s electing and drawing of some to salvation is evidence that He truly does not desire people to perish. Were it not for election and the effectual calling of God, everyone would perish (John 6:44; Romans 8:29–30).