PSalm 12
Date: March 31st, 2023
Speaker: Sam Crites
Scripture: Psalm 12
Exegetical Outline
MIT: God will arise and protect the needy from the attacks of the wicked.
12:1 – The faithful are vanishing.
12:2-4 – The wicked make evil say empty words and boast with their lips.
12:5 – YHWH arises and promises safety and vindication to the poor.
12:6-7 – The Lord’s words are pure and he has promised to keep and guard his people.
12:8 – The wicked prowl around the earth.
Homiletical Outline
MIS: Jesus Christ arose to save the unfaithful.
1. Jesus Christ is the godly one [vs. the unfaithful]. (12:1; 8)
2. Jesus Christ is the Word of God [vs. the words of the wicked]. (12:2-4; 6)
3. God arose, sending out his Word, to save those in need. (12:5)
Introduction:
Why did you come to Church today?
For some of you, this is your church home. It makes sense for you to be here, because this is your Church family and you would no sooner be anywhere else on this special day because we are celebrating the one reason that we can call ourselves a family, namely the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is good to see you this morning and celebrate the resurrection of our Savior the way we do every Sunday.
For some of you, this is not your Church home, but you are related to a member. You came because this is grandma and grandpa’s church or because mom and dad go here. We are so thankful for you, because it is such a sweet thing when the bonds of our biological families are strengthened by the bonds of our spiritual family. You remind us that God is building his kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
For some of you, you aren’t sure why you are here today, other than it is Easter and that is just what we do on Easter. We go to Church. There is something in the way that you have been raised that almost compels you to go to Church on Easter. Perhaps you feel it connects you to the loved ones of your past. Or, perhaps, you feel it is enough obedience to cover you for the rest of the year. Or maybe you are genuinely seeking something. You don’t know what is but you feel the need for something in your life.
Regardless of why you came today, this Easter I want to make you a promise. If you genuinely engage and listen to what David has to teach us in Psalm 12, you will hear the most important message you have ever heard in your life. Not because I am a particularly good preacher or because this is a particularly unique church. I am just an ordinary pastor and this is just an ordinary church, but Psalm 12 is no ordinary Psalm. What David is going to teach us in Psalm 12 will change your life if you will just hear him.
Let’s read Psalm 12 together.
12 To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
1 Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
As we have studied the psalms, we have seen that it is not only the content of the psalms that is essential for the Christian to understand, but we must also understand the ordering of the psalms. The Psalter, from beginning to end, is telling a great story that began with the first Davidic king and is pointing forward to the second and greater Davidic king. It is telling the story of the development of the Davidic Covenant from David to Christ.
In 2 Samuel 7, God promised David that he would always have a Son to sit on the throne of Israel. That is, instead of David building God a house, God was going to build David a dynasty that would last forever. He promised David that a king was coming, one from his own bloodline, that would be a greater and more perfect king than David ever was. The story of the Psalter is how the people of God cling to this promise even when the Davidic kingdom has failed, even when the line of David seems to have been cut off from the throne of Israel.
Psalm 12 is about this future king. The main idea of our sermon this week is this: Jesus Christ arose to save the unfaithful.
The first thing we must see in Psalm 12 is that David intends us to understand that Jesus Christ is the godly one. The context of this psalm is that evil seems to have prevailed. The beginning and the end of this psalm is a day of celebration for the wicked. All faithfulness has vanished from the children of men and the wicked prowl and exalt in vileness and evil. In this context, we have a very interesting allusion in verse one that points us back to the blessed man in Psalm 1 and the only-begotten Son in Psalm 2. In our first point, we will see the day that the godly one was struck, the faithful were scattered, and evil seemed to prevail. We will see that Jesus Christ is the godly one.
The second thing we will see in the psalm is that Jesus Christ is the pure Word of God. Not only is evil prevailing, but they are boasting in their victory. Verses 2-4 are set in contrast to verse 6. The false words of the wicked as they boast and rebel against God are set in opposition to the pure words of the Lord. The words of the Lord are pure because they have been tested and found to be trustworthy. Jesus Christ is the pure Word of God that has been refined in the furnace of humanity. He was made like us in every way, yet without sin. He was tested by the enemy in the wilderness, he was tested by the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and he was tested on the cross. In the heat of the furnace of his life, the man, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, was shown to be the pure Word of God that is trustworthy and true.
Which will bring us to our third and final point, God arose, sending out his Word, to save those in need. The deviance of the wicked will not last forever. Their boasts must be answered. In their celebration over the godly one and their defiant challenge to God in verse 4, God will rise from his throne and rescue his anointed. As the Father rises from his throne, he will raise Christ from the dead and through the victory of the Son he will keep and guard, he will rescue his people. Even though the children of man have been unfaithful to God, he will send out his word to rescue the unfaithful from their faithlessness.
This is the message of Psalm 12 and it is the story of Easter. Though it looks like evil had prevailed, though the shepherd had been struck and the sheep had been scattered, God was still on his throne. He arose and Jesus walked out of the tomb conquering sin, death, and the grave. In Psalm 12, we are going to see that Jesus Christ arose to save the unfaithful.
Jesus Christ is the godly one [vs. the unfaithful].
To see this clearly, we must first see how Psalm 12 fits into all that we have already seen in our study of Psalms. The first thing that we must see in Psalm 12 is that Jesus Christ is the godly one. Let’s reread Psalm 12, verse 1 and verse 8.
Psalm 12:1, 8
1 Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
To see Jesus Christ as the godly one, we must first understand the structure of Psalm 12, then we must situate the Psalm in its immediate context, particularly Psalm 10-14, and then we must see how Psalm 12 relates to Psalm 1 and Psalm 2.
Like many psalms that we have studied in our series on the psalms, Psalm 12 is a chiasm. That might sound fancy and confusing to our guests that have never heard of this before, but it is really very simple. Hebrew poetry is not based on rhyming like English poetry. Hebrew poetry is based on parallelisms. That means that important ideas are repeated in parallel statements. In a chiasm, the beginning and the end of the psalm are parallel statements. Then we begin to work our way to the middle of the psalm with successive parallel statements until we get to the very middle of the psalm where the author locates the main point of the psalm. It is called a chiasm because the Greek letter for an X is called a Chi and this structure looks like half of an X.
You can also think of it like an arrow that is pointing to the main point of the psalm. In our case, you can clearly see that verse 1 and verse 8 are parallel statements. The faithful have vanished among the children of man and the wicked prowl around exalting vileness among the children of man. These two verses work together as contrasting statements to set the context for the Psalm, namely, it seems like good has lost and evil has prevailed.
But not only can individual psalms have chiastic structures, but multiple psalms in a whole section can have parallel relationships and be in a chiastic structure. This is important to Psalm 12 because Psalms 10-14 form one of the clearest examples of chiastic psalms in all the Psalter. If you read Psalm 10 and 14 together, they are almost identical in what they say. In fact, Paul quotes from both of them together in Romans 3 to demonstrate the depravity of man. The point of these two psalms is that man is evil, all that he does is evil and there is not one person that has ever existed that does good.
Psalm 11 and Psalm 13 are parallel psalms because they teach that God will use the wicked to test the righteous and even though the righteous suffer at the hands of the wicked, God is still sovereign and good. We can trust him because we know that he loves us through the trials that we face.
Which puts Psalm 12 at the center of these psalms. The context that has led to Psalm twelve is that men in his natural state is evil. The interaction between the wicked and the righteous is that the wicked persecute the righteous and make them suffer, and at the beginning of Psalm 12, it appears that the wicked have been victorious. The godly one is gone and there is not one person found among the children of men that is faithful. It is a pretty bleak introduction.
But there is some hope buried in verse 1 that we would miss if we were not reading the Psalms in order. If we were only reading Psalm 12 by itself and not in the context of all that has come before, we would miss this amazing allusion buried in verse 1. Notice that in verse 1 it does not say “the godly ones are gone.” It says, the godly one is gone. The Hebrew word rendered “godly one” in verse 1 is hasid, a form of hesed, which means lovingkindness. It is singular and absolute. So “godly one” could literally be translated, the lovingkind one. In verse one, David cries out to God for salvation because the lovingkind one is gone.
We have seen this odd phrasing before in our study of the Psalms. Turn with me to Psalm 4:2-3:
Psalm 4:2-3
2 O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
3 But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
the Lord hears when I call to him.
In verse 3, David uses this same adjective. “But know that the Lord has set apart the lovingkind one for himself.” For those that were here when we studied Psalm 4, remember, that these two verses are not referencing David’s own honor. He says in Psalm 3:3:
Psalm 3:3
3 But you, O Lord, are a shield about me,
my glory, and the lifter of my head.
David’s honor and David’s glory is God, and the lovingkind one that God has set apart is the blessed man from Psalm 1 and the only begotten Son from Psalm 2. Listen to Psalm 2:6-9:
Psalm 2:6-9
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
The Lord has set apart the Son for himself. He has established his king in Jerusalem and he has promised him dominion over all the kings of the earth.
The situation at the beginning of Psalm 12 is so dire, because it appears the forces of evil have struck the godly one, the lovingkind one, the only begotten Son, and scattered the people of God, just like the prophet Zechariah prophesied they would. Listen to Zechariah 13:7:
Zechariah 13:7
7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
In God’s providence, Psalm 12 lines up perfectly with Easter this year, because Psalm 12 is about the passion of the only begotten Son. The people of God are crying out through the psalmist David, because the shepherd has been struck, the godly one is gone and it seems like all faithfulness has vanished from the children of man. It seems that evil has won and there is no hope for the righteous.
This is a psalm about the crucifixion and what happened to the disciples immediately afterward. Can you imagine how the disciples felt in between the crucifixion and the resurrection? They fled. They were scared for their lives. All they could think to do was hunker down in the upper room. I am sure they went through doubts and prayers. They read Scripture. They might have even read Psalm 12, it would have been appropriate.
But one thing is universally true about the disciples. They all left him. He was betrayed to the last man and was left alone to face the cross. The crucifixion demonstrates that Jesus Christ was the only godly and steadfast man that ever lived and everyone else was unfaithful. To a man they left him and abandoned him and David’s words in Psalm 12 are prophetic. On the day of Christ’s passion, the faithful had vanished from the children of man and only vileness was found.
Before we move on to the next couple verses, isn’t it good news that though we are faithless, Jesus Christ is faithful. This is our hope, brothers and sisters. The word for man in verse one is adam. When faithlessness reigned among the children of adam, there was one that was not a son of Adam. There was an only begotten Son of God to remain faithful though everyone else had failed. He faced the test we could not face, he paid the penalty we could not pay, he demonstrated lovingkindness when all we could produce was vileness and evil. Your only hope in life and death is not what you can do for yourself but in what Christ has done for you. Our hope is in Jesus Christ the only one that is godly.
Jesus Christ is the Word of God [vs. the words of the wicked].
The first thing we learned, namely that Jesus is the godly one, had to do with Christ’s humanity. He is the godly son of David that demonstrated the lovingkindness of God on the cross. As we transition to the second point of our sermon, we will not only consider his humanity, but also his divinity. The second thing we will learn from Psalm 12 is that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Let’s reread verses 2-4 and 6:
Psalm 12:2-4, 6
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
Hopefully you are beginning to see the parallels as they progress in these verses. In these verses, we see the words of the wicked contrasted with the word of God.
Verses 4-6 describe the false words of the wicked. Their words are full of lies. They flatter with their lips but they do not mean it, because their hearts are double minded. They make great boasts over the righteous and especially the godly one. They boast that they didn’t even have to lift a finger to prevail. They were able to use their cunning and twisted lies to manipulate themselves to victory.
Does this not sound like the Sanhedrin and the elders of Israel when they put Jesus on trial? The religious leaders did not triumph over Christ with their strength, but with their lies and false witnesses. Listen to what Mark 14:55-56
Mark 14:55-56
55 Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 56 For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree.
They did not try Jesus during the day, the tried him at night, a clear breach of the Mosaic law.
Not only did they lie in Jesus’s trial, they manipulated Pilate to do the deed for them. They didn’t have to lift a finger or get their hands dirty. Rather, they can boast “With our tongues we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?” Certainly not Jesus Christ or his father. These men were diametrically opposed to the Father and to his Word. The words of the wicked are corrupt, debased, and worthless. They cannot stand by the power of their words. Psalm 1:5-6 says:
Psalm 1:5-6
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Psalm 12 contrasts these words of the wicked with the words of the Lord. The words of the Lord are not corrupt like the words of the wicked. They are not manipulative or unstable. Psalm 12:6 tells us two things about the words of the Lord. It tells us one thing in verse 6 and on thing in verse 7. We are going to look at the first one in this part of the sermon and we are going to consider the second towards the end of our sermon.
If we just consider the immediate context of this text, the most we could say about verse 6 is that the words of the Lord are holy. They are like highly refined silver that has been tested and found to be true. In contrast with the wicked, this means that the Christian needs to consider all that they hear. They need to be able to discern when men speak as men and when men are speaking the words of the Lord. If the words come from the Lord, then they are always true, always right, they are always trustworthy and should be accepted, because the words of the Lord are pure and will stand the test of time. If God ways in on a matter, no matter how difficult it is to accept, we must listen to his words, because his words are pure words that, when tested, will show themselves to be exactly what they present themselves to be.
This is exactly what Psalm 12 is saying about the words of the Lord in contrast to the words of the wicked, but I don’t think this is merely what Psalm 12 is saying. I think David intends more. What does the rest of Scripture have to say about the word of God? Listen to John 1, beginning in verse 1:
John 1:1-13
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1 says that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is the pure words of the Father that have been breathed out by the power of the Spirit to accomplish the will of the Father. In John 1, that Word proceeds from the Father, first, in order to create. Through him all things were made and without him was not anything made that was made. But the Word also proceeded from the Father in order to give the light of life to men. Though many rejected it or bore false witness about it, it could not be denied. The Word of God is true and pure and undeniable, even to those that are sitting in darkness. Jesus Christ, the pure Word of God, came into the world as a man to rescue all that the Father caused to be born again. He gave life to all that believed in his name.
This is what John says the Word of God is and does. Which lines up perfectly with what David is saying in Psalm 12. David says the Word of God is Jesus Christ. He is pure and trustworthy because he has been purified and tested on the ground, literally, on the earth.
Which means two things: Jesus was like us as a man on this earth and Jesus was tested and found to be trustworthy. Through the incarnation, Jesus Christ was made like us in every way, yet without sin. He is a sympathetic High Priest because he has suffered like we suffered. He has known sickness, weariness, temptation, hunger, thirst, poverty, pain…betrayal. He knows what it is to be a man because he truly was one.
But he was not merely a man among men, he was tested in every way that man could be tested. Before his ministry began, Matthew 4 says that the Spirit led him out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So, when 1 Corinthians 10:13 says:
1 Corinthians 10:13
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Know that Jesus was tempted first. If he was tempted like we are tempted and he escaped by the power of God, then we can escape by the power of Christ.
He was tested by the Pharisees and Sadducees. In Matthew 22, both the Pharisees and the Sadducees take a shot at Jesus. They both attempt to trip him up twisting God’s word to say what it does not say, but Jesus knew God’s word better than they did because he was God’s word. In Matthew 22:29, he says:
Matthew 22:29
“You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”
So when the Apostle Paul, in 2 Corinthians 13:5 says:
2 Corinthians 13:5
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!
Know that Jesus was tested first. The truth is found in the Word of God so that Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 13:8:
2 Corinthians 13:8
8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.
If Jesus clung to God’s word in order to endure the testing of the Pharisees and Sadducees, so can you. Hang onto the promises of God that are found in Scripture.
Jesus Christ was tested on the cross. Before he was arrested, he begged the Father to let the cup pass. But in Mark 26:42 he said:
Mark 26:42
“My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
He willingly drank the cup of the wrath of God and suffered abuse and torment so that will of God could be accomplished and many could be made righteous.
So when Philippians 1:29 says:
Philippians 1:29
29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,
You know that this will turn out for your good and rejoicing, not because the suffering is enjoyable, far from it. Christ did not enjoy his suffering on the cross, but a greater joy was set before him just as a greater joy has been set before us. Namely, that if we are made like him in his suffering, we will be united to him not only in death but also in his resurrection, as Paul teaches in Philippians 3:7-11.
The point is that Jesus is the pure Word of God that has been sent out to accomplish the will of the Father through the incarnation. He is trustworthy because his life was a constant furnace of testing and suffering to demonstrate that he is who he said he was. He never failed in his life as a man because he is the Word of God that accomplishes exactly what the Father sent him to do.
God arose, sending out his Word, to save those in need.
Which should make us ask, what did God intend to do? David answers this very question which is the third point of our sermon. The last thing we will see in Psalm 12 is this: God arose, sending out his Word, to save those in need. Let’s reread verse 5 and 7:
Psalm 12:5, 7
5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the Lord;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
7 You, O Lord, will keep them;
you will guard us from this generation forever.
If we are not sensitive to the structure of this Psalm and the greater structure of Psalms 10-14, we will miss the significance of verse 5. Psalm 12:5 is the center of Psalm 12, making it the most important verse to consider in this particular psalm, but it is also the center of Psalms 10-14.
Psalms 10-14 are full of noise. The boasts of the wicked, the oppression of the righteous, the cries of the righteous as they suffer, and…the silence of God. In all that is taking place in Psalms 10-14, God does not speak. He hears, he sees, he looks down from holy throne in heaven, but he never does anything. He does not speak against the wicked or responds to the pleas of the righteous. Nowhere except in Psalm 12:5. At the poetic center of this psalm that sits at the poetic center of Psalms 10-14, amidst the cacophony of pain and suffering and prayer, God rises from his throne and speaks.
And what does he say? He says in verse 5, “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.” Who is this singular “him” that God speaks of in verse 5? It could be the poor that are being plundered and the needy that are groaning. It could be David himself who is voicing this psalm of prayer to God. But I think the poetry requires that it be the only begotten Son promised in Psalm 2. He is only one faithful enough to fit what is being said.
All of Psalm 10-14 makes one thing explicitly and painfully clear: men are not faithful, they are unfaithful. Psalm 10:7 says:
Psalm 10:7
7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
Psalm 12:1 says:
Psalm 12:1
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
Psalm 14:1-3 says:
Psalm 14:1-3
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
There is no one, found among the sons of Adam, that deserve the protection and deliverance of God. There is only one man that has ever lived that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. There is only one man that has ever delighted in the law of the Lord and his name is Jesus. He is the godly one that was stricken, he is the Word that was sent out to do the will of the Father, and he is the only one for whom God would arise from his throne. And when the Father rose from his throne to deliver the Son, the Son walked out of the grave on Sunday morning. The works of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable. When the Father arises to deliver the Son, the Son took back up his life that he willingly laid down, and the Spirit empowered the Son to accomplish his resurrection.
So that, by the power of the Word that comes from the Father with the breath of his Spirit the Lord accomplished what we see in verse 7. He keeps and guards his people. Psalm 12 is about Easter. It is not about bunnies, and pastel suits, and tulips. It is about the eternal and pure Word of God taking on humanity, being made like us in every way yet without sin, to live the perfect life that we could not, to die a death that we deserved, and to be rescued from the grave that we would never escape in order to guard and protect a people for God from this generation forever. We were ungodly, he was godly. We were rebellious, he was obedient. We were faithless, he was faithful.
Brothers and sister, friends and guests, this morning, we have come together to celebrate Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, not to rescue those that deserve it, but to save those that have only ever been unfaithful. There is no one hear that deserves the lovingkindness of God. I am thankful that Church is full of sinners because that means I belong. If you are frustrated with the Church or you think that the Church is full of hypocrites, let me help you this morning. It is. The Church is not a place for people that have it all together. It is a place for sinners who understand exactly what they are. The free gift of God’s kindness is not beautiful because we have earned it. It is beautiful because we don’t. The good news of Easter is that no one deserved the sacrifice of Jesus and yet some of us have benefitted from it anyway.
If the hypocrisy of the Church has prevented you from following Jesus, we, his church, say do not let it. Come to Jesus. We are all sinners and hypocrites that have been saved by grace and grace alone. Put your trust in Jesus and, by his grace, we will stumble through this life together.
Conclusion
As we conclude, I return to the question that we began with. Why are you here this morning? There are prettier churches you could have visited. There are more eloquent preachers that you could have heard. This is just an ordinary Church and we are just ordinary people. Whatever brought you here this morning, I hope in the midst of the ordinary you have found the extraordinary.
Psalm 12 hold out to you a savior that is anything but ordinary. In God’s providence, it has been a perfect Easter sermon text because in it we see Jesus Christ, the godly and lovingkind one, the Word of God himself, who arose to save, not the faithful and deserving, those guys don’t exist. He arose from the tomb to save the unfaithful.
If that is you this morning, if you are one that is keenly aware of your unfaithfulness, of your sinfulness before God and your need for Jesus to save you, I want you to consider the next song we are going to sing, O Come All You Unfaithful. The good news of Easter is that regardless of why you came this morning, no matter what you were seeking, what you have found is a place where the unfaithful are welcome. Where those that are weak and unstable are offered peace and pardon because the tomb is empty. The lamb was slain, but he did not remain dead. His Father arose and rescued him so that he could rescue us. All you unfaithful, come to Jesus. He is your only hope in life and in death.
Let’s pray.