Let us turn to God's Word, directing
your attention tonight to that first verse that we read in the
public reading of Scripture in Psalm 12 and verse 1. Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. And I want, with the Lord's help,
to say something with regards to the doctrine of the remnant. Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. Last Lord's Day evening, we considered
those words of Stephen in the seventh chapter of the Acts,
where we read of his martyrdom. but also of that great confession,
that apology for his faith that he makes before the Jewish authorities
and we considered what he said there concerning the church in
the wilderness in Acts 7, 38 the church in the wilderness
and we said that there was evidently a church in the Old Testament,
that is, the church in the wilderness. He's referring, of course, to
those that came out of Egypt under Moses, God-led, throughout
the wilderness wanderings, and then in due time brought them
into the possession of the Promised Land, that which he had spoken
of to their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is a
church in the Old Testament, but we're not to equate the whole
of the nation of Israel with that church. They are not all Israel that
are of Israel. Though Israel as a nation was
a typical people, in the midst of that typical nation there
were those who were the true Israel, the true Church of God. And that Old Testament church
was but a remnant. And at times it was a very small
remnant. It was so in the days of the
ministry of Isaiah the prophet, as we see there in the opening
chapter, he says, except the Lord of hosts had left unto us
a very small remnant. we should have been as Sodom
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. He doesn't just
speak of a remnant or a small remnant but he says under the
Spirit's inspiration that God had left there a very small remnant
and it was that remnant of course that we sang of just now in that
hymn of Thomas Callas based upon those words that occur twice
in the book of Amos, by whom shall Jacob arise, for he is
small. And as we sang those last two
verses, by whom shall Jacob now arise, can any tell by whom?
Say, shall this branch that withered lies again revive and bloom,
Lord thou canst tell the work is thine the help of man is vain
on Jacob now arise and shine and he shall live again how that
little remnant needs to be revived time and time again and it was
not only the case in the old testament but it is ever the
case with regards to the church of God even in the New Testament
that church is but a very little remnant. The Lord Jesus says
straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto
life and few there be that find it. Few there be that find it. The doctrine of the remnant then
and I want us to consider that particular truth from these words
that I announced just now as our text in the opening verse
of Psalm 12. Help, Lords, for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. And first of all to say something
with regards to the marks of the godly. What are the marks
of those who belong to this remnant? And It is indicated in the words
that we have here in the verse. Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. We observe immediately that parallelism
which is so peculiar to the poetry, the Hebrew poetry that we find
in the book of Psalms. The same truth, as it were, declared
in a verse but declared in two slightly different ways. There's
a repetition and we see here that the godly man is to be equated
with that one who is faithful. The godly cease and the faithful
fail from among the children of men. And so this word faithful
tells us something with regards to the remnants. They are those
men and women of faith They are those who constantly feel their
dependence upon God. They are such as are living the
life of faith. And that faith is evidenced in
their calling upon God. They live the life of prayer.
Now remember what we said last week with regards to the doctrine
of the Church as we see it being unfolded in Scripture. It was
when a son was born to Seth and he calls his name Enos, that
men begin to call upon the name of the Lord. And we said that
that is one of the marks of the church. The people of God, they
call upon the name of God and we see it in the way in which
the Apostle addresses himself in his epistle, that first epistle
that he writes to the Corinthians. It's addressed to a particular
church, that of Corinth, but it is wider than that church.
Remember the language of Paul. Paul called to be an apostle
of Jesus Christ through the will of God and sustenance our brother
unto the church of God which is occurring to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints. And then he says
with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord both theirs and ours. He speaks of those as being members
of churches who are calling upon the name of Jesus Christ our
Lord. This is the mark of those who
are the faithful then. They know the life of faith and
that faith is evidenced in their constant crying to God, their
calling upon the Lord God. And what is their cry? Well,
look at the language that we have here in the first two verses. Help, Lords. And there is so
much, so much in that one word, help. We can think of the ministry
of the Lord Jesus during the days that He was tabernacling
here upon the earth and those that would come to Him. Think
of that Canaanite-ish woman, that Gentile woman, Soraphonisha. How she comes with her daughter
and she wants healing and the Lord appears to ignore her. The disciples want the Lord to
send her away, she's troublesome. But how she cannot be deflected,
she will call, she will cry. And what does it say there in
Matthew 15, 25? Then came she and worshipped
Him, saying, Lord, help me. Oh, that was her worship. That
is worship. When we come before the Lord,
as we do, I trust, tonight, as those who have a desire to worship
His great Name. Isn't that the principal purpose
of our gathering together? that we might render to God that
worship that is His due, He is worthy of our praises but how
is it that we worship Him with to come in the spirit of that
woman she worshipped Him saying, Lord help me or when we come
before God and confess our complete, our utter dependence upon Him
we can do nothing we can render no worship that will be pleasing
or acceptable in any sense in his sight. We need his aid, we
need his help constantly if we're going to render worship that
is pleasing and acceptable in his sight. So much I say in this
simple word, help. Help Lord as I say we see it
so many times in those that come to the Lord not only the Syrophoenician
woman we think of that man also who comes with his dumb child
and the disciples can do nothing but when the Lord appears how
does he address the Lord there in Mark chapter 9 he says have
compassion upon us and help us Oh, that's his request. He wants
to know something of the compassion of the Lord Jesus. He wants the
Lord to help him. No one else can help him. But
he says something more than that as the Lord responds to him and
speaks of the necessity of faith. Remember his request, Lord I
believe, help thou all these characters as they come time
and again and they need the help of the Lord Jesus and that I
say is a mark of the godly remnant a mark of those who are the true
church of God they need the Lord's help it is a most blessed thing
if we come before God as those who do feel their helplessness
And is that you? Is that me tonight? Is this how
we come to worship God? We're so helpless. And we find
so much comfort in the words of this petition of David in
the psalm when he has to come and ask the Lord to help. It
is good when we learn our utter dependence upon God. When God
in his dealings with us shows us the truth of our total depravity,
what it is to be a sinner. Always in that sense when God
has taught us that the sinner is a sacred thing. That's a gracious
work of the Spirit of God in the soul of the sinner. He doesn't
excuse us in our sin, we're troubled by our sins. And we want the
Lord to help us that we might be those who are able to overcome
our sins. He makes us to feel what we are.
Again we can turn to the epistles of Paul and how when Paul addresses
those young churches that he had been so instrumental in first
establishing by his ministry as it's recorded in the Acts
of the Apostles, and then we see him addressing these various
epistles to them to give them instruction and direction with
regards to the manner of their living, writing again to the
church at Corinth, and two letters he must address to that church.
It was a greatly favoured company of people. There were remarkable
spiritual gifts amongst them, but there was great abuse of
the grace of God also. and they were those who had crept
in, false teachers and had turned them against the apostles and
you know something of the content of those epistles. But then he
reminds them from whence they had come. He writes there then
in the opening chapter of that second epistle and tells them
we had the sentence of death in ourselves. He's speaking of
himself. But by implication it's true also of themselves. We had
the sentence of death in ourselves, he says that we should not trust
in ourselves but in God that raiseth the dead who hath delivered
us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust
that he will yet deliver us or when we have that sentence of
death in ourselves when God makes us to feel the deadness of our
sins our depravity is total our inability, it's absolute. What
can we do? We can do nothing at all for
ourselves. But God says, I have laid help
upon one that is mighty. And who is that one upon whom
the Lord God has laid help? Well, read there in the in the
89th Psalm, it is evident that he is speaking of David's greatest
son. he is speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ that is the one upon whom the Lord God has laid help for
sinners and so those who are the members of this true church
is godly remnant how they are constantly crying to the Lord
that he would grant them all needed aid that he would come
and that he would help them or they call upon the name of the
Lord Jesus. They look to Him as that One
upon whom the Lord God has laid all their hope." Help! Lord! This is one of the marks of the
God. But then, a second mark that
we can discern here, in the alternative reading that we have, in the
margin, because you will see there, that the Hebrew might
be rendered save. Save, Lord! They not only cry
for help, they call upon God for salvation. They are those
who feel their sin, and God is pleased to take account of them. He will hear them when they cry
to Him. As he says here in verse 5, for the oppression of the
poor, for the sowing of the needy, Now will I arise, saith the Lord,
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. Or they
will not cry in vain. We're only those that would seek
Him and those that would come before Him and make that simple
prayer, that prayer that we see Peter making, When he began to
sink, you remember the incident. There are the disciples in the
boat crossing the lake of Galilee. The Lord is not with them. The
Lord is on the shore and they are in the midst of the lake.
And all of a sudden, a storm blows up. and doubtless there
were wives and the boat begins to to fill with water and they
fear that they're going to sink and then the Lord appears and
he's walking on the waters towards them and bald Peter, impulsive,
impetuous Peter how quickly he's out of the boat and he's walking
himself upon the waters going towards the Lord but then the
wind is so boisterous the waves are so high and he's afraid,
he takes his eyes from the Lord, he begins to sink and he cries
out, Lord, save me. Oh, he was afraid. The Lord rebukes
him for his little faith But what a prayer it is that he makes,
Lord, save me. This is a mark, I say, of the
godly remnant. They cry to the Lord when they're
afraid, and they need to know His salvation, and they need
to know that salvation time and time again. Was he not the same
apostle Peter who made that great confession? This afternoon at
Hagen, Mr Paul Tyler was preaching and he took as his text those
words at the end of John chapter 6, a great confession of Peter's. Remember that chapter of the
reductions? The multitude following the Lord
at the beginning of the chapter. Now the Lord winnows the multitudes
with his teachings. Now there's only a remnant you
see really. when we come to the end of the chapter they're all
departing and it seems that those who were his disciples will also
go away the Lord says will ye go away also and Peter says to
whom shall we go thou hast the words of everlasting life and
in that confession we believe and are sure that thou art that
Christ the Son of the Living God oh that's the language of
salvation. And we say that it was Peter
who said there at Caesarea Philippi previously when the Lord said,
Whom say ye that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. That was Peter's confession and
that is the confession of all those who belong to the remnant. They confessed the Lord Jesus
They confess that all their salvation is in the Lord Jesus. They acknowledge
Him. They believe in His eternal Sonship. They are the Christ, the Son
of the Living God. We believe and are sure that
they are that Christ. Save, Lord, here are the marks
of the gods. They live this life of prayer.
Those who are ever calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And their prayers, all these
precious prayers, these simple prayers, and I trust that we
know something of these short prayers, friends. To come before
the Lord and to simply utter the word, help Lord, or save
Lord. As dear old Leonard Broome, I
remember when pastor at the chapel in Southampton saying at one
of his prayer meetings these short prayers are all the best
prayers we don't have to multiply words know the remnant come and
they feel their real needs and their prayers are such simple
prayers Lord help me Lord save me but look at the context here
We see something of the scarceness of the godly. They are but a
little remnant. How plaud for the godly man ceaseth,
for the faithful fail from among the children of men. All these
godly ones, how few, how scarce they are. and we see it so many
times in Scripture as I said it was so in the days of Isaiah
as he acknowledges there in the opening chapter at verse 9 but
then later look at the language that we find towards the end
of the book in chapter 57 and there in the opening words he
says the righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart
The merciful men are taken away, not considering that the righteous
is taken away from the evil to come." How God takes His godly ones
away, and at times it seems that the remnants grow smaller and
smaller. We read those words in Luke 18,
when the son of man cometh Shall he find faith in the earth? For
we have that assurance that the Lord is to return in power and
great glory. He will come the second time
without sin unto salvation when the Son of Man cometh. Shall
he find faith in the earth? Help, Lord, for the godly man
seeth for the faithful fail from among the children of men. What do we see here in this psalm?
We see such a striking contrast between the godly and the ungodly. Very striking, the differences
between the godly and the ungodly. And there are three things that
we see with regards to the ungodly. We see the lies of men, and the
pride of men, and the wickedness of men. And now these things
seem to increase, as the godly appears to be decreasing. First
there are the lies of men. He says in verse 2, they speak
vanity every one with his neighbor, with fluttering lips and with
a double heart do they speak? Or as these faithful men are
taken away, those who are living the life of faith are removed,
what is left? These who are not faithful but
faithless, they have a double heart, they're speaking lies. James tells us concerning that
double-minded man how he is unstable in all his ways. You can't trust
him. He doesn't speak truth. He lies. And how different it is, you
see, with the God. That's a very searching word
that we find a little later here in the 15th Psalm. and verse 4 concerning the godly
man it says he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth
not that's a godly man he swears to his own hurt if he says a
thing he'll be true to that word that he has spoken he's a man
to be relied upon he's not a double minded man so different to the
ungodly man who says but doesn't do the thing that he says oh how David then has to cry
out help Lord the godly man sees that the faithful fail from among
the children of men oh what are the godly see this remnant what
are they to do in the midst of all the wickedness that is about
them all the lives all they can do is call upon God this is their
mark as we said they sigh and they cry it says for all the
abominations that are done in the earth they have much to sigh
and cry over when they look to themselves when they look into
their own hearts and then when they look around and they see
other reasons why they need to be often sighing and crying unto
the Lord and doesn't God hear their prayers again we read it
there in that 18th chapter of Luke shall not God avenge his
own elect which cried day and night unto him though he be along
with them the Lord says I tell thee he will avenge them speedily
nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith
upon the earth and oh these truths are so applicable to the day
in which we're living how God's word is so timeless in its application
we live in a day when you cannot take a man at his word they speak
vanity everyone with his neighbor with flattering lips and with
a double heart do they speak but there's not only the the
lies we see here also something of the pride of men as he goes
on to say in verse 3 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 all the pride of men the pride of men and how they
speak so proudly of God and speak so proudly against God and set
themselves in opposition to Him. And how God in His Word, God
through His ministers, God in the words of His prophets rebukes
this awful haughty spirit that is in the hearts of wicked men. In Malachi chapter 3 and verse
13 He says, your words have been stout against me. Yet you say,
what have we spoken so much against? Now the prophet, the mouthpiece
of God, is speaking against the wickedness of the nation of Israel. They're stout words. And we know
how there are those, the atheists, he sets himself against God,
he's a fool. He says in his heart there is
no God. He waves his fist as it were in the very face of God.
We will not have this man to rule over us. The language of
the Lord Jesus himself as he tells that parable. Men will
not bow before the Lord Almighty. And we see it so sadly in the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. those 2,000 years ago, He came
unto His own and His own received Him not. How He was refused.
How He was rejected by God's ancient people. It's pride. It is pride, a cursed pride,
that Spirit by God abhorred, do what we will. It haunts us
still and keeps us from the Lord. It's in our hearts. It's in your
heart, it's in my heart. Doesn't the hymn writer say,
against its influence, pray, it mingles with the prayer. Against
it, preach, it prompts the speech, be silent. Still it's there,
whatever we do. We want some recognition, we
want something of the applause of men. All this is a following
of the ungodly man. Not just the lies of the man
but the pride of the man and we trace it right back to the
beginning of course it's there even in paradise it's there in
the garden of Eden when the serpent the instrument of Satan says
to the woman you shall be as gods men want to be as gods that's
why they speak in this fashion with our tongues will we prevail
our lips are our own who is Lord over us and David is godly man
help Lord for the godly man sees us and the faithful fail from
among the children of men but then also here with regards to
these ungodly there's a wickedness of men the lies of men the pride
of men and the wickedness of men And here at the end of the
psalm, the wicked walk on every side, it says. When the vilest
men are exalted, when vile men are in that place of authority,
now the wicked prosper. Oh, it's a terrible judgment
when such ungodly people are in that place of authority when
they bear the rule and it's so true today is it not? it's so
true today when we consider the state of affairs in our own land
and this is a judgment from God none of these things happen merely
by chance Are we not, if we are those who are truly the godly
seed and that remnant, are we not to discern and to recognize
God in these things? What do we learn in Scripture
concerning the powers at birth? Those who are in the place of
authority, those that bear the rule. Well, remember the language
of Paul, for example, in Romans chapter 13. There is no power
he says, but of God, the powers that they are ordained of God
and he is clearly speaking there of the civil power and of course
he is writing at the time of the Roman Empire where the civil
power was absolute, it was a totalitarian state and yet He is telling those
believers in the church at Rome that they are to have a regard
for those powers of belief, because it's God's own institution. And we desire, as those who I
trust are of that godly seed, that godly remnant, we desire
to be submissive to those powers that God himself has ordained,
but we see God's hand in these things. and we see it as a terrible
judgment upon a nation when such vile men are exalted. Those that know not God, those
that deny God. Those that have a total disregard
for the laws of God. Those who enact law that is so
contrary to God's teaching in His words. How God threatens
the wicked nation of Israel there in Isaiah chapter 3 and verse
4, he says, I will give children to be their princes and babes
shall rule over them. It's a judgment. Instead of men
of states he says he will set children and babes over them. Oh, let us recognize him. that
there is a difference being drawn here in the psalm between the
godly and the ungodly. And in the midst of it all we
see how that the godly man is such a scarce thing. There is
but a remnant. And it is, as I said at the outset,
that's truth of the remnant. The Church, the true Church of
God in every generation has only ever been a remnant. It was so in the Old Testament.
It is so in the New Testament. It has been so through the whole
history of the Church, a godly remnant. At times that remnant
has been more numerous and yet we have to recognize many times
it's just been a handful, a handful of corners. But here is the thing
to encourage us the faithfulness of God to that remnant we sought
to say something with regards to the marks of the godly who
are the remnant something of their scarceness and the propensity
of the wicked over them and yet in the third place we have to
recognize this that God is faithful oh look at David's prayer to
whom does he address himself He says, Help, Lord. He looks to the God of the covenant.
Oh, this is David who could say, He has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation
and all my desire, the sure mercies of David. This is the one that
David calls upon. Help, Lord, he says. And it's Lord in capital letters,
it's Jehovah, it's the God of the Covenant. He says later at
verse 7, Thou shalt keep them, O LORD! Thou shalt preserve them
from this generation forever. God preserves His remnant. That
godly remnant will never be destroyed. There will always be a true Church
of Jesus Christ in the earth. God is faithful. As I say, He
is the God of the Covenants. And we see that really throughout
the whole Psalm. How this Divine Name, this Covenant
Name is used. Look at the verses, verse 1,
verse 3, verse 5, verses 6 and 7. He keeps on calling or referring
to Jehovah, the Lord. that name that is derived from
what God had said to his servant Moses there at the burning bush
the great I am that I am. Oh he is the unchanging one and
we've said before the meaning of the word Lord as we have it
here simply means he is God says I am We say, yes, I am the Lord. I change not, therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. O Lord, thou shalt preserve them
from this generation forever. And who is the one that we're
to look to? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God manifest
in the flesh. And what a blessed revelation
of God we have when we consider the person and the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and forever. He is the God of the Covenant
and Christ is that One who is the Great Mediator, the Mediator
of the Covenant, who has come now and shed His precious blood
and sealed the covenant by the shedding of blood. All the testator
has died and we have His testament. He is the faithful God, I say,
the God of the covenant and His words, the words that He speaks
to us, they are pure words, they are true words. Verse 6 the words
of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of
earth purified seven times seven being the number of perfection
which reminds us that the Lord's word is so perfect a word how
this word is celebrated by the psalmist you know the language
that we have later here in the 19th Psalm concerning that word
of the Lord. Verse 7, the law of the Lord
is perfect. Converting the soul, the testimony
of the Lord is sure. Making wise the simple, the statutes
of the Lord are right. Rejoicing the heart, the commandment
of the Lord is pure. Enlightening the eyes, the fear
of the Lord is clean. Enduring forever, the judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. And we use these
different synonyms. Speaking of God's Word by various
names, it's the law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord, the
statutes, it's the fear of the Lord. Or do we treat God's Word
with all due reverence? More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, the much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Moreover by them is our servant
worn, and in keeping of them there is great reward. God's
words. Not only the 19th Psalm, you
know the 119th Psalm, it's a great celebration, it's an acrostic
poem. The whole Psalm is built around
the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And it speaks so clearly to us
of God's sure and God's certain words. What do we have here? well we have that contrast the
ungodly they speak vanity everyone with his neighbor with flattering
lips and with a double heart do they speak but how different
is God God is not a man that he should lie nor the son of
man that he should repent as he said it shall he not do it
as he spoken it shall he not make it good this is our comfort
friends we need to come to the word of God we feel ourselves
to be such a little remnant who are we? what are we? when we
consider all the forces of evil that are against us and it might
yet grow worse and worse that we have the Lord our God on our
side, that's our comfort And we have God's words. And when
God gave His promise to Abraham, remember how He swore by Himself. In other words, He said that
if His word failed, if He broke His word, He would cease to be. God would be no more if His word
failed. In that sense, as the psalmist
says in the 138th Psalm, He magnified His Word above all
His name. Oh, we have the faithful Word
of God. In the Lord Jesus Christ, all
those promises of God, they're all yay, they're all amen. It's not yay and nay, nothing
double about God's Word. The simplicity
of it, the straightforwardness of it, It is Yah and Amen. And what does God say to us concerning
the day of small things? O we are not to despise the day,
it is yet the day of the Lord. Those words in Zechariah chapter
4 and verse 10, For who art despise the day of small things? For
they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel. With those seven they are the
eyes of the LORD, which run to and throw through the whole earth. Why Zerubbabel? That's a type
of the Lord Jesus here. He has the plummet in his hand.
He is going to build his temple. And his eyes run to and throw
through the whole earth. He rules, he reigns. is accomplishing
His purpose in every place. Nothing takes Him by surprise.
The Lord has said, I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Oh God, grant that we might be
enabled to find comfort in Himself, His faithful works, that one
who is ever the God of the covenant, the one to whom we are Constantly
address our prayers. Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
Be assured, friends, if we do but ask the Lord's help, the
Lord's salvation, we will never ask in vain. Oh, the Lord bless
to us His Word.