Let us turn to God's Word and
I want tonight to direct your attention to the words that we
find in the 12th Psalm. Psalm 12. To the Chief Musician upon Shemini,
a Psalm. of David. Help, Lord, for the
godly man Caesar, for the faithful fail from among the children
of men. They speak vanity, every one
with his neighbour, with flattering lips and with a double heart
do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all flattering
lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things who have said, with
our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord
over us. For the oppression of the poor,
for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord,
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. The
words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace
of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. The
wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. I want us then to consider the
content of these verses that we've just read in the psalm. In some ways it follows on from
what we were seeking to say on Thursday when we considered those
words of Ezekiel chapter 9 and verse 4. Go through the midst
of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon
the foreheads of them that sigh and groan because of the abominations
done in the midst thereof. And though we observe in that
chapter the distinction that God makes between men, there
are those who are grieved at the state of affairs that pertains
all about them, their sighing out, their prayers, their growls
to God, and they take an account of but then there are those others
and the five men with their slaughter weapons are sent to destroy those
evil men in the city of Jerusalem. What a distinction! It ought
to be those who are marked by those prayers that are spoken
of there those sighs, those cries, because of the abominations that
are done in the midst. As we said, he's not that one
of the marks of the election of grace. The words of the Lord
Jesus in the Gospel, shall not God avenge his own elect, which
cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you, he will avenge them
speedily nevertheless. When the Son of Man cometh, shall
he find faith in the earth? Here is the mark then of the
event. They sigh, they cry as they consider
the situation that they find themselves in. And those of course
in the days of the Prophet Ezekiel, as we said on Thursday, they
were living in most momentous days. God's judgments were very
much abroad. It was the end of the kingdom
of Judah. The city of Jerusalem had been
overrun by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar. There were those who had been
taken into exile and in captivity with them was Ezekiel. There
was a vassal king set up in Jerusalem, that man Mattaniah, whom Nebuchadnezzar
called Zedekiah. The days were so evil and the
Lord is pleased to reveal to his servant Ezekiel something
of what he is about, something of those works that he is now
accomplishing. And we live also, do we not,
in such evil days. And how apt are the words then
of this psalm, how we need to sigh to God, to cry, to call
to groan out our complaints before Him. Help, Lord, for the godly
man ceaseth, for the faithful fail from among the children
of men. It is hard to pray sometimes.
We scarce know how to begin to pray. Remember those words of
the Apostle in Romans 8. The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities,
it says. For we know not what to pray
for, as we ought. The Spirit helps us. This prayer
then, help Lord, is not a prayer that we can ever utter in vain. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the name of the Lord
which made heaven and earth and the sea and all that's therein
is, we read in another of the Psalms, the happy man, the blessed
man, is that man that has the God of Jacob as his helper. Oh,
the Lord help us then as we turn to consider the words of the
Psalmist tonight. First of all, to say something
with regards to the fewness of the Godlands. Isn't this why
David asks the Lord to appear, the Lord to grant all that needed
help. God's help is needed because
the godly are so few and isn't that the case with regards to
the situation that we find ourselves in at this particular time in
the history of our nation. Help Lord for the godly man Caesar
for the faithful fail from among the children of men. When the
Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth? How few have faith, real faith,
and even when we consider the state of affairs amongst those
who profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, how many have nothing
but an empty profession. Now we have to examine ourselves.
How real is our profession? How real is our faith? Is it
faith that we've somehow or other talked ourselves into or is it
that precious faith? That faith that is truly of the
operation of God. How we need then that God himself
should help us. That we might be those who are
men and women of true faith, of saving faith. Now look at
what David says here concerning the situation that was all around
him. He speaks about the wicked were
those who were in authority, the wicked were in power. The
end of the psalm, the wicked walk on every side when the vilest
men are exalted. We know of course that those
who are exalted to high office are there under the hand of God,
because God is sovereign with regards to the government of
the world. He doesn't just watch over his
children, they are watched over, they are as the apple of his
eye, but he is that God who is executing his purpose amongst
all men and all nations. And we're told quite plainly
concerning those powers that be, that it is God's own ordinance,
it's God's appointment. And we're to have due regard
for those in authority over us. In Romans chapter 13, familiar
words, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there
is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained
of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist
shall receive to themselves damnation. Verse 5 he says, Wherefore ye
must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience. We are to have due respect and
regard to those whom God has put in positions of authority
over us. Fear God, honour the King, exhorts
Peter in his first epistle. And we show our regard, our respect
for them when we pray for them. We are to pray, are we not? Oh
great is their responsibility as solemn is their accountability
do not those who are bearing the rule those who are in government
over us stand in need of our prayers and we should pray for
them because again this is made so plain is it not by the scripture
Paul to Timothy I exhort Therefore, that first of all supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead
a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Saviour. or we are to recognise him, the
powers that be. And when Paul wrote those words,
of course, the powers were those of Rome,
the Caesar, pagan men and persecutors of the Christian And yet these
are the powers of me that are to be duly respected and prayed
for. Let us bear that in mind even
with regards to the vilest of men that are spoken of here.
The wicked walk on every side, it says, when the vilest of men
are exalted. Yet still we have our duties
to perform. We need God's help if we are
to pray for them, as we ought to pray for them. And then here
in the psalm also, David reminds us of the pride of these men,
the pride of man. Look at verse 4. We are those
who have said with our tongue, will we prevail? Our lips are
our own. Who is Lord over us? We read there in that third chapter
of Malachi how they speak, your word says God have been stout
against me, bold, hard against me. Yet, you say, wherein have we spoken against
thee? These proud men are so. They live for their own, they
speak against God. The Lord Jesus Christ tells that
parable of the powers in Luke chapter 19. And what do they
say? We will not have this man to rule over us. They refuse
God. They reject God. They will not
acknowledge Him. They will not submit to His authority. That's what the Lord is saying
in that parable, is it not? In Luke 19 at verse 12, a certain
nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return, and he called his ten servants and delivered
them ten pounds and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But
his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying, We
will not have this man to reign over us. They refused him. Though true it is with regards
to the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes into this world. He
came unto his own, we're told, and his own received him not. How he was rejected by the Jews. They would not submit to his
teachings. They were always seeking to find
some fault with him, ever ready to make accusations against him.
And ultimately, of course, they accuse him of blasphemy and they
demand of the Roman governor that he should be executed, crucify
him. Crucify him was their cry. All
the pride of men. And not just those Jews, of course. We see it, do we not, all around
us, how proud man is. We see the result of the fall
of our first parent. Didn't the serpent say to Eve
there in the garden concerning the partaking of the forbidden
fruits? He said to her, you shall be
as gods. Knowing good and evil, that's what men are, they're
as gods, they think they know. They're so proud in their opposition
to God and they want to discount God and any idea of their ultimate
accountability to God. And of course the whole theory
of evolution so pleases them, because it discounts the Creator,
to whom man must ultimately be called to give his account. What
are the origins? Well, things just happen, there's
no Creator, to whom man must one day come and appear before,
and account for his life. Oh, it suits man, it suits a
proud man, he'll be a God himself. The awfulness of his pride. 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 pride. The wicked pride of
men, the pride of life. Pride accursed, pride that spirit
by God abhorred. Do what we will, it haunts us
still and keeps us from the Lord. If a man would know God, he must
deny himself. We must know something of that
lowliness of mind which we see in the Lord Jesus Christ, that
humility of heart. Man is such a proud creature.
The God, they are so furious. How we need the Lord then to
help. There's not only the pride of men spoken of here, there's
also their lies. Verse 2, they speak vanity, every
one with his neighbour. With flattering lips and with
a double heart do they speak. Oh, the wretchedness, you see,
of that double heart. A double-minded man is unstable
in all his ways, says John. So true it is. Double-minded
men. And is it not one of the marks
of the last days? That men will be double-minded,
men will be truth-breakers. It's amongst those catalogues
of sins that we have mentioned. in 2 Timothy chapter 3. He is now also in the last days. Perilous times shall come. Men
shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded,
lovers of pleasures, more than lovers of God, having a form
of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such. Turn
away, says the apostle, or shun such wicked men. The lies of
men That's what we read off here,
is it not? They speak vanitin. With flattering lips. With a
double heart do they speak. How different the Godly man is.
Or the man who would seek to walk in the upright ways of God's
holy precepts. We read in Psalm 15 that such
a man sweareth to his own heart. How striking is that? In his
eyes a vile person is contempt, but he honoureth them that fear
the Lord, he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not. He has said he will do a thing
and then subsequently he realises there is some cost in the actual
execution of the word that he has given, but he must be true
to what he has said. Though it will hurt himself,
he must be faithful. to His promise, so different
to these who are liars. Here then we see the godly. David,
the man after God's own heart, and he speaks of the situation,
the wicked in power, the vilest of men being exalted, and the
pride of these men, and the lies of these men, and no wonder is
made to cry out, Help, Lord! They sigh, they cry, for all
the abominations that are done in the midst of the lands. Oh, from where is any help going
to be found? Who will appear on behalf of
the God? By whom shall Jacob arise, for
he is small? We have that question put twice
in that 7th chapter of the book of the prophet Amos. In verse
2 again, in verse 5, by whom shall Jacob arise is the question. Jacob of course there, that's
the church, that's the people of God. It is those who have
the God of Jacob for their help who are the blessed ones, though
they be few. though they be small, though
they are spoken of as worm Jacob. What does God say to worm Jacob?
Fear not, though worm Jacob and his few men of Israel, he says,
he addresses to them is fear not. They have God on their side. And so in the second place, having
said something with regards to the fewness of the godly, and
the awful wickedness of those who are round about them and
those who are opposed to them, let us turn to consider the faithfulness
of God. This is their comfort in the
midst of all that surrounds them. This is our comfort, that our
God is the faithful God. Help, Lord, for the Godly man
seetheth, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. And that prayer is heard. God
answers it. Look at verse 5. He says, 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. All these poor, these afflicted
people who are trusting in the name of the Lord, their trust
is not in vain. Their prayers are not in vain.
God will appear. Now let us consider the God who
appears for them. He is, as we see throughout the
psalm, the God of the covenant. What is the name that is given
to him in this psalm? Verse 1, verse 3, verse 5, verse
6, and verse 7. Five times we have
the name LORD in capital letters, Jehovah. And do you know the significance
of the name? The meaning of the name? Literally
it means He is. It is the third person singular
of that verb to be. When God speaks to Moses, when
God reveals himself to Moses at the burning bush, Moses is
inquiring what he is to say to the children of Israel that he
is going now to be the deliverer of, who shall I say sent me? And God declares himself, I am
that, I am, that's Jehovah. He says, I am, We say He is,
we call Him the Lord. That's His name, He's the Unchanging
One. And there again in that third
chapter of Malachi, He says, For I am the Lord's, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Oh, He is the
Lord's. It's the covenant name of God.
And what of that covenant? Why that covenant is ordered
in all things. And sure, this is a psalm of
David. And isn't that what David has
to acknowledge when he comes to the end of his days there
at the end of the second book of Samuel? Nevertheless he hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, he says, ordered in all things and
sure, this is all my salvation and all my desire, the covenant,
all the covenant name of God and that safety and that security
that we find in the covenant. Who is the one who has come and sealed the covenant and sealed
it by the shedding of his own precious blood? In the Hebrews,
Words, covenant and testament, of course, it's interchangeable,
it's the same word. Sometimes it's translated as
covenant, sometimes it's translated as testament. And Christ is that
one who has sealed the testament by his death, the testatel. He's
died. And because he has died, that
testament now stands, it's in force. And there are those who
have their inheritance from him, the testatel. He is that one
who is to them the great mediator of that covenant. And what do
we read there? He is Jesus Christ the same,
yesterday and today and forever. He is the unchanging one. The
great I Am and the very name of God, you see, I Am, reminds
us that He is always the same. In every day, in every generation. It's the same God, you see, that
we have to do with as our spiritual forebears had to do. That God
who was pleased to visit this land at the time of the Protestant
Reformation. that God who was pleased to raise
up that noble band of Puritan devising in the following century,
that God who was pleased to come and to visit us again in the
18th century with the Great Awakening. It's the same God. It's the unchanging
Lord that we have to do with. This is our comfort then, it's
the Covenant. And it's the God of the Covenant
that David is having dealings with in this psalm. Now observe
also here, David would remind himself and remind us of the
faithfulness of God's words. Verse 6 he says, the words of
the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth
purified seven times. All the words of God, the words
that we have here in the Scriptures, the Old Testament, the New Testament,
remember what we said, Testament, Covenant, these are one and the
same thing. What are the words of these Covenants
that God has said before us? Look at what David says in Psalm 19. Again he speaks of this Word
of the Lord and he speaks of it under a variety of different
names. Verse 7 he says, The Lord 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. More to be desired
are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also
than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant
warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Oh, if
we would but eat the words of God and seek to keep the words
of God and live by the words of God and see the various names
that he gives to God's word. It's the law, it's the testimony,
it's the statutes and it's the fear. Striking name that he gives
to it here. He uses the different synonyms
to describe it. Verse 9 of Psalm 19 he says,
the fear of the law It's clear. Or do we reverence the sacred
path, the Word of God that is before us? How do we reverence? Well, we reverence God's Word
when we respect it. And when we respect it, we believe
it, and we bow to its authority. We don't kick against it. We
desire to be submissive to all that God is saying. We don't
just embrace the promises, but we also love the precepts. Or
we're careful in our fear of God's Word that we're not partial
in the law of the Lord. It is God's Word that we have. And the great thing is this,
friends, that God is faithful to His Word. God is faithful
to His promises, yes, Let us not forget that, but also let
us recognize he is faithful to those terrible threatenings.
He will execute his judgments. He will execute his judgments
upon wicked men. Though he be merciful to those
who come humbly before him and seek his face, and make confession
of their sin, He is ever the faithful God. God is not a man
that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.
Has he said it? Shall he not do it? Has he spoken
it? Shall he not make it good? Oh, but when we think, you see,
of the covenant, and God's faithfulness in the covenant, the word that
he has given to us in the covenant, that covenant that he made, with
Abram. Remember, in the sixth of Hebrews, the apostle speaks of that covenant,
that promise that God had given to Abram, who is the father of
all believers. He's the father of all them that
believe. When God made promise to Abraham, because he could
swear by no greater, he swore by himself, saying, Surely, blessing,
I will bless the earth, multiplying, I will multiply the earth. And
so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For
men verily swear by the greater, and an oathful confirmation is
to them an end of all strife, wherein God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation,
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure
and steadfast. and which entereth into that
within the veil, whither the forerunner is for us entered,
even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."
Oh, you see what God did? He gave Abraham his promise.
He spoke his word to Abraham. And then he confirmed the word
when he swore by himself. These are the two immutable things
in which it is impossible for God to lie. Why? He has exalted his word above
all his name. If God's word fails, God fails. He has sworn by himself. His
very being as God must cease if His word fail. Friends, this
is the faithfulness of that word that God has given to us. The
words of the Lord are pure words we read here in verse 6, as silver
tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. Nothing could be purer than this
word of God. And it comes to us in Christ,
All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him are men. To the glory of God by us, have
their accomplishment in us. And in the accomplishment of
these things, God is glorified. Oh, this is the God then that that David is pleading with and
praying to in his psalm, the one that David wants to come
and help him, as he considers the situation of those about
him, the wickedness that abounds on every hand. He has dealings
with the God of the covenant He recognises the faithfulness
of the word of God. But what then? There is to be
this, dear friends. There is to be the pleading of
his word. The pleading of his promises. Isn't the psalm in the form of
a prayer? Isn't David addressing himself
to God himself? And God will have his people
come like that, you see. I will yet for this be inquired
of by the house of Israel to do it for them. I will increase
them with men as a cloth. Now that word again appears in
the book of the prophet Ezekiel. The very man we were considering
and the situation we were considering last Thursday at the prayer meeting. and the blackness of that day
with the remnants in exile and Jerusalem in ruins. And yet God
will, he says, increase them. And it goes on of course in the
very next chapter, chapter 37 of Ezekiel, to set before us
that situation, the valley full of dry bones. That's a representation of the
state of affairs that the nation was in. Desolate. Bones that were dry, very dry. And yet God appears there and
why the bones come together and they're covered with sinews and
flesh and then the prophet has to prophesy unto the four winds
and the four winds come and breathe upon those bodies and life is
given there and a restoration. But you see God will be inquired
of. He will have his people pray about these things. And so it
was, we know it. When Daniel was reading in the
book of Jeremiah, those words of the Prophet Jeremiah concerning
the 70 years of exile. In chapter 29 of the book of Jeremiah, chapter
29 and verse 10, Thou said to the Lord that after 70 years
be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you. and perform my good
word toward you in causing you to return to this place for I
know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord thoughts
of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. And it is Daniel reads such words
in Jeremiah as he tells us there in chapter 9 It was the first year of the
reign of Darius, son of Asuerus, of the seed of the Medes. The
Babylonian Empire, the empire of the Chaldeans, had been overthrown.
And now it was the Medes and the Persians. In the first year
of his reign, the reign of Darius, I, Daniel, understood by books
the number of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in
the desolations of Jerusalem. God had said to him, I will give
you an expected end. So what does Daniel do? I set
my face unto the Lord God to seek my prayer and supplications
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. How earnest this man is
as he prays to God He doesn't come with half measures. He comes
to plead with the Almighty. Help, Lord! This is what God
would have His people do. We are to pray over His Word. We are to plead His promises. Help, Lord! For that man, you see, who feels
his own helplessness. If we feel our own helplessness,
We'll have to ask the Lord to help us. We'll see that there's
no help anywhere in ourselves. We have to learn what we are
in our fallen nature, do we not? We have to discover in our experience
that terrible doctrine of the total depravity of man. That's
our condition by nature. Our impotence. We can do nothing.
or can sigh there in the opening chapter of 2nd Corinthians, we
have the sentence of death or as the margin says, the answer
of death in ourself. That's what he had, death in
self. Why? That we should not trust
in ourselves. It's really a purposive clause
that's introduced here. It's a very strong Clause really,
literally, in order that we should not trust in ourselves. Oh friends,
is that true of us? We have the sentence of death,
the answer of death in ourselves, in order that we should not trust
in ourselves, but in God. In God that raised up the dead,
that's the God we have to trust in. And we have to feel, you
see, our complete and our right to helplessness, our total inability
to do anything of ourselves. It's those who are helpless who
shout, Help Lord! Is that true of us tonight? Happy
is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Or do you feel
you need the Lord to help you? And we see those in the Gospel,
that man who comes to the Lord with his child, that son who
is dumb, he has a dumb spirit and none can help him, the disciples
are so impotent. And what does the man say? Have
compassion on us and help us. He wants the Lord to help him.
And then it's the same man who has to say to Christ's Lord,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief. All that man wants is help at
every turn. The Lord must help him. And isn't
that the right way to worship God? Oh, that Syrophoenician
woman. who seems to be refused. He is
refused by the disciples and when Christ ignores her it seems
that the Lord will have no dealings with her. He is sent to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. And she is of the side of Phoenicia.
She is a Canaanite woman. He cursed people of Canaan. But
what do we read of that woman as she came to the Lord? She
came, it says, and worshipped him saying, Lord, Help me. Lord, help me. Oh, what a prayer. Help, Lord,
says David. We have to plead with God and
pray to God and we have His word then to plead, His word to pray
over and over. The margin here in verse 1 you
will see indicates that the Hebrew could equally as well have been
rendered Save, Lord. Save, Lord. You have to ask the
Lord to save. You want to be saved. Ask the Lord to save. He is a Saviour. God is He not. Think of poor Peter, yet so bold. Here is Christ walking on the
waters. What does Peter do? Climbs out of the boat and begins
to walk to Christ, but then suddenly he's so conscious of all that's
about him. the winds and the waves, and
he begins to sink. Oh, we are very conscious of
all that's about us, are we not? And how often these things seem
to overwhelm us. But what does Peter do? He was
afraid, it says, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord,
save me. And the Lord saved him. The Lord
saved him. That's what the Lord does. He
saves his people. Do you feel to need that salvation?
They that behold have no need of the physician, but they that
are sick, says Christ. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Do you feel that you're a sinner?
You're a sinner. Well, Christ came for sinners. And He will hear the prayers
of sinners, those who cry to Him. and asked that he would
save them. Verse 5, he says, 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 putteth
at him. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to set you in that safe place. For his name's sake. Amen.