Go with me back to Psalm 12. Psalm 12, I have something that's. Heavy on my heart tonight. It's a word of burden. It's also
a word of comfort. But I want to open with this
statement and hopefully you'll understand what I'm saying. The scripture is current. God's word is right now. It's right now. I know that there
are a lot of historical facts recorded in this book. more historical facts than you'll
find in any other book. But this is not just a historical
book speaking of God's people in the past. This is a living, current book
written to and speaking to God's people right now. This is a living
word. God's people identify with this
right now. God's people need this right
now. Do you recognize if you claim
to be a believer, do you recognize a time in your life when you
begin to need God's word? Do you know what I'm talking
about? There was a time in my life when
I did not need God's word. It was not food to me, but it is now. God's people need this word. Ever since many years ago, I
remember the first time I read Psalm 12, and ever since the
first time I read those first two words in this psalm, I have
needed the first two words of this psalm. They speak to me. Currently, right now. What David said in his heart
all those years ago, I say it right now. Verse one says, help
Lord. How, how current is that prayer
for us? That's that's current. Help Lord. That's a complete
prayer in two words. Help. Lord, Peter, one time,
he prayed a complete prayer in three words. Lord, save me. If I could just get that out
from the depths of my heart and mean it, I would be satisfied
in prayer. Lord, save me. Save me. Well, this is saying the same
thing in two words. Help. Lord, that word help means
save. Save me. Save me, Lord. Help me. Help me. Those two words
describe who I am, what I am, where I am. I'm in trouble. I'm a man who is in trouble. Those two words declare the fact
that I cannot do anything about my trouble. That's why I'm crying,
help. You know, you don't cry help until you realize I can't
do it. Until you realize that, it's
like, no, I got it, I got it, I got it. As soon as you realize
I don't got it, you cry help, help. Those two words declare
the only person who can do anything about my trouble, who I'm crying
to, who my help is, who my hope is, it's the Lord. I need my
Lord. Help, Lord. I'm unable, but He
alone is able. Therefore, my heart cries out
to Him. That is a constant, current state
of being for me. That's a constant, current state
of being as I sit in that chair. You want to know what I'm doing
right there? I'm crying, help, Lord. Help me. Help me. Whether we
realize it or not, that is the constant current state of all
of us. That's the state of being for
all of us. We need help. We need help. And a few things have just really hit home to
me. Verse one says, help Lord for the godly man ceaseth. for the faithful fail from among
the children of men. Help, Lord, because your people,
your dear faithful in Christ, made godly in Christ, your people,
your chosen, redeemed, taught, settled, grounded people. You know, you first come to hear
the truth and it stirs everything up about you and you realize
everything I was told in false religion was wrong. And you question
everything and you keep hearing the word and your questions start
becoming answered. What about this? And then the
word will settle that one. Now wait a minute, what about
this? And the word settles it. And over time you become grounded
and settled and taught. And men and women get old in
this life and old in these pews. And what a precious thing to
be. And David said, you're calling
those people home. You're taking them out of this
world. James called all of God's people
lights, little lights in this world, reflecting the light of
Christ. And every time one of those,
one of those dear aged believers is taken out of this world, it
leaves a little bit more darkness with each one that goes. There's a reference right here
to Isaiah 57. Just hold your place and look
at Isaiah 57. Just to show you this is what
he's talking about. Isaiah 57 verse one, it says, the righteous perisheth. and no man layeth it to heart,
and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous
is taken away from the evil to come." They're just removed out
and this world doesn't think anything of it. But God's people
do. It is a great loss to this world
when God calls an aged believer home. You know that? It's a great
loss to this world. when God calls an aged believer
home. We're happy for them, we're happy for all the saints in glory,
but it's a real loss for the saints that are left down here
in this sinful world. Every time an aged believer is
called home, the rest of us ought to cry, help, Lord, help us,
Lord, help us. I understand that I've been called
to be a preacher of the gospel. I understand that. But I need
preachers of the gospel. You know, people may believe
that or they may not believe that, but it's so. I need preachers
of the gospel. I rely on preachers of the gospel. We have men here on this earth
right now who have faithfully preached God's truth to us for
decades. Decades. Since I was a child
growing up listening to these men. And I've taken these men for
granted. And I remove myself from all
of this. I'm not saying anything about me. I'm telling you the
desire of my heart here. Every time God calls one of these
aged preachers home, I'm thankful for new guys like
me, but every time God calls one of these aged preachers home,
a great loss has come to this earth, a great loss. Oh, that God would help us and
not just let his truth die out. We need to be crying this to
him. This is so sobering to me. Last Wednesday, a brother came
by and we were sitting in my study and talking about the need
that we have for God to raise up men who will faithfully preach
his truth. And only God can do that. Only
God can raise up a man to do that. You know, you can't decide
to do it. You can't encourage somebody
to do it. God has to do it. We need men who God will raise
up to faithfully preach the gospel of his truth. We need men and
women who will give themselves to the ministry of his gospel. We need men who will give themselves
to studying and preaching God's actual word. And we need men
and women who will give themselves, give their money, give their
time, give their talents to supporting and promoting the preaching of
God's word in truth. Where can we send it? Where can
we send it? Because it's not out there. It's
not out there. The truth of this word being
preached is so hard to find. It is so hard to find. It's becoming
harder and harder every day. And if our Lord does not help
us, it's only gonna get worse. You and I both know that we don't
know who all of God's true preachers are. I don't know every true
preacher that God has raised up to preach. Do you? You know
all of them? You got a list of all of them
made? I don't. There are men preaching the truth
of God's word that we haven't met. It's not us four and no
more. Thankfully, we have men preaching
the gospel all over this country in different locations that we
currently know about. But of the men that we know about,
I'm talking about Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church right here, of the
men that we know about, the majority of them are older men. You know, think about them. Just
run them through your mind. The majority of them are older
men. Many people are going to hear this, and I listen to myself through the
ears of someone I don't know, you know, because I hear from
them. And I understand that somebody's going to hear me say this, and
they're not going to understand what I mean by this. But you
do understand what I mean by this. I'm talking to us right
now. And you do understand what I
mean by this. You've been given an ear to hear.
You've been given a mind to know and a heart to believe the truth
of God's gospel, that it's Christ alone. I'm talking about the
message of Jesus Christ by himself. Nothing else, no one else. The message of truth is Christ
alone. Anytime you hear, yeah, but now
you've got to, which is what everybody does. Yeah, but now you've got to. That's not Christ alone. That's
not the truth of God's word. Therefore, it's not the gospel. There are old men and young men
all over this city, all over this state, all over this country,
adding to God's word, taking from God's word. The man who
does that is not the servant of God. He's not the servant
of God. He's not a preacher sent with
a message from God. Therefore, he is not a preacher
of truth. He's not a preacher of the gospel,
and he is not going to benefit one soul who hears him. All he can do is damn people. Our Lord called them blind leaders
of the blind, and they're going to fall into the ditch. That's
what our Lord said about the majority of religion. Hold your
place and look at Matthew 7. Throughout the ages, God's true
preachers have been the minority. In the days of Noah, think about
this, okay? In the days of Noah, Noah, just Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Eight souls believed his message. In the days of Elijah, it appeared
to Elijah for a while that it was even worse. He thought he
was the only believer on earth. He thought he was the only believer
on earth. You think about that. We think
about this guy Elijah. How long did he go thinking he
was the only believer on earth? In the days of our Lord, he said
in Matthew 7 verse 13, enter ye in at the straight gate. That word straight means narrow.
Why are y'all so narrow? How come everything has to be
so narrow? Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it." In a whole world full of people
and religion, he said, few there be that find it. Once the 12 apostles, think about
that, the Lord called, why didn't he call 12,000 apostles? 12. Once the 12 apostles understood
what he was truly saying, they said, wait a minute, are there
few that be saved? Religion today looks like Broadway. It looks like a big song and
dance performance, you know, to entertain the flesh of man.
If it looks like Broadway and sounds like Broadway, it is Broadway.
And our Lord said, beware, it's Christ. The message is Christ.
The truth is Christ. The gospel is Christ. The message
of man has no place in the gospel of Christ. It's not man's obedience
to the law. It's Christ's obedience to the
law. It's not man's decision in the
matter, it's Christ's decision in the matter. It's His blood
atonement. It's His offering of peace. It's His accomplishment. It's
His victory. It's His glory. It's His grace. It's His honor. It's His credit.
It's His everything. His everything. In the truth of the gospel of
God, all eyes are on Christ. All eyes are on Christ. It's
Christ alone. Now, let me finish the statement
I started. There are very few men who preach
Christ alone. Only Christ. There are very few
men. And of the ones that we know
about, Most of them are older men, not
all, but most. I ran some numbers on the men
who I currently believe in my heart are preachers of truth,
namely pastors of truth. And more than likely within 10
years, 60% of them will not be pastoring anymore. Think of... our country in that light. You know, we have all these little
spots. You go state by state. Well, we know there's a true
preacher here and a true preacher here. You take out 60% of those. And what are we left with? I'm left crying, help, Lord. Help us. Help us. Don't leave us. Please don't
leave us. Please help us. He's able to.
He's able to raise up more men. Turn over to Matthew 9. Verse
36, it says, But when he saw the multitudes,
he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted
and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then
saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous,
but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest." Let's listen to him. Pray ye therefore the Lord
of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest. Lord, help us. Help us, we pray. We need to be crying this to
him. We need to be praying to him
as he said that he will raise up more men to preach his truth. And again, he has to do it. He
has to do it. I can't go around motivating
everybody to get in the pulpit. It won't do any of us any good.
God will have to do it. But oh, may he not leave us here
without the light of the gospel and the promise of his word is
he won't. His promise to us is he won't. But we need to cry
out to him for help. We need to cry out to him for
help collectively as his people. We need help individually as
his people. Go back to Psalm 12. I won't
be long here. Psalm 12, verse one. It says, help, Lord, for the
godly man ceaseth. for the faithful fail from among
the children of men. God is calling his faithful in Christ, made godly
in Christ people home. He is calling them home. But
I enter into that personally every time I look within myself. All of God's people enter into
this. Do you ever say, there is supposed to be a new creation
in here? There's supposed to be a new
creature in here. Do you ever ask, where is he? What happened to the godly man? What happened to the faithful
man? Why is my sin abounding so much? Like David said, is
your mercy clean gone? Have you forgotten about me? Help, Lord, help me, help us,
help me. Help me, send a revival, start
the work in me. Verse two says, they speak vanity,
everyone with his neighbor. That sounds like me. in my flesh." You may not have been expecting
me to say that, but your brain is saying, yeah, that kind of
sounds like me too. He said, with flattering lips
and with a double heart do they speak. That sounds like me in
my flesh. Lord, help me. Verse three, the
Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh
proud things who have said, with our tongue we will prevail. Our
lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? Lord, don't let that be me. Oh,
if you don't help me, that'll be me. Verse 8 says, the wicked walk
on every side when the vilest men are exalted. It just thrives
and thrives. If God doesn't help me, there's
no hope for me. This will keep going and going. Help Lord, help me, help us. Here's the goodness of God's
word. You know, he never leaves us
without the gospel. Never. The goodness of God's
word is there is help for every soul who needs it. We can lift
up our eyes unto the hills from whence cometh our help, because
our help comes from the Lord. And it's because of this right
here, verse five. We cry, help, Lord. He cries
in return. Verse five, for the oppression
of the poor, Oh, the oppressed poor people of his are crying,
help me, help, please help me. For the oppression of the poor,
for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord. That's what he did when he came
to the cross of our help. I will set him in safety. from him that puffeth at him.
That word puffeth means would ensnare him. Our Lord ensnared
himself on the cross of Calvary so he could set his people in
safety. They're crying, please help me,
please help me. He said, I'm gonna set you in
safety. Verse six, the words of the Lord
are pure words. Oh, they're so wonderful, they're
so true. Verily, verily, What are the
words of the Lord? What did he say? He said, it
is finished. He said, Father, forgive them. Verse six says, the words of
the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times. Seven is the number of perfection,
perfect purification. That's what Christ accomplished
for his people in the trying of himself on his cross. Perfect purification. Therefore,
verse seven says, thou shalt keep them. Oh Lord, thou shalt
preserve them from this generation forever. That helps me. That
helps me. Just knowing that in spite of
me, Christ did what it took to purge me and keep me in his place
of safety forever. That helps me. And just knowing
as we watch these aged believers go to be with the Lord before
us, as he takes them before us, just knowing that he will keep
us. His promise is that he will never
leave us without a witness of his truth. Never. He'll never
forsake us. And in his time, he'll call us
to go be in the same place that he's called all of our brethren
before us, with him. That helps me. That truly does. All we need to do is wait on
the Lord, look to him, call on him, wait to hear from him. He said, you call, I'll answer. You cry, I'll hear. That helps me. That really does. I pray that'll be a help to you,
too. Amen.