Okay, Psalm chapter 12, if you
want to turn there. I was telling Denise, I appreciate
these psalms. Some of them are short, like
this one. And I like short psalms because I don't like to complicate
things. I can still swim in the words,
whether they're a few words or a lot of words, and never feel
like I've actually gotten a grip on them, so. The Psalms are incredible,
and this Psalm, we know, is God's word, so it's tried, as it says
in verse six, the Lord's words are tried as in a furnace. Okay, let's just jump right in
and read through this, Psalm chapter 12 and verse one. The
first word is help. And if you look at this word,
it's most often translated save. But we'll read it just like it's
translated here. Help, Lord. What a simple prayer
that is, isn't it? Help, Lord. Help, Lord. For the
godly man ceaseth. For the faithful fail from among
the children of men. They speak vanity, every one,
with his neighbor. 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 we will 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. Now, if you consider verse one,
help Lord, save Lord, for the godly man ceases. Now, John Gill,
he gives you a lot of background information about what the Jews
said, what they wrote, and most of it I skip over. I don't put
any stock in what the Jews said. But John Gill was a student of
what the Jewish writers had to say. And it's interesting, perhaps,
from a historical standpoint, what they had to say. But when
I'm reading the scripture, I really just skip over those comments
that he has to say about the Jewish writers. However, there
are different versions of the original manuscripts that he
had. And he was a student of both
the Hebrew and Greek and Latin, these different languages. that
the scriptures were either written in originally or translated into,
and he said this, John Gill said this about this psalm. He said,
the Syriac, or the version from Syria, entitles this psalm this
way. Quote, an accusation of the wicked,
meaning God's accusation of the wicked, and a prophecy concerning
the coming of the Messiah, when Messiah is Christ. So if you
understand that, that this psalm is really God's accusing or holding
up the wicked with his accusation against them through the prayer
of the psalmist, and also a prophecy concerning the coming of Messiah.
Thus, what we see in this psalm is that Christ is the godly man
who ceases. He says, the godly man ceases,
and it seems best to me to understand it that way, just as in the scripture
in the counterpart. What is the counterpart of the
godly man if Christ is the godly man? Antichrist, isn't it? The
Antichrist, who is the man of sin, remember in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 3, called the man of sin? That man, unlike Christ,
is proud. He brazenly emboldens himself
against Christ and Christ's people, and he seeks to take honor from
Christ and from his church. And how does he do that? With
the false gospels of false religion as a false teacher, substituting
himself as God's Christ. And so if you understand it this
way, it helps, I think, to bring it into sharper focus. So here's
my summary of the psalm. This psalm is the cry of a believer
to the Lord Jesus Christ himself to save his people, who are called
in the psalm poor and needy, And their cry is not only to
save his people, but to build his church. And this is in the
light of the deplorable lack of both believers and faithful
preachers. those who preach Christ, and
in light of the fact that the proud and rebellious and defiant,
cruel, false preachers seek their own glory and they exalt themselves
in the church, which results in the abounding wickedness in
this world. Notice the last verse, the wicked
walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. I know personally,
I've taken that verse And I've applied it to political situations. Or you could say, when Nebuchadnezzar,
a wicked man, was exalted, his people were wicked. Or when Stalin,
or what was the other guy's name, Hitler, these different people
were exalted. And we could pick off presidents
in our country. Yeah, that one was a wicked president.
Look what happened during his presidency. But I really think
we need to apply this in the way that God intends us to see
things, which is in a spiritual context. That in the world, when
the false religions of this world are in rule, then what happens? Wickedness abounds. The book
of Judges is just like this, isn't it? When we read the book
of Judges, what's the one thing that you hear sort of echoing
back and forth in the book of Judges? That every man did what
was right in his own eyes. they served idols, they made
up new idols, and everyone just did what they wanted to do. And
what happened was they were turned over to their enemies. Wickedness
abounds in that case. So that's the summary of the
psalm. I see it as the cry of not just
one believer, but every believer, to the Lord Jesus Christ to save
his people who are poor and needy and to build his church in light
of the deplorable lack of true believers in the world and faithful
preachers of Christ. Haven't you ever felt that? The
lack, it seems like, where can you find a true believer? And
that desire is in the heart of each one of us to have fellowship,
common fellowship with sinners saved by Christ. And so when
we have that desire and we don't have, we aren't able to fulfill
that desire in this world, we say, like the psalmist says here,
help, Lord, for the godly man seizes for the faithful fail
from among the children of men. Where are they? Okay? Now, this is a prayer. So, when
we pray, what is that the result of? Well, in Romans chapter 8
and verse 26, it says that the Spirit of God who dwells in us,
with groanings which cannot be uttered, He knows the will of
God and he prays for his people. He dwells in us and he's praying
God's will. He's making intercession for
us. Let me read that to you in Romans chapter eight. And it
goes on to say in that same section that the Lord Jesus Christ searches
the hearts and he knows the mind of the spirit and he makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. Let me read it to
you. He says, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we
know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit
itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. And he that searches the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. So this psalm is
the expression of the mind of the Spirit of God. Obviously,
he inspired the writing of it. But the mind of the Spirit of
God is expressed as a prayer. Here it's audibly recorded for
us. But the Spirit of God who lives
in us, in every believer, as the church of Christ, we're joined
to Christ by his Spirit. He, in us, is making intercession
for us, and the Lord Jesus Christ on His throne knows the mind
of the Spirit, He searches the hearts, and He, according to
the will of God, according to the intercession of the Spirit
of God, there are one in this, He makes intercession for the
saints according to that same will in glory. Now think about this intercession
for just a minute here. When I go to someone important
and ask them for something, what is the basis, on what ground
would they consider my request? Well, maybe they know me, for
example. If I think of some important
person, like Don Fortner. when he was alive. If I asked
Don, I said, Don, would you do this for me? You can bet that
if it was within his ability, he would have helped me, because
we had a personal relationship, and he was a generous person.
I know people like that, and I won't call them out by name
to embarrass them or draw attention to them, but that's the way it
is amongst us. If we have a friend, and we go to our friend like
that man did, he went to his friend, he said, someone came
to my house, it's late, and I don't have anything to feed them, would
you give me something to eat or give me something to give
to my friend? And so the basis of that intercession is what?
It's our friendship. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
in heaven is interceding for his people, he's there not only
as the son of God, but as the Christ, the mediator. And what
does he bring? Well, he brings everything that
he did in honor of God's will and his glory. Everything that
he did, even at the cost of his own blood. So here he is, and
let's say there's another there who's accusing us. And who do
you think is going to win? The one who has the price of
his own blood and who's pleading the will of God, inspired, not
inspired, but is the mind of the Spirit? Or the one who, of
his own mind, without any price, seeks to only bring down God's
people? You know it's going to be the
one who is speaking God's will with the price of his own blood
there having given himself to God to do his will and to honor
him in shedding his own blood. What could be greater than that?
And so here in this psalm, the Spirit of Christ in his church,
in the believer who sees, who understands and lives by faith
on Christ, with the mind of Christ, this believer has this perspective. that the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes
for us according to the will of God, and Christ, who searches
the hearts and knows what the mind of the Spirit is, makes
intercession for us at the right hand of God, having offered himself
in blood and having fulfilled God's will in righteousness.
And that is a powerful intercession. That's an advocacy that God hears. God appointed him to this office,
and he is able to save us to the uttermost because he makes
intercession for us at God's right hand, having shed his blood,
having fulfilled the will of God perfectly for all eternity. And so he advocates for us, makes
intercession for us, and he is heard. That is a great comfort. So everything that we struggle
with, everything that we see in this world, as this psalm
says, help, Lord. That's the cry of the church,
heard by the Lord Jesus Christ, uttered by the Spirit of God.
And the cry here is that the godly man ceases, for the faithful
fail from among the children of men. When the Lord Jesus Christ walked
on this earth, what was the reaction of men? Well, there were two
reactions, really. There was mostly, I mean, there
were some who were just indifferent, you know. He would walk and some
people would follow him. Some people, they went about
their business. But a lot of people were, it
was either hot or cold for the most part. People were either
enthralled with the Lord Jesus Christ or they were opposed to
him. Jesus said this in John chapter
eight, because it says here that the godly man ceases. Not only
in John chapter eight, but in John 15, there were those in
his day that Jesus said were the children of the devil. And it's no wonder they were
opposed to him because they were the devil's children. And then
there were those who hated him without a cause. Let me read
to you some of these scriptures in John. In John chapter 8, he
says to the Pharisees, you are of your father, the devil. and
the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and he abode not in the truth because there is
no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks
of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it, and because
I tell you the truth, you believe me not." That's why he said,
you're of your father, the devil. You believe a lie, you speak
a lie, just like your father, therefore you cannot believe
me because I tell you the truth. So this is one perspective I
want you to see here as we get into this psalm. The other one
is found in John 15. Ah, he says in verse 18, John
15 verse 18, if the world hate you, you know that it hated me
before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love his own. But because you are not of the
world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the
world hates you. There's a lot of truth in that,
isn't there? The Lord Jesus Christ said here in John 15 and verse
19, he has chosen his people out of the world,
and therefore the world hates them. He goes on in verse 20,
Remember the word that I said to you, the servant is not greater
than his Lord? If they have persecuted me, they
will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying,
they will keep yours also, because it's the truth. Those who are
of the truth hear the truth and believe the truth, but those
who are not, like the devil's children, cannot believe, they
can't see it, and they hate it. Verse 21 of John 15. But all
these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because
they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken
to them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for
their sin. He that hates me hates my father also. If I had not
done among them the works which none other man did, they had
not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both me and
my father. But this comes to pass that the
word might be fulfilled that is written in their law that
they hated me without a cause. That's John chapter 15. Okay,
so now that's the background. In the background, notice what
he says here. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases. Let me
give you just some points here about this verse. First of all,
he says help, or save. He's calling on the Lord. Lord,
save, or save, Lord, the godly man ceases. The faithful fail
from among the children of men. So the plea here is to the Lord,
and our Lord is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our Savior. But
it's in light of the absence of God's word, the gospel of
Christ and his salvation concerning his son, that the believer cries
to God to save him and Christ's church from the ungodliness of
human religion. This is, their prayer is coming
up out of the darkness and the void of this world in which we
find ourselves when we don't find the light of the gospel.
It seems to be obscured. It's rare. It's so rare that
it's like, well, it's just rare, okay? So the cry to the Lord
Jesus Christ is this, where are the believers to be found in
this world? Where are the faithful men who hold forth the word of
light and life? And where is Christ declared?
Because the godly man ceases. Not only is the Lord Jesus Christ
himself the godly man, but he's not preached by godly men. And
so it's as if, where is our Savior? Where is Christ declared? Where
can sinners be found? Crying to Him and trusting Him
and finding their hope and their all in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Where will we find this in this world? Where is Christ crucified,
preached, and trusted for salvation in all things? Where is Christ
loved? Where is He honored? Where is
He worshiped? Oh, and we draw this conclusion when we begin
to think about this. that we ourselves want to be
found in Christ alone, don't we? We find an absence of it,
and so we say, Lord, find me in Christ. Let me take of you. So here's a verse of scripture
that echoes these thoughts. It says in 1 Peter 1, you have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. So the spirit of God in us, having
given us faith in Christ, believing the truth, which is obeying the
truth, through the spirit, that's the only way we can believe the
truth, he says it was a faith that is unto, and unthanged or
non-hypocritical love of the brethren, see, now that you've
been given this faith by the Spirit of God, faith in Christ,
the truth of the gospel, see that you love one another with
a pure heart fervently." And so, the cry here is saying, Lord,
where's the godly man? Where are the faithful from among
the children of men? And we want to be with them.
He says, In Ephesians chapter six, for example, in verse 24,
he says, grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ
in sincerity. And we want to find them, don't
we? We want to be them. I want to be one of these who
obey the truth in believing Christ by the Spirit of God unto the
unfeigned love of the brethren, don't you? Because that's what
the Lord Jesus Christ did. His love wasn't hypocritical.
He did what he said. And think of all the things that
he said. He said, you've heard that it was said in old times,
an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you,
and then he would go on to say, love your enemies, pray for those
who despitefully use you. Remember? And so we know he did
that. He didn't just talk the talk,
he walked it. And so we want to be like him
in this. And not only that, but we ourselves being sinners want
him to save us from our sins so that we can do these things.
And so we even not only ask for that faith and for that love
by his spirit, but we say, and where are all the believers in
this world? Where can we find them? Where
can we find Christ preached? And so our hearts hunger for
this. It's like we're saying, there seem to be no believers
in all that I see. There seem to be no faithful
saints holding forth the word of truth. Are there any who shall
speak of Christ? Who will direct my poor fainting
soul to him at all times? And so we cry out, Lord, where
is that faithful man who speaks of Christ and his glory in salvation? The faithful fail from among
the children of men. Okay, and as we begin to think
about this this way, we realize, ah, but scripture says what about
our Lord Jesus Christ? That he is the faithful witness.
In Revelation chapter 1, verse 5, it says, Jesus Christ, who
is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead,
the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood. So the cry of
the psalmist here is not only, show me a man, but show me the
son of man, the one who is the godly man, because it seems like
I don't hear of him, and I know he's the faithful witness. It
says this also in Revelation chapter three and verse 14. These things saith the amen,
the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation
of God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the one who's a faithful, true witness. And then it says
in Revelation 19 verse 11, I saw heaven open and behold a white
horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true.
and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. That's Revelation
19, verse 11. So, doesn't the Lord's word tell
us that Jesus Christ is the godly man? Doesn't it say that he did
no sin, and yet he bore our sins? Doesn't it say he knew no sin,
and yet he was made sin for us? Doesn't it say in him was no
sin, and in him we have no sin? These are words from scripture.
And so we say, Lord, show me the godly man. Show me the Lord
Jesus Christ. And not only show me him, but
show him to me through the gospel preached. Because that's the
way we hear it, through the scriptures applied to our hearts by the
Holy Spirit under the preaching of the gospel. He's the faithful. He's the King of kings, the Lord
of lords. And it says in Revelation 17
and verse 14, they that are with him are called chosen. I'm sorry,
they are called, they are chosen, and they are faithful. Called,
chosen, and faithful. That's what it says about believers.
Called, chosen, and faithful. So the cry is, Lord, build your
church. You see? Build your church. Build
up Zion. Now, the cry of the believer
in this psalm, as I've already tried to emphasize, is a cry
that goes up to God because of the absence of believers in Christ
and preachers of Christ. And notice here that the cry
must go to God because he himself must give us a godly man. And
we cry to Him to give the godly man the faithful men and the
faithful women. We must cry to Him because God
is the only one who can give us. He's the only one who can
turn us from our sin and cause us to see and believe on Christ,
and He's the only one who can who can equip a man to preach
the gospel and bring his people to love the gospel, to meet together
and assemble together around the Lord Jesus Christ, and it
is by him only that we can see Christ in the gospel. Nothing
is more distressing than when wickedness abounds, and those
wicked spew out falsehoods as if they were unchecked by any
restraint in defiance of Christ to the trouble of his church,
as if God's gospel were powerless to save, and as if the truth
is indefensible. There's no one who can stand
for the truth and declare it or defend it. As if Christ is
not risen, as if he is not ascended, and does not sit upon his throne,
these things are most distressing. As if he did not save his people,
as if he did not obtain their eternal redemption, as if he
did not forever sanctify them and perfect them by offering
himself to God in fulfillment of that new covenant by which
his blood and all the blessings promised in that covenant come
from God to his people. These things distress us. When the wicked speak of the
lies of false gospels, it seems as if the truth has fallen to
the ground. And so this is distressing to
the child of God. that there would be no salvation
from sin, and from death, and the grave, and hell, and the
wrath of God, as if there were no savior we could trust, and
no king on the throne, as if there was no hope of his return,
and no hope that he will remember me when he comes into his kingdom,
and no hope of deliverance from my sin, and death, and hell,
and the judgment to come that I deserve. And so it's no wonder. I need to hear these things.
Don't let the truth go unspoken. Don't let the false gospel go
as if it has no check and it goes unrestrained because that
is most distressing to my soul. Send Christ to my soul from the
gospel even now. That's what the believer wants,
isn't it? And I think that's what I consider as I read this
first verse here. Help, Lord, save, Lord, for the
godly man seizes, for the faithful fail from among the children
of men. Okay, I want to go on now to
consider verse two with you a little bit. In verse two, it says this. Again, this is all the same prayer.
In the first prayer, it's a cry to God. In the second prayer,
just like we saw in Psalm 11, now we turn the attention in
our prayer, and the Spirit of God is turning our attention
in His prayer, to speak against those who speak vanity. He says
in verse two, they speak vanity, every one with his neighbor with
flattering lips, and with a double heart do they speak. The Lord
shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks
proud things, who have said, with our tongue will we prevail,
and our lips are our own. Who is Lord over us? That's defiance,
isn't it? That's defiance. Now, vanity. What is vanity? I don't have
the most recent copy here. I don't know what happened to
it. Vanity means things that don't have any profit. Oh, there
it is. Thank you. I have a revision
here. Sorry. So vain things, vanity, what
are those? Things that fail. things that
fail. When we put our trust in vain
things, our trust will be disappointed, will be put to shame. So vain
things are things that fail those who put their trust in them.
Vain things are things that have no truth in them. Vain things
are things that don't have any value to the souls of men. And
vain things are things that do not glorify God, but oppose His
rule and seek to rob God of His glory. Those are vain things.
And think how these men who speak and teach and preach and live
by these things, these vain things, will be confounded and put to
shame in the day of judgment when they have believed vain
things. Think about it. I gave this illustration a long
time ago in a sermon and it was fresh in my mind because when
I went to college, We would usually gather for a test outside of
the room. The class before us was already
in there testing. And when we were standing there
with the people that we had been studying with, we're all wondering
what they're going to ask on this test. And I wonder, what
do you think about this? Because we might have had some
problems that we were solving, preparing for the test. So we're
all very nervous. Because this is a test and we
know that our grades depend on the test. We may not graduate,
we may not get a job. Our family's gonna come to financial
ruin and we're gonna be proven to be a miserable failure. Everything
hangs on this, right? That's the way I thought at least.
Because I had sold my house and taken my wife and two small children
to college and we had basically bet the farm on getting through
college. So I was nervous and I'm a nervous
person anyway. But I'm thinking about these
men who teach false gospels. They teach false things, vain
things that men put their trust in, and when they come to the
day of judgment to give an answer to that ultimate test, they're
not going to have the right answer, are they? Because their answer
was the answer of false teachers. And they hear those teachers
and those preachers give their answer. And that's what they
heard them preaching. And guess what? The king says
to them, depart from me, I never knew you. That's shame. That's
vanity. That's what vain things are.
They speak vanity. Everyone with his neighbor, what
do they do? They flatter with their lips. With a double heart
do they speak. That's boasting. Flattering with
your lips. Flattering is one of those words
where almost the definition of it sounds like the word itself.
Flattering. It's just flapping in the wind. For some reason, the sound of
the word conjures up this. Their lips are just flattering.
They're not saying anything of any value. Everything they say
is false and vain. And what are they saying? Well,
they're pointing both thumbs at themselves. They commend themselves. In 2 Corinthians 3, verse 1,
Paul, speaking unlike those false apostles who were trying to tell
the Corinthians that Paul wasn't a true apostle, he says, do we
begin to commend ourselves or do we need, as some others, epistles
of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? No.
We're not going to commend ourselves. We preach the gospel. The Spirit
of God has applied it to your heart. You yourselves are the
written commendation. that God has done the work. That's
what he said in 2 Corinthians 3. So we don't flatter ourselves. He says in another place, if
we compare ourselves among ourselves, we're not wise. Or in the Proverbs,
he says this in Proverbs 27, verse 2, let another man praise
thee, and not thine own mouth, a stranger, not thine own lips. That's what we're prone to do.
My son had a joke, and I thought it was funny at the
time. He said, what's got two thumbs and is good looking? So
that's what we do. We try to commend ourselves.
But Paul said this. He says, we preach not ourselves. We don't preach ourselves, but
we preach Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servants,
for Jesus' sake. The contrast here couldn't be
clearer. The false preacher, the false
teacher, is all about himself. Or in some cases, herself. But what does the true servant
of Christ do? John the Baptist said, I must
decrease, he must increase. Now I want to take you to a scripture
in the epistle, the third epistle of John, which is near the end
of just before Revelation, the third epistle of John. This is
something we don't go to very often, but here's a verse here,
an example of this, of a man who flattered with his lips,
had a double heart, and said these things. His name was Diotrephes. In 3 John chapter 9, I'm sorry,
verse 9, there's only one chapter, 3 John 9, he says, I wrote unto
the church, the Apostle John is saying, I wrote to the church,
but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them,
receiveth us not. So I wrote, but he wouldn't receive
us. He wouldn't receive the letter.
Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds, which he
doeth, prating against us with malicious words, not content
therewith, as if that wasn't enough, not content therewith,
neither does he himself receive the brethren. And he forbids
them that would receive the brethren, that is, and he cast them out
of the church. Okay, so here's a perfect example
of what's spoken of here in Psalm chapter 12. Diotrephes, he spoke
against the apostle John. He wouldn't... He wouldn't receive
the letter of the Apostle John. He didn't want the Apostle John
to come where he was. And those who said they were
believers, he didn't receive them. And he wouldn't even let
others who wanted to receive those believers be a part of
the church. He only wanted preeminence in the church. This is a perfect
extreme example of what a false preacher does. He's all about
himself. commending himself among themselves,
comparing himself to others, just like the Pharisee, he stood
and prayed thus with himself. He trusted in himself that he
was righteous. This is the epitome of pride,
isn't it? They speak vanity, every one with his neighbor,
and with flattering lips, praising himself and praising others because
they praise him. And then with a double heart,
do they speak a double heart? Men say one thing and they do
another. They're unwilling to stand in the court of scripture
and be judged by the truth. They do not speak the truth in
love to edify the body of Christ, but they love to have the preeminence.
That's the difference. They preach themselves. They
don't preach Christ. And so that's what false religion
does. It preaches, I did it, why don't
you? That's what they do. It says
also, our lips are our own, thus the sinful heart of an arrogant
and impudent man. My lips are mine. I'm my own
man. I do what I want. And who is
Lord over us? This is defiance. Open defiance
against Christ in the hearing of his people so that they may
show by the lack of Christ's immediate judgments against themselves
or in protection of his people that they have power over him.
Look, I'm not judged for saying these things. I must be saying
the right things. God's blessing my ministry. Our lips are our
own. They refuse to bow to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and this is the natural heart of man. And it's
seen in that natural rebellion that's unrestrained by God to
work out this hatred against Christ. And God allows this. when this natural rebellion is
unrestrained and God allows it to work out its hatred so that
Christ might show himself strong on behalf of his people. Notice
what the next verse says. When it seems as if false doctrines
and false gospels and those who preach them are in the seat of
power, wickedness is going to abound, Christ's people are going
to lament, they're going to cry, and this is what it says is gonna
happen. The Lord shall cut off all flattering
lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things. Verse three, who
have said, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips our own,
who is Lord over us. And notice, I want to read in
verse five now. He says, 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 devil puffs. His servants
puff. They exalt themselves. They're
arrogant. They're impudent. They speak
in defiance against Christ. They do everything which is against
the truth and against the Lord. They're openly Openly, the Pharisees
and the scribes opposed Christ, and openly, men now, with the
truth, twist it and turn it to their own advantage over God's
people. But what's gonna happen? The
Lord himself will see it. He will, for the oppression of
the poor, for the sign of the needy, the Lord himself will
arise, saith the Lord, I will set him in safety, the poor and
the needy, I will set him in safety from him that puppeth
at him. When none arise to shepherd Christ's own, to point them and
bring them to the Lord Jesus Christ by preaching and by prayer,
and when believers are not to be found, when faithful preachers
seem to be absent, then the Lord Himself takes up His own cause
for His people. He will answer His own. He will
answer His Spirit, His will. He will save the poor when they
are oppressed, and He will hear the needy when they sigh. He
will come to their aid. He will shame those that boast
against His gospel, against His salvation, against His Christ,
and against His rule. God will stand up for Himself,
against His enemies, for His people. Okay? There's a verse in Isaiah chapter
14, 32 that Robert Hockert pointed out. He says, what shall one
then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord has
founded Zion and the poor of his people shall trust in it.
The Lord has done it and therefore we trust in it. And now I want
to read verse six of Psalm chapter 12. It says in Psalm 12, verse
six, the words of the Lord are pure words. "'as silver tried
in a furnace of earth, "'purified seven times.'" This is a very
interesting verse. I've said this verse, I've read
this verse a number of times, but I haven't really thought
about it as much as I did when I was preparing for this lesson.
He says, "'The words of the Lord are pure words, "'as silver tried
in a furnace of earth, "'purified seven times.'" We know what this
looks like, right? When we were kids, we would melt
lead on the kitchen stove to make fishing weights. It was
amazing to me that you could get metal hot and it would melt.
And that's the way they purify silver. They heat it up, or gold,
in this case it says silver, but any precious metal, you heat
it up, it reaches its melting point, and then the impurities
float to the top. And so you can very carefully
remove the impurities without removing the precious metal itself.
And the more you do that, the fewer impurities there are in
the metal. This is a very plain illustration. The more you melt it, and go
through this refining process, the purer the words are. So God
says here that the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver
tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. What's
being said here? Well, remember now, there's two
groups, there's always two groups in these Psalms. The first group
are those who look to the Lord and say, where is Christ preached? Where are believers, believing
sinners, I can share, I can talk to, I can have fellowship with
around the gospel of Christ? And ultimately, it's Christ himself
that we're looking for, right? And in contrast to them is this
proud, arrogant, lying sack of potato skins. These people who
speak God's word for their own pride and their own benefit.
They have no interest in Christ's people, no interest in God's
glory, no interest in Christ's salvation. They're proud. They
don't need salvation. They're not sighing. They're
not oppressed. They're the oppressors. They ignore the sign of the poor
and the needy. But the Lord says he's going
to stand up for them. And here he says, the words of
the Lord are pure words tried in the furnace seven times. So
the furnace of the earth, in this case, is the test that God's
word is put to when it is assaulted by the wicked. and also, on the
other hand, by the proving of it by those who trust Christ.
In both cases, God's Word is purified. It's made to be seen
to be pure. God's Word will prove to be right
over all of his enemies throughout history, and it alone will stand
the truth as the truth in the end of time and for all eternity. God's Word. The wicked will be
judged by their own words, but the righteous will be approved
by theirs because their words are the words of their Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given his words to them.
He says it in John 17, I have given them thy words. And Christ's
words are his Father's words. Nothing of all that he has said
will fail. Remember Matthew 24, verse 35? He says, heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall never pass away. So God's words
are pure and there is no taint of imperfection in them. There's
never a need for God to take them back or recall them because
they are eternal. Psalm 119 verse 160 says something
like, Thy word, O Lord, is settled. No, he says, let me turn there. I can't remember exactly. There's
two verses mixed up here. He said in Psalm 119 and verse
160, He said, forever, O Lord, no,
he says, thy word is true from the beginning, and every one
of thy righteous judgments endureth forever. Thy word is true from
the beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth
forever. That's pretty well purified,
isn't it? God's word, true from the beginning,
every one of his righteous judgments endureth forever. The other verse
I was thinking of was verse 89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. God's word is pure, neither the
assault of the wicked nor the trust of the righteous. do anything
but to prove that God's word is true. As silver becomes more
pure when it is melted so that more often God's words are assaulted
by the wicked concerning his eternal salvation in Christ and
the Lord Jesus himself. And the more often God's words
and promises concerning Christ and his salvation and rule and
glory are taken up as the necessary food and refuge in the hearts
of his poor and needy people by faith in his blood, the more
his gospel is preached to sinners, and by them under that preaching
used in prayer, then the more God's words concerning his Son
are proved to be the only true and righteous and gracious way
of salvation to the honor of our Savior, the way by which
our faithful God saves sinners. Robert Hawker said this, how
beautifully is this verse introduced by way of contrast to what was
said before concerning the words of the ungodly. Do sinners talk
of vanity? Let saints speak of Jesus and
his gospel. Do they talk impure words? Then
let the faithful use the pure words of God, which like silver,
the more used, the more melted in the fire, the more precious
will they be. That's a good thing, he said
that. I encourage you to read Robert Hawker's commentaries,
they are excellent. Now, going on, in verse 7, what
does he say? Thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Keep
what? You would think maybe it might be the words here, but
the words are already purified. What he's talking about are the
oppressed, the poor, the needy, the sighing needy. Those are
the ones God's going to keep. Remember what it says in 1 Peter
1? We are kept by the power of God.
How? Through faith in Christ, of course,
unto salvation. ready to be revealed in the last
time. Now it seems like everything's
out of control. The godly man ceases. The vain
man seems to go on and prosper. And what do the righteous do?
What do those who trust Christ do? They cry, they're oppressed,
they sigh. The Spirit of God prays. Christ
intercedes for them. The Lord himself is going to
answer. His words are pure. He shall keep them. Verse 7. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Isn't
that what the Lord Jesus says? Let me read these verses to you
in John chapter 10. I don't read them enough out
loud. I'm assuming you're familiar
with them. He says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me,
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." There
you go. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. From
now to all eternity, throughout history, and for all eternity,
God will keep his people. Nothing can separate them from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It says
in Matthew 24, well, I should probably, I don't
have it written down here and I was going to take time to find
it, but he says that if it were not for God keeping his elect,
than in the time of the Great Tribulation, that if it weren't
for him keeping his elect, then even the elect would fail. But
the Lord says here that he would keep them, and thou shalt preserve
them this generation forever. Let me read to you another verse
in Isaiah chapter 54. Listen to these words in Isaiah
chapter 54 regarding the keeping of the Lord. the keeping of Christ's
people by the Lord himself. Isaiah chapter 54 and verse 10. Listen to these words. The mountains
shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace
be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Mountains,
they're going to leave. It says the mountains shall depart,
and the hills be removed. In other words, it's going to
happen. But in contrast, my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither
shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that
hath mercy on thee. All those upon whom the Lord
has mercy have received an eternal and an unmovable mercy from Christ. That's what he's saying. Mountains,
hills, those are the kingdoms that oppose Christ's rule. Mountains and hills are physical
structures on the earth, and they simply represent the kingdoms
that oppose the Lord Jesus Christ. But His mountain is what? Mount
Zion. He reigns in Mount Zion, and
no one can oppose Him. So the elect are not going to
perish. And then finally, in verse 8, Psalm 12 verse 8, the
wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. When
the proud and unbelieving false teachers and preachers who seek
their own honor and glory at the expense of the truth of Christ
and at the expense of the salvation of his people, can you imagine
that their intent is so bent on their own pride that they
would rather have themselves exalted in the eyes of men than
the salvation of Christ's people for whom he shed his blood."
Now that's the vilest of men, isn't it? He says here, the wicked
walk on every side when the vilest of men are exalted. What's more
vile than that? It's not a political vileness,
it's the vilest of men. He says, so I'm continuing on
from where I was reading here in my handout. He says, or I
said, when the proud and believing false teachers and preachers
seeking their own honor and glory at the expense of the truth of
Christ and the salvation of his people, and thus they are the
vilest of men, are exalted and honored in place of Christ by
their false teachings, that cannot say, they're vain words, who
by them intend to assault Christ in his gospel, then these wicked
men, when these wicked men are in that place, wickedness does
what? It abounds. It abounds. So men
worship, they worship their idols, don't they? They worship their
will. They worship their works. They worship their buildings.
They worship their whatever. They worship their money. They
worship everything except Christ. They worship their music. I mean, I'm talking about modern
religion. You go to any church, and I don't go to them, but if
you go to any of these churches, you're going to walk in, you're
going to have a big band up there on the stage. And they're going
to have these things called worship leaders. And who knows what they
are. They sing or they play. Somehow
they're worship leaders. That's not worship. Music is
not worship. You can go to a Led Zeppelin
concert and get better music. But music is not worship. I'm
saying better. I mean not better words, but
just the sound of it. So the point is that the only
way we can worship God is how? In spirit. And in truth, it's
not in a place, it's not with certain instruments, it's the
gospel preached. And I know that might offend
some people who like to have these large ensembles and stuff
like that in churches. But maybe I'm a curmudgeon. But I don't think so. I think
as a sinner, I need to hear the gospel. And I don't give a wit
about making my musical, my love of music to get in the
way of that. I just don't. I don't have any
desire to hear a great ensemble. I would rather hear a poor, sinner,
believe in Christ, squeak out a hymn, and hang on the words
of that hymn, then I would, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, or whatever,
that can hit every note, the high ladies and the low men,
and whatever. It just doesn't do anything for
me. Okay, get out of my soapbox now. So the point here is that
when wicked men are exalted, wickedness abounds. And that's
what the law does, doesn't it? When the law comes, what happens
which is sin? It abounds. The law entered that
the offense might increase, might abound. But what happened when
that happened? The Lord Jesus Christ came. And
where sin reigned into death, now grace reigns through His
righteousness. And that's the only way that
we can live in this world. We cannot live by man's religion. We cannot worship God by man's
religion. There's all sorts of ways that
men dress up their religion, whether it be by music, or by
invitations, or by any number of things, but only one thing
pierces the heart of a sinner and turns a sinner from his proud
look to love Christ. And that's the declaration of
Christ's work as our savior. Here's the verse I was thinking
of earlier. It says, because iniquity shall abound, the love
of many shall wax cold, Jesus said. And that's what happens
in this Psalm. And so the cry of God's people
is, Lord, save us. The godly man ceases. Don't let
Christ and his gospel Go to the wayside. Don't let believers
become so scarce that I can't meet with your people and we
could speak the truth in love and edify the body of Christ
and that we can declare the gospel in this world and your sheep
would be called and saved. And so we pray. We want to constantly
have this desire that the Lord would save Zion, that he would
make his name great in Zion. All right? All right, let's pray.
Father, thank you for your words. Thank you for the word inspired
by the Holy Spirit of God who teaches us your mind and will
concerning your son and your people to save them even against
the assault of those proud and arrogant false religionists who
claim their words are their own and who have no rule over themselves
but themselves, who seek to exalt themselves and love those who
do so. but help us to love our Lord
Jesus Christ and take the seat of those who serve your people
and be glad to do it. Help us not to preach ourselves,
but Christ Jesus, the Lord, and help us to make ourselves servants
as our Lord Jesus Christ himself did when he was on this earth.
to your people, and count it our great delight to wash the
feet of the saints in whatever way you give us to do. Lord,
we pray that you would save us from our sins, save us from the
foolishness of our heart, from the vain things we trust, subdue
our pride, subdue our iniquities, and cause us, dear Lord, to see
the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, and put our trust in Him. Help
us to exalt Him from our heart, to love your people that you
shed your precious blood to save, and bring to yourself by all
that you did, and help us to live by the same faith you lived
in obedience to your Father. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.