together. Help, Lord, for the
godly man's season, for the faithful fell 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 has 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 as
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."
Oh, what a blessing. Let's look together again here
in Psalm 12. David starts out here with a
great cry. And he says, Help, Lord. Help,
Lord. In the margin, it says, Save.
Save, Lord. Now, help has different meanings
in different situations. You know, Gary came down and
helped me yesterday afternoon. The problem I had was electrical.
That's help. But when you hear somebody holler,
Help! I'm drowning. Help! Save me out of this house. That
means somebody else got to come do something for you. Nobody else can help you. This
help, he said, he cried, Help, Lord! when in trouble. This help is when to cry when
in trouble and when you're in dire straits. And David's crying
out for help. And his plea is definite. Help,
Lord. Definite. He ain't just calling
help for the help's sake. Help, Lord. He knows where his
help come from. Lord, save me. Save, Lord. David said in Psalm 121, verse
1, he said, I'll look under the hills for which cometh my help. He says the Lord is a very present
help in a time of trouble. Now what makes David cry out
for help in such desperate conditions and cry out so? Well, he gives
the answer right after he does it. Help, Lord, for the godly
man ceases For the faithful man fell, the faithful fell from
among the children of men." That's something to cry out. That's
what we're crying out right now, Lord, help. Godly men cease. The godly ceases. The godly man
ceases. And the faithful fell from among,
from the children of men. I thought of this today. How many godly men have we known
that's gone? And who replaces them? Who takes
their place? When the faithful fail from among
the children of men, where's the other faithfuls going to
come take their place? That's what David's saying here. Help, Lord, the godly man, he
ceases. The faithful man fails from among
the children of men. You see, he sees himself in a
great minority in this sinful world. And God's people have
always been in a minority in this wicked world. We've been
outnumbered by the ungodly as long as there's been time, and
as long as time will stand, we'll be outnumbered. That's always
been the condition in this world. And it's true in Noah's day. I've always, you know, I've said
this. When you look down through the history of time, God has
never had very many preachers at any one given time. In Noah's
day, it was just Noah. And he preached for 120 years. And the Scripture says that God
saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and
that his imagination was only evil continually. He couldn't
even think, but only in an evil way. And so God that was wicked,
he was outnumbered in his day. And it was true. when there was
more wicked in the days of Abraham, when God called him out of the
Calvary from worshiping false idols and brought him into the
land and made promise to him. And I tell you, it was true,
the wicked outnumbered God's people always, and they've always
been in a great minority, because like when Joseph was tempted
by Potiphar, he said, Shall I sin so against God? And he'd rather
go to prison has to sin against God. And so he was one in the
whole nation, as far as I could tell. And it was true when Moses
led that stiff-necked, high-minded generation of Israel through
the wilderness. Very few godly among them. And
they'll tell you the righteous and the wicked have outnumbered
the Lord's people. when the prophets withstood evil
in their generation, and every prophet had to stand against
evil in their generation. Jeremiah did it, put him in the
dungeon. Isaiah did it, and they cut him
in two. Simon Peter did it, and they crushed him upside down.
And I tell you, beloved, that's the way it is. Our Lord, in His
days, said, Woe unto thee, best Savior! Woe unto thee, cause! For if the mighty works have
been done in you which have been done in Sodom, then repent it
long, long ago. They'd have repented. If they'd
have been done in day of Noah's day, they would have repented.
And so you see that the Lord's people's always been in a great
minority. You take Daniel. They said, Daniel,
don't you pray. If you pray, it's up to this.
When you hear that song, that music going, if you don't turn
and pray to this island that he set up here. He said, if you
don't, you're going to the lion's den. Daniel opened his window and
he prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day. The wicked said,
we got him, we got him, we got him. They took him, put him in
the lion's den, went down there the next morning. He's still going. Shadrach, Meshach,
and Leviticus. If you don't worship the way
we tell you to worship, you're going to go in the fire furnace.
Throw them in the furnace. See, what I'm saying is that
God's people has always been in a great minority, and the
wicked has always outnumbered them. But they always come out
on the winning side, because you can't beat God. You're not
fighting men, you're fighting God. And I tell you, beloved,
that's why the Lord Jesus says, "'Straight is the gate, narrow
is the way, that leadeth unto life.'" But, oh, listen, you
keep Psalm 12, and look with me over in Romans 11, just a
moment. And look what God said about
it. Sometimes we feel like we're the only ones, and I remember years ago that I thought,
boy, was there anybody anywhere preaching the grace of God that
could help me, and help me, and teach me, and instruct me? And
sure enough, I found some of that written in a book. They
found me. You know, you think you don't
know anything, but look what he said here in Romans 11.2. God has not cast away his people,
which he foreknew. What? You know what the scripture
says of Elijah, how he made an intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they killed your prophets, dig down your altars,
and I'm left alone, they seek my life. Boy, we're in the minority
here. Wicked, surrounding. But what
does God say to him? I reserve to myself seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so,
at this present time, also theirs are rendered according to the
election of grace." God, no matter how much the wicked outnumbers,
God's got it rendered. Oh, we're in the minority. And
oh, but David, that's what he does. He feels so all alone.
The godly man ceases. Help, Lord! Save, Lord! The godly
man ceases. The faithful fell from among
the children of men. But oh, listen to where he finds
his peace at. Look down at verse 7 of Psalm
12. Help, Lord! The godly man ceases. The faithful
fell. He fell so long. But look what
God said. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. They may cease, but I'm going
to keep you. You may feel like you're alone, but I'm going to
keep you. I'm going to keep you. Let's look at David's predicament.
Got three little points tonight in this message. Breaks up very
easily. Look at David's predicament. Here in verse 2 and 3. You see,
David was surrounded by wicked men. And you know how most wicked
people manifest their wickedness? They use their tongues to do
it. They use their mouth. They use words to do it. And
that's why he says they cease from among the children of men.
But here's what the wicked do. They speak vanity everyone with
his neighbor. With flattering lips and with
a double heart do they speak. And they said in verse 4, "...hath
said with our tongue we would prevail, our lips our own, who
is Lord over us." So he was surrounded by these men, and how did they
manifest their wickedness? Through their tongue, by what
they said. They speak vanity, and our tongues make manifest
what's in our hearts. I swear that's why James said,
our tongue is a world of iniquity. And I tell you, it sits on fire,
the very course of nature and hell itself. He says in Romans
3, he says, you know the poison of asthma. The throats are numbed
in sepulchre. The poison of asthma is under
their tongue. And our mean-baked tongue is
just, it's got poison in it, and it's cruel, and it's wicked,
and it'll hurt, and it'll destroy men and women. And look what
our Lord said in Matthew 12. Look in Matthew 12 with me just
a minute. This is what our Master said about this. about the heart. The heart, you know, whatever
comes out of our mouth is revealing what's going on in our hearts. Matthew 12, 34. And that's why
these men, they said, they speak vanity every one with his neighbor,
and with flattering lips with a double heart they speak. We'll
prevail with our tongue. Oh, our tongue's going to get
us by. Our ability to speak, our ability to entice, our ability
to flatter, our ability to lie, it's going to get us through.
Now look what our Master said here in Matthew 12, verse 34.
Oh, generation of vipers! How can you, Matthew 12, verse
34, how can you, being evil, speak good things? It is impossible
for an evil man to speak something good. For out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man, out of the good treasure
of the heart, he brings forth good things. If God's given you
a heart, a new heart, you'll speak good things. Good things
about God, good things about Christ, good things about the
Scriptures, good things about your brothers and sisters, and
all this. And he goes on to say, and an
evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But
I say unto you, every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give an account. Therefore, in the days of judgment,
by your words you're going to be justified. And by your word,
you're going to be condemned. And that's what these spouses
are doing. They're using words. They're using their tongue. And
look what David said here in verse 2 again, Psalm 12. He said,
They speak vanity ever one with his neighbor. You know what this
word vanity means? It means emptiness. No substance
to it. That's why Solomon said, vanity
of vanities, all is vanity. When it's all said and done,
when it's all said and done, when it's all done, we try everything
in this world and end up being empty and useless. If you don't
know God, you don't know Christ. And so these people, they use
their tongues to talk about empty things and empty words and foolishness,
and no edifying voice at all comes through these people. They
speak vanity, just emptiness, foolishness, just things that
don't allow, just nothing. Just nothing. And then look what
he says here. And then they deceive with flattering
lips and with a double heart do they deceive. You know one
thing that God just absolutely, utterly despises, and you cannot,
every time you find the word flattery in the It's always in
a negative way. To flatter somebody means you're
trying to entice them. The flatterer lays the net. The flatterer or the man is trying
to flatter you and brag on you, and he's trying to get something
from you, he's trying to gain something from you, he's trying
to entice you, and that's what he says here with flattering
lips, and that double heart means a heart and a heart. with a double
heart, they speak. Their hearts are frightened.
They'll say whatever's necessary. They had no heart at all. You
know, they got a heart for the church, and then they got another
heart for the world. They got a heart for Sundays,
and then they got one for their working day. And I tell you,
when we talk about people who don't seem to have a heart, you
ever been around anybody that didn't seem to have a heart?
They're so cruel and so mean that they didn't seem to have
a heart at all. No compassion, no pity, nothing to show that
they were moved by anything anybody else did. So a man without a
heart, that's a wonder, but a man with two hearts, He's a monster,
because he said one thing, and he's acting with another thing.
He says flattering words to you, and at the same time, his heart's
against you. While he's trying to brag on
you, he's got his heart laying a trap for you. While he's telling
you all these wonderful things about yourself, he's got something
really to grab you and take something away from you. It happens all
the time. And I'll tell you, beloved, let me show you, I know
we're looking at a lot of scripture, but look at the difference between
the Lord's people and this in Acts chapter 4. This is the difference. And that's why God said, David
prayed in one place, he said, Lord, unite my heart to feel
thy name. Unite my heart to feel thy name.
Don't let me be double-hearted. Unite my name. Look in Acts 4.32. Oh, a double-minded man's unstable,
a double-hearted man. It's hard to imagine a double-hearted
man. Oh, it's just hard to imagine.
But have two hearts. Our Lord says, you know, a man
will either love the one and hate the other. He can't have
two masters. He can't have two loves. And
that's why the flatterers, you go through the Scriptures, you
do it on your own time, and you look at this word, flatterer,
and flattering. God absolutely, it's an abominable
thing to God. And look what he said here in
Acts 4.32. And a multitude of them that
believed are of one heart and one soul. That's the way
the Lord's people are. We have one heart. Lord, you're
not my heart to fear thy name. This double-minded, this double-hearted
person. And what they do, they use words
to mean one thing when they really mean something else. And Dr. Day, today, in today's vernacular,
when they talk about murdering babies by abortion, you know
what they say? Well, we've got to have a choice.
We just believe in choice. I'm just killing babies, but
I'm just making a choice. And if you disagree with that,
you're the one to take from it. And they ought to still have
called it sovereignty, what the Bible calls it. A disgraceful,
God-dishonored, horrible sin proves that God gave the man
up. You know what they call him now? Being gay. Leading an alternative
lifestyle. You see how they've got double
hearts? Flattering lips. And you oppose
any of that stuff. And it's called hate. And I'll
tell you, flattering lips, flatterers use it to their own advantage. And I'll tell you something.
People that flatter you generally have a low opinion of you when
they're flattering you. I'm going to show you a couple
of scriptures. Look in Proverbs 26. Mary and I happened to be
in a service here a few weeks ago when a man flattered another
man. Oh, it was awful how he did it.
And I just felt awful to hear that man flattered so much. And
he felt awful about it. But you've never heard of someone
flattered so much. Now, you know, you can tell people
the truth without flattery. If a person's honest, it's not
flattering to say that they're honest. If a person's genuine
and loving and generous, it's not flattering to say that. But look what he said in verse
28, Proverbs 26. A lying tongue hateth those that
are afflicted by it. A person that's lying to you,
they hate you, and that's why they want to lie to you and afflict
by you. They hate you, and they hope
that you're afflicted by their lying tongue. And then a flattering
mouth worketh ruin. What he's trying to do is he's
trying to set you at trial. He's working ruin for you. And
look over here now in Proverbs 20, verse 19. And in the margin it tells us
what it means. He that goeth about as a tell-bearer
revealeth secrets. Therefore meddle not with him
that flattereth with his lips, or entices with his lips. Oh, listen. Look what happens
to these people with these flattered lips. Look back over in Psalm
12 and I'll show you. You know what's going to happen to them?
The same thing's going to happen to everybody that's wicked in
this world, sooner or later. Psalm 12, verse 2, this is what's
going to happen to them. The Lord shall cut off all flattering
limbs, and the tongue that speaketh proud things, great things. God says, He's going to cut them
off. He's just going to cut them off. You say, well, when's He
going to do that? He's going to cut them off sooner
or later. He's going to cut them off. And I said, pride and a
flattering lip, the Lord calls an abomination. And I'll tell
you that flattering lips and a tongue that speaketh proud
things and brags about itself and brags about its ability and
brags on you all the time, I tell you, that's the characteristics
of a lost man. Oh, he said, all that's in the
world is the lust of the fresh, the pride of life. That's all that's in the world.
And look at Proverbs 10.4. Look what it says there. Talk
about the wicked. What about God? Psalm 10.4. Psalm 10.4. The wicked, through
the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God
is not in all his thoughts. Oh, I'm too proud, I feel. Man,
I'm going to write that down. And then look what they say in
verse 4 over here in Psalm 12. Look what they say. It's hard
for us because since God saved us by His grace, but there's
been times when we were like this. And this is what, you know,
God will cut off this with fattened lips, the tongue that speaketh
proud things, great things. Though this is what they say,
who has said, with our tongue we will prevail. We'll talk our
way out of this. We'll brag on you, and we'll
blow about you, and we'll make you feel so good about yourself,
and make you feel so good about us, that you'll let us have anything
you got, that you know we'll talk our way right out of this
situation. We'll prevail. Our tongues will prevail. There
ain't no way in the world ain't nothing can happen. I can talk
my way out of this. My dad was one of them kind of
fellas. He could sell ice to a Nestleman. He could have talked
the fellow out of his false teeth and turned around and sent him
back to him as a dentist. That's what kind of talker my dad was.
He was a talker. He was sick. Oh, he was a scientist. But that's the way it was. Oh,
boy, he just... But that's the way it was. He
said, we're going to prevail with our tongues. And our lips
are our own. Ain't nobody going to tell me
what I'm saying and what I can't say. Ain't nobody going to tell
me what I can do and what I can't with my own tongue. I'll use
any kind of language I want to. I'll use it anywhere I want to
and I'll talk about people the way I want to talk about them.
And that's why they say, who's Lord over us? Who's going to
stop us? Who's going to keep us from saying
what we want to say and doing what we want to do? We're going
to talk our way out because you're going to do that. Who is our
master? That's what they say. But God
said, He's going to cut them off. He's going to cut them off.
He's going to cut them off. Cut them off. And oh, look what
He says now. David. David, he had his predicament.
Now look at his protection. Here in verse 5. Look at his protection now. He
said, Oh, Lord, help. For the godly man seetheth, but
the faithful man fell from among the children of men. He said,
David cried help to the right person for the right reason,
and look what happens. For the oppression of the poor,
for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord.
I will set in him in safety from him that puffeth at him." That
word, puffeth at him, that means that would ensnare him. That's
what that means. And all for the sighing of the
needy. How many times have you been needy and you just sigh?
side. You know, you know somebody's
got a burden, and you know they're heavy-hearted when they come
into service, and you hear them go, they're heavy-hearted this side.
He said, God said, I'm going to rise for that fellow this
time. The poor and the needy. They're poor in spirit, they're
poor in heart, they're poor in themselves, they have nothing
to offer, nothing to give, and all they can do is say, Lord,
help, and God arrives for that poor soul and that needy soul
and that sign that they're going through. Going through? Huh? Oh, my. You know, he said, I'll
set him. I'll set him up. God's going
to deal with the wicked in this world, but he always comes to
the defense of the oppressed. And oh, for the oppression of
the poor. Now, he's not talking about poor people. He's talking
about poor sinners, people that's in need. David said, I'm poor
and needy. And I'll tell you, beloved, this
is the way we are before the Lord. Paul said, I have need
of nothing. And yet I have need of all things. He says, before
the world, I don't need anything. Before God, I need everything.
And that's the way we are. Before the world, we got everything.
We ain't fixin' to tell the world we need anything. We ain't gonna
tell nobody how weak we are, how frail we are, what a desperate
condition we are in our hearts and in our souls. But when we
come to God, We've come as poor and needy, with sighing hearts
and breaking hearts often times. Ain't that right? And that's
why our Lord Jesus Christ said this, He says, Woe, woe be that
the offences are come, but woe unto that one who shall offend
one of these little ones. He said it'd be better for him
to have a millstone hung around his neck and throw down into
the depths of sea than he should offend one of these little ones.
Now that means, beloved, that whatever he does, it's going
to be better for him to just go ahead and drown in the depths
of the sea with a big old millstone around his neck because of what
God's going to do for him for touching the apple of his eye.
To touch one for whom Christ died, that's what he's saying.
And I know we're outnumbered in this world, but look what
God said. I'll set him in safety from him
that would ensnare him. We haven't been ensnared yet,
have we? You know why? God set us in safety. He set us in safety. I'll set
him in safety from him that does things. I'll set him in safety. And all that I've had the Lord
said, I will arise. How can we know that God's with
us? How can we know that God has
arisen? Because He promised He would. He said, I'll never leave
you, and I'll never forsake you. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? And look what
else God has spoken. That's why David had such protection. The words of the Lord, in verse
6, are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth,
purified seven times. Oh, God spoke it seven times.
Purified His words seven times. You know what seven is? It's
a number of perfection. How many times have you tried
the Word of the Lord? Has it ever failed you? God Himself
said, try me. Prove me. We have. And He's never failed. Oh, He's
spoken. That's why David said, listen,
God said, I will arise. How do we know God's voice? He
said, His words. are like pure words. When God
says something, it's pure, it's honest, it's real, it's sincere,
it's got power. And that just so appears, then
put it in front of seven dogs and comes out pure. And oh, what a contrast to the words
of men. They speak vanity with every
neighbor's flattering lips and lying tongues. We want to prevail
with our tongues and our lips. But God's Word has been purified
seven times. They're pure. What a contrast
between the words of men and the words of God. And then look
at David's peace. Let me hurry up. Look what he
says. He finds peace here. He is in
a predicament. He had all these lying people around him. Godly
men ceases. Then, oh, we've had some godly
cease from among us. I mean godly men. Men that was a Wonderful men, men that just,
you can't just tell the truth about them. But anyway, David,
then he's had his protection. Now look at his peace. Thou shalt
keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from
this generation forever. The wicked walk on every side,
and the violent men are exalted. And we're coming to the closing
psalm, last two verses. There is absolutely no change
in the circumstances. Situation was exactly the same
as when he cried, Help, O Lord. When he cried, Help, Lord, when
he said, Save, Lord, nothing had changed. Nothing had changed. Circumstances was exactly the
same. The godly man still seized, the
faithful fell from among the children of men, the wicked was
still bragging and blowing, and then the wicked walk on every
side when the vilest men are exalted. Huh? The wicked still present, still
using their tongues to speak perversion, still divine God.
But David, God says this, Thou shalt keep
them, O Lord. He remembered. He says, you know,
I know all this is going on, but I know I remember what you
do. I remember who you are. I remember your character. Thou
shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them. And
that word, them, there in the margin, it says, every one of
them. It says, Thou shalt preserve
every one of them. How many of us are here tonight?
Everyone of us is going to be preserved from this generation
forever. Oh, this is God's promise. I
want to show you one verse of scripture. God used to bless
this to my heart years ago, years and years ago. This was such
a blessing to me when I went through some things several years
ago with Isaiah 54 and 17. God gave me this verse of scripture
a long time ago, and it was such a comfort, strength to me. Some
things began going on. That's why David said, the Lord
shall preserve me. We've got all the circumstances
hasn't changed. You know, this world circumstances
hasn't changed. And look what God said about
it. He said, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.
And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou
shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants
of the Lord, and the righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." He
said, Go on, let me use your tongues. That'll get us some
weapons. He said, when Saul said, and
done, he said, you yourself will be there to condemn them at the
judgment. And oh, beloved, that David began
crying, help, Lord. And then he remembers what God
said. And look what it said here in verse 8. This is why the circumstances
don't change. Regardless of what the wicked
do, what they say with their lips, we have a sure standing.
The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted.
Now boy, I tell you what, that could be the headline of every
newspaper in the United States of America. The wicked walk on
every side when the vilest men are exalted. The vilest men are
exalted. Men that you wouldn't give the
time of day if they was your next door neighbor, because they're
so low down, that they're the ones that are exalted now. And
the wicked walk everywhere. And that's where we're at. Circumstances
ain't changed, but I'll tell you one thing. We've got this
rock to stand on. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Wickedness will continue as long
as the world stands, and the righteous will too. The weak
and the tares, the Lord said, let them grow together. He said,
I'll separate them. The righteous and the wicked
go and grow together. And I'll tell you one thing we
need to do by God's blessed grace. Don't go in among them and don't
come out from among them. Don't have nothing to do with
them. And look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before Him despised the shame, endured the cross, and sat down
at the right hand of the majesty, looking unto Him. That's just
where wickedness is going to continue. It ain't going to change.
Me and Bruce Crabtree talked about that the other day, that
how, you know, we've seen so much change in our little lifetimes. And it's going to get worse.
It ain't going to get no better. And we're going to get pure. God's
people are going to get purer and purer and purer until it's
going to be like the days of Sardis. Strengthen the things that remain.
And that's where we're coming. But you know what? The Lord shall
preserve them. Forever. Forever.