Looking over here at Psalm 12, to the chief musician upon Shemineth,
a psalm of David. And the word Shemineth means
eighth. Some have conjectured that that is specifically speaking
of an eighth note or the eighth note in the scale, or that it could have to do with
an eight-stringed instrument. We don't know. So anything that
we think about that would be conjecture. This is a psalm of
David. 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 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 or bloweth at him. The words of the Lord are
pure words, as silver tried in the 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. Of course, as we've been looking
at these psalms and considering them in light of the fact that
though David was the author as far as writing them out, they
do encompass the prayer and prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ as He
walked among men as a man. And as he looked around him and
saw that there was little, when he looked at men in their natural
state, there was not much to commend them to him. You know, when we read that Scripture,
when the Lord comes, Will he find faith in the earth? Now
religious men say, well sure he will because we are going
to make sure that he does. And we are going to promote our
religion and we are going to do these things and we are going
to go out and do whatever we are going to do and we are going
to preserve the faith of God in the earth. Now, that is a
foolish concept for men to have because the only way that men
ever believe or ever stay believing. Now see, the Scripture indicates
that there are some who have tasted of the good things in
some measure. And I do not know exactly what
that means or to what extent it is, but Peter speaks about
it. turn from these things back to
the place like a dog to his vomit, he says, or a pig to his wallowing
in the mire. There are those that have tasted
the good things to come to some measure. There are those who
have religious values, those that have religious habits, those
that have religious upbringings, and those things that are totally
ingrained in them. And sometimes it's hard to differentiate
between those things that are ingrained in us by nature in
a natural sense and those things that are wrought in us by the
Spirit of God. But the thing is that those things
that are wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God, they endure.
They don't fade away. They don't cease to be. And so
when the Lord prays this prayer, when David, when he looked around,
he says, Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases. The faithful
fail from among the children of men. It used to seem like
that there was more faithfulness than there is. Now any man who
has ever been exercised by the Spirit of God has looked at himself
and said, I am unfaithful. If you have always looked at
yourself as faithful, and you have always felt that you were
walking closely with the Lord, then something is wrong with
your experience. Because the truth of the matter
is that the Lord reveals to us what we are by nature. And the
more that we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, the
more acquainted with how far from the Lord by nature we are.
I used to think that people, you know, as they got older,
that they just got to this place where they were just in constant
communion with the Lord, and they were just going along. And
I'd look at some of these old people in the church and what
not, and I'd just think, man, you know, it would be great to
just be in that position. But now that I've kind of got
to that place, I realize that I see more of my own wicked ways
than I ever could in the past. Because it takes a lifetime of
seeing what you are by nature to really show you what you are
by nature. When you are young, you think
you are going to do something. But then when the Lord has taught
you what you are, then indeed you can identify with this. For the godly man sees it. There is no man that you can
look at And just say without a shadow of a doubt, boy, he's
going to remain faithful to the end. He's going to be faithful. Who would you put your confidence
in? I mean, you know, if you had to pick out somebody and
say, well, he won't ever deny the Lord. If you'd been among
the disciples, who do you think they'd have picked? They'd have picked the one that
pulled out the sword and cut the servant's ear off when they
came to take him in the garden. They said, but if anybody's going
to stand, who's it going to be? It's going to be Peter, isn't
it? But who did the Lord show what
men are by nature? And that all of the bluster and
all of the strength that men have counts for nothing. It doesn't
mean anything. Peter was the same man when he
was denying as he was when he pulled out the sword. But the
flesh will fail. The godly man will cease. And
that's why we cry out to the Lord, Lord help for the godly
man does cease. We'll cease. We won't pray tomorrow if the
Lord doesn't move us to pray. The godly man will cease. The
flesh will fail. Men will not be what they I hope
to be. Help, Lord, for the godly man
ceases, for the faithful fail from among the children of men."
It's just a true thing. Men fail. They speak vanity,
every one with his neighbor. With flattering lips and a double
heart do they speak. Now, it's not that we, you know,
we don't want to be that way, do we? I mean, Peter didn't want
to be the way that he was, but yet that's the way that he was.
The Lord showed him what he was. And vanity is in our heart, and
being double-minded is the natural tendency of man. Now we all like
to think that, oh brother, we always stand for You know, we
don't ever compromise. We always stand true to our principles. Until we get in a situation where
that doesn't suit us just right, you know, or there's some benefit
to not holding to those principles, and then we kind of stray from
them. And there's not a man in the
earth who's not a double-minded man. There's not one. Now, is
that a good thing? So then do we just say, well,
okay, it's alright to be double-minded because that's the way men are?
No, it's an awful thing. It's a terrible thing. I mean,
it was an awful thing for Peter to deny the Lord, was it not?
It was a terrible thing for the disciples to flee. But you see,
the Lord had to demonstrate to them what they were by nature.
Because if He had allowed them to have stood, then they would
have went through, perhaps they would have said, buddy, we are
strong. But no, you see, when all that was said and done, they
knew they were just like a bunch of chickens who were just looking
for the hen. They didn't know what to do.
They really were in a mess, were they not? I mean, because everything
that they had built their hopes on had now in their mind vanished. Where was all their big faith
at that point? They were all afraid, weren't
they? They said, man, they've got Him. He'll probably come
after us next. We'd better figure out what we're
going to do. The Lord shall cut off all flattering
lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. I'm glad that He
does that. That's a painful thing to be
involved in it, but I'm glad that it happens. Because you
see, we like to hear people pat us on the back, don't we? I mean,
we like for people to build us up. It makes us feel important,
you know, when things are like that. But when the Lord will,
He cuts off those things. He will not let his children
be lifted up with pride for very long. Now, He will allow you
to be lifted up with pride. He let Peter be lifted up with
pride, didn't He? What did Peter say? Lord, though
all men forsake you, not me, I won't. What did the Lord do?
Because the Lord loved Peter. What did He do? He cut off The flattery lips. He cut off
the proud heart. He cut it down. He hewed it down,
right down to the stump. The tongue that speaketh proud
dreams. Dear brethren, when you boast
of what you are in the Lord, you are on dangerous ground. We are what we are by the grace
of God. We have nothing that we have
not received. It is according to God's mercies
that we are not consumed. I mean, you know, any moment
we could and should just be obliterated and never even be thought of
again. It's of the mercies of the Lord that we are preserved. Who have said, with our tongue
will we prevail, our lips are on, whose Lord over us? I mean,
every man, whether he will admit it or not, has had those thoughts.
I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. I'm going to
be able to do this in my own power and my own strength. I'm
going to go forth and I'm going to do it." And he's planned it.
And even many times when he's known that these things are contrary
to the way of God, yet he has gone ahead and planned out exactly
what he was going to do. And he said, we're going to be
able to do it anyway. We know that maybe it won't,
but the Lord can't even stop us. He can't even keep us from
doing it. I imagine when David went up
on the rooftop and he looked at Bathsheba, you reckon David
knew that what he was doing was wrong? But he said, you know,
I'm going to be able to do it because I'm the king. I mean,
you know, who will ever know? I mean, you know, you're right,
he's off fighting. I mean, who's going to know? I can do it. With our tongue will we prevail?
Will our lips are on? Who's Lord over us? Who can really
do anything about it? I mean, I've got a free will. I can do what I want to do. For the oppression of the poor,
for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord.
You see, the Lord looketh on the man who's of a broken and
a condried heart. He is not looking at the proud
man, the boastful man, because if that man who is proud and
boastful belongs to him, just like Peter, what is he going
to do? He is going to make him needy.
He is going to bring him down. He is going to bring him to the
place where he wants him to be. For the oppression of the poor,
for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord,
Because you see, the Lord looketh to him that's of a broken and
a contrite heart. That's the man that he will not
despise. Not the man that comes boasting,
Lord, I've done many things in your name. I'm going to accomplish
great things. Lord, see my faith. I'm going
to bring my faith to you. And Lord, I'm going to back you
into a corner, and I'm going to put you on the hot spot, and
I'm going to just hold your feet to the fire. You ever heard anybody
talking like that? I have. Turn the radio on sometime,
listen to some of these guys. They tell you, you know, you're
going to make God do something. Oh no. All that might sound good,
and it appeals to the flesh, but I'm telling you what, The
Lord doesn't look to the man that comes pridefully into His
presence. But He said, to this man will
I look, to the man that has a broken and a contrite heart, the man
that's found in a place of weeping and sorrow before God. That's
the one whom He'll hear. 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, him that bloweth." You know,
I think when I read about this, you remember the big bad wolf. What did he do? That's right,
he huffed and he puffed. And he blew away the house of
sticks and he blew away the house of straw. But you see, there
was one house that was built upon a solid foundation. It was a house that could not
be destroyed. And he huffed and he puffed,
but he couldn't blow it away. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that foundation. He is that house that cannot
be moved. He is that one who cannot be
turned from His purpose. He is that one who has accomplished
the redemption of His people. He is the Savior of sinners. And He said, I will set him in
safety from him that puffeth at him. Who is it that puffeth
at the children of God? He's the accuser. He's the accuser
of the brethren. And day and night, He accuses
the people of God before the throne of God, but the Lord sets
His people in safety from them that puff at Him. He will. redeem and set forth His people,
the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the
furnace of earth purified seven times." Now when something is
purified seven times, that is complete. It means there is no
dross in it. You know, when you get pure gold,
it is not pure. I forget what the allowable percentage
is, like 99.97% or something like that. But even the purest
of gold has impurities in it. But you see, the Word of God
has none. It is pure. It is purer than
ivory soap. 99 and 94, 100% pure. I've always wondered what made
it pure. What was it pure of? Even as
a kid, I heard that and I wondered, well, what do they mean by that?
It's pure of what? I mean, soap? I mean, it's what? Junk. So you wonder, you know, about
these things, but the Lord His Word is as silver tried in the
furnace of earth purified seven times. And thou shalt keep them,
O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from
this generation forever. The Lord will keep His people. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. There
is no shadow of turning with Him. If He has begun a work,
He'll perform it. Now you see, there is the difference
between a man's religion that's built on free will and one that's
built on free grace. And the difference is that the
man whose religion is built on free will says, well, I made
the decision, I decided that I was going to follow the Lord,
and so therefore I'm a Christian and I'm going to be rewarded
one day. But the man who understands what
he is by nature and is taught of the Lord that he has no help
but in the Lord, rather than trusting in that which he has
done, he trusts in that which the Lord has done. And he hopes
that the Lord has begun a good work in him. And from time to
time, He might doubt that that be the case. He might look at
himself and say, well, you know, I don't think that I have any
faith at all. But then from time to time the
Lord gives him sweet fellowship and reminds him of the mercy
of God, the goodness of God. He shows him such things as what
we have set before us here today. He reminds us of that body which
was broken and that blood that was shed.
And He causes those things to be precious to us. And He causes
us to desire to be found, numbered, among those that receive these
things in spirit and truth. You see, the man who is The follower
of Christ, the man in whom the Lord has begun a good work, he
can't do anything but trust the Lord. He looks at himself and
says, if I've got to trust one thing that I'm going to do, I'm
going to fail. I'm going to be cast aside. But
if it is in the Lord, I'm content to cast it upon the Lord, knowing
that He will. Finish the work if it is begun
by Him. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from
this generation." Now what generation is he talking about? He is talking
about the generation of the religious world, for lack of a better term,
the generation of the righteous. Now if you interviewed the vast
majority of people, they would tell you they possess some righteousness. Now it might be a little, or
it might be a lot, or it might be, you know, very weak. But there are very few people
with religious professions who would not at least consider that
they are righteous. Now the only righteousness that
the people of God have is in Christ. That's the only righteousness
I want. You know, I don't want righteousness
that men are going to pack me on the back for. Oh, that may
be well and good in its place, but that's not what I'm looking
for. I'm not interested in that. I want the righteousness that's
in Christ. That's the only righteousness
that's of any use. But it is in that righteousness
that the Lord will preserve His people from this generation.
Now the Scripture says that there are coming dissensions upon the
earth which would deceive even the very elect if it were possible. It is not possible that the children
of God should not be preserved because the Lord will preserve
them. He promised to do it and He will do it. Now there will
be many multitudes, in fact according to what I read in the Scriptures,
that are going to have confidence that they are going to be accepted
of the Lord because of all the things they have done. Lord,
did we not do all these things in Your name? And then will He
say to them, Depart from Me, I never knew you. Oh, to be known by the Lord.
You know, people talk about knowing the Lord, And I understand what
they mean, and I hope that we do know the Lord. But brethren,
it's far more important that we're known by the Lord. Because
those that are known, the Lord knoweth them that are His. He
knows His people. And He will preserve them. The
wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. Now
that verse seems like it's just kind of Put on the end there. But it's just a contrast. I think it has some application
to what we read. A verse that I think has some
bearing on it would be over in Proverbs 29, I think it's verse
2. Go over here and read this. It says, when the righteous are
in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule,
the people mourn. Now that's kind of a practical
application of this from a governmental standpoint. When you have a wicked
government, the people are going to be in trouble, especially
those people who belong to the Lord, because they're going to
oppress the people of God. That is just going to be the
way that it is. But I do not think that is exactly everything
that is included here. The wicked walk on every side
when the vilest men are exalted. The Lord is just saying, this
is not who I exalt. He says, I exalt those who are
in Christ. They're not vile. They think
they're vile. You see, vile men don't think they're vile. I mean,
if you'd ask Hitler, was he vile? Would he have said vile? He'd
have said, yeah, I'm a vile, corrupt man. No, he'd have said,
I'm doing the right thing. Vile men don't think they're
vile. They think it's right. They think they do what they're
going to do because it's right. Now, it may be right because
that's what they want to do. But nonetheless, they don't consider
it to be vile. See, only that man that's been
taught by the Spirit of God can believe himself to be vile. Because
something that's vile is when it's contrasted with that which
is pure. And when we see ourselves contrasted with Jesus Christ,
we know that we're vile. Now, I might look around here
and look at you, and I might grade myself out, and I might
be doing alright. But I might not be. You know,
just according to who I'm looking at and what day it is and how
they're doing. So that is not any standard of
anything, and I am not interested in that. But you know, when we
compare ourselves to the one standard of righteousness, then
we know ourselves to be vile. But religious men do not know
that, nor do they want to contemplate that. But the wicked walk on
every side when vilest men are exalted. When religion is set
forth as the standard, Then the wicked walk on every side and
they are proud. And they are going along their
way. And they are satisfied. And everything is going great.
Give me that old time religion. We want the old days, you know,
back when everybody was godly people. You remember them? Those
times? Huh? There was never any of them
times. But people, you know, in their
romantic thoughts of yesteryear and all of those things. Brethren,
people have been corrupt from the beginning. They are not any
different today than they were then, or then than they are today. I believe in many cases the Lord
has removed restraints in our day that perhaps were upon those. But dear brethren, wicked men
walk on every side. when the vilest men are exalted.
And the vilest men are exalted, I can't think of a place where
the vilest men are exalted more than in carnal religion and the
ways of men, whether it's religion or irreligion or just, you know,
when people are just speaking about moral goodness or whatever,
when the wicked walk on every side, when that be the case.
May the Lord humble us You know, we don't take any delight
in pointing out the fact that we are sinners. I mean, our goal
is not to cause us to feel bad. Our goal is to exalt Christ and
to cause us to face the reality of what we are compared to Him.
And that's the exaltation. Well, if men should ever wonder,
If they are sinners, then they can find no clearer representation
of it than what is right here before us today. None of this would be necessary if we were not sinners. None of it would serve any purpose.
if we were not sinners. But because we are sinners, and
because the Lord has loved His people from the beginning with
an everlasting love, He has given forth these things that we might
be reminded of what it is that He did for us. Now, He could
have just reminded us we were sinners. And he could have just put our
names up on the wall. I remember in school sometimes
they'd have a list of people that didn't get their homework
in or didn't do this or didn't do that and you didn't want your
name to be up there on that list. That was kind of a bad thing.
The Lord could have just made a list. What if He just listed
out your sins and posted them up? on a bulletin board somewhere
for people to see. What if He just did that? He
just did that to everybody and He doesn't want to make everybody
miserable. No, the Lord didn't come into the earth to make His
people miserable. He came into the earth to deliver
them from their misery. And thus, He's told us to remember
His death and He comes again because it's in His death that
our sins are taken away. The manifestation of it. May the Lord give us the heart
to see it for what it is and to desire the righteousness of
Christ.