Now, Psalm number 12 this evening,
and I pray the Lord will open this up to us this evening and
bless us together. I certainly desire God's presence
in preaching and in worship. It's a delightful, delightful
time when the Lord blesses us to preach his gospel and to worship
him together and to fellowship with one another. It makes for
the highlight of a believer's life. preaching the Gospel and
sitting where the Gospel is preached and fellowshipping with the Lord's
people. Now Psalm 12 is called the Psalm
of David, but the title I've given to this message this evening
is simply this, Good Thoughts, Good Thoughts for Bad Times. Good Thoughts for Bad Times. David, as God's servant, certainly
experienced the blessings of the Lord. He knew a lot about
good times. He was blessed of the Lord in
so many ways as a sweet psalmist of Israel. The Lord called him
a man after his own heart. I believe that can be said of
every believer, because we have been made a new creature in Christ,
and we've been given a new heart. We've been given a new nature.
If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are
passed away, and behold, all things are become new. So, David
knew much about the blessings of the Lord. He knew a lot about
the good things of the Lord. But he also experienced heartache,
heartache, trial, sorrow. For he was diligently sought
after by many who were his enemies, even among his own family. Recently
I read about the story of Doeg the Edomite who ratted on David. He told when David was in hiding
for his life from King Saul, Doeg the Edomite found out about
it and told on him. And it actually cost this man,
Doeg, his own life. Not only that, but David was
betrayed by a friend, but even his own son, Absalom, led a rebellion
against David, tried to push him off the throne. Now that's
even hard to imagine what that would be like to have a son,
not only a son that's an unbeliever, but a son that would try to end
your life. And yet we see that all the time,
don't we? A son would murder a father, a grandfather, a daughter,
a mother. We see that often. He just shows
us again, and it's a testimony to how wicked our old nature
is. It's no wonder that David cries
throughout the book of Psalms. He cries unto the Lord for help. As we read in Psalm 34, don't
turn, let me just read this to you. It says this, This poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him. out of all
his trouble. He knew something about heartache
and something about trouble. But David has some good thoughts
for bad times. And we read some of those good
thoughts here found in Psalm number 12. What makes for bad
times? Well, to most people, especially
those who are unbelievers and those who have no concern for
their spiritual welfare and no concern for the gospel of God's
grace. What makes for bad times to most
people is only a sour economy. We certainly know something about
that in this day, don't we? Or loss of a job, or loss of
a family member, or poor health, or a nation at war. We know something
about all these things, don't we? Or political turmoil, seems
like that gets to be a greater and greater thing in this country,
political unrest, political turmoil. And a lot of people would say
these make for bad times. While these things, to some extent,
do bring sorrow upon us, the scriptures describe unto us bad
times of another sort, a time of spiritual wickedness that
prospers in high places. Paul talks about that in Ephesians
chapter 6. You remember from our study in
Ephesians. We read, we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. I want you to read, hold your
place here in Psalm 12, and the Word of God talks about these
dark spiritual times. If you'll find 1 Timothy 4, it's
a time when there's not much worship going on. It's a time
when there's not much gospel preaching going on. Now, I know
there's a lot of preaching going on in this day, but there's not
much true gospel preaching. And the Word of God here tells
us about these times in which we live. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of devils, speaking
lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron. Certainly we are experiencing
those times. in which we live, that I believe
is a description of our day. Now find 2 Timothy chapter 3,
2 Timothy chapter 3, notice verse 1, this, know also that in the
last day perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers
of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truth-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, Fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof from such turn away." Certainly
we are living in some of these perilous times and these bad
times, but even in the face of all that, There's much that we
can think about good thoughts, good thoughts for bad times.
Now, as we turn our attention to Psalm number 12, David describes
several things in this Psalm that is a fit description of
perilous times in the latter days, or bad times. Notice verse 1 in Psalm 12. Help,
Lord, help! Lord, for the godly man is no
longer around. The godly man has ceased to be. For the faithful man, he's gone
from the children of men. There's no longer any godly,
there's no longer any faithful men among us. Certainly that
would be a bad time, would it not? When the godly and the faithful
among men are gone, now who are these godly and who are these
faithful men? Well, I think the Word of God
gives us a fit description of who the faithful and who the
godly are. They are chosen by His electing
grace. Make no apology for that. God
hath from the beginning chosen a people unto salvation. We read
about it just a moment ago in 1 Thessalonians. Beloved, we
know your election of God. There is an election of God. He chose a people unto salvation.
How do you know that, Paul? Well, the word of God came not
just in word only, but it came with the power of God. And they
heard the gospel. Their hearts were broken, and
God made them new creatures in Christ. So these godly and these
faithful men are those chosen by electing grace, those redeemed
by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are redeemed,
his people. He bought the church with his
own blood. We are redeemed, not with corruptible things, but
with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He bought
his church. And what he bought, he will have. They're his. He bought them.
Bought with a great price. Not only that, these faithful
and godly men are those chosen, redeemed, those regenerated by
God the Holy Spirit. and made new creatures in Christ.
You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. Of his own will begat he us with
the means he has ordained, the word of truth, the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what horrible and sad times
and bad times if or when believers have no place to worship Nowhere
to hear the gospel of God's grace declared, and no other believer
to fellowship with. Those are bad times. Thank God
we do have a place to worship. Thank God we do have a place
to hear the gospel. I sincerely believe this. The
only reason this world is not totally destroyed is for His
elect sake. When God redeems His last chosen
and makes them one with Christ, I believe the Lord, when He calls
in that last sheep, the Lord will come in power and great
glory, and He'll destroy this heaven and earth as we know it,
and He'll make a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. So it would be a bad, bad time
when there is no longer a godly believer and no longer a faithful
man around a believer of the gospel. Maybe we would feel like
Elijah, Lord there is no one else but me, and certainly the
Lord corrected him. The Lord had a great remnant
that Elijah knew nothing about. But David here is describing
these bad times. The second thing he mentions
here in verse 2 and 3, he said, these ungodly and these unfaithful,
he said, they speak vanity. They don't speak truth. They
speak vanity, everyone with his neighbor, with flattering lips
and with a double heart, a double tongue do they speak. The second
part of verse 3, the Lord shall cut off the flattering lips and
the tongue that speaketh proud things. So they speak vanity,
they speak with flattering lips, they speak with a double heart,
and they speak proud things. That makes for bad times. I think
that's a good description of what goes on in religion in our
day, and they call it preaching. It's nothing but vanity, flattering
lips, double talk, and they speak proud things. I think that pretty
well sums up religion in our day. When the godless man and
the faithless man speak, they speak nothing but vanity. vanity
of vanity. They speak lies, they speak proud
things, they speak deceitful things, they speak with a double
heart. Our Lord told us about that,
if you'll find Matthew chapter 15. He said, you remember speaking
of those Pharisees? He said in vain, Matthew 15 verse
9, in vain Let's go back to verse 7, Matthew
15, verse 7. He said, You hypocrites, well
did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draw nigh unto me
with their mouth, they honor me with their lips, but their
heart, they know their heart's far from me. But in vain they
do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and
not the word of truth. Oh, I tell you, These are sad
times and this makes for bad times when we hear all this vanity,
flattering lips, double talk, proud things. These are sad times
in which we live when the gospel, listen to me, when the gospel
of Satan, his gospel, his counterfeit, Paul called it another gospel
in Galatians chapter 1. When Satan's message and his
ministers seem to prosper and the truth of God's gospel concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ is despised, dismissed as too offensive to appeal to the ungodly. My
friend, I tell you, you can't preach the gospel clear enough,
strong enough, or loud enough to offend a believer, not at
all. It may be offensive and it is
to the flesh when you call a man a sinner, totally depraved, dead,
unable to help himself, to lift himself, to make himself anything
in God's sight. I know that message is offensive.
Should we tone it down a little bit to take the edge off? I like
what my pastor always used to say, you seek to take the edge
off of depravity, of God's electing grace, particular redemption,
effectual call, perseverance. You seek to try to trim it down
and trim off the edge, take off the offense, and you remove the
power of the message. You just diluted it down to nothing
other than flattering lips, vanity, double talk, and proud things. Makes for bad times, doesn't
it? The third thing he mentions here in verse 4, here's an example
of what they say. He gives us an example of their
message. Who have said, here's what they say, with our tongue,
We will prevail. Our lips are our own. And thirdly, who is Lord over
us? That's revealing, isn't it? Here's
an example of what they say. We will prevail. Salvation, you
know, they say is conditioned on the sinner. They say we will
prevail by our merit, by our righteousness. We will prevail. What is the difference between
what we preach here and what goes on in what we call Arminian
circles or mainstream religion in our day? What is the difference?
I tell you, it's life and death, that's the difference. It's light
and darkness, that's the difference. You see, mainstream religion
has the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ died to make salvation
a possibility for all if they will meet certain conditions.
That is, salvation is conditioned on the sinner. The truth of the
message of this book and what we contend and preach for is
salvation totally conditioned, dependent, and accomplished upon,
not the sinner, the sinner's substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now see, that's the difference.
It's a vital difference. Salvation in no way is dependent
upon the sinner, but in every way, dependent upon the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. He accomplished our salvation.
All of it. But there, they will say, with
our tongue, they will say, the sinner will prevail. No, no,
no. I say, God will prevail. How
about you? We don't prevail by our merit,
by our righteousness. That's contrary to the Word of
God. If salvation, if righteousness is by the law, going back to
that staple statement in Galatians 2.21, if righteousness is by
the law, if righteousness is by what I do, or can do, or even
am able to do, then Christ died in vain. Salvation is not by
what we do, it's what he has done. He said it's finished.
So they speak with their tongue that we will prevail. The second
thing they say is this, our lips are our own. Now what I get from
that is this, they say what they want to say, and they say as
they please, and they say we will speak our own doctrine,
our own way, our own will, rather than speaking thus saith the
Lord. Now Paul in his last letter Before
he had his head taken off and executed for the gospel, when
writing back to his beloved son in the gospel, in the ministry,
Timothy, he said, I charge you before God and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who will judge the living and the dead, to preach the word. Preach the word. Preach Christ. Christ and Him crucified. So when we come preaching the
gospel, we don't preach theology by Tom. We don't preach the gospel
by Tom. We preach the gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ as we find it in this book. And if it's
not in this book, we don't preach it. We don't make up things.
You know, I don't sit in my study all week and try to make up things.
I go and find God's Word and teach His Word. It's what He's
already said. And you know, preaching is very
simple. When you get right down to the essence of preaching,
I know you'll say this is so. Preaching is simply just repeating
what God's already said. That's what it is. It's just
simply repeating what God has already said. I'm not making
up anything. I'm preaching what God says here.
He said, they with their tongue say, we will prevail, and our
lips are on, we'll preach what we want. God's servants don't
have that kind of idea. They preach what God has said. You see that? And then the third
thing they say is this. Look at verse 4. And this is
a shocking statement. Who is Lord over us? Who is Lord
over us? It reminds me of a statement
that, remember the words of Pharaoh to Moses? In Exodus chapter 5,
Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord
God of Israel, let my people go, that they may hold a feast
unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, who is the
Lord? That I should obey his voice to let Israel go. I know
not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go who is Lord over us. I tell you who's Lord over us
God Almighty is Lord over us and his people bow in submission
to his sovereign rule his sovereign reign Who is Lord over us? I like what Thomas said remember
I? when he stood face to face with the resurrected
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember he said earlier, I won't
believe he's raised from the dead unless I hold him and see
him. And then when the Lord stood
in front of him, he said, my Lord and my God. Who is Lord
over us? He is. He is Lord. Every knee
will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord to the
glory of God the Father. He is Lord not by something.
I'm thinking about this thought too. You remember what Peter
said in that sermon on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2? This same
Jesus whom you crucify, he is Lord and Christ. He is Lord and
Christ. He's not Lord by something we
do. We hear that in religion today. Make Jesus your Lord.
You can't do that. God beat you to it. God decreed
His Lordship from eternity. We bow to His Lordship. We acknowledge
His Lordship, but we don't make Him Lord. That's ridiculous.
Who is Lord over us? Oh, I tell you who's Lord over
us. God Almighty. God Almighty. Now, here's something
else. I'm going to skip all the way
down to verse 8. We're talking what makes for bad times. We're
going to talk about good thoughts here in a minute. But to set
the table for that, I want to give you the bad news first,
and then tell you the good news. The wages of sin is death. That's
the bad news. The good news is the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. David here mentions
in verse 8 of Psalm 12, this makes for bad times, when the
wicked walk on every side. and when the vilest of men are
exalted." That makes for bad times, bad times. Bad times are
when the wicked walk everywhere, when they're exalted everywhere
in religion and elsewhere, or when the religious ungodly exalt
themselves as God. That makes for bad times. Paul
talks about that in 2 Thessalonians 2. And I'll let you go there and
read that, when those exalt themselves in the temple of God and make
out themselves to be some kind of deity. 2 Thessalonians 2,
you can read that second chapter. Today, don't we see this today? The will of the sinner is exalted
above the will of God. Salvation has been reduced to
creature merit rather than God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty
is denied and creature will and creature merit is lifted up. You know, all bad theology, all
bad theology comes from two sources. Number one, an attempt to make
God less than he is or an attempt to make man more than he is.
That sums it up. Oh, when they exalt themselves
on every side, and we see that in religion, rather than bow down. bow down
and worship, it's, we see this stand up and be counted. No,
it's bow down, sinner, bow down. Well, these are the things that
David here mentions that make for bad things, but here he mentions
some good thoughts, good thoughts for bad times. In verse one,
go back there, here's the first thing. I've got three or four
of these thoughts here for, for bad times. Number one is this,
found in verse one, help Lord. That's a good thought. That's
a good thought for bad times. Help! Help! Not mom, dad. Not brother, sister. Help! Lord. Jehovah. Lord. Help us, Lord. Oh, Lord, save us. You know,
this was David's constant plea unto God. You remember back in
Psalm 6? Turn over there. Verse 4, return, O Lord, deliver
my soul, O save me for thy mercy's sake. That's his constant plea,
that's his constant cry. In Psalm 9, verse 13, have mercy
upon me, O Lord. I never want to graduate above
being a mercy beggar before the throne of God. Have mercy upon
me, O Lord, and consider my trouble. and lift me up from the gates
of death." That's a good thought. That's a good thought for bad
times, is it not? Help, Lord! Help me. He's the only one who is able
to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him. When
there's not a friend to be found, our cry is, Help, Lord! When sins abound and condemn
us, our thought is, Help, Lord! Who else can put away our sin
but the Lord Jesus Christ? And when trials and heartache,
sorrow overwhelm us, our cry is unto the Lord, Help, Lord! For he is a present help in trouble. He is our strength in weakness. David said in another psalm,
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. So when we have bad times, and
when we're living in bad times, what are our thoughts? What thoughts
do we have for bad times? What good thoughts do we have?
Help, Lord. Here's the second one. in verse
3. The first part of verse 3, the
Lord shall cut off flattering lips. Now one day, one day this
nonsense that we see going on in the name of God will be put
to an end. One day those who trample on
the blood of the covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ, one day
these flattering lips will be forced to say, Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. One day in judgment,
the Lord will cut off, the Lord will put to silence these false
prophets, these ministers of Satan who trample on the gospel
of God's grace. He will righteously judge the
wicked and those that despise His gospel. Judgment day is coming. The wrath of God is coming one
day. The Lord will cut them off. And
it's not our business to try to put them out of business. I've tried that. It doesn't work.
It's not our business to try to put the false prophet out
of business. Just don't go there. Our business,
our Lord said, go preach the gospel. Now, I'm not trying to
put the false prophet out of business. You can't do that.
They somehow, by God's wisdom and providence, they continue
to flatter, they continue in the ministry, but one day God
will cut them off, and righteously so. Now, here's the third thing
David mentions here in verse 5, for the oppression of the
poor Here's good thoughts for bad times. For the oppression
of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now the Lord will
arise, saith the Lord. Now will I rise, saith the Lord,
and I will set him in safety. I will set him in salvation from
them that would puff at him. Those who would ensnare him,
the marginal reference. David prayed, Lord help me. Now
at the appointed time, the Lord will arise, He will save His
people. His people are what those two words we read through the
Psalms, you see them there, a description of God's people in verse 5, those
two words, poor and needy. Poor and needy, that describes
God's people, poor and needy. David said in Psalm 40, I am
poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. God is nigh
them of a broken heart, he save us such as be of a contrite spirit.
Who are these poor and needy? Sinners. in need of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know it's a blessed thing
to know that you're spiritually bankrupt and that you're poor
and needy. Our Lord said in Matthew, I believe
it's Matthew 5, yes here it is, Matthew 5, blessed are the poor
in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed is that man who
sees his need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see yourself as
being poor, spiritually having nothing in yourself? And do you
see something of your need of salvation in Christ Jesus? You know, the good news of the
gospel is he's able to meet all our need according to his singular
need. He's all I need. That's why it's
singular. He's able to meet all our needs
according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus. And the
Lord will arise. He will arise in defense of His
people. He will arise in the defense of the gospel. I will
set Him in safety, the poor and needy. I will set Him in salvation. I will put Him in Christ from
those that would ensnare Him. The Lord will set his people
in salvation from all the enemies that come against them. I love
this scripture in Colossians 2, the words following, having
spoiled, speaking of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ, having
spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them himself. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He always causes
us to triumph in Christ Jesus. You see, He has put away our
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. He said, because I live,
you shall live also. He delivered us from the fear
of death. See what he's saying here in this psalm? I will set
him in safety. I will set him in Christ who
is our salvation. And he is our Savior. He saves
his people with an everlasting salvation. You see, God doesn't
give as some men would give something and then take it back. God gives his people You know,
he calls it everlasting salvation. He said, I give my sheep eternal
life and they'll never perish. He's obtained for us eternal
redemption. What he gives, whatsoever the
Lord doeth, I'm thinking of that scripture over in Ecclesiastes,
maybe you can help me here. Whatsoever the Lord doeth, it
shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it. Nothing
can be taken from it. The Lord doeth it, that it shall
be forever. It's forever. You see, the salvation
we enjoy is not a temporary amnesty. It's eternal life, eternal salvation. They'll never perish. None can
pluck them out of His hand. You see, the Lord will arise
for His people. These are good thoughts. You
see what He's saying here? These are good thoughts for bad
times. The Lord will arise, the Lord
will defend for us. The Lord's our surety, the Lord's
our mediator. I will set him in safety." That
sounds to me like salvation of the Lord. I will set him in safety,
but of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That's a good
thought for bad times. Well, here's the fourth one found
in verse 6. Good thoughts. The words of the Lord. are pure
words, as silver tried in a furnace of the earth, of earth and purified
seven times." Seven times. What a contrast here between
the vain, flattering words of men and the pure, inerrant commandment
and testimony and precepts of the Lord. You read through Psalm
119 sometime, Have you ever noticed in Psalm 119, with the exception
of one or two verses, in every verse of that Psalm 119, I think
there's like, what, 180 some verses? Something like that.
With the exception of one or two verses, every verse has something
to say about the Word of the Lord. Precepts, testimony, commandments,
His Word. Every verse! Every verse. We
ought to make much of the Word of God. You see, the words of
the Lord are pure words. Pure words. Pure. Absolutely
pure. They're perfect. No impurities
within. Refined, it says here, refined
as silver and purified seven times. Now turn to Psalm 19. Psalm 19. I like what Luther said, you
remember the words of Martin Luther? Feelings come and feelings
go and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is a word of God and
nothing else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel
condemned for want of some sweet token, I know one greater than
my heart whose words cannot be broken. So I'll trust God's unchanging
word till soul and body sever. The words of man will pass away.
His word will abide forever. That's what this book teaches.
Look here at Psalm 19. Verse 7, the law of the Lord
is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eye. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous all together. His Word is pure. Boy, we ought
to make much of the Word of God, much of the Word of God. If you
want to find Psalm 119, Psalm 119 verse 140, Psalm 119 verse
140, the Word of the Lord is very pure, therefore thy servant
loveth it. We love His Word. And then in
Psalm 119, verse 89, forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in
heaven. It's settled in heaven. The Word
of the Lord is pure. The Word of the Lord is precious
like silver. To you who believe, He is precious.
Peter talked about the exceeding great and precious promises that
are given unto us in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of the
Lord is not only pure and precious, but the Word of the Lord is permanent.
Permanent. It's unchanging. Forever thy
word is settled in heaven. The word of the Lord endures
forever. The word of the Lord is not only pure, precious, permanent,
but it's powerful. Powerful. It's powerful. The word of God is quick and
powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword piercing through the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit. I can't pierce your heart. God's
word can. I'm going to repeat it, I'm going
to read it, and I'm going to make much of the Word of the
Lord. The Word of the Lord is powerful, and the Word of the
Lord is penetrating. Sharp like a sword, but penetrating
like an arrow, an arrow. Good thoughts for bad times.
Here's the last one, and I'll let you go with this. Back to
our psalm, verse 7. Here's the fifth one, verse 7.
Thou shalt keep them I believe he's talking here not only about
the word of the Lord, but about the poor and needy. He shall
keep them. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord.
Now notice this. Thou shalt, underscore that.
Thou shalt. See verse 7? And then again,
thou shalt. We're kept by the power of God. It's not what we shall do. We shall overcome, they say.
No. No, thou shalt. Thou shalt. Keep them. Keep them. That's particular redemption.
That's his sheep. He'll keep them. You see, he
bought them. He paid the price for them. He's
going to have them. He's going to save them to the
uttermost. Thou shalt keep them. Who's going
to do that? Look at the next two words. Oh,
Lord! He said, all that the Father
hath given to me, they will come to me, and I will in no way cast
them out. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Here's the second one. Thou shalt
preserve them from this generation forevermore. Forevermore. Thou shalt. Thou shalt. He shall save His people by His
free and sovereign mercy, His free and sovereign grace, and
He will certainly keep them by His power, and He shall certainly
preserve His people unto everlasting salvation. Isn't that a good
psalm? Now next time you're going through
some bad times, can you file that away somewhere? Good thoughts
for bad times. right here in his