A few weeks ago on a particular Wednesday morning, I read the following from a former schoolmate of mine. She said, I'm sad today because I have finally come to the realization that morality And the conservative ideals that I was raised with are now the minority. I am in the minority. My beliefs are the minority. She said my country has shifted in a direction that makes my heart hurt and my mind angry. I trust God in all things, and I also can understand his anger before the flood. The comment struck me because it fairly well encapsulated what I was feeling on that particular morning and really, in honesty, what I had been feeling for quite some time. I know back when certain Chickens had brought the issue of same sex marriage to the forefront. I remember just being overwhelmed and surprised and shocked, not that the world would support something like same sex marriage, but that professing Christians. Many, many of them, as I was finding were in support of the same idea. And I remember during that period, experiencing that and speaking with those people. I'm coming across this song, Psalm 12, and being struck by how applicable it seemed to the to the way I felt at time at the time and actually then back then I started working on a message from that song, but was diverted and providentially, perhaps because maybe God knew that some of us would feel even worse now than we might have then. The applicability of the psalm jumps off the page of us at the first verse. Save, O Lord, for the godly one is gone. The faithful have vanished from among the children of men. Do you ever feel that way? Do you feel that way now? Have you ever felt so outnumbered in your beliefs so as to seem completely and entirely alone? Maybe not in the broader culture, per se, but maybe maybe in your own particular circumstances, maybe in your workplace, maybe in your academic environment, maybe even for some of us in our own families. Sometimes we feel exactly. What the psalmist here has expressed, they're gone, the godly are gone, the faithful have vanished, nobody's left. This is not an unfamiliar complaint in scripture. It's a frequent theme of several of the Psalms. We see prophets as well echoing this same complaint, I'm alone, there's no one left, it's only me. Consider Elijah's complaint that Paul picks up in the book of Romans. And Romans chapter 11, verse two, Paul says, Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have demolished your altars. I alone am left and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself seven thousand. Seven thousand men who have not found the need to bail, and Paul says, applying that to his current situation, so, too, at the present time, there's a remnant chosen by grace. Sometimes God doesn't say that. Sometimes God doesn't tell his people that it's really not as bad as it seems. And that's because sometimes sometimes it really is as bad as it seems. Sometimes, whether it's in a given situation or looking again broadly at the culture, sometimes it is true that God's people and those who hold to the truth of the gospel are so outnumbered as to seem completely alone. And this song. This psalm appears to be set in just such a circumstance. Now, the psalmist doesn't just have a generalized complaint here. He backs it up, he backs it up with evidence and evidence that is particularly significant, if you see in verse two, why is he so convinced that he's alone, that the godly are gone, that the faithful have vanished? Verse two, everyone utters lies to his neighbor with flattering lips and a double heart, they speak. The scarcity of truth. Really is a good sign of bad times. Here we're dealing with with outright lies that people are telling with flattery. Literally, the text is they speak with a heart and a heart. We've translated that as with a double heart or a double mind, the idea being they say one thing, but what they're really thinking, what they're really believing is something else. Now, we don't know we don't know the precise circumstances of this song. There are a number of times throughout the life of David where a complaint like this could have been applicable as he was running from his king and his entire country, as cities were betraying him, giving up his location. As he was fighting against ungodly nations later and then eventually, as he was running for his life from the members of his own household. Plenty of times when David was effectively alone. But we know also that for Christ. Who many of David's experiences and his words describing them, the Psalms foreshadow, we know that Christ truly was left alone. falsely accused by those who would put him to death by false witnesses who were coming up and denied even by his closest friends. Who said, I don't even know who he is. They ended up betraying and denying him. He truly was in a way that David never even was alone and by himself. What about what about our present circumstance? What about? Is it really as bad as David describes here for us? Our culture, our nation. Charles Spurgeon gives a good. Something to consider as we as we look at that question, he says, we must not, however, be rash in our judgment on the point. And referring back to the example that we already mentioned for Elijah aired, counting himself the only servant of God alive when there were thousands whom the Lord held in reserve. And he says the present times always appear to be peculiarly dangerous because they are nearest to our anxious gaze and whatever evils are rife are sure to be observed by the faults of past ages are further off and more easily overlooked. Are we in the situation of Christ? Are we in the situation of David? Are we even in the situation of Elijah? I would say certainly not yet. God has left us a very, very strong remnant. We may be shrinking, but we're still there. But what about the future? What if the current trajectory holds? It's certainly well beyond me to predict what the outcome of this battle of ideologies is going to be in our nation. I know that the signs of truth prevailing do not appear particularly promising. The lies of our age primarily are accomplished by redefinition. Instead of a child, we call it a fetus. Instead of perversion, we call it love. Instead of speaking the truth, we call it hate. And instead of tolerance, we mean intolerance. Men say one thing and they mean something entirely different. Also, one doesn't need to spend very much time in any kind of discussion to conclude that Truth is not held in the highest regard in our nation at this point. State of our public discourse is atrocious. It's not designed at all to actually get at or defend the truth. It's simply a tool for any particular group to advance its own agenda and the truth be hanged. We're starting to see more and more outright hostility. Toward the beliefs that we hold and that have been commonly held in this nation. Recently, my wife told me of a very well-known conservative radio commentator, land basking Christians holding up the agenda of the Republican Party by clinging to their views on the sanctity of life. On the sanctity of marriage. And on things like creationism, Christians holding on to these things are ruining the situation, this man was saying. Will we ever end up as alone as this psalmist expresses? Will our children, will our grandchildren? We very well may. Everybody feeling better now? And now let's look at this song, because what this song tells us is how to think and where to put our hope and what to do. When it really is as bad as it seems, when we really are as alone as we feel. Where's our hope? So what if what if, despite the church putting forth her best efforts, God really does allow our culture around us to become so opposed to the truth and we become so outnumbered that we are alone? Where will we derive our strength from? Where will we find our comfort? How do we prepare our children for what they very well may be facing? And even if the larger culture never goes that far, how do we as individuals in particular circumstances, in our workplaces, in our college classes, in our families, how do we respond? How do we react? What do we do when it seems we're by ourselves and the godly have vanished? And that's what this song teaches us, how to find that strength, how to find that hope and what to rest upon when it really does seem that we are alone. And the good news is the good news is that because of the character of God, especially as it's manifested in the person and the work of Jesus Christ, our hope, our strength and our confidence can be just as great when we're the minority. As it can when we're the majority. So let's turn to verse one. The first thing out of the psalmist's mouth is this call, save, oh, Lord, restore, make whole, protect, deliver that short word, that single outburst encompasses all of the theology of the song, that reliance upon God to provide that protection. This is the only appropriate response when we truly find ourselves alone among the ungodly is the call for God to save us. But what we see in the rest of the song are ground after ground, after ground, reason after reason, after reason, while we can confidently make that call. We can confidently cry out for God to save us. That's what I want to focus on, and that's what I want to unpack in this song this morning. Now, you don't have an outline in your bulletin this morning, but I'm going to be just following one verse at a time. So hopefully you'll be able to follow along with that. What is the ground of the psalmist's confidence, what can be the ground of our confidence that when we are alone, God will still be our hope and salvation. Verses three and four. May the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say with our tongue, we will prevail. Our lips are with us. Who is master over us? Now, to devolve for a millisecond into some grammar, the opening phrase may the Lord cut off Hebrew doesn't make a distinction all the time between a simple I wish this would happen or a future prophecy. This is what's going to happen. So it's not exactly clear what the psalmist, which way he means it. But really, really, it doesn't matter because either way, whether he's calling out for God to do this or whether he's asserting confidently that God will do it, it's grounded in the same propensity of God found repeatedly through the scriptures, that nature of God, that propensity of God, that tendency of God to humble the proud. To set low the boastful. Now, there's a pretty close connection between falsehood and lies and boasting. This connection we see in another song, Psalm 31, verse 18, David says, let the lying lips be mute, which speak instantly against the righteous in pride and contempt. What is this connection? What is this connection between lying and pride and boasting? The assumption under every lie, under every deceitful word that's uttered as if there isn't anyone who hears. There isn't really anyone who knows the truth to check us against. So in 10, we see this expressed of the wicked in verse 11. He says in his heart, God is forgotten. He's hidden his face. He will never see it. Closely akin to that is the claim that there is no God. Which the scriptures identify as the speech of a fool. Again, the fool isn't so much saying there is no eternal reality, there is no divinity. What he's really saying is God has no bearing on what I'm doing. He doesn't see. He doesn't hear. And here, here's the first ground for our hope is God's response to that kind of thought among mankind. And Psalm 57, verse seven. I'm sorry, 59 for seven. There they are, bellowing with their mouth, their swords in their lips for who they think will hear us and God's response. But you, oh, Lord, you laugh at them. You hold all the nations in derision, echoing some to. Psalm two, verse one, why do the nations rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointing, saying, let us burst their bonds away and cast their cords from us. We see this reflecting who is master over us. This is what the ungodly say. And what, again, is God's response to that? Verse four of Psalm two, he who sits in the heavens last, the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, as for me, I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. Who is master over us, who hears, who will call to account? The king that God has set on Zion, our Lord Jesus Christ. When men mock, when they say, who is there that can tell us what to do? Who is there that can tell us how to speak? Who is there to tell us what the definitions of words need to be? When they say we can thwart any authority over us and make things mean whatever we want. God finds it funny. He finds it laughable. And he will not allow it to stand. He will not be mocked. He will bring the wicked in submission specifically to his son. So this is the first ground for our hope that the song gives us. We have confidence that even if the false boasters really do have as much power as it seems at the moment. Come what may. God will not allow them to succeed. We don't always know when, but we can always know that. The flattering lips and the boastful tongue. Those attempts to disavow Christ's authority over their speech. They'll be cut off. A call on our part to perseverance, then, is the. As we await the inevitable outcome is the message of this part of the song. Ground to. Looking at verse five now. What confidence can we have that even when we're alone, God will act? Because the poor are plundered, because the needy grown, I will now arise, says the Lord, I will place him and say in the safety for which he longs. Lies are based on a boast. Lies are all also frequently used to justify violence. And oppression and particularly oppression of those who can't defend themselves. Of the poor and the needy, we say as children. And there's a grain of truth to it, the way that we say it, that sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never harm me. The Psalms portray language in a very different light. Words are swords, words or arrows, words or weapons of destruction. And this is the way that the ungodly will use them. Isaiah, chapter 32, verse seven, prophet says, as for the scoundrel, his devices are evil. He plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right. The wicked don't usually make up lies merely as an end in themselves just because it's fun. No, we call the truth hate speech so that we can forcibly silence it. We call a child a fetus so that we can kill it. The end of lies is bloodshed. But just as God does not brook arrogance, nor does he tolerate the oppression of those who can't defend themselves. Just as he's moved by righteous indignation to act against those who boast, so is he moved by compassion to act in favor of those who are oppressed. for the sake of righteousness, Psalm 918, for the needy shall not always be forgotten and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. God heard the groaning of his people in Israel, he answered the plea of David and set him on his throne, he heard the prayers of Christ and rose him to his exalted right hand, he promises to give swift justice to his chosen. Just as he humbles the proud, so does he lift up the humble. And Psalm two in particular, we see that the means God uses. The agent he uses. to free the needy and oppressed is Christ himself. Psalm 72, a messianic song, prayer for the king, prayer for the son of the king. And verse 12 of Psalm 72, for he delivers the needy when he calls the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy and speaking especially of Christ from oppression and violence. He redeems their life and precious. Is there blood in his sight? Our second ground, then, that we have for hope when the world is against us is that God will not suffer the poor to be oppressed forever by the lies of the wicked. He will be moved and he will act on behalf of his people. We see the third foundation, the third ground for our hope, and verse six, the words of the Lord are pure words. Like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. This may seem like something of a non sequitur at first. How does this follow? Where does this fit into the logic that that the psalmist is unfolding here? But consider consider this verse here. to be the underlying foundation of everything else that's being said, the ultimate ground for the other grounds that we have for hope. First of all, notice, as we've been looking through the song, how heavily focused it is upon speech, on the lips, upon the tongues, upon the mouths, upon the words, upon the lies, upon the flattery. Speech is very, very, very central to this song. So why at this point then bring up the purity of God's speech. And what does that mean? Even we have parallel passages, we have some 19 beginning with verse seven, the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Many aspects of the purity of God's word mentioned there. But in particular, in this context, given the contrast that we're supposed to notice, the purity of God's word here being spoken of. Is it purity from error? It's purity from deceit. It's containing no falsehood. The refining process that's mentioned there seven times in a furnace on the ground, this refers to the the highest refining technology that they had available to them at the time where you would purge out the dross and purge out the dross process. You repeat over and over and over again until there was nothing at all but silver left in the silver. Not to imply, of course, that God's word needs to undergo that process. The comparison is being made between his word and the end product. Nothing that needs to be. Questioned nothing that needs to be doubted. His word is pure and it is pure truth without any mixture of error or deception in it. How then does this fit into the psalm? How does this fit into the argument that the psalmist is making? First, again, the contrast that we've been seeing with the speech of man, where man's speech is polluted with falsehood and flattery flowing out of a boastful heart and designed for oppression. God's speech flows out of his own perfect character. It's wholly free from error, wholly free from deception, and it's designed for the good of his people. This is what underlies God's swift and decisive movement against the boastful, their speech is so contrary to his character, so contrary to his moral will that he will not tolerate it. On the other hand, The purity, the reliability, the truthfulness of God's speech makes it for us a great ground of hope and that we can trust in his promise to deliver. Whereas the words of man, we know we never know what he really thinking, what are his intentions really? When God says, I will arise and I will grant him the safety for which he longs. We can know that is exactly what he will do, the purity of God's word, then is a foundation for our hope, because it means we can trust his promises fully and wholly. Verse seven, the result of all of these grounds for hope. As we look to his hatred for boasting his opposition to the proud, his concern, his care for the needy and the purity of his word, what is the conclusion that we can draw here again? And in verse seven is that promise that we can rest on. You, O Lord, will keep them, you will guard us from this generation forever. Whether it be David's generation, whether it be Christ's generation. Whether it be any generation that we find ourselves outnumbered in. We have this promise, he will keep us, he will guard us. What sense does he guard us and what sense does he keep us from the generation in which we find ourselves? A couple of senses in which we should take this person, the most obvious one is that he keeps us from ultimately falling victim to their schemes. She is reflected in the Westminster Shorter Catechism in crisis. He fulfills our office of king. He rules and defends us. He restrains and he conquers all his and our enemies. And that way he keeps us from the generation. A second sense in which he keeps us and preserves us in a wicked generation is he preserves us from being swept up in their destruction. This is a theme that comes up a number of times in scripture. Second, Peter to Peter talks about lot as an example of God being able to punish Sodom and Gomorrah and at the same time rescuing his chosen lot, the righteous. We see a very clear example of this in. The exodus as an entire generation, the entire generation that rejects God dies in the wilderness. Minus two minus Caleb and Joshua. As Peter reminds us, God is able in his destruction, in his punishment of the wicked to preserve the righteous. So there's that preservation as well. The third. God preserves us from the generation in which we find ourselves. By keeping us from falling in among them. This is the key thing to remember as we are tempted maybe to take this us and them mentality is that by the grace of God, there is no us and them. There is only them. And we would be just as subject to our own lies and our own boasts and our own oppression were it not for the grace of God making a difference, making a distinction by his power and by his mercy, sanctifying us and setting us apart. This is what we pray for and the Lord's Prayer when we pray, deliver us from evil. We're not just meaning keep bad things from happening to us, but lead us not into temptation. God promises also to preserve his people in this way. By keeping them distinct and separate from the generation. That is rejecting his word. And so because of all these things we've mentioned, because of God's Tendency to humble the proud, to lift up the needy, the purity of his own word. We have this promise of preservation. Doesn't that seem to you like a good place to end? I mean, it would to me, right? Good, positive, strong note. We have one more verse here. On every side, the wicked prowl as vileness is exalted among the children of men. This is the last last thought we're left with in this song. We're left with a wicked prowling. We're left with vileness being exalted. David knew how to end a song on a positive note. We have plenty of them. Why then here? And that was part of the reason I wanted to stick to his order. rather than take a more disassembling and reassembling in a thematic manner, because he did this for a reason. The spirit of God moved David to speak these words and these words in this order. Why end this way? Is it is it to keep our minds on a note of warning to keep us on our guard that that could be. Could be the message could be that our confidence in the reliability of God's word is not grounds for them just ignoring the potential danger around us. But why else? Why else might he want us to leave this song with the surrounding wicked being the last thing on our minds? Why does he want us to not forget the wicked? I think we have a possible parallel, an explanation and another song and Psalm 59 that I referred to earlier, which has very, very much the same character and and flow of thought of this song. Psalms being alone, the wicked amassing to destroy him and calling for God's salvation. He says this in Psalm 59, 11. It's just one little short phrase. Kill them not. The whole song, destroy them, break their teeth, break their arms, wipe them out in 11, kill them not. And then he says, lest my people forget. The wicked, so to speak, they are not put to death in this song. Here they still are. Prowling about. Exalting vileness, why? So that we won't forget. So that we won't forget what? Again, as I mentioned earlier, first of all, that we won't forget that there by the grace of God are we. But secondly, and I think this is more the thrust of Psalm 59 and probably the use that the psalmist is making of that same idea here. Why does God ever expose us to danger in the first place? So that he can rescue it, rescue us from it so that he can display his glory, he can display his power, he can display his mercy. So that he can show us how he deals with unbelief, God overthrows unbelief. God overthrows oppression. That's what it's there for. It's there to remind us, it's also there to create in us a sense of dependence upon him for that. When things are perfect, when everything's going well, we tend to forget. God warned his people, Israel, of this many times, you're going to get rich, you're going to get fat, you're going to get happy and you're going to forget me. God leaves the ungodly among us. To force us to look to him, to force us to look past our own ability and our own strength. And the purity of our own words and our thoughts and our speech and our beliefs. And to rest in him. The final verse of the song then serves. As a call to continued and continual dependence on the God who continually sustains us, even when and especially when. We're hopelessly outnumbered. Will it get so bad for us? We don't know. Let us do all that we can, all that God has put within our power to see that it doesn't. But in the meantime, let the seeming strength of the lying godless around us remind us by contrast of the purity of God's word and of the confidence that we can have in his salvation because of the flawlessly pure promises he makes to us as his people. Let's pray. Father, you know our hearts. You know our situations. You know the opposition that we may be facing in our jobs or in our school places or in our families. And Father, you have the precisely correct temperature of this nation and of this people and where things are headed. You know our concerns. You know our fears. And for that reason, Father, we're so thankful that you give us your word, your word that we can rely on, that can steer us, that can give us hope and confidence through times, even when it does seem, Father, like we're alone. Remind us, Father, that we are never truly alone, as long as you are our God and Christ is our Lord. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen.