I waited for the Lord my God. And patiently he did bear, At length to me he did imply, to hear. It took me from my fearful place ♪ And from the mining clay ♪ ♪ And on the rock he set my feet ♪ ♪ I shake my way ♪ ♪ You put a new song in my life ♪ ♪ A goal to magnify me ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars ♪ ♪ Through the perilous fight ♪ Turn with me, if you would, this evening to Psalm 12, the book of Psalms and to Psalm number 12. The book of Psalms and to Psalm number 12 and we wish to take us our text, verse 1. Help Lord, for the godly man Caesar, for the faithful fail from among the children of men. Wanting to take these words as our text this evening. The psalmist was someone who was disturbed and troubled. He was troubled because of the things that he was seeing and that he was witnessing in his own day. He saw godly men leaving this world, godly men ceasing, and at the same time he saw the wicked prospering. Now we live in similar days. In a week when we have seen the passing of the senior minister of the Edinburgh congregation here, Reverend John J Murray, passing into eternity, we see that all too often the godly people are being removed from our land. And at the same time, we can say with the psalmist, the wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted. Now when the psalm was actually written, no one really knows. It very possibly was in the time of Saul. early on when David was seeing in Saul's reign some of the things that he describes for us here. But whether it was then or whether it was later is irrelevant in many respects because the things that we learn from the psalm are timeless. They are timeless lessons that we are able to learn this evening. Now what was David to do in such a day in which he was living? When the wicked were on every side, vile men were exalted, and yet the godly men were being removed from his midst. What was David to do? David could speak out. David could complain. David could give an example to all around him. But the fact is, David ultimately was helpless. He could not and was unable to really do anything about it. And that is why we have this psalm. And we are in a similar situation. I remember when I was younger, elders' boxes being filled with godly men. used to go to church and I'm sure many of you would remember it even in the Edinburgh congregation or in congregations that you were in. Boxes, elders' box that was filled with godly men and the pews filled with godly men and women. But we find today that the Lord is taking such people away from our midst. Such people are being removed from us. And wickedness is walking all around us. And what are we to do? Well, we can speak out. We can give an example. We can protest. We can complain. As we do. I wrote to the Prime Minister just this week. But at the end of the day, we have to say the same as David. We are helpless. And therefore, what are we to do? Well, what was David to do? Well, David, we find, has three things. And the first thing is, David prays. He brings his petition and his place before the Lord. He says, help Lord, for the godly man seeth. Now it's wonderful, here you have a psalm. This isn't one of the psalms. David is going to sing this. The psalms are wonderful. Is any merry, let him sing a psalm. Teaching and admonishing in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, the threefold division of the psalms. How wonderful these psalms are for praise and for worship. How wonderful the psalms are for theology and for learning about the things even of the gospel and the Lord Jesus Christ. And here in this psalm, we are told something of a prayer when David brings before the Lord his problems. Now, David prays. Men pray. Men are spiritual beings. Man is a spiritual being. He is naturally spiritual. He naturally cries out in a time of trouble. And how many are there today that will cry out in a time of trouble to God? They pray. They pray. And they turn. Muslims will turn to Allah. Hindus will pray. Jehovah's Witnesses will pray. People will pray to the saints, to the Virgin Mary, they will pray, because man is a spiritual being. And therefore in that respect, in some respects at least, David is no different to any other man, even in his own day. There would be many of the pagan nations, they would pray to their gods, to Dagon and to Moloch. David wasn't unique in that position. What made David different then to any other man? It wasn't that David prayed. It was the one to whom David made his petition. That's what makes the fundamental difference. Help Lord. If you see the word Lord there in the authorised version, it's not Elohim. The Reshit Vara Elohim is the beginning. In the beginning God created Elohim. It's not Adonai. It is Jehovah, the one that David is praying to. And that word Jehovah, that name Jehovah, you know it's Jehovah in the authorised version when all the letters are capitalised. When you see the word Lord written in your authorised version and it's capitalised, you know that this is the name Jehovah. And that's the name, that's the personal name of God, that is the self-existent one. It's that very personal name that the father has. And it is the name by which he is known as I am, and the name in which he is known as the covenant-keeping God. David is bringing his prayer into the presence of the covenant-keeping God. In fact, when you look at David, you go back to the life of David and you go to 2 Samuel chapter 23, you discover the last words of David, the psalmist. Now, think of all the mighty things that David did in his life. David was a wonderful man. Think of him slaying Goliath. Think of him destroying all the nations around about. Think of him taking up the throne in Jerusalem and being a king like no other king. What a man David was, a man of war, a man who won so many battles. Think of all that David achieved. But at the end of David's life, David says this, the God of Israel, the Rock of Israel, spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. He shall be as the light of the morning. David is recognizing that those who rule should be like lights, shining lights to the rest of the people. A morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing up out of the earth. This is the way a king should be. But David says, my house be not so before God. What then is David remembering when he comes to the end of his life? What is it that David is bringing before us? Is it the destruction of Goliath? Is it the taking up of the throne? Is it that he was a wonderful king? He says this, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things insure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire. See, David was praying to the covenant-keeping God. There is no other God in this world like Jehovah. Allah, you pray to Allah, and will Allah save you or will he not? Even Muhammad didn't know whether he would be saved or not, because Allah is simply Allah. He decrees all things. And there is no other God that enters into covenant the way Jehovah has entered into covenant with His Son, Jesus Christ. What a great encouragement that is for us today to pray to Jehovah, to God, to God the Father, because he has shown his covenant faithfulness in sending his Son, Jesus Christ, into this world. In fact, Psalm 12 is as much about Jesus Christ as it is about King David. Because when Christ came into this world, you can imagine Simeon and Anna in the temple waiting for the consolation of Israel, waiting for God to bless his people. And you can perhaps hear them saying these words, help Lord, the godly man ceases. The faithful fall from among us. The wicked are on every side, those who are full of pride, those who are full of deceit. These are words that could be said at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, the Lord is faithful to his covenant. He sends his son, Jesus Christ, into this world. He's faithful. He's the covenant-keeping God. He has set his love upon a people. And although David wasn't the perfect king, David committed sin with Bathsheba, he wasn't faithful, but God is faithful. and God blesses his people. And my friend, that's even true today. He is the same covenant keeping God. He is the same hearer of prayer. Now what does that tell us? Now you might think that Psalm 12 is all about the nation and how the nation has to repent. And that's true. But we've got to remember that when David wrote here about the nation of Israel, He's writing about God's people. So there is an aspect in which it's the children of Israel are God's people, it's the church, it's where the church is to be found, and yet at the same time, it's a nation. Now, when Psalm 12 is penned, it is saying that the nation needs to repent, but the first thing that needs to happen is for the church to repent and come and pray to God crying out for help. That's what David is telling us here. He doesn't begin with the nations. He says, help, Lord, for the godly man sees it. He's crying to God for help. That's the first thing, surely, that we learn in Psalm 12, that the church needs to come and humble itself. The church needs to come in all its helplessness, not thinking that it's self-sufficient, not thinking that we can do it all ourselves, but coming and saying, Lord, help us, because we cannot do it. We need thy help. So David here comes and he prays. And what makes him unique among all the men in the world and what makes the Christian unique among all those in the world is that when the Christian prays, he's praying to the living God, the God who has entered into covenant with his son and through his son has entered into covenant with his people. and he is faithful to his covenant. The second thing we notice in the psalm is that not only that David prays, but David is a man of discernment. He's able to discern the signs of the times. He's able to discern what's going on. If there is anything that is lacking in our own day and generation, it's not just that the nation and the world is going off the rails and rebelling against God. It's the lack of discernment that there is among God's people. A lack of discernment. A lack of seeing and spiritually seeing what is going on in the church and in the nation. Now what is it that David is seeing? Well, outwardly he sees them flattering with their lips, he says. They are vain. Everyone with his neighbor flattering with their lips. They've got a double heart. They cut off their flattering lips and they're speaking proud things. That's the outward. But what David is saying here is that when men were dealing in his own day with their neighbor, when they were dealing with God, they were dealing with no principles. They had no solid principles upon which they could deal with people. You couldn't trust. There was a lack of trust. They were deceiving one another. They were flattering themselves. They were flattering their neighbour. They were full of pride. They couldn't trust one another, you couldn't really trust what anybody was saying. My friend, let me give you just some examples of that, even in our own recent past. You have David Cameron being elected as the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Prior to becoming the Prime Minister, he was asked, do you intend to introduce same-sex marriage into this nation? No, they have no intention, he said, to introduce same-sex marriage. Within two sessions of the parliament, he had introduced legislation for same-sex marriage. Let's come a wee bit closer to Boris Johnson recently. Boris Johnson says that when he was, he's bringing in a legislation for the coronavirus legislation to save life. When he was asked whether he would introduce legislation at the same time about abortion, They were, in fact, going to introduce it, but then they said, no, they're not going to do it. Then there was pressure from the pressure groups, and now they're saying they are going to do it. They're going to introduce legislation that means that abortion can be performed by a woman in her home without any medical assistance. Now, how perverse. In the one hand, they're going to do it, then they're not going to do it, then they're going to do it, and now they are going to do it. Where is the principle? What principles do our politicians work upon? And then you have a legislation that's supposed to save life. And in the same legislation, they introduce legislation that will destroy life. David in his day said they were flattering, they were deceiving, they were double minded, they were double hearted, they were acting in ways that They couldn't be trusted. Vile men are exalted. Wickedness walketh on every side. We today have the same thing. But that's not unusual, is it? Because once again, we find that this is pointing to the ignorance that David saw among them. They said, we with our tongue, we will prevail. Who's going to say anything against us? We can say what we like, we can do what we like. Who is going to be lord over us? He sees the ignorance of them. You see, it's not just that they were deceiving, they're being deceived. The same people who are deceiving are being deceived because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately looking. He said they had no principles. And when you take away the word of God out of a nation, then every man doeth that which simply seemeth right in his own eyes. And that's what was true in David's day. And that's what was true in the day of Christ. Do you remember in the day of Christ, how Paul, David brings out four things here. There was vanity. Do you remember how in the Lord's Day they spoke about vain things? How in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 23, and in verse 23, the Lord Jesus Christ addresses this very thing. They were vain. In other words, it was like empty froth. That's what they were taken up with. Empty things. Empty froth. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees. Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith. These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone. There was vanity. There was flattery. Pilate's flattering Herod. Herod's flattering Pilate. And there's pride. Oh, my friend, there's pride in David's day. There's pride in Christ's day. And there's pride in more ways than one in our own day. Think of the pride of the Pharisees and the scribes. We have Abraham to our father. All these things were there. My friend, all these things are here today. Vanity. Pride. flattery, deceitfulness, double-heartedness. And what can that do for the poor sinner, for the oppressed poor and for the sighings of the needy? What can any of that do for the poor sinner or the needy? It couldn't do anything in Christ's day. The man lies beside the pool of Siloam and the religion of the day could do nothing for him. and the religion of our own day can do nothing for the poor sinner. Well then, David prays to Jehovah. David has discernment. He sees what's going on and discerns that this is of the heart. This is a great spiritual problem. And what's the answer? Well, it's wonderful because when David is there, he says, vile men are exalted in his own day. Vile men are exalted. They were put into high places. That happens today, isn't it? Vile men are exalted. Pop stars, actors and actresses, and all these people, and up and into politicians, and to all manner of things. And what happens to the minister of the gospel? A minister of the gospel leaves this world this week, and nobody will even know, other than God's people. The world won't be up in Ireland. And yet you get some of the most vile men, and the world almost stops in its axis. Vile men are exalted, then wickedness walks on every side. What's the answer? Well, you know, as David is singing, and in eight verses he's singing, David has got the answer even in his prayer. David has got the answer to it, as he actually writes and as he sings, as he pens this psalm, he's got the answer. What is the answer? Well, first of all, the promises of God. The Lord shut up, cut off all flattering lips. For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, I will arise, saith the Lord. The answer is to be found in the Lord. And I want you to notice here that everything that David sees wrong with his day, there's an answer for. There's an answer for every single one of them. When you examine this, all that David is saying, the vanity, the flattery, the pride, the double mindedness, the double heart, there's an answer to it all. First is the Lord's promises. They say to themselves, our lips are our own. Who's Lord over us? The Lord has said, the Lord has said, I will arise. The Lord has said that he will arise and he will bring account. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips. That's the promise of God. My friend, when you see today, the answer to all that's going on in the nation is for the Lord's people to come and lay hold upon the promises that God has given to us. I will never leave thee, I will never forsake thee, I will cut off all flattering lips, and although the world may today appear to be going on as though everything is fine, it's wonderful, Psalm 73. Psalm 73 speaks of the Psalmist almost slipping away. He's almost moved by what he sees because the world seems to go on. The world seems to even go into death as though it's very calm. They often make it like the Niagara Falls. I've never seen them, but they say that up to the Niagara Falls, right up to the edge, the water is just gliding along very gently and slowly. And that's what the psalmist saw. He says, I saw them. My feet almost slipped until I went into God's house. And then I saw, he says, their latter end. Then I saw their latter end and it shook him. He then knew, because he says their latter end, even though in this life they go through life as though there is nothing, it's like going over the edge of the Niagara Falls. They may glide very softly until they go over the edge. their death. We need to lay hold again upon the promises that God has given. And what is the promise that was given to David here? He says, for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now I will arise, saith the Lord. When was the Lord going to arise? You see, this psalm is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, the promise. that God would come and he would arise and he would bring his people into safety. I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. And my friend, there's the promise that was given to David. It's the Lord Jesus Christ that the Lord would come and he would put his people into safety. And those who are the Lord's, the Lord has arisen and the Lord Those who are in Christ are like being in Noah's Ark. They are safe when the floods come. They're like being in the house when the angel of death comes down among God's people. They're safe, they're sheltering under the blood. The Lord has arisen and they're safe. And that ought to be the great comfort to David, there is the answer. The answer that David has to it all is the gospel. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the answer we have today is not some cure for some virus. The answer for the ills of our own day is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That outside of Christ, there is no safety. You may go inside your door and feel that you're safe from the virus, but you're not safe. from the plague of sin. It's only when we are, the Lord now, he says in verse five, for the oppressed and for the needy, I will arise and I will set them in safety. That's wonderful, isn't it? But the second thing, there's another thing, and that is the word of God. The psalmist, the words of the Lord are pure words. You see how he's countering. and how there's an answer to everything that there is out there in the world. They speak about vain things, it says. They speak about vanity. They speak about frivolous things. They speak about things that are of no account whatsoever in the sphere of this world. Is that true today? People go about and they're taken up with the mere vain things of this world. What's the next soap all about? What's going to happen to the next footballer? What's going to happen here, there and everywhere? And they're taken up with the vain things of this world. They speak vanity. But you see the word of God. The word of the Lord. The word of Jehovah. That doesn't speak about vain things. That speaks about the most important things that you could ever speak about. The well-being of your soul. And then he says, they flatter themselves, their mouth's full of flattery. My friend, does the word of God flatter man? Is the word of God not telling the truth when it speaks about man and the deceitfulness of the heart? Does the Bible come and flatter man? That's why they don't like the Bible. That's why they want to be atheists, because they think they can flatter themselves, that all will ultimately be well. But that's not true, because the Bible doesn't flatter man. The Bible tells us that we are held to serving sinners. And David sees that. Thy word is pure. It's the word of the Lord. And he says, they speak proud things. The tongue that speaketh proud things, he says, there's a counter to that. Proud things. The Bible humbles. It's the Bible that brings law and humbles the poor sinner in the dust. David's telling those of his own day, they need to listen not to what man says, but they need to listen to what God says. Because the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver that is tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times, perfect. and preserved. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation. My friend, how many assaults have there been on the Bible? How many times has the devil tried to close the mouth of the preacher? How many times have they tried to destroy the Bible? My friend, I remember years ago one man getting up onto a platform and he got up onto the platform with a Bible And he took the portion of Leviticus that spoke about abominations and he ripped it out of the Bible. Anybody can rip it out all he likes. It doesn't make it any less true. And the Bible is still there. The Bible still stands sure. The Lord knoweth them that are his. What's needed in our own day is the Bible. and the church to come back to the Bible, the church to come back and lay hold upon the word of God, because wicked men, the wicked walk on every side, and the vilest of men are exalted. David sees the answer, it's in the word of God, which never deceives. The word of man will deceive, because you'll get politicians and they'll say this one day, within a few days, to suit something else, they'll say something else, they'll change their mind and again it'll be something else. But the Bible never deceives. The word of man will deceive you. The word of man will flatter you. The word of man will flatter us and speak proud things to us, but the Bible is the word of God, the word of the God who cannot lie. Thy words are pure words, tried in the furnace of earth seven times. Well then, what do we learn from this? Well, I think what we learn, first of all, is that the psalmist here, when he speaks, is not speaking so much about nation. He's as much speaking to the church. The church itself must be humbled the way David was humbled. The church itself must be discerning of the times the way David was discerning of the times. The church must come and believe the promises that God has given to her in the covenant of grace the way David believed promises of the covenant and the church must come and pray. Help Lord for the godly man's seething, for the faithful fall fail from among the children of men. In a day when we are reminded, even in our own congregation, The Lord taking one of his own out of this world and home to be with himself. We are reminded that the godly have been taken out of this world, but they have been taken into that place where God himself, the head of the church, is to be found. But as we are left, the Lord delights to hear our prayers. Just finally, did the Lord not know everything that David told him? Was the Lord ignorant of what was going on? David tells the Lord that they put flattering lips, that there's vanity, that there's pride, that they deal deceitfully. David says that there are vile men that are exalted while the godly are rejected. That wickedness walks on every side. Does the Lord not know this? Of course the Lord knows it. Of course the Lord is aware of it. But that doesn't mean to say that David wasn't going to pray. Because even though the Lord knew it, the Lord uses means to bring blessing to a nation. And one of the principal means that the Lord uses in bringing up blessing upon a nation are the prayers of God's own people. Let us then pray. Lord, help us. Let us pray to the Lord. Gracious and ever-blessed Lord, we thank thee for thy goodness and thy mercy to us. We thank thee for every blessing we receive from thee, and every day we have reason to praise and bless thy name. We pray that thou, Lord, would turn our nation from its sin. We pray that thou would turn our leaders from their sin. But we pray, Lord, that thou would begin with the house of God, that thou would make thy people to pray and to sing to thee even in prayer, as David the psalmist sang. May it be that thou, Lord, would hear the prayers of thy needy people, that thou would rend the heavens, and that once again thou would remember mercy to thy people in the midst of such a day. Bless us now. Bless our homes. Bless our families. Bless those whom we love. Pardon us all our sins. For Jesus' sake. Amen. We're going to conclude singing in Psalm 12. Singing in the same psalm, Psalm 12, and the tune is Farach. Psalm 12, and we'll sing the whole of the psalm. Help, Lord, because the godly man doth daily fade away, and from among the sons of men the faithful do decay, and to his neighbor every one doth utter vanity, they with a double heart do speak and lips of flattery. Psalm number 12, the whole of the psalm, to the Lord's praise, Help, Lord, because the godly man doth daily fade away. Help, Lord, because the godly man doth daily fade away. ♪ Among the sons of men ♪ ♪ The faithful do they play ♪ ♪ Unto his favor everyone ♪ ♪ Doth utter gratitude ♪ ♪ They with a double heart do sing ♪ ♪ And this a flattery ♪ shall cut off all flattering lips, tongues that speak proudly thus. We'll bid the tongue prevail, our lips are ours, whose Lord are us. For God of rest and for The words of God are words most pure, they mean life's silver shine. the earth and furnace, seven times that hath been purified. Lord, thou shalt then preserve and keep forever from this race. On each side walk the wicked men, but men are high in place. The next services will be on the Lord's Day at 11 a.m. and 6.30. We remember to pray for the wife of the late Reverend John G Murray and their son. We'll conclude with the benediction. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Three persons, one God, rest on and abide with you, now and for evermore. Amen. Bye.