I want to speak to you tonight about the godly slandered. We know that our times are in God's hands. He has appointed for us the day in which we live and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. And ours is indeed a dark day, a day when the tide of truth and godliness is far out. And because we live in a dark day, we will find ourselves and increasingly find ourselves subject to the slanders of the wicked, whether they be our neighbors in the workplace or rulers and those in authority. And I know that you in Scotland, just as we in Australia, are suffering more and more from those who delight in running down Christians, in accusing Christians of the most heinous crimes, or labeling the things that we hold dear as crimes, criminalizing that which really ought to be encouraged. We see it in Australia anyway, in the promotion of what's called hate speech. And of course, hate speech means condemning sin. Often that's what is labelled hate speech. Particularly is that the case in relation to issues of human relationships, ungodly and unbiblical human relationships. Well, I want to speak to you firstly of David being slandered, then of God's judgment upon slanderers, and finally of the implacableness of slanderers. And I want to speak to you from Psalm 120. Your minister tells me that he's been preaching through the Psalms with you, and I have, in my presumption, decided to jump ahead from where you're up to, to Psalm 120, which is titled A Song of Degrees, the first of a number of Psalms with this title. And it is thought by many that this refers to the ascent of the pilgrims who went up to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. And as they came from the various regions of Israel, they would sing these psalms to encourage themselves and to reflect on the worship that they would be offering in the city. It's a very brief psalm, and so I'd like to just read it with you. In my distress, I cried unto the LORD, and He heard me. Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. What shall be given unto thee? Or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper, Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Keda. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war." And you can imagine how David, as he was being pursued by Saul, and perhaps in the light of this terrible massacre of the priests at Nob by Doeg, that he would write or pen, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a psalm such as this. Because David was the subject of slander. Doeg had reported to Saul misinformation about the visit of David to Abimelech. He concealed certain truths from Saul and he magnified other things and put them all out of proportion so that Abimelech was represented as being an enemy of the king. And David, of course, is portrayed as an outlaw, as one who is intent on the overthrow of Saul's throne. And this, of course, was far from the truth. We know that there were two occasions when David had Saul's life in his hands. On both occasions, when David could so easily have slain Saul, he refused it, even when he was urged to do it by his followers. He said, how can I put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed? And that demonstrated the untruthfulness of these accusations that were made against him. Well, as he thinks about this pursuit of Saul, but also the slanders that he was being subjected to, we find David in deep distress. And he says, in my distress, I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. You notice that under the assault of the slanderer and the pursuer, David's recourse is prayer. He prays to the Lord. I find, and I have to confess to you, that so often, when I'm in distress, my first response is to look for human help. And it's only when all those avenues fail, I finally turn to the Lord, to my shame. Now we need to learn a lesson from David here. In my distress, I cried unto the Lord. That should be our first port of call, shouldn't it? But he does so with a certain confidence that God will hear him. He heard me. Now, we're not told how often he cried to the Lord, but I imagine that it wasn't just once, but that repeatedly David cried to the Lord in his distress. And he did not rest from crying to the Lord until he obtained the comfort he needed and desired, the comfort that God had heard him, the assurance that his Heavenly Father was caring for him. Cast your cares upon the Lord, for He careth for you. Don't we need so much to learn that lesson? David's prayer was to say, deliver me or deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. And this seems to be the particular burden of this psalm, the distress caused by lying lips and a deceitful tongue. People have, there's a little saying that people have sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. I'm sure you've heard that. It's not true, is it? Slanders or hurtful words pierce to the very soul. And we should never be guilty of saying evil things about others, and we should not underestimate the evil, the power of words to hurt and to harm. I can imagine that many of Saul's courtiers, those who gathered themselves around him, were concerned to ingratiate themselves with the king. They pegged their future, their prosperity, on the prosperity of Saul's throne. Isn't this so often the case in politics that people look to see which way the wind's blowing and they try to anticipate who they should support, and if that party is successful, they hope that they will be carried along on the coattails of their heroes. And so, having their futures, their prosperity, pegged to Saul's prosperity, these courtiers had a vested interest in seeing David destroyed. Because if David should gain the ascendancy, their hopes would be dashed. Well, we read that these courtiers were quite willing to foment the slanders that Saul was only too ready to believe. against David. David would be portrayed by him and by the others as a man who would stop at nothing in order to seize the throne. In chapter 20 of 1 Samuel 30-31 we read of how Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan And he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now, send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. That gives you an insight into the bitter vitriol that Saul entertained towards David. Well, no doubt these courtiers would use every resource they could to put David in as bad a light as they could possibly. No doubt they would speak of his lowly origins The house of Jesse. Who was Jesse? He was this farmer in the back blocks of Bethlehem. His house was nothing in Israel. David says, I am small and despised. And no doubt, the courtiers would certainly emphasize the lowliness of David's origins. And probably they would suggest that a man of such rude upbringing would be only too ready to resort to violence in order to obtain the dominance and to obtain the throne. So they would blacken David's character. And the bloodthirsty appetite of Saul is well illustrated by the way he treated these priests of Nob. And they were merely suspected of succoring David. Well, calumnies against a person's good character are very hard to defend against. It's very easy, isn't it, to suggest something negative about another person. You can do it in very subtle ways. And you only have to raise an accusation against someone. And then the onus falls on the victim of that accusation to try to exonerate themselves. Recently in Victoria, there is a journalist who is quite a crusader against political correctness, a very brave man. And he questioned the way so many people claim aboriginality in their heritage to gain all sorts of benefits from the government. And he was taken to court by some of these people. And eventually he was cleared, although he did have to pay a certain fine. But as he says, the process was the punishment. The process that he had to go through to try and clear his name. That was the punishment. And you think of how Godly people have suffered at the hands of false accusations. Look at the slander that Jezebel raised against Naboth or Potiphar's wife against Joseph. How hard it would be, how impossible it would be for Joseph to clear his name in those circumstances. So this makes the attack of slander the more distressing, because often there is no shield that the victim can use to defend himself. Well, in the case of David, he was not without fault. He had actually lied to Abimelech. But you think of the Son of Man. You think of the spotless son of man and the slander that he was the victim of. Psalm 22, he says, Many bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. And that was their words that he was speaking of. He suffered as much from the sharp arrows of cruel tongues as he did from the scourging and the buffeting of the soldiers. And he suffered it more intensely because of the innocence of his character. He had to bear with that. And we should not be surprised if this should be our lot also. If these things are done in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry? Let us then think briefly about the judgments that God pronounces against those who slander. What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? God will recompense or will call to account those who slander others. In Psalm 52, we sang of David's words against Doeg. He pinpoints the sin and the wickedness of Doeg. And he says, what shall be done to them? How shall those who are defenseless against the slandering tongue of men, how shall they have a recompense? Spurgeon says, none can slander the slanderer. He is too black to be blackened. But when innocence is unable to defend itself lawfully, its recourse is to the judge of all the earth. And David appeals to his covenant God to reward the false tongue of his enemy with divine recompense, because God is the avenger of his children when they fall victim to the malicious slander of cruel men. These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him, a proud look, a lying tongue, and slander is a liars, hands that shed innocent blood, heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. These are things that God hates, and because God hates them, He will bring consequences to those who slander. And you'll notice that the slanderer often shoots his arrows at the innocent. And the imagery is that of wounding from a distance. Many slanderers are too cowardly to confront a person face to face. Instead, they speak their slanders behind closed doors, or they send tweets and emails and things, and they do immeasurable harm, but they're shooting their arrows from a distance. For lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. And the trouble they cause is likened to coals of juniper which apparently burn the hottest and the longest." That's, again, a measure of the intensity of suffering that slander can cause. James speaks about the tongue as a little member boasting great things and what a great fire is kindled by it. It is fitting that those whose words are sharp arrows smiting the godly, and whose tongues kindle a great fire to burn hot against the godly, should receive the same in kind. What shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? God will recompense in kind. Psalm 21, Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. So will we sing and praise thy power. God has prepared a fire for them that burns hotter and longer than any coals of juniper. O that the wicked would take warning of that! All liars, we are told, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. And such judgments are sure to all who persist in their malice against the people of God. He is jealous for his own children, and when he is aroused, who can still him again. Let us beware that we don't imitate the wicked in resorting to such language, such practices. Sins against the Ninth Commandment Finally, let us think of the implacableness of slanderers. David complains, Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar. And Mesech and Kedar are names that are understood of the Arabian nations that dwelled to the east of Israel. And they had a reputation for cruelty and corruption and a warlike disposition. It was said of Ishmael, his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him. And David's complaining that his enemies were no better than these degenerate tribes in their relentless, cruel and unjust conduct towards him. Well, we would expect, would we not, Christian brethren to behave civilly and courteously towards each other and to deal justly with one another. And these descendants of Ishmael, they were from the same root as Isaac, weren't they? But how often, how sadly it is often true that church courts can be places where much injustice and much false reports can be promoted. Who was it that condemned Christ to death and handed him over to Pilate? the Sanhedrin, the Sanhedrin, the highest ecclesiastical court in Israel. So there is a warning for us, isn't there, that we as professing followers of Christ should be careful that we are not to be as those men of Misek and the tents of Kida. David brings his psalm to a conclusion in verses 6 and 7. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. And it is a cause of great distress to a peace-loving soul to be thrust into the company of or be pursued by those who hate peace. And isn't it ironic that often those who are seeking to preserve the faith, the truth, are accused of being the troublers of Israel, just as Elijah was accused of being the troubler of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, was not exempt from being accused of being the stirrer up of trouble. For David, a man who loved peace, who loved the welfare of the Church, it was a cause of great distress to him that he should be lumped in with those who hate peace. And when this state of affairs is prolonged, it is a trial of no small proportions, and it can wear the soul down. And I'm sure you, as God's people, have all experienced this in some measure or other, both in your private lives and in your church life, when you've had to contend against those who hate the peace of the Church. Well, I wonder whether David was tempted at times to ask, under this trial, had the Lord forgotten to be gracious? Would he default on his promises? Because David clung, didn't he, to the word of promise that he was to be king. He was to trust that God would fulfill his promise, his covenant promise to him. But under this assault, how he must have been tempted to question God's faithfulness. And every lawful method he had made to proclaim his enemies had fallen on deaf ears. They were not interested in a peaceable or just outcome. They only desired the satisfaction of his ruin. And I want to suggest to you that that is the case in the circumstances that we face today in confronting a society that is designing the ruin of the Christian testimony to the world. We can say with David, my soul has long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war. The reality is they will never be satisfied with anything less than the total destruction of the Christian witness. And churches and Christians who think that they can buy off the enemy by making concessions to them are deluded. In fact, the more you concede, the more they will demand. And this we found in Australia with, sadly, the passing of the same-sex marriage legislation in our recent history. That didn't cause the proponents of this to die down and to say, well, we have what we wanted. Oh, no. It only emboldens them. to pursue even more the things, the agenda they have, which is completely contrary to all godliness. So in seeking peace, which we are to seek, we must not capitulate the cause of truth and we must not surrender anything that is godly. And I want to say to you as well that that is not only the case in relation to social issues, whether it be abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia. In Victoria, where I come from, last year, euthanasia was made legal. It's not just those issues where we have to be watchful against surrendering. It's also in the area of ecclesiastical things. The Church of Rome desires our capitulation. And how many churches have surrendered significant truths in order to try and placate Rome? So I think the message of this psalm is that, yes, if you are seeking to stand for Christ for His truth in this world of departure from these things. Expect to be slandered. Expect to be the butt of the wicked's malice. It must be. In this world ye shall have tribulation. He that would live godly must endure persecution. And slander is a significant aspect of persecution. It's not just those who are suffering in their bodies, but those who suffer those cruel arrows of the wicked are suffering persecution. But let us, like David, have recourse in our distress to our Lord. not to seek first and foremost help from man, but to look to the Lord. And may we, when we are finding ourselves dwelling in Mesech and in the tents of Kedar, hold on to the hope that the scriptures hold out to us, just as it held out to David, the hope that one day he would be king. We must hold on to the hope. that one day the cause of Christ will triumph. Our brother prayed, mentioning Psalm 2, He that sits in heaven shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. They will have their day, but then he will have his day, and he will triumph over them. May the Lord bless these meditations to us and encourage us in this day of small things.