I invite you to turn tonight in your Bibles to Psalm 71, Psalm 71, I love this Psalm and I thought before I go on sabbatical that this would be a Psalm, the goal here to bless the older saints, I think so often we're so concerned for the younger that the encouragement that is often given in the scriptures to the older should have the effect of being a great blessing to the younger. And so sometimes it's God's wisdom in how he speaks to the older saints and encourages and inspires psalms like this that the younger should take note of. And this is that kind of psalm tonight. You'll find it on page 615 if you're looking for that. This is that kind of psalm, and I thought it would be a blessing tonight as a psalm really for all the ages, but particularly looking to those who are aging. And by the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, you all are aging. So, Psalm 71, Psalm 71. In you, O Lord, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame. In your righteousness, deliver me and rescue me. Incline your ear to me and save me. Be to me a rock of refuge to which I may continually come. You have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, for my youth. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth. You are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you. I have been as important to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise and with your glory all the day. Do not cast me off in the time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength is spent. For my enemies speak concerning me. Those who watch for my life consult together and say God has forsaken him. Pursue and seize him. For there is none to deliver him. O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste to help me. May my accusers be put to shame and consume with scorn and disgrace. May they be covered who seek my hurt. But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day. For their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come. I will remember them of your righteousness, yours alone. O God, for my youth you have taught me. And I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You have done great things, O God, who is like you? You have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again. From the depths of the earth, you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again. I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God. I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O holy one of Israel, My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you, my soul also which you have redeemed. And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long. For they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt. And there is the reading of God's Word. Psalm 71 is really unique. A beautiful psalm has actually become one of, again, I always say this, Whatever I'm preaching is one of my favorites, but this one is indeed one of my favorites. I love it because there's so much rich understanding and perspective in this psalm about life, wisdom about life. The psalm is really a psalm of old age, but who likes to talk about that? We live in a culture that wants nothing to do with old age, that despises old age, that treats old age as this great evil that comes upon us. We're a youth culture. We're a youth culture. We thrive on youth and beauty. And just look at the images that come at us all the time of youth and beauty. Youth and beauty, this is what we thrive on. None of us, though, really like to talk about what's happening to us and how we're feeling and the things that we're beginning to face. There's a fable about a returning Roman general who rode in victory parades through the streets of the Capitol. And a slave stood behind them whispering in their ears to all these generals in their victory runs, all glory is fading. All glory is fading. And that's this psalm. All glory is fading. That's hard to accept, isn't it? It's really hard to accept. The Hollywood stars of yesterday are in convalescent homes today. Who likes to think about that? If you understand that struggle, you understand Psalm 71. You have this man deeply wrestling here with old age. He's describing that for us. But not just that, all the hardships and all the pains that come along with it that we typically don't want to talk about and don't want to address. And this psalm is honest about it. Which is why I think it's really a psalm for the youth, isn't it? Because it's a psalm for the youth to learn and listen to the old age saints who are telling us something, who've understood something, who have wisdom about life and know what is most important in terms of priorities. It's honest about all this. He's looking to find an answer in the midst of this struggle with life and how to handle this and see is there any purpose in old age? Is there any purpose in growing old? Is there anything that can be done? Or is it just, we just need to get through this to get to glory? What is to be our attitude as we get old? When your glory is fading and the idol of beauty goes away. How is the Christian to be different in the way that he approaches growing old, especially when the pain and weariness of all of it comes? we might understand here today from psalm 71 the purpose is that we would see where we have hope in the midst of this and help in the midst of this and that's why psalm 71 is so special for us and i intended it to be a blessing to you tonight psalm 71 beginning at verse 1 helps us to understand a bit of the psalmist's struggle you'll notice there in you oh lord do i take refuge let me never be put to shame in your righteousness deliver me and rescue me incline your ear to me and save me why is he saying that well enemies are mentioned and enemies are mentioned always in the psalms in many ways attacking people and various attacks and various assaults but i think verse 9 is really what he's aiming to help us understand exactly what's going on where he cries out to the Lord and he says very clearly in verse 9, do not cast me off in the time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength is spent. I am old, he says. I have no more strength. David, did you notice this? There's two reasons that he really focuses on probably why he felt this way what does society do to those who they find unuseful it was always like this in times before us in jesus's day they didn't have convalescent homes they didn't have places to put older people families had to care for them most didn't know how to do it it was a in many of the societies of the past you did not get the kind of care that we have in america really and even in america you see that we just don't value old age anymore we don't value it at all so so thus the lack of care that we now give thinking it's just something now that we need to move on from Old age, of course, robs us of former glory, outward beauty. It deprives us of strength to be active and useful, we feel, in our work and our service. I remember my dad distinctively saying to me when he was dying, he said, Chris, he goes, you have no idea the lack of strength, just the weariness I feel right now. And I don't. I don't. When someone's dying of cancer, all your strength is utterly zapped. But in old age, that's the process of the strength going away. The strength that you once knew, the strength that you once had. We see this play out in the medical world all the time. He's describing this here, what people are saying and viewing him and how he feels about the way that people look at him. And I think he's deeply struggling with what he used to be and what he now is. Verse 7, he says, I become as important to many. It's a wonder. I am a wonder to many. Look what I used to be and look at what I now am. People are looking at him and whatever has happened, they are astonished that a once so powerful man, that one who is said to belong to the Lord, could have become like this. That's the way he's describing it and the way he feels it. And the problem is, there comes a point where you just can't get out of this. we have good medical help in in the united states and and by and large many of the things that we face we can we can get over because of medicine but there are certain things and certain things coming in your life you're not going to get over you're just going to have and then what and this is what this is helping us with you'll notice he says that the way that people are viewing him and seeing him he views the wicked as as assaulting him and laughing at him. And you think of here as it begins of David for the memorial offering, you think of how they must have looked at great King David in all of his weakness. Think of this morning. My enemies speak against me and those who lie in wait take counsel together, saying God has forsaken him. They've completely written him off. They're looking at him and saying, ah, he's useless, he's useless. And how many of the old saints don't struggle with that right now. I don't even know what my purpose is. Does God even care? Life only seems to get more difficult. He's experiencing the sense of rejection. He's experiencing what is known as loneliness. And think of when you've lost a spouse, the loneliness that follows as you face old age. What a burden. What a hardship. His situation, his strength, his body has become so weak. The people who once knew him chalked him off that God must have forsaken such a person and he's struggling with that. I have seen very dear, believing saints struggle with wanting to live each day in old age because of this. And some have tried to take their lives. I've seen that. I've seen it. Look at the man waste away. No strength. I've often thought that one of the best things to do for our young people today who are struggling with basic empathy and in a narcissistic culture is to do more trips to the convalescent home. I really believe that. Let them see and let them smell. It's important. talk to them look at what they face why is that important we would never tell anyone to do that in the world oh that's the place over there we stay away from but that's the place we may be often times what you see in places like this are people reduced to the state of infancy infancy it seems is God with people like this is god with these people you may wrestle with that whatever once was seems to be gone whatever glory was there has all faded what do you do at this moment what do you have at this moment but there's something that i think really helps us in the psalm as the psalmist is asking for something the psalmist is asking for something in old age that is such an encouragement don't forsake me when i'm old and gray-headed he says i hear a concern in that what is the fear through the past process of life through the process of death life has only gotten harder but lord don't let me be put to shame don't let me fail in this way in old age this psalm is struggling with with that very issue where is strength to be found in old age i think in old age too there's probably the struggle of recalling life and the past and choices and then you stare death in the face and then you look at the end there's a lot to think about there will be moments of joy and looking back in the past and there'll be moments of great pain and embarrassment and shame all those emotions that come out and the slideshow of life can be painful at the end sometimes remembering is not so easy this is instructive isn't it over against all that the psalmist is asking here a question from the lord he's making a prayer request to the lord he's asking the lord to strengthen him and what is specifically the nature of the request i think you'll see why this psalm is so precious to think that we would be forsaken by the lord at the moment of our greatest weakness would be one of the greatest fears and tragedies ever in this life to think about, that the Lord would abandon us, that that thought would be absolutely horrendous. Think about all the people who go to old age and death who have no intimacy at all or knowledge of the Lord and they face it entirely alone. It's just a tragedy, isn't it? But he begins to think. And how is he framing the request? What is he asking? In you, O Lord, I put my trust. You are the longing of my heart. My whole being rests in you. Be the rock of refuge, verse 3, to which I may come continually. So you see what he's saying there. I need you as my rock in my life daily and continually. You see that? And his faith begins to shine in verse 3. You have given a commandment to save me. So he's wrestling in his head with the struggle of life, and he's struggling with what he knows, and listen to what he says. You have given the commandment to save me, and at the end of the life, where does this take him? Notice this. He's seeing something. Verse 5. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust. O Lord, from my youth, upon you I have leaned from before my birth. You are he who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you. If you read that carefully and you think about what he's realizing right now, it's this. You have carried me through the whole way. He doesn't start from his youth and then move to old age. He starts from his youth and then moves to the time he was in the womb. Now, how many of you remember when you were in the womb? You don't remember a thing. You had no strength. You didn't know anything. You were in the womb formed by God, and God was caring for you then. That's why you're here right now. He's thinking about all this. He's working back. He's not working to his profession of faith. He's working all the way back to before he was even born. Saying, you cared for me, and you loved me, and you helped me then, and you gave the commandment to save me. What a confidence that's there. You've supported me from my birth. You took me out of my mother's womb. You didn't bring about your births, did you? Paul would say when he became a believer, when he would look back over the whole course of his life, he would say in the book of Galatians in chapter 1, the Lord set me apart before I was even born. And when He called me by His grace, He was pleased to reveal His Son in me. He had already planned and carried me and helped me before I was even born. David is simply saying here, God was always with him. Did you hear what he's saying? He had come to know in his life God's favor had been upon him. Isn't it something that when God opens the eyes of the young to see this, they begin to see what matters most in life? Most of us have been blessed here to be raised in the faith. You think about the parents that you've had, and even if you've had a bad upbringing or an unbelieving upbringing, you can still look back and say the Lord brought you somewhere to be right where you are to this day. but but many of you can reach back pretty far you've had parents that have cared for you you've had parents that have catechized you you've been brought to church you've been trained with a christian education from the home and school when your parents gathered around the table and read the scriptures to you and cared about you and loved you all those years when you were doing foolish things here you are to this day and and you begin to see all of that story is a story of God upholding you all the way back from before you were even born. He's never left you. He's never forsaken you. I remember reading a story of Michael Jordan years ago, obviously the greatest basketball player that had ever played, and by the way, the greatest sport that was ever invented. The article was about Jordan turning 50. He's in his 60s now, I think, close to it. I remember reading this. I wish I was playing right now. I would give up everything now to go back and play the game of basketball. How do you replace it, he says. You don't. You learn to live with it. The game to me, he said, was a refuge. and a place where I found, I've gone to find great comfort and peace. What is? He still dreams of playing at 50. This was the article. And getting back his playing weight. What if I'm my own worst enemy? I drove myself so much that I'm still living with some of those drives. I don't know how to get rid of it. I don't know if I could. Aging means losing things, not just eyesight and flexibility it means watching the accomplishments of our youth be diminished well he's got that right even after Jordan is gone he knows people will remember him here lies the greatest basketball player of all time that's his epitaph when he walked off the court for the last time he must have believed that nothing could diminish what he'd done That knowledge would be a shield against aging. But it didn't. The article ends, says Jordan is alone. He hates being alone because that means it's quiet and he doesn't like silence. Well, I can tell you this. That God left him a long time ago, didn't it? That God left him a long time ago. That God abandoned him. you see what psalm 71 saying your god hasn't he never has he never will you are the one who knew me from youth you are the one carrying me from the womb in all of your your failures to fill your heart with living water this god cared for you and loved you and he's saying this is what you've known in your life look at it look at what you've known in the course of your life if you'll just stop and think about it. All the blessing. And I think the heart of this psalm is because this is the truth of what Christ has been to Him and for Him. It brought a realization of something important. The Lord's care and the Lord's love for His people is always present. And think of today. It's this morning. In their weakest state. The Lord's care and the Lord's love for His people has always been most shown in their weakest state. I remember preaching this very text for Roger DeStichter's memorial service. He died in this church of Alzheimer's. And I made this very point. His mind was gone. It was deeply troubling to the family. Who wouldn't want to face that? It's an awful thing, Alzheimer's, where the mind is gone. And I remember making the very point that when he was in the womb, his mind didn't know much of anything. But the Lord had carried him all the way through and the Lord would still carry him through in the midst of this disease. And he did. You see, is it true that we're useless in old age? That's the question. Is it true that our lives are useless as we get older? I think we have to a little bit be challenged by the retirement mentality that it just means now I can eat, drink, and be merry. That ends. I'm talking about when we're facing old age and we're facing these kinds of questions, is our life useless? Is it ever useless? And you'll notice the language here of the psalm that he begins to say, and the way that he begins to think about now the time that he has left in verse 14. but I will hope continually and I will praise You yet more and more. My mouth will tell of Your righteous acts, of Your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord I will come. I will remind them of Your righteousness and Yours alone. O God, from my youth You have taught me and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. Isn't that beautiful? Isn't that beautiful? What has invigorated his heart over and over, he says, I will still in old age tell of your wondrous deeds. He's thinking of salvation. He's thinking of all the Lord has done for him. He wants to continue to broadcast it. But notice who he wants to broadcast it to. well he says it here he says in verse 18 so even to old age and gray hairs oh god do not forsake me until i do what proclaim your might to another generation your power to all those to come You know, I was at, I was performing, officiating Ruben's and Kyla's wedding this last Friday. And I saw two families there, and it was a wonderful blessing for my wife and I to look at. Families of these two young adults who love the Lord. And, of course, for me, it's just exciting to see the Lord continuing to raise up young adults and young people who love him and in this day who are marrying in the Lord in all of our day of corruption and frustration and all of that. But I thought to myself, the labor that was done in the lives of those two young people, those two young adults, goes back a ways. I remember the Grosses sitting with Pastor Gross in Phoenix years ago in 2004 and thinking, this is a remarkable man of God. He challenged me on many things about theology and cared so much about the truth. And you look at how he's raised his family. And I thought to myself the other night, I know he lies in bed on hospice care right at this moment. He's been a very faithful minister of the gospel. But I thought to myself, this is the fruit of that kind of labor. And in the Faber household, the same. This is the fruit of that kind of labor where priorities were right and the Lord was set in the home and talked about and the valued, what most important, this was a fruit of that. He didn't get to see it, but it is a fruit of that. And I think that's exactly what this psalm is capturing for us. The next generation needs to know this. And he's excited here. He knows, the psalmist knows the glory that awaits him. He says it here. I know you're going to raise me one day. I know there's life to come one day. I know that I'm going to be out of the grave one day. I know that's all coming. But for now, let me set what is most important in life. So don't forsake me even until I proclaim your might. Do not forsake me until I proclaim your might unto another generation, Your power to those who are to come. There's a whole generation sitting in front of us that doesn't understand a lot of what you've learned. I'm going to encourage the older brothers and sisters for a moment. You're still here. I remember a member here a few years back who said she joined this church and said, I so love this church, but you know what I loved about this church? The old people. I wouldn't trade them for anything. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Committed. Committed to the faith. Have been through so much. Have taught us so much. And I have to say, this is going to go by like the blink of an eye. One day I'm going to be the old man standing up here and all of you are going to be gone. I think it's tragic, it's sad to not appreciate what we have. And so as I appeal to the old people, I'm appealing to the younger people. Look at them. Look at what God's done in their lives. Talk to them. To the older people, you blessed saints, encourage us. Don't stop encouraging and helping us. We need your help. We need your words. We need your wisdom. We need what you've learned and what you've taught us. Don't stop. You have an important purpose here. And that's exactly what this psalm is telling us. This is the way that God builds His church and the way that He builds His kingdom. And this is what Jesus has done in blessing the church this way. Show us how the doctrines of grace have translated in your life to the sincere Christian life. Tell us how the story of God's working in your life. Tell us what He's done for you. Show us how He saved you. Tell us the story that we need to hear. We need an invigorated, older generation that's filled with the Gospel and who wants to talk about it to us? I think it's rightly been observed that the Christian church is always one generation from extinction. I don't want to be in a convalescent home holding a ball one day. A basketball. or metal saying, look what I used to be. That's backwards looking, isn't it? I want to be there with the praise of God on my lips. And I want to know how to do it as I'm getting older, because I really don't know how. And I believe that the Lord is strong enough to teach us that through you. In your weakness, there is real strength for the next generation. So don't, I guess I say, run through this missing what you're encountering. Stand upon the rock who is Jesus. And when tomorrow comes, as Jesus said, His powerful deliverance will not be taken from you. I think all of us can testify of the Lord's goodness. So tonight, enjoy it. And let His praise be continually in your mouth. And may His righteous deeds that He has done for you, May you begin to talk to the next generation. Praise God that He works this way. This is covenant life. Praise God that He builds His kingdom this way. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word to us tonight. Thank You for encouraging us tonight. Thank You for showing us the value of old age. And I pray that it would be an encouragement to these dear older saints among us and an encouragement to the younger and those in the middle that they would realize life has an important aim and goal. May it be for Your glory and the advancement of Your name as we've heard today. Thank You for hearing us. And let us hold not too tightly to the beauty and glory of this life that's fading for we have something so much more held out for us in the life to come. Thank You for the resurrection and the promise of brand new bodies one day. Well, there will be no more pain, crying, or tears. Until then, let us speak of your marvelous wisdom and your marvelous ways. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.