Please open your Bibles tonight to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
chapter 46. Isaiah 46. And I'll begin as God speaks
through this prophet Isaiah. talking about false gods and their inability to support
and to bear up the people. Bell boweth down, Nebo stoopeth. Their idols were upon the beast
and upon the cattle. Your carriages were heavy laden. They are a burden to the weary
beast. They stoop. They bow down together. They could not deliver the burden,
but they themselves are gone into captivity. Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob,
and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are born or
carried by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb. And even to your old age I am
he. And even to whore hairs will
I carry you. I have made and I will bear,
even I will carry and will deliver you. To whom will ye liken me? and make me equal and compare
me that we may be like." I was thinking this week about
something that the poet Robert Browning
wrote in one of his poems. He said, grow old along with
me, the best is yet to be, the last of life for which the first
was made. But I'll have to say, that's
not the feeling in our day. That's not the thoughts of most
people in this hour. Old age is a thing to be dreaded. It's a thing to be put off. It's a thing to be avoided. But in the rest of that verse
of poetry, he says something else. Our times are in his hand who
sayeth, a hole I planned, youth shows but half, trust God, see
all, nor be afraid. Nor be afraid. You know, I was thinking about
it. In most countries, the veterans or the old soldiers
are left with the least and to be able to fare the best they
can in their old days. I'm afraid It's like that a lot
in this country right now. But every soldier of Christ need
not fear that not one little bit. But all of us are going to get
old if we're not there already. A lot of us are already there. But all that are young, all that
are of what we call middle age, if they don't die and if Jesus
doesn't come, they're all going to get old. They're going to come as we come
like Solomon describes in the book of Ecclesiastes. Turn to Ecclesiastes 12. Because he gives this admonition
to the young while they're young, lest they go old and be plagued
with their sin. lest they have to face God with
all their sins. He says, Remember now thy Creator
in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the
years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. All the enjoyment, all the pleasure
has gone out in old age. While the sun, or the light,
or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds
return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of
the house shall tremble, That's the bones. He says, and the strong men shall
bow themselves. That's the muscles. And the grinders
cease because they are few. That's the teeth. And those that
look out of the windows be darkened. That's the eyes. And the doors
shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grinding
is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of a bird. Can't
sleep. The least little thing wakes
him. And all the daughters of music shall be brought low. He can't hear. Also, when they shall be afraid
of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the
almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden,
and desire fail, because man goeth to his long hope. home, and the mourners go about
the streets, or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden
bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or
the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it." What a description of old age and aging people. David, that man after God's own heart,
he also came to old age and he felt it. Look over in Psalm 71. Psalm 71, verse 9. He says, cast me not off in the
time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength
faileth. And then he says in verse 18,
Now also, when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not until I've
showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to every
one that is to come. It seems like when we're young,
We don't fear or see fear and danger in anything. But as we get older, we see fear
and danger in everything. And we are easily made afraid. So that even David, this man
after God's own heart, this believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
saying to God at this hour, forsake me not. Lord, please don't forsake me. And he says this, Because like
us, he's feeling the diminishing of strength. I hear people say, I sure can't
do what I used to could do. He's experiencing the weakening
of faculties. We say, I can't remember anything
anymore. Wonder how many times I've heard
that just this week from people my own age. I can't remember
a thing anymore, or I can't see like I used to, or I can't hear
like I used to. And I also believe in God's people,
there is a greater sense, an increasing sense of our own sins,
our own sinfulness. He tells us to grow in grace. But when people grow in grace,
They simply see more and more their need of grace. They can only be saved by grace. If it isn't for grace, there's
no hope. And spiritual maturity sees this
greater need for grace and a greater need for Christ to save us. If he doesn't save us, we're
goners. And instead of subsiding, you
see, the reality of death appears more and more vivid. When you're young, you think
you're never going to die. When you get older, you say,
well, maybe I could die. And when you get old, you say,
I might die any time. That's old age. And the reality of approaching
God in that hour, of meeting, of facing God, and facing judgments, standing before Him, not quite
so far off, not quite so long away. And we always found looking back
at our days and our years and thinking about how fast they
passed and how near, how they bring
us nearer and nearer to this appointed time. Hebrew says, and is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. We're not
going to miss this appointment. We're not going to go past this
appointment. It gets nearer and nearer, and
we know that. We know that. We think about
things like the writers of scripture said that our days are few. Our days are swifter than a shuttle. Our days are fast, they pass
faster than a running post, a messenger. And then it seems instead of
subsiding, the subsiding of adversity, it seems like it only increases. We live in our young days, we're
hoping for a day when we can finally rest, we can finally
take it easy, we can finally put some of these problems behind
us, and we can just be contented old folks. Grow old. Fish the rest of our lives. But all the trials, all the temptation, All the battles,
all the enemies, they just seemed to increase. That's what David's
saying here. They just seemed to increase.
Forsake me not. I remember one night in the hospital
and Betty and I had been talking and she got really quiet and
she said, she said, This isn't the way we planned it, is it?"
And I said, no, it's not. And she said, but it's okay,
because it's the way that God planned it. Look in this 71st Psalm. Beginning at verse 10, listen
to what David says after he says, cast me not off in the time of
old age and forsake me not when my strength faileth. He said,
for mine enemies speak against me. They've not stopped. They've not quietened down one
bit. And they that wait for my soul
take counsel against me. saying God hath forsaken him. Look at him, he's just an old
tottering fool. All that business about grace,
all that business about election, all that business about predestination,
all that faithfulness, where is he now? They say God hath forsaken him,
persecuted, and take him, for there's none to deliver him. Nobody wants him. Oh God, be
not far from me. Oh my God, make haste for my
help. Let them be confounded and consumed
that are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered with reproach
and dishonor that seek my hurt. But I will continually and will
yet praise thee more and more. I'll have hope continually and
praise thee more and more. My mouth shall show forth thy
righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the
numbers thereof. I will go in strength in the
strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only." And he had reason to have this
confidence. He had reason to have this faith. It's because God is faithful
to his people. He is faithful to the promises
which He has made to them. Every one of them is yes and
amen in Jesus Christ. He's going to fulfill them all.
They're all going to come true. He's going to be faithful in
everything. Let me read you some verses.
In Deuteronomy, he says, know therefore that the Lord thy God,
he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy
with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand
generations. That's what he's called, the
faithful God. I Corinthians, God is faithful,
by whom ye are called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. Going back to the Old Testament,
be strong and of good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them. For the Lord thy God, he it is
that doth go with thee. He will not fail thee or forsake
thee. He's not going to forsake his
people. From the least to the greatest. First Samuel 12, for the Lord
will not forsake his people for his great namesake. If he forsakes
them, it's on him. It's not on them. Because it is pleased the Lord
to make you his people. He's not chosen you. He's not
saved you. He's not blessed you to drop
you and leave you. He's faithful. The psalmist says, I've been
young, and now I'm old. Yet I have not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor the seed begging bread. That most especially means Jesus
Christ the righteous and his seed are believers. Psalm 37, For the Lord loveth
judgment, and forsaketh not his saints. They are preserved for
ever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. Isaiah 41, Fear thou not, for
I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Those are promises of God. He
can't lie, he can't die, he can't fail. Isaiah 41 again, when the
poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue
faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of
Israel will not forsake them. That's what he says. The truth is, God will not forsake us because
he has not forsaken us. Over and over and over in the
history of his people, Israel, he called upon them to remember,
remember what I did. Remember how I delivered you.
Remember how I saved you. Remember how I fed you. Remember,
and all those things just guarantee that He'll never leave us or
forsake us. We've always been upheld by His
grace. It's always been because of Christ
and His righteousness as we see in this psalm. It's always because
of Him. Look over here in verse 1 of
71. And Thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust? Let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in Thy righteousness. and calls me to escape. Incline
thine ear unto me and save me. Be thou my strong habitation,
whereunto I may continually resort. Thou hast given commandment to
save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress." I like the thought of rocks,
fortresses, I'll never forget the first time I stepped out
of Waverley Station in Edinburgh, Scotland, and I saw that big
castle, Edinburgh Castle. And it just looked like that
it was growing up out of the rock, or part of the rock. It
looked so strong. It was a fortress. And that's
what God says, I'm your rock and your fortress. Deliver me,
O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of
the unrighteous and cruel man. Be for thou art my hope, O Lord. God, for thou art my trust from
my youth, by thee I have been holding up from the womb." How did we make it this far? Somebody said if I'd known I
was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of
myself. But how did we make it this far? How do we do it? Was it because we were strong
when we were young? Was it because we made right
decisions? Was it because we were so good?
Was it because we didn't sin and all that? It's God who is
upholding us from the womb. Thou art he that took me out
of my mother's bowels. My praise shall be continually
of thee. I am as a wonder unto many. They can't figure it out. They can't figure it out. In
old age, they look at them. They say, I just can't figure
them out. How do they make it? How do they
survive? He says, I'm as a wonder unto
many, but thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled
with thy praise and with thy honor all the day. Don't cast
me off in old age. Look down to verse 15. My mouth
shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day,
for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from
my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Oh, now,
when I'm old and gray. Don't forsake me. You see, as the body weakens,
as the body weakens, faith and all the spiritual graces grow
in God's people. In grace, we grow. Paul said it like this to the
Corinthians, for which cause we faint not, but though our
outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. We may get old. We may get tired. We may get weak. But when we grow in grace, we
grow to trust Christ more. We grow to see the hand of God
more. We are given wisdom from God,
thankfully, not to make some of the mistakes that we made
in the past, not to think some of the things that we've thought
in the past, to fix our eyes more clearly, more focused on
the Lord Jesus Christ and not all these things. because I'm going to tell you.
And it doesn't take many of them. But the things, things that we
thought were so important in our younger days, they are simply
a burden in the old age. I'm telling you, they're just
a burden. But you say in this weakness, we say oftentimes feeling this
decline, feeling you're unable to do anything, why? Why? Why doesn't the Lord just
take me? Why doesn't He just let me go
to be with Him? Why doesn't He just end all these
trials and cares and all this dealing with stuff, all these
enemies, all these conflicts? Why doesn't He just end them? Well, in verse 18, He tells us why. Now also, when I am old and gray-headed,
O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this
generation and thy power to every one that is come. Till I show off what? What a tough old person I am. Till I show off what a fighter
I am, I get so tired of hearing these expressions. He's a tough
old guy. Disease? gets them right down,
and then they rise up and say, oh, she's a tough old gal. There's no such thing. There's
no such thing. But with God's people, it shows
his strength and his power. We may come to the edge of death,
We may come to the greatest weakness, but he has the strength and power
to raise us up or to maintain us or just keep us alive till
it's time. He can enable us to face the
hardships of old age. He can enable us to deal with
the situations of old age. We're going to show his strength
to the end. to sustain, to uphold me, to
keep me, even when I am in every way without strength. Show his faithfulness to us,
to this generation. He can maintain us. He can help
us. He does. We're a wonder to many, as David
says here. I don't see how he makes it.
I don't see how she makes it. But we know how. And we give
testimony that this is the Lord. The only reason we make it and
survive and even prosper a little bit in health or whatever it
is, is because of the Lord's grace and mercy and upholding
hand. But there's another reason. He said, to show until I am enabled
to show. And that is by witnessing the
gospel to this generation. Now he didn't say, so I can spend
my time murmuring and complaining. and talking about my aches and
my pains and my illnesses and all these other things that we
are so prone to do, we are to spend our breath bearing witness to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We're to tell them what our hope
is. We're to tell them what our help
has been. We're to tell them what our all
is. And we're to do so knowing something. That even if we're poor, we're
rich. Even if we're weak, we're strong. Even if we're lonely, we're not
forsaken. Even if we have aches and pains
and afflictions, as long as we have voice, we can praise our
God and tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he's done
for us. It says, be ready to give the
reason of the hope that's within you with all humility. What's your hope? You're going
to die pretty soon. What's your hope? What's your
hope, grandpa? What's your hope, grandma? What's
your hope, old friend? You say that a lot now, old friend. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. Look over at Psalm 145. And look down at verse for and
by. One generation shall praise thy
works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious
honor of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works. and men shall
speak of the mighty and terrible acts, and I will declare thy
greatness." When Moses was given the instruction
for the Passover and how that it was to be carried on for all
generations, You have to go on and on. And he said, when your son asks you, Papa, what are we doing this
for? Why are you going to take that
lamb? Why are you going to put that blood up on the... That's
the equivalent of, why are we going to have to go hear the
gospel? Why are we going to go to worship? Why are we doing
all this? And thou shalt say to thy son
in that day, Thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying,
This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when
I came forth out of Egypt. I'm doing this because of what
he's done for me. And it shall be when thy son
asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this that thou
shalt say unto him? By strength of hand the Lord
brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. Jacob was blessing Joseph's son. And he's about to say something
about every one of them. But it says, and he blessed Joseph,
and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did
walk, the God which fed me all my life long and to this day,
the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the last. That's among the last things
he says. He gives praise to God for his salvation in every sense,
temporal and spiritual. That's the last thing he leaves
with those grandsons. The promise. The promise. He says in verse 22 of Psalm
71, I will also praise thee with psaltery, even thy truth, O my
God. Unto thee will I sing with the
harp, O thou holy one of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice
when I sing unto thee, and my soul, which thou hast redeemed,
my tongue shall also shall talk of thy righteousness all the
day long. for they are confounded, for
they are brought to shame that seek my hurt. Look back at our text in Isaiah 46. And this is God talking. And even to your old age, I am he. I don't change any. I don't get old. I don't get
weak. I get frustrated. Don't get where
I can't see. And even to your hoar hairs,
gray hairs, will I carry you. I have made and will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver
you. No matter how old you get, how
weak you get. Brother Scott Richardson, One night he was taking me home
to my house, and he was staying
up at my brother's house, and it wasn't that far to walk, and
I just told him, I said, you can let me out right here, and
I can just walk the rest of the way. It's just a little ways.
He said, oh no, I'm taking you all the way. He said, when I was a boy, and
he had a hard childhood, but he said, when I was a boy in
the mountains of West Virginia and I lived up at the head of
the holler, he said, if I ever got a ride back from town, everybody
would just stop at the beginning of the road because the road
was so bad they didn't want to drive up it, tear up their car.
I'd had to walk on the rest of the way. He said, I made a vow
right then that if I ever had a car, and I picked somebody
up, and I brought them from town, I was gonna carry them all the
way home. And that's the vow God has made
to his people. He's gonna carry them all the
way. He's going to sustain them in old age. He said, I made you,
and I'm going to carry you. I'm going to keep you. And we can hear his promise. And we can believe it. And we
can rely on it. And I believe we can rejoice
in it. We might could even sing that
song. that they don't even know who wrote. But some of the last verses are
like this. Even down to old age, all my
people shall prove my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. And then, when gray hairs shall
their temples adorn. Like lambs, they shall still
in my bosom be born. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned
for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. Oh, God, forsake me not. Forsake
us not. That's His promise not to. Our Father, we thank you. for your faithfulness, for your gift of strength, care all our days, but most of
all, for your grace and mercy to such sinners as we've been
from our youth to now, saving us, entrusting all our care and
your darling son and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful that while on
this earth even, you're faithful to us and you'll not forsake
us even down to old age. We don't know what old age holds
for any of us. But we know that you hold us,
and that's all right. Whatever we might face, of tragedy,
of sickness, of all kinds of circumstances in family and situation, you'll never cast us off. They
can't drive us from you. They can't snatch us from you. because we belong to you. We
thank you and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.