Trusting The Immutable God
Psalms 71
May 17, 2020
Tonight we come to the 71st Psalm,
Which is generally recognized as a song one’s old age.
Since the Psalmist references being old and gray.
• And certainly we see great faith here
• And a great example of the goal of every senior saint,
• And even the goal of those who are younger as we all move rapidly toward old age.
What it really is, though at its core
Is a song that celebrates the immutability of God.
You’ve likely heard that term before,
But if you don’t immediately recognize it,
It means that GOD IS UNCHANGING
Now of course that DOESN’T MEAN that God never moves or that He doesn’t respond to our lives or behavior. He’s not static in that sense.
WHAT IT MEANS IS THAT
His person and His power and His promises never change.
Malachi 3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
Psalms 33:11 “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.”
Psalms 102:26-27 “Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. “But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.”
The New Testament also teaches this immutability:
James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
Romans 11:29 “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Perhaps though the most telling passage is when
God reveals Himself to Moses simply as “I Am”.
(Not, “I Was” or “I Will Be”)
And even in the New Testament we know this to be true of Jesus as well.
Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Jesus of course echoes that reality when He says:
• “I am the Bread of Life”
• “I am the Light of the World”
• “I am the door of the sheep”
• “I am the Good Shepherd”
• “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
• “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”
• “I am the True Vine”
That is NOT who He was.
That is NOT who He will be.
That is who He is; always, never changing.
This is perhaps the most comforting reality we have about God.
• He is not wishy washy
• He is not fickle
• He doesn’t change His mind
• He doesn’t age or lose His power
He is the same…always.
And that gives us great confidence in the faith.
We know who God is.
We know what God desires.
We know what God will do.
If God were ever evolving or changing we wouldn’t know what to expect.
• The stories of the Old Testament would be an interesting read,
• But ultimately of no value because God might not be like that anymore.
But He is.
• The same God that met Adam in the garden is the same God that meets us today.
• The same God that spoke this world into existence is the same God who will destroy it with a word.
We even sing:
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”
God’s immutability is a great attribute of God.
Now the doctrine of God’s immutability is certainly a doctrine we can LEARN THEOLOGICALLY.
• That is, we can read a paper about it.
• We can study texts about it.
• We can learn it and explain it and defend.
• We can learn that truth theologically from a sermon.
BUT, we LEARN IT EXPERIENTIALLY from life.
• As we live, we experience the immutability and faithfulness of God.
As we move from infancy to elderly
Our life builds a framework of experience
Whereby we can see that God has in fact, never changed.
And this experience is the wisdom behind Psalms 71.
Here we have an old man giving praise
Because God has proven Himself
To be the same every single day of his life.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE PSALM (for context)
1) HE IS OLD
• (9a) “do not cast me off in the time of old age”
• (18a) “And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me,”
2) HE IS AFFLICTED
• (4) “Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and the ruthless man,”
• (10-11) “For my enemies have spoken against me; And those who watch for my life have consulted together, saying, “God has forsaken him; pursue and seize him, for there is no one to deliver.”
• (13) “Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed”
• (20b) “bring me up from the depths of the earth”
3) HE IS CONVINCED OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
• (5-6) “For You are my hope; O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth. By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother’s womb; My praise is continually of You.”
• (7b) “You are my strong refuge”
• (17) “O God, You have taught me from my youth, And I still declare Your wondrous deeds.”
• (20) “You who have shown me many troubles and distresses will revive me again, and will bring me up again from the depths of the earth.”
4) HE WANTS HIS FAITHFUL GOD TO DELIVER HIM
• (2) “deliver me and rescue me; incline Your ear to me and save me”
• (4) “Rescue me, O my God”
• (9) “Do not cast me off…Do not forsake me”
• (12) “O God, do not be far from me; O my God, hasten to my help!”
• (18) “O God, do not forsake me”
• (21) “May You increase my greatness and turn to comfort me”
BUT EVEN IN HIS CRY FOR DELIVERANCE HIS SONG OF PRAISE CONTINUALLY OVERCOMES HIS CRY
• In verse 4 he is crying for deliverance, but by the time you get to verse 6 “My praise is continually of You”
• (8) “My mouth is filled with Your praise”
• In verses 12-13 he’s praying for God to stop his enemies, but by when you get to verses 14-16 it all turns to praise.
• In verse 18 he’s asking God not to forsake him, but by 19 he’s praise God’s great righteousness.
• Even the Psalm itself closes with 3 verses of solid praise (22-23)
It actually can cause you to be a little confused when reading the Psalm.
• Is he in despair over his affliction or is he rejoicing in his victory?
• Is he begging God to come near or is he praising God for all He’s done?
At times you can’t tell what his primary attitude is.
Is Psalms 71 a cry for deliverance or is it a song of praise?
Both are occurring.
What you ultimately get here is this:
• An older man who is certainly in affliction and who is certainly concerned about it.
• He is taking this present trouble before God and asking for help.
• And at the same time as he goes, he is 100% confident in who his God is and in what He will do
• So he can’t help breaking out in praise.
It is a song written by a senior saint
Who hasn’t just been taught that God never changes,
But who knows He never does.
The Apostle John wrote an interesting passage:
1 John 2:12-14 “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”
I still remember hearing John MacArthur preach on this text
Many years ago and being amazed at it.
John speaks of “little children” who he says “your sins have been forgiven” and later “because you know the Father”
• And MacArthur would talk about new Christians who don’t really know anything at first. They know they are forgiven and they know they love God but that’s really about it.
• They have no theology and they have no experience.
• They just have a desire to run into the arms of this Father who they love.
John also speaks of “young men”, and describes them as “you have overcome the evil one” and again “you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.”
• These are those who have now grown in the faith.
• They have studied the word, they have developed their theology, they fight battles, they wage war.
• They are soldiers for truth and full of enthusiasm and excitement.
And John also refers to “fathers” and about them says, “you know Him who has been from the beginning” and again “you know Him who was from the beginning.”
• And MacArthur spoke of that old seasoned Christian, who has more than just a love for God and more than just a complete theology.
• He has the experience of having walked with God for many years and he knows God.
• He doesn’t just know about Him, He knows God.
And I remember thinking, “That is certainly what I want!”
I want to know God.
Well, that is the perspective of Psalms 71.
It is written from an old man who is in trouble, but he knows God.
• He knows who God has been.
• He knows who God is.
• He knows who God will be.
And that is why even his distress sounds more like praise than distress.
He is supremely confident in who God is and what God will do.
It is a song of praise that rests upon the immutability of God.
So let’s work our way through this Psalm this evening
And listen to a song written by one who trusts an immutable God.
It is a man who knows God
And therefore sings about what he expects God to do.
5 stanzas here.
#1 HE EXPECTS DELIVERANCE FROM THE WICKED
Psalms 71:1-6
Now an interesting note to this Psalm is that,
Like the last one (70), it begins with a repeat.
The first 3 verses of this Psalm are clearly a quoting of the first 3 verses of Psalms 31.
Psalms 31:1-3 “In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver me. Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me. For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.”
Obviously David penned that Psalm when he was younger
And during a time of great distress.
As a young man, he faced adversity and he cried out to God for deliverance.
When we studied that Psalm we noted that
As David cried out for deliverance
He did so by standing on the truth of who God is.
David made the request there, “Be to me a rock of strength”
• And then moment later David said, “For You are my rock and my fortress”
• In verse 4 of that Psalm David would say, “For You are my strength”
So, we noted that David prayed for God to be his rock and his strength
Because God had revealed Himself to David as a rock and as strength.
So in Psalms 31 David was standing on his theology,
And we talked about how important that is.
Well David here many years later David is still singing that song.
• He still believes that doctrine.
• He is still acting upon it.
And he is still crying out to God.
(4) “Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, Out of the grasp of the wrongdoer and ruthless man,”
He is still in many ways that same man who knows the truth about God
And who therefore cries out to God.
BUT it is in verse 5 that this Psalm moves beyond Psalms 31.
For David now, as an old man,
No longer only leans on his theology,
David also leans on his experience.
(5-6) “For You are my hope; O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth. By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother’s womb; My praise is continually of You.”
Theology is certainly there, but so is experience.
He is now taking inventory of all the way back to the womb
And he comes up with this conclusion.
• “You are my confidence from my youth”
• “You…have sustained [me] from my birth”
• I know You!
• I know who You are!
• I know who You have always been and therefore who You will be.
And that is why the DREADFUL MOMENT
So easily transitions from a cry of desperation to a SONG OF PRAISE.
“My praise is continually of You”
• Is afflicted? Yes
• Does he want God to deliver? Yes
• But he is praising because experience has taught him that God will.
God DOES NOT forever give His children over to the grasp of the wicked.
God DOES NOT forever allow His children to be seized by the ruthless.
There is affliction, but based upon the track record of God
There is also great hope and reason to praise.
Consider Paul in the New Testament.
2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-10 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”
How can you have such hope in the midst of such hardship?
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
Even in Paul’s final letter, he wrote:
2 Timothy 4:16-18 “At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”
It certainly doesn’t mean we will never be afflicted or ensnared or pursued or persecuted, BUT WE WON’T BE FOREVER.
God does not leave his children there.
In Psalms 31 David knew that theologically, in Psalms 71 he knows it experientially.
• His life and his experiences have taught him that God delivers and so now he expects it.
HE EXPECTS DELIVERANCE FROM THE WICKED.
That is what it means to trust an immutable God.
#2 HE EXPECTS DEVOTION IN WEAKNESS
Psalms 71:7-11
In verses 7-8 David recounts
What has been HIS REPUTATION for most of his life.
(7) “I have become a marvel to many”
That word “marvel” in the Hebrew is MOPHETH (mo-faith)
And it speaks of “a wonder or sign or miracle or display of power”
It was the word used of God’s display of power through the plagues of Egypt.
David says that all his life he was a “display of God’s power to man”
He was “a model of strength.”
And we can hear the masses singing,
“Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten-thousands.”
And David says the reason he was such a demonstration of power is “For You are my strong refuge.”
David’s strength was because of God’s strength
And people knew not to mess with him.
And David praises God for that.
(8) “My mouth is filled with Your praise And with Your glory all day long.”
But now, David is old and he no longer intimidates his enemies.
(9-11) “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Do not forsake me when my strength fails. For my enemies have spoken against me; And those who watch for my life have consulted together, Saying, “God has forsaken him; Pursue and seize him, for there is no one to deliver.”
You can see how they no longer fear the appearance of David.
• When he was young they didn’t want to mess with the giant-slayer,
• But now he is old and feeble and they are not afraid.
But David knows what they do not.
His strength and power was never about his arm,
It was always about his God.
He was strong because his God was strong
And even though David’s flesh is now weak,
He still counts on God to help him with power.
Paul also spoke of this reality.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me — to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Those are statements of men who know more than theology.
• They knew God.
• They knew their power was from God
And just because they were physically weak
Was NO REASON that God’s power couldn’t still show up in their lives.
That is the expectation of a man who knows God.
HE EXPECTS DEVOTION IN WEAKNESS.
#3 HE EXPECTS DEFENSE IN INJUSTICE
Psalms 71:12-16
This stanza begins with yet another imprecatory prayer.
(Are you surprised that there are so many of them?)
As we have said so many times before,
We would have to blot out a great portion of Scripture
If it was our objective to overlook the imprecatory Psalms.
Here is another.
• He again asks God to vindicate and avenge him.
• He again expects God to come to his defense and extract vengeance on his behalf.
(12-13) “O God, do not be far from me; O my God, hasten to my help! Let those who are adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed; Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor, who seek to injure me.”
David has no problem being like that persistent widow.
But if you’ll notice, while David prays for justice,
He doesn’t seem to fret it.
He lays this injustice at the feet of God and he moves on to praise.
(14-16) “But as for me, I will hope continually, And will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness And of Your salvation all day long; For I do not know the sum of them. I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.”
That is a great statement of faith.
• You handle their threats,
• I’ll focus on praising you.
That is definitely a man who has learned to “never take his own revenge but to leave room for the wrath of the Lord”.
He’s just not worried about it.
He knows God, and he knows that God will take care of it.
And again, we see this confidence in Paul in the New Testament.
Romans 8:35-39 “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
He just wasn’t worried about it.
2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
• He just wasn’t worried about suffering and injustice and things like that.
• He had entrusted justice to God and he knew God well enough to know that God would take care of it.
Because he knew God, he expected defense in injustice.
#4 HE EXPECTS DECLARATION AFTER TROUBLE
Psalms 71:17-21
By “declaration” here I mean to say that
He expects to have a testimony to share when this is all over.
He knows that trials serve many purposes in the life of believers,
And one of those purposes is that
We might share testimony to strengthen others.
And David has had this opportunity in life more times than we can count.
• Many times has he gathered the people around to tell them about how God delivered from the lion or the bear or the giant or the king or the Philistines.
And he expects, since God is faithful, that he will do it again.
(17-18) “O God, You have taught me from my youth, And I still declare Your wondrous deeds. And even when I am old and gray, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to all who are to come.”
He is again crying out for deliverance,
And he expects it so that he can share with the next generation
Just how great God is.
I CAN’T STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS
Titus 2:1-5 “But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.”
Our sinful culture has inflicted a great injustice on the aged.
• Our culture sees them as slow
• They are mocked as dumb because they don’t grasp modern technology
• They are seen as old-fashioned and a hindrance to progress
• They are often seen as out of touch with modern things
That is just a satanic deception.
The Bible says just the opposite.
• The Bible speaks of the old (if they are Godly in their old age of course) as a great treasure and resource to the world.
• They have years and years of testimony and experience to share with the younger generation.
It is always my objective
To throw our children and youth with our senior adults as often as I can.
• Aside from preaching the word of God to them, there is not a greater gift I can give our youth than the experience and knowledge of God that resides in our senior adults.
• Young people need to learn from the old and the old need to be willing to instruct the young.
• It would be a tragedy if you racked up 70+ years of experience in walking with God and never shared that with the next generation.
David understands that.
He knows his victories are not just for him personally,
But are also for the corporate good of the congregation.
And so he expects to have the opportunity to boast about this victory.
AND IN FACT, even though he has yet to be delivered, HE ALREADY STARTS.
(19-21) “For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You? You who have shown me many troubles and distresses Will revive me again, And will bring me up again from the depths of the earth. May You increase my greatness And turn to comfort me.”
As David starts trying to recount the greatness of God, he realizes that ultimately it is A STORY TOO LOFTY TO TELL.
• God’s righteousness “reaches to the heavens” it is beyond measure.
• All David can say is “O God, who is like You?”
And he recounts all the times God has delivered him in the past.
And not just him, but the entire nation.
• Some translate the “me” of verse 20 as “us” speaking of the entire nation.
David knows that God has led him through many troubles and distresses
And has at the same time rescued him from them all.
He knows God will rescue him this time as well
And he will declare that to the next generation.
We sing, “Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. His grace has kept me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.”
2 Timothy 3:10-11 “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me!”
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
It is simply one who has walked with God
And who knows God never changes.
AND SO HE EXPECTS DECLARATION AFTER TROUBLE.
#5 HE EXPECTS DELIGHT IN VICTORY
Psalms 71:22-24
The song ends in pure praise.
And we notice the future tense of the verbs.
“I will…” (several times in these 3 verses)
This is what is coming.
He is certain of the victory.
The days are dark, but he is not concerned.
WHY? He knows God.
God has never changed.
Psalms 37:25 “I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread.”
David knows how this ends.
• It will end with him holding a harp
• It will end with him contemplating God’s truth
• It will end with him singing God’s praises
• It will end with him shouting for joy
• It will end with his soul rejoicing in redemption
• It will end with his tongue never stopping to talk about God’s righteousness
• It will end with his enemies ashamed and humiliated.
He knows God.
He knows who He is.
And so he knows how this ends.
It is more than a man with strong theology.
It is a man with experience.
His entire life God has proven himself faithful.
God has never changed and so David is able to confidently rest upon Him.
1 Corinthians 15:50-58 “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
That’s the confidence of a man who knows who God is.
• He doesn’t just know theology, but through life he has come to know God
• And his faith now rests upon God’s unchanging nature.
For us then this Psalm is both A HOPE AND A GOAL.
• We rejoice that God is unchanging.
• We rejoice in the truths that this Psalm presents.
But at the same time this Psalm reveals the goal of the Christian life
• That by the time we come to the end of our journey here,
• That we might also be able to say, we have come to know God.
That there is a deep theological and experiential testimony
To be shared
Because we have both learned and proved who God is.
Let that be your goal as well.
To know and trust and prove the faithfulness of God.
