[0:00] Take your Bibles, if you would, and go with me to Psalm 70, and we're going to do Psalm 70 and 71 tonight. Psalm 70 and 71 is the old man's prayer and praise.
[0:14] We know that Psalm 70 is a David Psalm. We have no idea who wrote Psalm 71. Had a lot of people give a lot of opinions, maybe Jeremiah, maybe Samuel, maybe David, and all I know is this. The Holy Spirit wrote it, so I'll go with it. Amen?
[0:31] Now, we're going to read it together. I can never remember how you say that. Antifonalmente in Spanish, but anyway, whatever. Responsively.
[0:42] And we're going to read these two Psalms, but I need to ask you to get ready for some things. If you've got a paper Bible, I wish you could see my notes. I wish you could see the way I've done this.
[0:53] I want you to watch for every—this is like the most intensely personal Psalm. You're not going to believe it. David, or whoever, is talking to God.
[1:06] Boy, he's my God. Me and I. And it's going to be filled up with that, and he's going to talk to God. And, you know, God's his personal God.
[1:17] I wish you'd watch for that as we read through this Psalm. I want you to notice, and I'll get around to a little bit of this, but we don't have time to get to Psalms. But you need to watch for make haste.
[1:27] I call that the emergency prayer. Wayne Cofill, who's been my friend for 40 years or something, I don't know, 45 years. Wayne Cofill always talks about flare prayers.
[1:39] He said, you know, sometimes you're just in trouble. All you got time for is to shoot up a flare real quick. He calls them flare prayers. Well, this is—David's doing that in Psalm 70. He says, make haste, make haste, make haste.
[1:52] You'll see that. It's like, God, hurry up. God, hurry up. But then I want you to notice that he wants God honored, and it's all about God and how big God is. So read with me if you would, and I'll read one, you read two, and we'll continue all the way down to the end of Psalm 71.
[2:08] Are you ready? The Bible says, make haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and confounded and see half of my soul.
[2:22] Let them be turned backward and put the confusion that has done on my earth. Let them be turned back for reward of their shame that say, aha, aha.
[2:32] Let all those that seek thee rejoice in thee glad in thee, and let such as love thy salvation say continually. Let God be magnified.
[2:43] That's good. But I am poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer. O Lord, make no tarrying.
[2:56] Let me be, O Lord, who I put my trust, but he can never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape.
[3:07] Incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong meditation, wherefore I do I make to do this, O Lord. Thou hast given the man to save me, for thou art my rock and my voice.
[3:21] Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteousness. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honor all the day.
[3:37] As can I often die, O Lord, for they say not in my spirit forever. For mine enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together.
[3:50] Saying, God, I have forsaken him, persecute and take him, but where is none to deliver him? O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste for my help.
[4:05] Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries in my soul. Let them be covered with roach and dishonest to see my hurt. But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.
[4:20] My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all day, for I am not one of the numbers of Pharaoh. I will go in the strength of the Lord God.
[4:32] I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from you, and in the virtue of thy prayer of one of his works.
[4:44] Now also, when I am... Yeah, I'll make sure that wasn't yours. 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 everyone that is to come.
[4:59] Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high. Who has done great things, O God? Who is life unto thee? Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
[5:17] Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on my death's side. I will also praise thee with a psaltery, even thy truth, O my God. Unto thee will I sing with a harp, O thou God, holy one of Israel.
[5:33] My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee, and my soul which thou hast to be. Together, verse 24, my tongue also... My tongue also...
[5:43] My tongue also... My tongue also... My tongue also... My tongue also... My tongue also... My tongue also... Father in heaven, I ask you to work, and I pray, God, that you would help us.
[5:58] We, tonight, often feel under attack from people, from problems, from money issues, family trouble.
[6:10] There are so many things going on in our lives, and we need you. And sometimes we forget exactly what's happening. And so, God, tonight, I would ask that you would deal with hearts and give us strength, and I would give you praise as you work in our lives.
[6:25] God, bless your people and help us. In Jesus' name, amen. I have 14 minutes left, and I'm going to show you this, but I want you to go with me through the psalm.
[6:35] There are three things I want you to look for. Now, hey, by the way, you realize that no matter what passage of Scripture a person preaches, they can't exhaust that Scripture. The very word, Jesus, that's the shortest verse in the Bible.
[6:48] If you really preached all that you could preach about that, it'd probably take forever. D.L. Moody had been out of town, and Henry Drummond was preaching in his pulpit. And D.L. Moody preached on the wrath of God.
[7:00] That was his favorite subject. And he got back, and Moody's wife said, you're not going to believe Brother Drummond. He's a great preacher, but he's been in one verse for the last three months. And he said, what verse?
[7:10] He said, John 3, 16. He just starts off there, and he says, let me show you how he does love you. And he's been doing that every week. And he said, well, you can't do that and see people get saved. And he went and heard him and said, okay, I've learned.
[7:21] So you can't outdo the Scripture. There are three things I want you to notice. He's in trouble, and there's an emergency prayer. And it's said several times, I'll try to get that read to you, make haste, make haste, make haste.
[7:36] I think four times make haste. Make no tarrying. And you've got to understand, if this is David or any other man in the Bible, they're very likely under real attack, physical attack, not necessarily all spiritual attacks.
[7:52] But there's a deep Bible truth that you may not want to accept or understand. But my issues with individuals and my issues with those that attack me, even our missionaries not getting to be able to get into a country, it's not COVID, and it's not a president, and it's not a problem, it's the devil.
[8:10] We wrestle not with flesh and blood. We don't wrestle with what you can see. We don't wrestle with people. We wrestle with the very devil who would do everything he can. There are people in this room, and your family's under attack.
[8:23] Maybe it's something going on with your children. Maybe your marriage is in trouble. Maybe you're having financial problems. Maybe you're feeling great discouragement. And in your mind, it's just like the life is mistreating me, and things are going wrong.
[8:36] But if you had a Bible view, you'd realize something. You're under attack, and it's the devil. It's the devil who gets kids locked up in porn. It's the devil who causes people to do sick and sinful and wicked things.
[8:49] It's the devil who does all these things, and there's only one person bigger than him. We were in Sunday school this morning, and Gabriel tried to get through to Daniel with a message. And when he couldn't get through, Michael came to help him get the message through.
[9:03] So we saw Gabriel had some power. Michael had more power. Then we went over to Jude, and in Jude, Michael said to the devil himself, he said, I can't do anything, but the Lord rebuke you, because there's a difference in power.
[9:17] And so here we are, and it starts off with, oh God, make haste. It's an emergency prayer. But throughout these same two Psalms, you're going to see an expressed position.
[9:29] He is going to say this, this is who I am. This is what I want. And by the way, that's the best way to answer the devil, is to look at him and say, do you know who I am? I'm a born again, blood-bought son of God.
[9:42] And because of what God has done in my life, I can have victory. And then he's, the last thing, he exalts God in praise. And he comes to it, and he says, boy, God, you're big. If you read this Psalm with those three little things, and that's skipping a whole bunch of stuff, without a doubt.
[9:57] But let me show you some things. Let's look at the prayer. Look, if you would, chapter 70 and verse one, God, hurry to help me. Make haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord.
[10:10] Now, if the Lord put that in the Bible, it's probably okay for me to pray that. And right now, you may be in trouble, and you may be feeling the attack of the devil, and you have Bible right here, to open the Psalm, and in a time of prayer, say, God, I'm going to pray your words back to you.
[10:26] You gave me these words. God, I'm asking you, please get in a hurry. Tell me. Look at Psalm 70 and verse five. He said, God, I can't do it. God, I can't win.
[10:37] God, I'm getting beat up. God, I'm down and under it. He said, I am poor and needy. Make haste. Make haste unto me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer.
[10:49] O God, don't carry. Don't hang around. Don't delay. Hurry up and get here. Look, if you would, at Psalm 71 and verse 12. O God, be not far from me.
[11:00] O my God, make haste for my help. You see, he was in trouble. Boy, I've been in trouble so many times in my life. You know, and you need God. And you know what we've got to learn to do?
[11:11] We've got to learn that everything that's going on around me, you'll hear a while when even when Betty and I start having little fusses and fights and junk, do you realize that more than you'd ever like to admit, the devil's playing the game right there.
[11:25] He's like, if I could just get Austin and Betty to fuss and fight, if I could split up this marriage, I'd really get a job done. And Betty, Betty doesn't even realize she's playing in the hands of the devil. And Austin doesn't realize he's playing in the hands of the devil, but the devil's winning the victory.
[11:39] And here's what the Psalmist said. Oh God, I need you. Hurry up and get here and help me. God, I don't know how to handle this problem. I don't know how to handle this issue. I need you. He said, God, look at Psalm 70 verse two.
[11:52] He said, God, stop them. They're trying to hurt me. Stop them. They're trying to hurt me. These are, these Psalms in the old Testament, David prays like crazy prayers. They was like, just kill them.
[12:02] God, just kill them. God, just wipe them out. God, I don't like them. They're trying to hurt me. David was always in trouble. And his prayer was God, just take them out.
[12:13] Hey, you should never pray that way. Can I get an amen right there? We don't want anybody dead. We're not trying to kill anybody unless you know who, who we're really fighting.
[12:24] Then you can pray that prayer. You know, who's really fighting you. Do you remember when Jesus is walking down the sidewalk there towards Jerusalem? And Peter turned around and looked at him.
[12:35] And Peter says, we don't need to go to Jerusalem. They'll kill you. We don't want you to die. And Jesus looks at Peter and says, get behind me, Satan. I think you think he called Peter the devil, but he didn't call Peter the devil.
[12:48] He knew who the talker was. He knew where the idea came from. He recognized it and he rebuked it. And that's what you and I can do. They were trying to hurt him. Look at Psalm 70 verse two, let them be ashamed and confounded.
[13:02] God, the devil wants to ruin my spiritual life. The devil wants to ruin my testimony. The devil wants to destroy the work that's going on around here. They're after my soul.
[13:12] God embarrass them. God, don't let it work out. God, let them turn back. God, let them be put to confusion. They want to hurt me. Verse three, let them be turned back for reward of their shame.
[13:24] There are people out there going, uh, huh? Look at you, David. They came to zig lag and it took all your stuff and you got whipped. And even your own men want to kill you. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Got you there.
[13:36] He said, God, do something. Step in here. I need you to work. Psalm 71 and verse 13. He said, let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul.
[13:48] Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt. God, hinder them. God hurt them. God stopped them. They're trying to, they're trying to hurt me.
[13:59] God, bring it on their own heads. Psalm 71 too. He said, I'm in trouble. Help me. He said, deliver me and thy righteousness and cause me to escape and climb thine ear unto me and save me.
[14:15] Now, if you got your Bible open, I wish you'd underline thy righteousness. What I really like, there are times when old David will actually pray and say stuff like this. He'll say, God, you know, I'm right.
[14:26] He didn't say that. He's just bold about that. But here he says, the Psalmist in Psalm 71 says, as I pray this, I'm not coming to you because I'm right. I'm not cousin you because I'm good. I'm coming to you because you're good.
[14:39] I'm not coming to you because I've been a great husband. I'm not coming to you because I've been a great pastor. I'm not coming to you because I've been a great dad. I'm coming to you because God, you're the one that's good and you know how to do a work and all this.
[14:50] So please lean your ear down here and hear me and save me. Psalm 71 in verse four, deliver me. Oh my God, I have a hand of the wicked.
[15:00] I have a hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. You know what? David would have had Saul and other people messing with him and doing stuff, but not you and I don't have that. They're not really.
[15:12] It's not the wicked people. It's not even the president of China or Taiwan or India that won't let him in. There's a prince of Persia over there. There's a prince of a region over there. God, please stop that.
[15:23] And he says, God, I pray my emergency prayer because I'm getting old and I need you. Look at Psalm 71, nine. God, I'm old.
[15:34] Don't throw me away. Cast me not off in the time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength fails. For mine enemies speak against me.
[15:46] And they say that lay wait for my soul. Take counsel together. Father, they've been waiting for me to get weak. They've been waiting for me to get tired. They've been waiting for me to not be able to fight. And they say, God has forsaken him.
[15:58] God, they're saying, you're not on my side anymore. They're saying, let's persecute him and take him because God won't deliver him. God, please help. Psalm 71 and verse 18.
[16:09] I am old and gray headed. Oh God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength under this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come.
[16:23] God, don't take me out of here till I've done the job you got for me to do. God, help me to make a difference. And God, while I'm praying this emergency prayer, would you honor those that love you? Look at verse four.
[16:34] In verse four, he said, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified.
[16:45] Let God be magnified. In Psalm 70 and verse five, he said, it's because I'm poor and needy. I don't have the power. In Psalm 71, one, he said, I put my trust in you. God, I need you.
[16:57] I got four minutes and I may take a couple extra, but I want to show you something. First thing he does is, is the Psalmist is in trouble. He's evidently an old man now.
[17:08] I mean, there was a time when he was a young man and he went out and fought with Goliath. But if you remember the story is the time goes by, he stops going out and fighting with the people. He's actually, his men say to him, it's best for you to stay home.
[17:20] You're worth a whole lot more than we are. We'll go fight the battles. You stay out of the, you stay out of the fight. I'm old now. He says, boy, I need God, but I love this next part. This, I almost just preached this to you tonight.
[17:32] I don't have time to do it all, but you can do it. I'll get you set up to do it. Look at the position he expresses. If you would, Psalm 71, one, I just wrote these in sentences. Like I would say, I trust you, God.
[17:45] And Psalm 71, one in the, Oh Lord, do I put my trust. let me never be put to confusion. I, my, me, God, Austin puts his trust in you.
[17:58] God, don't let me be hurt in this. Psalm 71, three, I'll run to you. I'll always run to you. Be thou my strong habitation whereby, where into I may continually resort.
[18:11] Thou has given my commandment to save me for you are my rock and my forces. God, I'll always trust you. And God, when I'm in trouble, I'll run to you.
[18:23] I'm afraid we don't do that. By the way, I'm trying to get through without saying much, but I'm afraid we don't do that. I'm afraid we run to psychologists and counselors. And I'm afraid we run to money and, and power.
[18:33] We run to doctors and pills. And the Psalm has said, boy, God, I'm running to you. And in Psalm 71, six, he says, I know it's always been you. That was at work in my life.
[18:43] It's always been you. God, look at verse six by thee, by you, God, have I been holding up from my womb from the time I came out of my mama's womb.
[18:54] God has been you. Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels. God, you got, you birthed me. You brought me into this world. My praise shall be continually of the, I'm always held up by you.
[19:08] I'll always trust you. Psalm 71, 14. I will hope continually. Psalm 71, 16. I'll live in, go in your strength.
[19:18] I'll not take credit for any of it. I will go in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. I love it.
[19:29] The Psalmist says this. I'm not bragging. I'm not going to come back and say, look, I killed Goliath. I'm not going to come back and say, y'all see how good I am with a slingshot. I'm not going to come back and say, y'all see me take his head off.
[19:40] I'm not going to come back and say that. You remember when he's standing in the valley and a giant was standing over on the other side and we're not sure David wrote this, but if he did, it sure works. He said, he looked over at that giant and he said, you got weapons and you got power.
[19:52] I come to you in the name of the Lord God of heaven. I'm not here in my name. I'm in his name. And you know what? Everything that happens, if I've been blessed, if I've had good children, and if I've had good grandchildren, and if I've had God bless me financially, all that, I tell you what I'm going to do, I'm going to be careful to make mention that it was my God who did the work in me.
[20:12] I'll always talk about you. Psalm 71, 17. Oh God, thou has taught me from my youth. Here too have I declared thy wondrous works.
[20:24] And God, I want to tell my kids and my grandkids about you. I think it'd be sweet. Just have some time when you turn everything off and just talk.
[20:36] I am old and gray-headed, oh God. Forsake me not until I've showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power. I don't have time for more.
[20:46] I got more, but I'm going to tell you a little story and then I'll be done. When I was a boy, my mama always asked me to entertain her daddy. When he would come to the house and they came about once a week, they'd drive across about an hour away and they'd drive across to see us.
[21:03] And whenever he came or we'd go over there about once a week and they'd come over about once a week. We saw them pretty regularly. My grandmama and my granddaddy, they were godly people. And my mama would say, you need to go in there and take care of your granddaddy.
[21:16] I'd take him fishing. I'd do anything, keep him out of mama's hair. She was just, she was glad to have him over there to see us, but she really didn't want to have that one. My granddaddy would say, son, I can remember when the meeting house was packed.
[21:30] I've heard these stories all my life. I remember when the meeting house was packed, that's a church building. The windows were open. The songs were sung. People were sitting in the doorway.
[21:41] People were sitting at the windows. And I saw God come down. And I'd sit there and listen and say, oh God, someday could I ever see that. Oh God, listen to my granddaddy talk.
[21:51] I can remember stories about a guy named D. Kelly. He was one of my pastors. I don't remember the guy except granddaddy talked to me about D. Kelly and how D. Kelly didn't have much at learning and D. Kelly wasn't that smart.
[22:03] But buddy, when D. Kelly stepped in a pulpit, the power of God was there. And I just remember thinking to myself, God, if I'm ever allowed to, I want to see some of that. Could you look at this verse for me one more time?
[22:15] Verse 18. I am old and gray headed. That's my granddaddy. Oh God, forsake me not until I have showed your strength to this generation and your power to everyone that is to come.
[22:34] Our children are going to grow up in a whole different world than you ever grew up in. I learned that in teachers and workers meeting today. Our children are not going to know the God I knew.
[22:49] time after time I watched him work literal miracles in my life. How I saw God answer prayers. How I dealt with people that I had no idea how to talk to and God came through.
[23:05] If we don't tell them some stories. Let me tell the kids what God did. My old granddaddy, I don't think he had but like a third or fourth grade education.
[23:17] My old granddaddy told me stories. Boy, they put a fire in my heart. When I was a little boy, I wouldn't be like my granddaddy. He wasn't ever the preacher. He was just the guy that gave all the money and took care of the preacher.
[23:29] And I just wanted to be like that. And I'd like to know, are y'all going to help me tell our kids how great our God is? Are y'all going to help me tell our kids how he hears and answers prayer?
[23:43] are y'all going to help me and all the Sunday school teachers teach them what a wonderful God, his strength and his power to all that are to come.
[23:54] Father God in heaven, I love you and I thank you and I ask you to work tonight. God, I ask you to help us to take a stand for you and to be used of you.
[24:10] And I'll give you great honor and glory for what you do. Show your power. Would your heads bow and your eyes closed just a second? I think some of us need to pray an emergency prayer right now.
[24:22] We're dealing with some junk and we need God. We need to find a place and say, God, make haste. Make haste. Make haste.
[24:33] Make no tearing. Hurry, God. Why don't you get out of your seat and come lay out your burden? Cast all your burden on the Lord and trust him to work in your finances. Trust God to work in the raising of your children.
[24:46] Trust God to work in your marriage. I don't know what you're dealing with but the Holy Spirit of God does. He plans Psalm 71 and 72 for us or 70 and 71. Why don't you come talk to him?
[24:56] Just lay it out to him. You have a right to say, God, make haste. God, please come and answer. Maybe you haven't been sharing truth with your kids.
[25:07] Maybe you haven't been clear about who you are in Christ. I pray you'd let that be true. Let's let God work. Let's give God a chance to move. Let's beg God for revival.
[25:18] Let's beg God to move. Father God, show yourself. Prove yourself. I beg you to work and I'll give you praise for all you do.