of Scripture and turn to Psalm 102. Psalm 102. And if you're using one of the Bibles that we provide for you, you'll find our passage on page 501 and 502. So we are currently in a series in the Psalms, and this morning as we continue to work our way consecutively through the Psalms, we have come to Psalm 102. And as you're turning there, I will confess that this is a particularly challenging psalm. There's so much going on in this psalm that it's a challenge to know how to present it all, especially in one sermon. But I will do my best this morning. So Psalm 102, I'll begin reading for us at the beginning of the psalm and then read through to the end. This is God's Word. A prayer of one afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. For my days pass away like smoke and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and is withered. I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day my enemies taunt me. Those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink. Because of your indignation and anger, for you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow. I wither away like grass. But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever. You are remembered throughout all generations. You will arise and have pity on Zion. It is the time to favor her. The appointed time has come. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory. For the Lord builds up Zion. He appears in His glory. He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord, that He look down from His holy height, from heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem His praise. When peoples gather together in kingdoms to worship the Lord, He has broken my strength in mid-course. He has shortened my days. Oh my God, I say, take me not away in the midst of my days. You whose years endure throughout all generations. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. They will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away. But You are the same, and Your years have no end. The children of Your servants shall dwell secure. Their offspring shall be established before You." Amen. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank You and praise You for Your Word, and we pray now that You would give us wisdom and insight into Your Word. We pray, Father, that our own sorrows and afflictions would be testimonies to Your faithfulness. And Lord, we pray that even as we lament and look to You in hope, that our faith would become a testimony for future generations. And it's through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we ask it. Amen. Well, I don't recall a psalm that has quite a similar structure as Psalm 102. In some ways, it seems to be in a bit of a class of its own. Verses 1 through 11, as we just read the psalm in its entirety, begins with a personal lament. A lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow. And so in the first 11 verses here, the psalmist is personally expressing his grief, his sorrow. He's lamenting before the Lord. But then in verse 12, a shift takes place. And the shift from verse 12 to the rest of the end of the psalm is a concern now, not so much about the psalmist's own personal sufferings, but a concern about the larger well-being of the city of Jerusalem. So the psalm moves from almost an exclusive concern regarding personal suffering to a broader concern for the suffering of the community. And this way, Psalm 102 is a reminder to us that when we face troubles in this life, we rarely face troubles in isolation. Rarely do we experience hardships that are entirely personal without reference to other people or a larger community. With this in mind, we might be wondering, what is the specific context in which the psalmist finds himself? What is the situation in which the psalmist writes these words about his own personal suffering and the suffering of the city of Jerusalem as a whole? Well, it's difficult to know. We don't know for sure exactly, because the psalmist doesn't tell us explicitly, but he does give us hints. And from those hints, we can, I think, rather confidently reconstruct the historical setting in which this psalm was written. It seems that the psalmist is writing here about the Babylonian exile. You see, in the Old Testament, God's people, the nation of Israel, rebelled against God, and as a result, God gave the nation of Israel over to her enemies. In 722 B.C., Assyria attacked the northern kingdom and conquered the northern kingdom. And then about 150 years later, in 586 B.C., Babylon conquered the southern kingdom and destroyed the capital of Jerusalem. Both the conquest of the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom resulted in tremendous amount of human suffering and death. And as a result of the conquest of the southern kingdom, you have the Babylonian exile, which is a reference to Babylon making the decision to take a portion of the Jews from Jerusalem and the surrounding area and relocate them some 1,000 miles away in Babylon. And so these Jews were exiled. They were taken out of their home country to Babylon. We can imagine Psalm 102 being written by an individual who has personally suffered great loss because of the Babylonian conquest and exile. And he's telling his own story and he's lamenting his own personal suffering while at the same time expressing great concern for the larger community of which he is a part. For Jerusalem, the city, and for the nation of Israel as a whole. In some ways, as we think about Psalm 102 in these terms, it shouldn't be hard for us to imagine, especially given the current events that are taking place in Israel today. Recently, I saw a video online of the narrow tunnels that run under Palestine, where it seems that so many of the Israeli hostages were taken and are being hidden away after the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023. We can barely imagine the grief and the fear and the horrible unrest that those hostages and their families must be enduring. But then we understand that those hostages and their families must also feel a great burden for their nation as a whole. For the leaders who are seeking to lead their nation right now and for the soldiers who are fighting for their release and for the safety of their country. Their individual stories in this way are intimately intertwined with the larger well-being and welfare of the nation. So given the conflict in Israel, we could imagine a Jewish person living in Jerusalem today praying a similar prayer as Psalm 102. As we think about this dynamic between individual lament and communal suffering, I suspect many of us can identify with the psalmist, maybe at a national level. In fact, as we think about our own country, we had a similar experience around the events of 9-11. There were many individuals who suffered greatly as a result of the attacks on 9-11, and yet their personal suffering was linked to the larger community and nation for which they were concerned. This also applies not only at a national level, but also at the level of a family or a church. Perhaps you're a mother who is burdened for a wayward child and you're not only dealing with your own grief, but you're also keenly aware of how your child's rebellion affects your husband and impacts the other children in your family and influences the family dynamics. Or perhaps you've been the member of a church where you witnessed division that resulted in a church split And the pain of that experience is compounded as you not only cope with your own disappointment and grief, but you're also deeply concerned for the welfare of the leaders of the church and their families and for the folks in your small group and for the larger witness of the church as a whole. You see, we rarely experience difficulties in isolation. Our troubles are often intertwined with a larger group or community with which we identify. And that's what we see here in Psalm 102. And in Psalm 102, the psalmist teaches us that when we find ourselves in such challenging circumstances, we can lament to God in prayer. And we can pray with hope. And this lament and these prayers can become faith for a future generation. I want to say that again because this is what we're going to see in Psalm 102. When we find ourselves in such challenging situations, we can lament to God, we can pray with hope, and those laments and those prayers and that hope can become faith for a future generation. The outline of Psalm 102 is a little bit different. A little more complicated than some of the other Psalms that we looked at, but I'm going to tell you how I think that Psalm 102 lays itself out, the outline, and then we'll walk through the text as a whole. First of all, I think that we see in verses 1 and 2 a prayer. So in verses 1 and 2, there's a prayer. And then I believe the rest of the Psalm is structured as a chiasm. Now, a chiasm is when the author structures the material so that the outer sections of the material mirror one another or they parallel one another. And then those outer sections work inward until you come to the central midpoint of the passage or structure, and that's intended to be the focus point or the main point that the author is intending to drive home. So it starts with a prayer in verses 1 to 2, and then there's a chiasm. And the chiasm lays out this way. First of all, we see in verses 3 through 11, a prayer of affliction. Then in verses 12 through 17, we see a prayer to the Lord. Then the middle of that chiasm is in verses 18 to 22, a record for future generations. Then we see in verses 23 and 24, another prayer of affliction. And then in verses 25 to 28, we see a prayer to the Lord. Now if you didn't get all that, it's fine, okay? I'm going to walk through that outline again as we walk through the passage, but that's how I think the passage is laid out as a whole. Alright, first of all, let's consider, so this is going to be our outline, we're going to walk through this. Let's consider first of all a prayer in verses 1 and 2. Notice there, I'll start with the title. A prayer of the one afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me. Answer me speedily in the day when I call. And so you see there the title. The title tells us what this psalm is about. A prayer of one afflicted when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord. And immediately we witness the psalmist pouring out his heart to the Lord. You see it there in verses 1 and 2 which contain five pleas or requests that are presented to us in rapid succession. First, hear my prayer, O Lord. Second, let my cry come to you. Third, do not hide your face from me in the day of distress. Fourth, incline your ear to me. Fifth, answer me speedily in the day when I call." We sense here the psalmist's desperation. He is, as the title of the psalm describes him, afflicted. He is faint. He is troubled. He is at the end of himself. Basically, every request here we see in these opening two verses, we can find in other Psalms in this altar. With the same wording and the same language. And it's a reminder to us that when we voice similar cries of desperation, we are not alone. In fact, many believers whose words are recorded in Scripture, felt the same desperation and voiced similar pleas for mercy. You know, sometimes when the hurt runs so deep and the burden in our lives seems so heavy, we might complain, I don't know what to say. I don't know how to pray. But let me encourage you this morning, my friends. You can start here. You can start with these very simple and honest prayers. Hear me, O Lord. Let my cry come to you. Do not hide your face from me. Incline yourself to Me. Answer Me. You can start here with these simple, honest prayers. Secondly, notice in our text, a prayer of affliction. A prayer of affliction. We see it in verses 3-11. For my days pass away like smoke and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and is withered. I forget to eat my bread. Because of my loud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. All the day, my enemies taunt me. Those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink. Because of your indignation and anger, for you have taken me up and thrown me down. My days are like an evening shadow. I wither away like grass." And here we see that the psalmist is truly pouring out his complaint before the Lord. And notice that the lament here that's recorded in verses 3-11 moves from my, in verses 3-5, to I, in verses 6-7, to his enemies, in verses 8-9, and then to Yahweh, or the Lord, in verse 10-11. You see, he begins with a focus on my in verses 3-5. For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace. My heart is struck down like grass and is withered, and I forget to eat my bread because of my loud groaning. My bones cling to my flesh. In other words, this suffering, this lament is deeply personal. And you notice that the psalmist's sufferings are both emotional and they are physical. They're emotional. He says that his heart is struck down like grass and is withered. So his heart is like grass that has been cut from the blade and withered and died. And the psalmist here in these verses describes the undeniable link between our emotional well-being and our physical well-being. You see it there. He says, My heart is struck down like grass and is withered. I forget to eat my bread. Have you ever been so overcome with grief and sorrow that you lost your appetite? That you had no desire to eat? Notice he says there in verse 5, because of Maloud groaning, my bones cling to my flesh. In other words, his grief has resulted in weight loss. He's emaciated. He says, my bones cling to my flesh. Notice in verse 6 and 7, the focus on my moves to I. I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. I lie awake. I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. So the psalmist is not only emotionally spent and physically distraught, the psalmist feels relationally isolated. He is like an owl perched all alone in the wilderness, or like a lonely sparrow on the housetop. And now the lament moves from my to I to then in verses 8 and 9, his enemies. Notice there in verse 8, all the days my enemies taunt me. Those who deride me use my name for a curse. For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink. You know that after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, the misery of the citizens of Jerusalem was compounded when their enemies mocked them and taunted them. So in Lamentations 2, verses 15 and 16, we read these words, They hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem. Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty? The joy of all the earth? All your enemies rail against you. They hiss. They gnash their teeth. They cry. We have swallowed her. Ah, this is the day we longed for. Now we have it. We see it." And so the psalmist's miseries are compounded by the taunting of his enemies. We can imagine a day a Christian who sought to be faithful in their marriage or in their work place, but tragedy strikes nonetheless. And adding insult to injury, their unbelieving family and friends sneer, where is God now? It doesn't seem that all that religion has done you much good. And their family and friends derision only intensifies their feelings of sorrow and isolation. So the psalmist lament moves from my to I, to his enemies, and then finally to the Lord in verses 10-11. Because of your indignation and anger, for you have taken me up and thrown me down, my days are like an evening shadow, I wither away like grass. We are all sinners and we know that the psalmist here, he himself was a sinner. But there's no indication in this psalm that the psalmist is suffering because of a particular sin that he has committed. It seems that much like Job, the psalmist is not entirely sure why he is suffering this affliction. However, even though he doesn't understand why he is suffering, he acknowledges that it is God who is the one who is sovereign and in control in his suffering. You see it there in verse 10, you have taken me up and thrown me down. And so the psalmist discovers that at the bottom of all his suffering and affliction, God is there. And oddly enough, as we will see, it is this truth that will serve as the basis for his hope. So as we consider the psalmist's lament here, we see him pouring out his heart before the Lord. This is what it means to lament. The psalmist is giving us an example of lament here. And no doubt, surely there are some here this morning who need to pour out their heart before the Lord. Perhaps you're afflicted, personally suffering. Or perhaps you are faint, you feel that you've come to the end of yourself that you can't take anymore. And the Lord this morning is inviting you to pour out your heart before Him. To tell Him, to let Him know, to pour out your heart before the Lord. Third, we see a prayer to the Lord. So a prayer. A prayer of affliction. And then third, a prayer to the Lord. Look there in verses 12-17. But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever. You are remembered throughout all generations. You will rise and have pity on Zion. It is the time to favor her. The appointed time has come. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Nations will fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth will fear Your glory. For the Lord builds up Zion, He appears in His glory. He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer." Now it is at this point in verse 12 that the focus shifts from personal lament to this concern for the larger community and for the city of Jerusalem in particular. But an even more dramatic shift takes place in verse 12. You notice it there. The psalmist writes, But you, O Lord. And this is the turning point in the psalm. Everything changes after this. When the psalmist's focus moves from his own personal sufferings and affliction to focus on the Lord Himself. And notice what the psalmist has to say about the Lord. In verse 12 he says, But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever. Now that's kingship language, isn't it? That's the idea that the Lord is a king, and He is enthroned, He's ruling, He's reigning. And notice, not only is He king, He is king of all kings. You see it there in verse 15. The psalmist declares, all kings of the earth will fear your glory. Now during the Babylonian exile, it was Nebuchadnezzar who ruled over the vast Babylonian empire. And after a while, Persia conquered Babylon and then it was Cyrus who ruled over the powerful Persian empire. But it is the Lord, it is Yahweh who is enthroned forever. These kings who seemed so insurmountable at the time, their temporary reigns and their momentary kingdoms would come to an end. But Yahweh will rule forever. For He is King of all kings and Lord of all lords. And notice that the psalmist trusts in the promises of this great king. He says in verse 13, You will arise and have pity on Zion. It is time to favor her. The appointed time has come. Here, the psalmist is calling the king to be faithful to his promises. It seems that the psalmist here may be referring to God's promise that the Babylonian exile would last 70 years. So in Jeremiah chapter 25 verses 11 and 12, the Lord declares, the whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, referring to Jerusalem, to the nation of Israel. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. Then after 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste." And it seems here in verse 13 that the psalmist is asking Yahweh, the king, to make good on this very specific promise. It's as though the psalmist is saying, Lord, the time has come. The appointed time is here. The 70 years are almost up. Act. Move. Deliver us. Notice the boldness with which the psalmist confronts the Lord in verse 14. For your servants hold her stones dear and have pity on her dust. Of course, the psalmist's words here conjure up images of Assyrian ruins. And we know that with the conquest of Jerusalem, it resulted in the destruction of the walls of Jerusalem. And the temple itself was raised so that not even one stone was standing on top of another. And it seems that the psalmist here is protesting to the Lord. Lord, You've said that You love this city. You've said that You love this people. Will her servants love her? Her servants love the stones of this city. Even the dust of this city. As this city has been ravaged and destroyed. Do You not love this city? Will You not act? Will You not move? The time of favor for her is now. The appointed time has come. In a world that is wrecked by sin, personal lament, as we see in the opening part of this psalm, is oftentimes appropriate, and it is right. But the psalmist reminds us here that lament is not an end of itself. In lament, we pour out our souls before the Lord, and having emptied ourselves, we then look to the Lord to fill us up and to enable us to press on. In the Lord we find real hope for He is King of all kings. He is the King who keeps His promises. And so the psalmist demonstrates to us here how we can turn to Him. How we can turn to Him in hope and turn to Him with bold petitions as a reminder of His promises. Asking Him to act on the very promises that He Himself has made in His Word. So we see a prayer. We see a prayer of affliction. We see a prayer to the Lord, who is the King of kings, who keeps His promises. And then fourth, we see a record for future generations. Look there in verses 18-22. Let this be recorded for a generation to come, so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord, that He look down from His holy height from the heaven. The Lord looked at the earth to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die, that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem His praise, when peoples gather together in kingdoms to worship the Lord." Now I've suggested that Psalm 102 is structured in such a way that these verses right here are the heart of the psalm. That they're intended to convey the central point of the psalm. You see there in verse 18, we read the words, let this be recorded for a generation to come. Now that this could be referring to God's salvation, which we just read in verses 12 to 17. A record of God's salvation. which has been fulfilled many times over because the end of the Babylonian exile and the return of the people to Israel, to the land, has been recorded many, many times in the annals of history. In fact, the biblical books of Ezra and Nehemiah are both records of God's restoration of the people to the land. So that this could be referring to the historical record of God's restoration of His people to the land. That this may also be referring to what's just been mentioned previously in verse 17, that He regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. That this may also refer to the psalm as a whole, Psalm 102. Let this psalm be recorded as a testimony of the Lord's faithfulness. Or, which I believe or would suggest, I think that this here refers to all of the above. I think the sense here from the psalmist is let this psalm, which is a testimony of the Lord's restoration of His people, be recorded as an example that the Lord does in fact hear the prayers of the destitute and does not despise their prayer. And what is especially noteworthy in this section, is the primary audience for which Psalm 102 is written. Notice that it's not primarily written for the psalmist himself, for his own personal edification. Although, that is one of the reasons why the psalmist wrote Psalm 102. Notice that the primary audience is not his fellow sufferers who may have sung this psalm or recounted this psalm in corporate worship. Although, surely that was one of the reasons why the psalmist recorded this psalm. Notice that the primary audience for Psalm 102 in verse 12 is for a generation to come, a people yet to be created. It is for His children, and His children's children, and a generation yet to come. It reminds us of the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 15 verse 4. For whatever was written in former days, was written for our instruction. That through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. And so in this way, Psalm 102 was written for the psalmist's children, for his children's children, for a generation yet to be created. It was written for us! Who have been given new life through faith in Jesus Christ. This theme is so important, in fact, we'll return to it again because the psalmist returns to it at the end of the psalm. But for now, notice what it is according to verse 19 and 20 that the psalmist wants future generations to know about God. He wants them to know in verse 19, that it is the Lord who looked down from His holy height, from the heaven the Lord looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners. We can think Babylonian captivity now, right? The prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die. And why? Why does He want the future generations to know this? Verse 21 and 22, that they may declare in Zion, that is in Jerusalem, the name of the Lord, and in Jerusalem His praise when peoples gather together in kingdoms to worship the Lord. Charles Spurgeon says at this point, quote, the restoration of Jerusalem was a marvel among the princes who heard it and its ultimate resurrection in days yet to come will be one of the prodigies of history, end of quote. It is truly remarkable how the Lord preserved His people in history and how He has continued to preserve ethnic Israel even to this day. But it's not only true of physical Israel and the nation of Israel. It's also true of spiritual Israel, the larger people of God who have trusted in God's salvation and redemption through faith in Jesus Christ. On the last day, we can say that all the kingdoms of the earth will worship the Lord when they perceive how faithful and good the Lord has been to hear the groans of His people throughout the centuries. And to keep and preserve them against all manner of attacks and persecution despite their own inherent weaknesses and frailties. And the psalmist here is saying in this section, tell the story. Let it be recorded. Let future generations know the Lord's faithfulness so that they might worship the Lord. So we see a prayer. We see a prayer of affliction. We see a prayer to the Lord. We see a record for future generations. And then fifth, we see another prayer of affliction. Look there in verses 23 and 24. He has broken my strength in mid-course. He has shortened my days. Oh my God, I say, take me not away in the midst of my days. You whose years endure throughout all generations. And these two verses here mirror the lament that we already saw in verses 3-11. It seems here in these verses that the physical and emotional suffering that the psalmist described in the earlier lament in verses 3-11 might result in a premature death. In the prior lament in verse 11, the psalmist complained, my days are like an evening shadow, I wither away like grass. And here the psalmist returns to this fear in verse 23. He has broken my strength in mid-course. He has shortened my days. And then in verse 24, he turns this fear into a prayer. Oh my God, I say, take me not in the midst of my days, you whose years endure throughout all generations. Have you ever experienced a terrible accident or been so sick that you fear a premature death? Have you ever been so struck with emotional pain and grief that you're sure that the season of grief you endured must have taken months or even years off your life? You're not alone. The psalmist seemed to face the real prospect of death well before he anticipated or desired. And he cries out to the Lord, have mercy on me Lord. Save me from a premature death. This leads us to our final section in the psalm, a prayer to the Lord. So a prayer, a prayer of affliction, a prayer to the Lord, a record for future generations, another prayer of affliction, and then finally a prayer to the Lord. This is found in verses 25 to 28, and it mirrors the earlier section of verses 12 to 17. Look there in verse 25. Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. They will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away. But you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure. Their offspring shall be established before you. So notice in verses 12-7 where we moved from a prayer of affliction to a prayer to the Lord and the psalmist put his hope in the Lord. In 12-7, the psalmist put his hope in the Lord because he is the promise keeping king. But now in verses 25-28, the psalmist concludes again by putting his hope in the Lord, but this time because God is the eternal creator. You see the contrast here at the end of this psalm. As we mentioned before in verse 23, the psalmist fears a premature death. He says in verse 24, he says, take me not away in the midst of my days. And then he contrasts his own mortality with the eternality of God. So take me not away in the midst of my days, that's his mortality, he's going to die. But then he focuses on God's eternality, you whose years endure throughout all generations. And now in verses 25-27, the psalmist dwells more deeply on this truth. He says, of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. That is, He is the Creator. He created the heavens and He created the earth. They will perish, but you will remain. He is eternal. And then he repeats this truth, they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe and they will pass away. You are the same and your years have no end. One of the amazing things about this passage is that actually, centuries later, the author of Hebrews, In Hebrews 1, verse 10, takes this verse, Psalm 102, verse 25, which I just read, and he applies it to the Lord Jesus. It is one of the many examples in the New Testament when an Old Testament passage of Scripture is taken that clearly refers to God, and it is applied to Jesus. Making it clear that Jesus is equal to God. In this way, the author of Hebrews is saying, it is Jesus who laid the foundations of the earth and the heavens are the works of His hands. In other words, He is the eternal Creator. And in this sense, our hope in the God of the Bible is always a hope in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we think about the psalmist's words here, we recognize that when folks experience a tragic event in life or a life-altering calamity, when it seems like their lives are falling apart, oftentimes the one thing that seems certain and unchanging is the created order. The sun doesn't miss a beat, right? Night comes, sun rises in the morning. In fact, the regularity of the created order can make one's suffering all the more difficult. If there's some great loss or tragic event, there might be a sense that there should be a pause, a break, a stop, that something should pause for a moment so that one can reorient their lives, so that the universe itself can reorient itself around these new circumstances. And yet, a loved one is lost or tragedy happens. The sun comes up the next morning, not a second off schedule, and life continues on. And here the psalmist says that even though the created order seems like sometimes the most fixed, regular, certain thing that we could ever imagine, that it'll never change, that eventually even the created order will give way. That it will wear out. That in the words of the psalmist here, God will change them like a robe. Like you or I might buy a new jacket and give the old one away to good will. God will part ways with this old creation and He will fashion a new heavens and a new earth in which His people will dwell. And so we can hope in God who is the eternal creator because He is more sure and He is more certain and He is more fixed than even the created order. And when this world has passed away, He will remain. He has created this world. He will exchange it in for a new one in time to come and He will fashion a new world for our eternal comfort and joy. And now notice, notice the final implication that this psalmist draws from this truth. Look there in verse 28. The children of your servants shall dwell secure. Their offspring shall be established before you. And of course, this takes us back to verses 18 to 22. You remember that section I said, I think this is the central section, this is the main point that the psalmist is trying to drive home? Look back at verse 18. There we read, let this be recorded for a generation to come so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. And we recognize here that the primary audience of this psalm is not the psalmist or even his fellow sufferers, but rather a future generation, a generation to come. And now the psalmist concludes on this note with a word of hope for the coming generation. The children of your servants shall dwell secure. Their offspring shall be established before you." Now my friends, no doubt we acknowledge that the children of Christian parents do not always come to know and serve the Lord. It can be one of the great sorrows of the Christian life. But it is still a general principle that God delights to work through godly parents and Christian homes to save His people. Listen to the words of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He writes, quote, God does not neglect the children of His servants. It is the rule that Abraham's Isaac should be the Lord's, and that Isaac's Jacob should be beloved of the Most High, and that Jacob's Joseph should find favor in the sight of God. Grace is not hereditary, yet God loves to be served by the same family, time out of mind. Even as many great landowners feel a pleasure in having the same families as tenants upon their states from generation to generation. Here is Zion's hope. Her sons will build her up. Her offspring will restore her formal glories. We may therefore not only for our own sake, but also out of love to the church of God, daily pray that our sons and daughters may be saved and kept by divine grace, even unto the end established before the Lord." And so, my friends, may we, like the psalmist here, tell our children, tell the future generations the story of God's faithfulness. May we recount for them again and again the stories of God's salvation and deliverance, of course, from the Holy Scriptures. Even the stories of God's deliverance of His people from Babylonian exile, so that they might hear God, who is a promised King and the Eternal Creator. So many of you are doing this already in your homes with your children and in our children's ministry here at our church and with our youth on Wednesday nights. Tell them the story. Let them know. May we also tell them our own stories of loss and suffering, both personal and corporate. Tell them how you lost your job and you didn't know how you were going to provide for your family, but God and His mercy met your needs. Tell them about the time your spouse left you and you didn't know how you were going to make it, but the Lord saw you through. Tell them how the church you attended seemed to be falling apart, but God sustained it, and He sustained you in the midst of it. Tell them the stories of how God worked resurrection out of death. Tell them the story of your own conversion. Tell them how you were dead in your sins and lost to your own pride and without God and God in His mercy broke your pride and revealed your sin and led you to repentance and faith in Christ. And of course, tell them the greatest story of all. Tell them the story of God's redemption and salvation in Jesus. When all humanity was wrecked and lost by sin, God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to die and suffer on the cross, the penalty for our sins, and He raised Him from the dead so that if we turn from our sins and trust in Christ, we can be forgiven, and we can know this promise-keeping King, an eternal Creator, and we can put our hope in Him. My friends, like the psalmist, may all our personal sorrows and all our communal suffering become an opportunity to tell the coming generation of the faithfulness of God. When we find ourselves in challenging circumstances, may we lament to God. And may we pray in hope. And may that lament and may that hope become faith for a future generation. Let's pray. Father, we thank You and praise You for the stories of Your faithfulness and redemption and salvation. Father, we thank You for how beautifully they are presented to us in Scripture over and over again in different ways and with different variety and emphasis. Each awakening our minds and our hearts in different ways to trust You and to look to You in faith. Father, we thank You for the testimony of the psalmist here that has been recorded for us so that we might trust You. Lord, we confess that we know far more than we believe. And we pray, Lord, that You would help us in Your grace and mercy, even as we hear the stories of Your redemption and salvation, we pray that our faith would rise to trust in You as we ought. And then, Lord, we pray that You would give us mercy and grace to tell the stories of Your faithfulness in our own lives. to tell them to our children and our children's children. And Lord, we pray that they would know you through our testimony, through our prayers, through our loss, through our suffering, through our lament, through our hope, through our faith. We pray that they would come to know you and love you and serve you. So Lord, take this psalm now, and Lord, we pray that you would apply it to our hearts, and we pray that it would be a blessing not only to our lives, but the lives of our children and our children's children. And it's through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we ask it.