Old People Seldom Seek Him

Q: What does the Bible say about seeking God in old age?

The Bible urges us to seek God while we are still able, particularly in our youth, as highlighted in Ecclesiastes 12:1. Ecclesiastes 12:1 emphasizes the importance of remembering our Creator in the days of our youth, serving as a crucial admonition to seek God while we still have the mental faculties to understand and engage with Him. It highlights a common observation that the elderly often become less inclined to genuinely pursue a relationship with God, getting caught up in mere rituals rather than true faith. The exhortation to 'remember now' serves as a reminder that the opportunity to seek God is limited and should be taken seriously while one is still mentally agile and engaged with life's spiritual realities.

Q: Why is seeking the Lord important for Christians?

Seeking the Lord is essential for Christians to receive His mercy and grace, especially before facing the limitations of old age. For Christians, seeking the Lord is vital as it aligns our hearts with His will and opens us to His gracious blessings. Ecclesiastes warns us that refusing to pursue God can lead to spiritual blindness and missed opportunities for mercy. Proverbs 1:23-31 further solidifies this by stating that if we turn from His reproof, we may find ourselves in a position where God does not answer our calls for help. This urgency in seeking the Lord acknowledges that our time is fleeting, and we must respond to His word while we still can. It is crucial to remember that God desires a relationship with each of us and will freely extend His grace to those who seek Him sincerely.

Q: How do we know God’s grace is sufficient for salvation?

God's grace is sufficient for salvation through His sovereign choice and the finished work of Christ. The assurance of God's grace being sufficient for salvation is rooted in the theology of sovereign grace and the doctrines of grace outlined in Scripture. Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, showcasing the unmerited favor bestowed upon us at great cost. God’s sovereign choice in Ephesians 1:4-5 further affirms that our salvation is not based on our efforts but on His divine prerogative and love. As believers, we find confidence in knowing that our acceptance is secured through Christ's atoning work, assuring us that God's grace indeed covers all our sins, and calls us to a life of worship and obedience in response to that grace.

Keep a few eyebrows. I'm sure
it will offend some before they hear it, but I trust that you
will hear me and hear me well. This is what I want to talk to
you about. Old people seldom speak to me. Old people seldom speak the Lord. I will have the privilege, the
Lord willing, when I go back to rescue in January, of baptizing
a man and his wife, 85 years old, both of them. They have
been for the last several years listening to our videotapes. Their son, Sonny Dutra, folks
meet at his house. Sonny was here during conference.
They have a church in their home, and he sends them tapes every
week. Has been for years. They were raised in the delusion
of papacy. being Portuguese all their lives,
worshiping at the altar of merit, but God's given them faith in
Christ and they want to confess him and believe his baptism.
But that's a rare, rare, rare thing. Old people seldom speak
the Lord. I've been around and preached
at a lot of occasions where there were old folks. When I was 21
years old, God put me in Lookout, West Virginia, pastoring a congregation
of people, the average age was 65, 70 years old. I visited in
their homes. I preached to them for nine years. And I observed their religion
and their superstitions for nine years. But not many of them paid
one bit of attention to anything I had to say. Not many of them. Not just me, they didn't pay
any attention any place else. Old people seldom seek the master. I'm not saying that old people
aren't religious. Sad fact is they're usually very
religious. Very religious. Usually very sentimental, very
superstitious, and very religious. But generally the religion is
just utter confusion. They can't put two and two together
spiritually and come out with four to save their life. They
can't distinguish between free will and free grace to save their
life. They can't distinguish between
works and grace, law and grace. They don't know the difference.
They just don't know the difference. Everything's all right. Everything's all right.
Because they live in a state of utter confusion spiritually. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. Several years ago, there was a lady who listened
to Brother Mahan on television. fairly, well, wasn't wealthy
really by modern standards, but wealthy by our standards. She
had an inheritance, or had a bank account, about $90,000 in it,
something like that. I can't remember what it was.
And she left it to her three favorite preachers. It was amazing. The only one on television preaching
free grace. She listened to them every Sunday.
You know who else she left it with? Jimmy Swaggart. A fella by the name of E.J. Daniels,
Southern Baptist Evangelist, believed about what Jim McSwagger
did. But she couldn't tell the difference. She didn't know the
difference. Of course, folks thought she
had lost her mind and they wanted to contest it, and Henry said,
let them have it. But she had lost her mind, that's right,
spiritually. She didn't know the difference. When I was in
Winston-Salem, still in college, the old man I preached to every
Sunday, or every time I preached in the church we were attending,
the old man. He sat and listened and just
smiled. He said to me one time, he said,
Brother Don, you preach just like Bobby Robertson. Bobby Robertson's
biggest Arminian ever hit North Carolina. I mean, just an absolute
free will, works longer religion. But he couldn't tell the difference.
And he was just as happy as if he had good sense. The fact is,
those who do have some understanding and some discernment in the things
of God, Got it when they were younger for the most part. I've
been in a lot of rest homes, but I'll tell you what I've never
seen. James goes up and reads scripture
to the rest home up here every Sunday morning, has a Bible study
with them. Ron goes out every Sunday afternoon to the other
ones, but I'll tell you what I've never seen. I've never seen.
I've never seen anybody converted in a rest home. Never been to
that. Never seen anybody come to know
the truth of God in a rest home. I've never seen anybody come
to know Christ in a convalescent home. I visited a lot of them,
preached in a lot of them. I was in West Virginia, we lived
near a sanatorium where folks went with tuberculosis, and I
went in and out of that place a lot. Visited a lot of older
people, never met anybody in the whole time who was converted
by God's grace while they're sitting in that convalescent
time. Now this is what I'm telling you, and my text this morning
will bear me out. Old people seldom speak the Lord. And that has been driven home
to me in a most remarkable manner. I didn't say never, I said seldom. Let's look here at Ecclesiastes
chapter 12. We'll start with the first verse. Just hold your Bibles open, I
want you to read through these six or seven verses here with
me. Remember now thy Creator. Now you can call this a command
or an admonition or an exhortation, but I'll tell you what it is.
It's a warning to the young. A warning to young men and women
who still possess their mental faculties to seek the Lord while
they have opportunity to do so. It's a warning that's addressed
to you and me. Some of us are older, some of
us are younger than others, but we are all yet in the retention
of our mental faculties. Now I realize sometimes we question
that, but we all still retain a measure of mental attitude
and we're about our right senses. said 40 is the old age of youth
and 50 is the youth of old age, and most of us fit in there somewhere.
Most of us fit within that group, but I'm not talking, nor is our
text talking about It's not talking about numerical age. Most of
us are given here a warning. You and I standing in this category
to remember our Creator while we're here in this capability
of understanding what's going on around us. The word says remember. Remember. That word doesn't mean
simply call to mind. As it's used in the scripture,
this word remember usually means set your heart upon death. Don't
forget that. Don't forget that. Just caught Tanya's eye. Set
your heart on death. Don't forget that. Don't forget
that. Remember. The priest said, Lord,
remember me. He said, set your heart on death.
Our Lord said, when you come to the Lord's table, this do
in remembrance of me. Abraham said to old Dyers in
hell, he said, remember how things used to be. Remember. Set your
heart on that. And here the scripture says,
remember now. Set your heart now upon your
creator. Now. Because now is the time
of opportunity. Now. Because now is the time
of grace. Now. Because now is the time
of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Behold,
today, the scripture says, is the day of salvation. You see,
we must remember him now because this is the time we have. This
is the time when he's speaking. Hold your hands here and turn
to Proverbs chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. If you would be saved, if you
would come to know God, if you would obtain his mercy, It must
be while he speaks to you through his word. You remember, haven't
Bartimaeus heard Jesus of Nazareth passeth by? And Bartimaeus understanding
something about who this one was, Jesus the Lord, the son
of David, the Savior of the world, as he's passing by, Bartimaeus
says, he's passing by here. If I would be made to see, if
I would obtain mercy, if I would experience his grace and his
power, it must be now. Because if he passes by, he's
gone forever. Will you listen to me? This is
the day of grace when God speaks. by his word. Listen to what it
says. Proverbs 1 verse 23. Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words
unto you. What a word from God. He says
you've heard the word of reproof. You turn to me. I'll pour out
my spirit on you. I'll make you to understand my
word. This book, the mystery of this
book will just open up to you. You'll see Christ crucified.
But if you refuse to turn, listen what it says, because I've called
and you refuse, I stretched out my hand and no man regarded.
But you have said it not all my counseling would none of my
reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes.
When your fear comes as desolation and your destruction comes as
a whirlwind. When distress and anguish cometh
upon you. Then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me. I always heard as long as there's
life there's hope. Oh no. Oh no. The Lord God says you,
you despise me, you reject my counsel, you refuse my word,
you despise my gospel. The time will come when you'll
call on me and I won't hear you. You'll cry for me and I'll not
answer you. Read on. He says in verse 29,
for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of
the Lord. They would none of my counsel. They despised all
my reproof. Therefore, when you go to hell,
you'll eat the fruit of your own way, and you'll be filled
with your own devices. For the turning away of the sinful
shall slay them, the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from the fear of evil. Remember now, because these are
the days when God speaks. Remember now, Because these are
the days that we have. This is the time we have. He
said, well preacher, I'm a young man. I'm a young woman. I've
got lots of time. It'll be a long time before I
lose my mind. Brandon said he met there just
a few months ago. He met close to losing your mind
forever. Forever. The only reason he's
sitting there in his right senses is because God intervened. Gave
the warning and intervened. This is the time you have. Remember
now thy creator. The word creator here is really
in the plural. It should read remember now thy
creator. It clearly expresses the foundational
truth of holy scripture that the Lord our God is one God in
the triunity or trinity of his sacred person. The Lord our God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he is our Creator. As all three
persons in the Godhead are involved in the matter of salvation, the
Father choosing, the Son redeeming, and the Spirit calling, so all
three persons in the Godhead are involved in this business
of creation. Remember that our Creator, he
is God alone. I know we live in this Age when
everything goes. I mean everything goes. Everything. Anything that flies, folks call
it religion and they say, be alright. Be alright. And folks
say, well the fellow who worships Allah, he's worshiping best he
knows how. He'll be alright. The fellow
who worships the totem pole, he's doing alright. He's doing
best he can. Folks who bow down to the papacy and worship that
old man in Rome, he's doing alright. They're doing best they can.
You listen to me carefully. Allah is not God. The totem pole
is not God. The Hindu cow is not God. And
more specifically, the God of this religious age, who does
not possess the character of God, who does not possess the
character of creator, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, that
God of this age is no more God than the Hindu rat. And you may
as well worship the rat with a hindoo as worship of God of
no power. Only he who is the sovereign
creator, having power of owning and disposing of all things as
he will, he is God alone. Remember that God in Christ is
love, mercy, and grace. pardoning iniquity, transgression,
and sin. But remember that his love, his
mercy, and his grace, his pardon of iniquity, transgression, and
sin, as found only in Jesus Christ the mediator. Remember that this
Lord God, he's your creator. And this is what I mean by that,
Bobby. This is what this book means by that. God brought us into
being. He sustains us in our lives.
He preserves us and he orders our steps. He owns us. He favors us with the blessings
of his providence and his goodness. He feeds us with our daily bread. He rules over us and he disposes
of us exactly as he will. He's the creator. We're the clay. He's the powder. And the sooner
we learn that, the better off we'll be. Now remember why he
created us. Turn to Proverbs 16. I know you've been taught all
your life that the world is yours and everything is here for your
disposal. After all, you have to do whatever
makes you happy, whatever feels good to you will be all right.
And that's the reason we live in a world of chaos and lawlessness.
That's just not so. God did not make the world for
you. God made you for himself. Proverbs 16, 4. The Lord hath
made all things for himself. That is, God made everything
for the glory of his name, to bring glory to his name, and
everything's going to do that. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of the You see, the fact is, God made
you and me for his glory. And Paul, he's gonna get glory
to himself by us one way or the other. Either we will glorify
his mercy and grace in Christ, or we'll glorify his justice
and his holiness and his truth forever in hell. But glorify
God we will. Remember that you and I are not
worthy to live before this holy Lord God. And we're not fit to
die in our natural state. Somebody got upset with me one
time a long time ago. I was preaching. I forgot even
where it was. Said, I'll never hear him again
the way he preaches. My daddy's in hell. I won't worship
God who sent my daddy to hell. Let me tell you something. This
God will send you to hell. He'll send you to hell. And he'll
send me to hell if he finds us out of Christ. And it'll be right
for him to do so. It'll be right. If he sends your
children to hell are mine. Your mama to hell are mine. Your
daddy to hell are mine. He's right. He's right. We don't deserve to live before
him and we're not fit to die in our natural state for we transgressed
his law. We despised his grace. We disregarded
his gospel. We've heard the precious blood
of his son and we trample it under our feet and spit in his
face and say let him go ahead and be crucified. We esteem him
stricken, smitten of God justly so. We deserve his wrath. By God we deserve his wrath. Now remember what the Lord, our God, our creator
God must have done and has done to save such sinners as we are. Here we are, we've spit in his
face. We've bitten him on the cheek
just like those who crucified him. We've despised his blood.
And we'd go to hell except for one thing, he chose us. He loved
us with everlasting love. God's own son came into this
world and bore the wrath of God for the penalty of our sins in
his own body on the cursed tree and took our sins into the tomb
and buried them forever out of the sight of God himself. And
God the Holy Spirit, oh blessed Spirit of God, We were running
madly to hell and he stopped us in our way and saved us by
his grace. Remember that God has not forgotten to
be merciful. Oh, would to God I could get
you to hear this. This holy Lord God who must and
will punish sin for Christ's sake delights in mercy. God Almighty
is good and gracious to all who call upon Him. He will receive
you. He will forgive you. He will
save you for Christ's sake. I don't care how old you are
or how young. I don't care how moral or how
immoral. I don't care how religious or
irreligious. Any who come to God trusting
His Son, He'll save them for Christ's sake. Remember now thy
creator in the days of thy youth. Solomon was the wisest man who
ever lived, except the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. And now
Solomon is an old man, No one knew more than Solomon. No one
understood more than Solomon. No one experienced more than
Solomon. If you would be wise, listen
to Solomon. There is nothing in all the world
more valuable, more needful, more beneficial than this. Remember
now thy Creator. in the days as I give. Oh, God help me to sit down.
Lots of reasons could be given. I'll give you just three. These are the days that are your
best days. God requires and claims the first
fruits of the field. And he deserves the best years
of our lives. He claims the firstborn of the
flock and he deserves the choicest years of our lives. Remember
your creator now while you have a mind capable of being enlarged
and learning, being improved. able by divine revelation. I
recognize no man grasps these things apart from divine grace
and divine revelation and yet at the same time no man can grasp
these things, no woman can grasp these things if their mind is
gone. God does not bypass the mind
to get to the heart. Remember why you have a mind
that can grasp these things if God enables you. to lay hold
of the things of God, and apprehend the mysteries of the Godhead,
to grasp the deep wonders of God. Remember your Creator now,
while your body is sore, and in good health, to serve the
interests of His kingdom. I baptized a lady when I was
pastor at Lookout. 70, 71 years old when I baptized
her. She was so shy and so timid.
But she said to me, she said, I'm so old, what can I do for
the Lord? And I said, you can worship him.
But you who's body is a stone, remember him. And spend your
life for him. Oh, what a You might remember
him, and these are your best days. More than that, these are
the days we have. Not everybody's gonna get old,
but everybody has youth. So remember your creator in the
days of your youth. Today, Father, it is called today,
harden not your heart. Remember your creator. in the
days of your youth, because nothing in all the world is so useful
and beneficial to your life. David, there have been lots of
men who cursed the day of their birth, but there's never been
a man who cursed the day of his rebirth. I lived long enough in rebellion
that I could curse the day of my birth. Oh my soul, I've never
cursed the day of my new birth. You see, the ways of the Lord
are pleasantness and peace. Even in the midst of heartache
and adversity, the ways of the Lord are pleasantness and peace.
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Look at this
next line. While the evil days come not,
nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure
in death. Now I promise you the days will
come soon when you will wish that you sought the Lord in the
days of your youth. Some of you folks are getting
close to retirement age and you're beginning to realize that those
golden years aren't so golden after all. I recall speaking
to Brother Dick Pennington some time ago. Dick is, I think, 71
years old and certainly able to retire. I said, Dick, when
are you going to retire? When are you going to quit working,
I think is the way I put it. He said, well, Don, I've been
looking around, thinking about that, and the alternatives to
working every day just aren't very appealing. And he's exactly
right. He's exactly right. To some,
the days of old age are days of joy. To the believer, certainly
he has reason to rejoice in his old age. But the ground of the
believer's joy is not in his present experience. The ground
of the believer's joy is in the experiences of the past. In that
which he's seen and experienced by God's hand, and in his hope
with regard to the future, both for himself and the generations
to come. When Paul the age was about to
leave this world, he said, I'm now ready to be offered. I fought
a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept
the faith. Time of my departure is at hand.
And he was ready with joy to do so. But this man's joy lay
in that which he had already experienced and that which he
had already done and that which he hoped yet to see God accomplish
for him and in him, not only for himself personally, but for
the generations to come. To some, these are days of joy,
these days of old age. But to all, they're days of weakness
and trouble. Those things that young men and
women rejoice in. And they may rejoice in them. Older folks find little time
and little pleasure in them. Isn't that amazing? Things just
a few years ago, man, they'd just get your heart pumping and
your blood pumping and just fill you with excitement. And now,
you almost laugh when you see young folks getting so excited
about it. It's kind of like seeing a kid
playing with his talker trucks, you know. Skip, if I saw you
down in the sandbox playing with yours and messing with your grandson,
I'd check you into the funny farm. Something wrong with that
fella. Because he's outgrown that. And
to older folks, the world and the flesh, riches and lands,
children and grandchildren, all become less and less and less
significant as time goes on, even the children and the grandchildren. If you and I live long enough,
the days will come when we'll look at everything around and say, I don't find any pleasure
there. No pleasure. That's what the
book says right here. Our minds are going to get weak.
Look at verse two. If we live long enough, the sun,
the light, the moon, the stars, all light's gonna be darkened.
You ever take, try to talk to Mom or dad as they got older,
grandparents as they got older, they seem to be able to remember
things that happened from their youth. But try to reason with
them, the light's gone. It's just gone. Troubles will come like constant
rainfall. Look at verse 2 again. They'll
be like rain followed by clouds foreshadowing more rain. The
clouds return after the rain. Here comes the rainstorm. Wait
a minute, here's clouds. Get ready, it's going to rain
again. We live long enough, our arms, the keepers of the house,
are going to get feeble. I was watching that ball game
yesterday and they were talking about one of those players bench
press. Man, I remember, I used to pick
that stuff up. But the arms get feeble. Our
legs, the strong men that keep the house, they'll begin to get
weak. Look at verse 3 again, the teeth,
the grinders will begin to fall out. Our eyes, those that look
out the windows will grow dim. Our lips, the doors shall be
shut, verse 4. got no teeth eating becomes a
chore and talking the sound of grinding grows low and sleep I'm not getting there yet but
my soul I used to sleep through cannon fire now they rise up
at the voice of the bird Our voices begin to crack, the daughters
of music shall be brought low, and we begin to fear falling,
because these bodies won't mend like they used to, so we'll just
stay at home, rather than go out and face the fear, when they
shall be afraid of that which is high, and fear shall be in
the way. Then when the hair is white like
the almond tree in winter, the slightest trouble, even the noise
of a grasshopper, becomes a great burden. And our desires, all the desires of the flesh,
begin to fail. Because man goeth to his

Old People Seldom Seek Him

What does the Bible say about seeking God in old age?

Why is seeking the Lord important for Christians?

How do we know God’s grace is sufficient for salvation?

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Old People Seldom Seek Him

What does the Bible say about seeking God in old age?

Why is seeking the Lord important for Christians?

How do we know God’s grace is sufficient for salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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