And Now I Am Old

Q: What does the Bible say about the steps of a good man?

The Bible teaches that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and that He delights in their way (Psalm 37:23). Psalm 37:23 clearly states, 'The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.' This verse emphasizes the sovereignty of God over the lives of those who are deemed righteous. Believers can take comfort in knowing that their journey is guided by divine providence. Even when they stumble, they will not be utterly cast down, for God supports them. This assurance reflects God's faithfulness, as He continually upholds His people.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to trust in God's promises?

Trusting in God's promises is vital because it reassures believers of God's faithfulness and provision throughout their lives. In the sermon, it is highlighted that older believers have experienced God's promises fulfilled in their lives. As they reflect back on the years, they can confidently affirm that God has supplied all their needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19). This experiential knowledge of God's faithfulness builds a solid foundation for trust and hope in younger believers. It teaches them that God's providence is active in their lives, giving them security amidst trials. This trust ignites a lasting faith, knowing that God is in control and will fulfill His word.

Q: How do we know that God's sovereign grace is true?

God's sovereign grace is true as it is rooted in Scripture and evidenced by the transformative experiences of believers over the years. The truth of God's sovereign grace is central to Reformed theology, as articulated in this sermon. The pastor discusses how experienced believers, who have endured trials, can affirm the sufficiency of grace in their lives. The testimonies of older Christians serve as powerful witnesses to the truth of Scriptures, where the grace of God empowers them to persevere and bear witness to His goodness. Romans 8:28 assures us that all things work together for good to those who love God, reinforcing that God's purpose is unshakeable. Thus, the experiences of saints throughout history uphold the doctrine of sovereign grace.

Q: Why should Christians value the experiences of older believers?

Christians should value older believers' experiences as they provide wisdom, encouragement, and testimonies of God's faithfulness. The sermon underscores the immense value in the lives of seasoned believers who have walked with God through various trials and blessings. Their experiences highlight God's unwavering faithfulness and showcase the work of grace in their lives. Older believers serve as mentors, imparting wisdom gained from a lifetime of reliance on God's promises. They remind younger Christians of the importance of remaining grounded in the true gospel amidst changing doctrines and trends. Their life stories bolster the faith of the younger generation, assuring them that God's grace is sufficient, providing comfort and direction during uncertainty.

Q: What is the significance of God's providence in our lives?

God's providence is significant as it assures believers that He is actively guiding and caring for them in all circumstances. The significance of God's providence is profoundly articulated in the sermon, where it is depicted as His continuous guidance and support in the lives of believers. Psalm 37 states that God upholds the righteous, assuring them that they will not be forsaken. This means that every step taken by a believer is not only known to God but also ordered by Him, providing them security in life's uncertainties. God's providence teaches believers to depend on Him, allowing them to navigate trials with confidence. It cultivates a life of trust, enabling Christians to face challenges with the assurance of His unwavering care.

I'm going to read to you today
from the book of Psalms. If you have your Bible, I'd like
for you to open it to Psalm 37, the 37th Psalm, and we'll read
verses 23 through 25, Psalm 37. David wrote here, the steps of
a good man, that is the steps of a believer, a child of God,
are ordered by the Lord. And he delights in the way of
the Lord. And though he fall, he shall
not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him with
his hand. And then David said, I have been
young, and now I am old. I have been young, and now I
am old. And yet I have not seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Now the title of my message
today is a bit unusual, but I'm going to dedicate this message
to all of our listeners who can say with David, I have been young
and now I am old. That's the title of the message.
And now I am old. And it may sound strange to you
and it may surprise you to hear me say, I'm happy. to be getting older. I am content
to be growing older and I'm going to give you several reasons why
I'm thankful to be a senior citizen and why I'm grateful to God that
I'm living exactly when I'm living at this particular age. Now I
know that people make jokes about old age and I know that people
have a way of ignoring older people and neglecting older people. And then there's some folks who
try to stay young. They just dread to get old. They refuse to admit. Some of
them refuse to admit that they're old. And they even lie about
their age. But David plainly says here,
I have been young and now I'm old. I have been young. I lived in young days and Now
I'm old. That's just it. That's a fact.
And I can say the same thing and some of you can say the same
thing. I have been young and now I'm
old. But it's a good time. It's a
good time. It's a good period of life. And
I'm going to give you several reasons. Now Charles Spurgeon,
you've heard me quote Charles Spurgeon often on this telecast. Charles Spurgeon was a great
English preacher who pastored back in the 19th century, from
1855 to 1892 in London, England. And he illustrated, I think so
effectively, what I want to get across to you today. And now
I'm old, but I'm happy and content and glad to be in this particular
period of life. When Charles Spurgeon was just
22 years of age, and he had been pastor of the New Park Street
Baptist Church in London for a few years He walked up to one
of his elders one day a man 70 years of age And he said to that
man this young pastor 22 years old said to this Old man in the
church 70 years old. He said my brother There's no
man in the church That I envy as much as I envy you And the
elder said, Pastor, you envy me? Why would a young man like
you envy a man as old as I am? I'm nearly 70 years of age, and
you say you envy me? Why in this world would you envy
me? Oh, but the young pastor replied,
I do envy you. And I shall give you five good
reasons why I envy you. And I want to pass along to you
today those five reasons that Mr. Spurgeon gave to this old
gentleman as to why he was envious of this great old Christian,
70 years of age. First of all, you can write these
down if you'd like to. First of all, Spurgeon said,
I envy you because you're much nearer our heavenly home than
I am. much nearer. In a very short
time, you're going to hear the Master call, and you'll stand
in His presence, and you'll behold His face, and you will experience
what David said when he declared, Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. And you're going to experience
what David wrote in Psalm 17, I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness, when I behold thy face and awake with thy likeness. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
chooses and causes to approach unto him and gives him the delight
and the glory of dwelling in his house forever. Just think
of it, Spurgeon said, no more death, no more sorrow, No more
pain, no more tears, for God shall wipe all tears from their
eyes. You'll see him and forever be
like him and with him. As Paul said in Philippians 1.21,
for me to live is Christ and for me to die is gain. I'm in
a straight matrix to two. I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. Oh, yes, Spurgeon said,
I envy you. I envy you because you're so
much nearer home than I am. You're right on the threshold
of going home to be with the Lord. Back in World War II, 1945,
when the war was over, I was over in Japan. I was a very young
man. I went into the Navy when I was 17 years of age, and I
was 20 in 1946. And I was over in Japan, and
they were sending sailors and marines and soldiers home. But
you got to go home when you had a certain amount of points. And
what determined your points was your age, and your marital status,
and how many children you had, and how long you'd been over
there. And some of these fellas were a lot older than I, and
some of them were married. I was young, I was single, and
I had no children. And I'd only been over there
two years. And I was one of the last ones to get to go home.
And I'd stand and watch those fellas catch a boat or an airplane
and go home while I stayed there. And I envied them. I wanted to
go home. And finally, my number came up. Finally, I got enough points.
And they came and told me that I was going home. And I was so
pleased. And I think that's what Spurgeon's
saying here to this old man. You've got enough points. Your
time is up, and you're going home. Someday the silver cord
will break, and I no more as now shall sing, and oh, the joy,
oh, the joy when I wake in the palace of the king. Won't that
be something? Won't that be something? Well,
that's why he said he envied that old gentleman. Here this
22-year-old pastor looking at that 70-year-old elder, and he
said, you're so close to home. I envy you. And then secondly,
he said, my friend, the second reason why I envy you is this. Now listen to me. He said, we
young people read about the promises of God. We read about the promises
of God. You old believers, have had these
promises fulfilled in your lives many, many times. We young people
read and talk about God's care of His people and God's provisions
for His people. And you old folks have experienced
this care. And you've experienced this grace
and experienced this providence. I know, he said, I read in the
Bible Philippians 4 19 my God shall supply all your needs according
to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus and he said I believe
that but you have experienced it and You can say through these
70 years my God has supplied all my needs According to his
riches in glory through Christ Jesus. I believe that he will
but you know that he will Because you've experienced it and I envy
you Read and I preach Romans 8 28 all things We know that
all things work together for good to them who love God to
them who are the called according to his purpose And I say I believe
that but you old believers can say I experienced that God be
for us who can be against us who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect Who is he that condemns who can separate us
from the love of Christ? Ah Yes Preach commit thy way
unto the Lord and he'll bring it to pass and you can say he
has brought it to pass I've fought a good fight. I've kept the faith. I've finished my course The time
of my departure is at hand He the righteous judge shall give
to me in that day and not to me only but to all them that
love his appearing a righteous glorious crown You can say through
many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. His grace
has brought me safe thus far and His grace will lead me home.
And I preach, He'll never leave us nor forsake us. And you reply,
He never has. You see what I'm saying? Will
I endure? You have. Will I keep the faith? You have. Will I finish my course? You have. Will I die in the faith? You are. You see, us young folks,
we read about His promises and we believe them. But the old
believer has experienced the fulfillment of every promise
again and again and again and again. I listen. He said, here's the third reason
why I envy you. I envy you because the old believer,
the old proven warrior, the veteran of many battles and conflicts
and trials and tribulations and well read and taught in the scripture,
the old believer is not alarmed. He's not alarmed and swayed by
the loud claims of novice, novices and new religious so-called revelations,
and new doctrines, and new prophecies, and new methods, and new music,
and new directions, and strange ways from strange preachers.
All these fellas come along, and you folks that have been
in the gospel all these years, you're not swayed, you're not
overtaken, you're not alarmed, you're not upset by all this
new stuff that's come along. The old believer watches these
off-the-wall preachers and off-the-wall religious leaders. He watches
them rise up. He watches them gather their
followers behind them. He watches them build their air
castles and sand castles. He watches them lose their popularity. He watches them fade and fall.
And he goes on along his way, finding his peace and rest in
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the gospel of God's
grace. He sees the new wind blow and
stir up all the dust and the chaff along the way, and he just
stays in his refuge, Christ Jesus, and waits till the storm is over.
He finds his peace and rest in the gospel of God's grace and
God's mercy, and he's not troubled by all the clamor of works. He
finds his rest and peace in the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
in his precious blood. And in his righteousness, he
finds his rest and peace in the gospel of God's electing, effectual,
efficient grace in Christ Jesus. And that's his hope. It's a tried
stone. It's a proven stone. It's a chief
cornerstone. It's a refuge, a resting place,
salvation. I was lost, but now I'm found,
and by God's grace, I'm heaven-bound. My only hope, my only plea is
when He died on that cross. He died for me. The old believer
has learned by experience not to follow a new voice. The old
believer has learned by experience not to follow a novice. He has
learned to put no confidence in the flesh, his or anybody
else's. He doesn't find himself out on a limb somewhere when
this preacher cuts the limb off. He's still grounded and rooted
in Christ Jesus, divine. Martin Luther said this, should
all the works that hail devise assail my faith with treacherous
art, I'll call them vanity and lies and bind his blessed gospel
to my heart. No. I envy you because the old
believer has a sure, strong, eternal, tried foundation that
he never leaves, finds his rest there. And he's not alarmed,
he's not swayed by all the new things that come along, no matter
how many thousands go that way. I read the story one time of
an old pastor over in Scotland. Somebody came to him one day
and said, Pastor, said, did you know they're about to build a
new universalist church across the street from your church?
A real off the wall sect. They're going to put up a church
building right across the street from the church where you've
been preaching all these years. And he looked at the person who
brought this news and said, well, that's perfectly all right, I
don't mind. You don't mind? You don't mind
that they're going to build this cult, this sect across the street,
this religious monstrosity across the street from your church where
you preach the gospel? No, no, I don't mind. Well, aren't
you afraid of the competition? The old pastor said, no, no,
no. We're not in the same business.
I don't mind them building a universalist church any more than I would
mind them building a bakery or a blacksmith shop because we're
not in the same business. I'm preaching Christ. I'm preaching
the gospel. They're preaching works. We're
going in different directions. The people that will hear me
won't hear them. And the people that hear them
certainly wouldn't be interested in hearing me. So I don't mind."
That's the old believer. That's the old grounded believer
in the grace of God. Nothing new, nothing unusual
bothers him because he rests in Christ. Then fourthly, Mr. Spurgeon continued. He said,
I'll tell you the fourth reason why I envy you. I envy you because Now listen
to this. You have been tried. You've been
tried by God's providence. And your falls and failures and
troubles and trials along the way have taken out of you and
away from you pride and arrogance and humbled you before God. You're
less cocksure of your own strength and more confident in His grace.
You're less cocksure of your own ability and rest more in
His mercy. You're less confident of your
knowledge and you're more dependent on His grace in Christ Jesus. I envy you because I know the
only way to learn this, the only way to have pride slain The only
way to be broken and humbled and trust Him is to go through
these trials. That's the only way. Why is an
older believer more slow to speak, much more slower to speak and
offer an opinion on every subject? Why is he less inclined to pop
off? Well, he doesn't know everything
and he found it out. Why is an older believer less
critical of a fallen friend? Well, he knows his own weakness
and his own infirmities. You don't want to turn a fallen
friend over to a young person, especially a young religionist.
You want to put them in the hands of someone with heart and experience
who knows his own shortcomings. Why can an older believer speak
a better word of comfort to someone who's in trouble? Well, because
he's been in trouble and he's been comforted. I tell you, my
friends, if the truth be known, at the end of this life, you
and I are going to find out that we owe more to our failures than
we do to our successes. We owe a lot more to our troubles
than we do to our joys. We owe a lot more to our valleys
than we do to our mountaintop experiences, because the more
something hurts, the greater the impression, and the longer
the lesson will last. Thank God for trials. Thank God
for tribulation. Thank God for suffering, because
Paul said, tribulation worketh patience, and there's no shortcut
You just have to wait till these experiences come, till God sends
them, till God sends the trial, till God sends the trouble, till
God sends the test, and you just have to go through it. Let patience
have her perfect work. And when you come out the other
side, you're better for it. Your faith is stronger, more
confidence in Him, less in yourself, more compassion for others, more
comfort for others, more understanding for others. That's the reason
we're warned by Paul, lay hands suddenly on no man. Don't put
a novice in the place of leadership. Being lifted up with pride, he'll
destroy himself and everybody else. And then Spurgeon completed
this conversation with this old man. He said, I'll tell you in
the fifth place why I envy you. I envy you because the old tried,
tested believer does not have the doubts about the doctrines
of God's grace and the gospel of substitution which the young
man entertains. You see, old veterans who've
been under fire a long time don't run. They're not scared. It's the rookies who run. But
the old believer He believes the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ Jesus and knows by experience it's the only gospel. It's the only gospel. It's the
only gospel that'll glorify God. It's the only gospel true to
the scriptures. He doesn't have any doubt about
it. Salvation, if salvation by works and Christ died in vain,
he knows that. And that old believer is so grounded
in the gospel of God's sovereign grace that he can say with the
apostle Paul, I say unto you, if any man preach any other gospel
than the gospel of God's grace in Christ Jesus and the blood
of Christ's cross, let him be accursed." I say it again, he
said, though we are, if it be an angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel than that gospel which I preach, let him be accursed. That's the old believer, proven,
tried, convinced, sure, assured, confident, in the grace of his
God and with no confidence in this flesh. You see, that's what
Paul said in Philippians. He said, we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit. We don't depend on buildings
and ceremonies and traditions and uniforms and processionals.
We worship God in the spirit. And we rejoice only in Christ
Jesus. And we have no confidence in
this flesh. This gospel of God's grace is
the only gospel that enables a holy God to be just and justified. This gospel of God's grace is
the only gospel that can save the chief of sinners and keep
him safe. We know that. We don't have any
doubt about it. We don't have any leanings toward
any other type of methods and means. It's the gospel of God's
grace or nothing. We preach not ourselves, but
Jesus Christ the Lord. It's the only gospel that assures
the believer of eternal life based on the obedience of Christ
and Christ's obedience alone. It's the scriptures alone. It's
the grace of God alone. It's the blood of Christ alone.
It's the death of the Son of God and His righteousness alone. And when we come to the close
of life's little day, and it is a little day, when our years
are numbered in hours and not days, When all things are considered
in the light of God's holiness, then we rejoice not in our decision,
but we rejoice like David did in his covenant of grace. David
came to die about 75 years old, I believe David was when he died,
about 75. And lying there on his bed before
he closed his eyes in sleep, He uttered these last words found
in 2 Samuel chapter 23. Although it be not so with my
house, the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation, and this
is all my desire, although he make it not to grow. No doubts
there. No questioning God Almighty's
providence there, just resting and finding in Him perfect peace. I will keep Him in perfect peace,
whose mind stayed on Thee. I rejoice in that closing hour
of life's little day, not in what I've done, but in what Christ
did for me. We don't have to prove our relationship
with God by what we've done for God. We rest in what He's done
for us. And when I come to that closing
hour of that last day, I'll rejoice not that I've been faithful,
but that His faithfulness has kept me. He kept me by His power
through faith. And then I'll rejoice not in
my righteousness, but in his. Who knew no sin, who was made
sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in him. Oh yes, the steps of a righteous
man are ordered by the Lord. And he delights in God's way.
And though he fall, maybe a hundred times, He shall not be utterly
cast down. He shall not be forsaken, because
the Lord will uphold him with his hand. I've been young. I've been young, and not so awful
long ago. And now I'm old. And now I'm
old. But I have never seen the righteous
forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. If you want this tape,
the title of this message is, And Now I'm Old. You write for
it. Send $2. We'll mail it to you
along with next week's sermon on believers' baptism. Until
next week, may God bless you, everyone.

And Now I Am Old

What does the Bible say about the steps of a good man?

Why is it important for Christians to trust in God's promises?

How do we know that God's sovereign grace is true?

Why should Christians value the experiences of older believers?

What is the significance of God's providence in our lives?

Sermon Transcript

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And Now I Am Old

What does the Bible say about the steps of a good man?

Why is it important for Christians to trust in God's promises?

How do we know that God's sovereign grace is true?

Why should Christians value the experiences of older believers?

What is the significance of God's providence in our lives?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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