Old Age

Q: What does the Bible say about old age?

The Bible teaches that God is with us even to our old age and will carry us throughout our lives (Isaiah 46:4). Isaiah 46:4 assures us that God promises to be with His people from their youth into their old age. This powerful declaration reflects God's faithfulness and sustaining grace through every season of life. Rather than viewing aging as a burden, the Scripture invites us to recognize the wisdom and strength that the elderly can offer, which comes from lifelong experiences of God's grace and mercy. In ecclesiastical wisdom, the elderly serve as repositories of God’s faithfulness, providing counsel, encouragement, and testimony to God’s continual provision.

Q: How do we know that God cares for the elderly?

The Bible states that God promises to carry and save us even into our old age, demonstrating His unchanging care (Isaiah 46:4). God's care for the elderly is profoundly demonstrated in Isaiah 46:4, where He expresses His commitment to carry us through every stage of life, including old age. This promise underscores God's unwavering love and attention to our needs, irrespective of age. Additionally, God’s providential care is seen throughout Scripture, wherein He continually reassures His people of His presence and support. The experiences of older believers reflect a testimony of God’s sustaining grace, emphasizing that their lives answer the truth of God's faithfulness, reminding younger generations of His reliability and love.

Q: Why is the wisdom of older believers important for Christians?

Older believers possess invaluable wisdom and experiences that can greatly encourage and guide younger generations. The wisdom gleaned from a life lived in faith is invaluable to younger believers. Older Christians, having traversed trials and triumphs, offer insights into God's grace and mercy that can guide the younger generation. Their experiences and testimonies can encourage others to trust in God's promises, as they have firsthand knowledge of His faithfulness through the years. In Psalm 143:5, David reflects on the importance of memories and God's works, showing that such collective wisdom is critical not only for encouragement but also for the ecclesiastical health of the community, fostering deeper faith and interconnectedness between generations.

I have a very special message
prepared for this telecast, and I want you to sit down and listen
to the entire message. Will you do that? I'm going to
speak on the subject, old age. Now, I have a large number of
elderly people in our television audience. I receive mail from
people who tell me they're 75, 80, 85, even 90 years of age. And I want to bring a message
on the subject old age. My scripture is taken from Isaiah
46 verse 4, in which the Lord says, and even to your old age
I am God, and even to your white hairs will I carry you. I have made you and I will carry
you and I will save you. Now my friends, like in everything
else, I'm sorry to say that in this 20th century we are warped
and twisted in our attitude toward old age. We're twisted in our
philosophy toward growing old. Most people over 45 years of
age are reluctant to tell their age. They act as if they're embarrassed
because they're not children. They will not tell their ages
and act as if they're embarrassed because they're not young. And
many times when older people are in a gathering, they are
usually ignored. And if the older person speaks,
a tolerant smile comes across the face of most of the people
there until the old person is silent, then they pick up their
conversation again. The counsel of the elderly is
ignored. And even in the churches, this
is true. Sad to say, this is true. Everything
today in the church is being directed toward who we call,
or the group we call, the young people. Even when a pastor is
sought, a church is calling a pastor, what's the first question that
most people ask? Can he work with the young people? The downfall, and this is it,
of most churches is the women and the young people do all the
talking, and wise elderly men are silenced and ignored. Our philosophy is all wrong.
The direction in which we're moving is all wrong. We make
jokes about getting old. We've been so brainwashed by
this so-called young philosophy that even the elderly, I'm sorry
to say, have accepted it. And most of them have crawled
off into a shell of self-pity and inactivity. The old people
are withdrawn and silent. Someone said, really dead while
they live. Instead of using their wisdom
and using the experience that God has given them, they have
grown silent and they have withdrawn from the mainstream of life.
One time when Mr. Charles Spurgeon, and Charles
Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers who ever lived, who
ever preached the gospel. He pastored the Metropolitan
Tabernacle in London, England for 39 years. He preached to
greater crowds than any man of his day. He published over 3,000
sermons in languages, many, many languages. He had an orphanage,
a college for preachers. Just one of the greatest preachers
who ever lived. And he preached from the time
he was 18 years of age. It was once when he was only
22 years of age, he was preaching in a church, and he walked up
to an old believer, one of the old men of the church, one of
the elders in the church, and he said to him, Brother, there
is no man in the whole church that I envy as much as I envy
you. And the old man looked at this
young man, 22 years of age, this promising young preacher, London's
largest churches, and he said, young man, you envy me? Why in the world would you envy
me? I'm 87 years old. Why would you envy me? And Mr. Sturgeon said, oh, believer,
I envy you for many reasons. The first of which is this. You
are nearer the Father's home than I am. In a very short time,
you're going to see the Lord. In a very short time, you're
going to share his glory. In a very short time, this weary
journey of sin is going to be over for you. While I'm still
down here laboring in this veil of terror, you're going to be
basking in the glory of God's smile. And he went on, he said, secondly,
old man, I envy you because the old believer can talk of experiences
of grace, while the young believer can only talk of the promises
of grace. The old man can say, with David,
I have been young and now I'm old, and I've never seen the
righteous forsaken. I've never seen God's seed begging
bread. The old man can sing through
many dangers, toils and snares. I have already come. It is grace
that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. The old man can sing when through
fiery trials my pathway shall lie. His grace, all-sufficient,
has been my supply." What does the young man know about this?
Well, I envy you. The old believer can talk of
the experiences of grace. My friend, I can only preach
the promises of grace. I've never been there. I've never
walked that road. I envy you. And then he went
on and he said, I envy you, my friend, because the old man can
take out the counsel checks of mercy, the counsel checks of
grace, and the promises of God and say, I know these are true,
I've cast them. have used them all. The young
man reads about these promises and he believes them and he hopes
about them, but the old man knows firsthand of the Redeemer's grace
and the Redeemer's mercy and the Redeemer's love, because
day by day, through this journey of tears and heartache, he's
cashed those checks and he's found God all-sufficient. God, who said, My grace is sufficient,
that old man knows it so. God who said, I'll never leave
you or forsake you. That old man knows it so. God
who said, I'm with you always, even to the end. He knows it
so. I envy you. You can stand and
say to the young believer, let me tell you, young man, how God
brought me to my knees in conviction and repentance. Let me tell you
how God revealed my inability. Let me tell you how God revealed
the substitute Jesus Christ to my heart. Let me tell you how
His peace has been my portion and His blood has been my confidence
through all these years. Let me tell you how at the cross,
at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my
heart rolled away, it was there by faith I received my sight
and now I'm happy all the day and I'm still there at the cross. Let me tell you how good God
was to me when I lost my job and had a family to support.
Let me tell you how he never failed me, never left me. Let
me tell you how God comforted me when I lost my dear companion
of many years and faced those hours and weeks and months of
loneliness. Let me tell you about God's sustaining
grace when my child was killed. Let me tell you of the comfort
in the days of sickness when I faced death's door. Oh yes,
let me tell you. His promises are sweet, and they
are true, and they're steadfast. What does the young man know
about that? Oh, he believes it, and he hopes,
and he reads about it, but he can't talk about it. You can't
tell what you don't know. any more than you can come back
from where you haven't been. I envy you." And then he went
on and he said, O believer, I envy you because the old man who knows
God's mercy in Christ, who knows God's mercy and grace in the
substitute Jesus Christ, who knows something of the pardoning
blood, of the ransoming blood, of the cleansing blood, that
old man does not have the doubts about the doctrines of God's
word, like young people have. The old man needs no new gospel.
He doesn't want to hear about a new gospel. Christ's gospel
has met his need, and he's found it to be sufficient. The old
man needs no new revelation. Christ has met his every need.
Christ is sufficient. The old man needs no proof of
God's presence. He walked with God and talked
with God along life's narrow ways, and the joys they share
as they travel there, none other has ever known. The old man is
not driven and tossed with every wind of doctrine, every new Messiah
that comes along, every new leader that opens his mouth, every new
revelation that's pushed off on the people. His hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and his righteousness He dares
not trust the newest, sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. He found that rock to be sufficient. Old man, I envy you. I envy you
because the old believer is not alarmed and he's not swayed by
the loud claims of novices and new converts. A new man comes
on the scene, boasting of new revelations and new experiences
and new doctrine. The old man watches him carefully.
He's not swayed, and he's not moved, and he's not tossed about
with every wind of new doctrine. He's not driven there, nor is
he shaken when they fall. He's not shaken by the fall of
loud professors. He's learned over the years.
Put no confidence in the flesh. He is anybody else's. Should
all the works that hell devised assail my soul with treacherous
art, I'll call them all vanity of lies and bind his sweet gospel
to my heart." I envy you, old man. You do not have the doubts
and the fears, you're not alarmed or swayed, you're not driven
by every wind of doctrine. Your feet through the years have
been planted on the rock, Christ Jesus, and you shall not be moved. And I envy you because, old man,
your failures have left you less cocksure of your strength and
more dependent on God's grace. I find as people grow old in
grace and old in faith and old in experience and walking with
God, they become less confident of their strength and more dependent
on God's grace. And I find they have less confidence
in their faithfulness and more confidence in His faithfulness. Yes, O believer, I envy you. I want to point out, in the time
we have left, five things about old age, five beautiful things
that are contained in the Word of God. First of all, I'm going
to talk about the memories of old age, and then I'm going to
talk about the hope of old age, and then the glory of old age
and the blessedness of old age, and then the duties which we
have as we grow older. First of all, the memories of
old age. Listen to David. David wrote in Psalms 143, verse
5, I remember the days of old. I meditate on all God's works. I meditate on the works of God's
hands. I remember the days of old. You know, memory can be a punishing
thing. Abraham said to the rich man
in hell, son, remember, bad memory is a punishing thing. When we
remember things that are not pleasant, it's a very punishing
experience. But the memories of the believer
are precious. That's what David's talking about
here. He's an old man now, and he's talking about how he remembers
the works of God. He said, I remember the days
of old and I meditate on God's works. I meditate on the works
of God's hands. I remember the days of old."
What do we remember? Well, we remember the joys of
life, how many good sermons we've heard, how many beautiful songs
we've sung. There's a fountain filled with
blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath
that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Shall we gather at the
river where bright angels' feet have trod? Gather with the saints
at the river. that flows from the throne of
God. Remember? And then we remember the services
we've attended, the fellowship with the believers that we have
had. We remember how God has providentially led us through
this life and met all of our needs. We remember those sweet
times of prayer and communion and fellowship with Christ. And
as we remember these joys of life, we look back and say, surely
goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life. Yes, they have. Yes, they have. And then we remember the sorrows
of life, and they're not unpleasant, because looking at these sorrows
now, we can say our tears have been our teachers, and we have
learned more about God's mercy in the valley of tears than we
ever learned on the mountain of joy. Yes, we did. God's trials
have deepened us, and God's trials have taught us patience. And
God's trials have brought us to the place where we can love
and forgive and show mercy. Yes, we remember the sorrows
of life, and thank God for every one of them. In his good, merciful
providence, he brought them into our lives, and he worked it all
out for our good and his glory. And we remember our sins, and
we grieve over them, and we love him the more. David said, My
sins are ever before me, but my friend to whom much is forgiven
He'll love much. Our sins are all under the blood,
and we love him more and more for his precious blood that cleanseth
us from all sin. Under the blood of Jesus, I'm
safe in the shepherd's foal. Under the blood of Jesus, I'm
safe while the ages roll, safe though the worlds may crumble,
safe though the stars grow dim. Under the blood of Jesus, I'm
secure in him. That, my friend, are the memories
of old age. And then secondly, the hope of
old age. The hope of old age. What can you say about that?
Well, first of all, the hope of the old believer is so different
from the hope of the young person. The old believer has few hopes
in regard to the vanities of this world. There's not much
left here for him. His bags are packed, he's going
home. He has discovered that there's
nothing of any eternal value in this world. That's what he's
discovered. David, these are the last words of David. David,
who conquered kingdoms. David, who wore crowns and jewels
of gold. David, who walked in kings' palaces. David, who was the greatest ruler
of his day. David, these are his last words
after all of it is over. David, who tasted every sweet
morsel that life could present, finally said, These are the last
words of David, the sweet psalmist of Israel. Although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation
and all my desire. That's what it's come down to.
Everything is in my relationship with God in Christ. His covenant
of mercy in which he chose me. His covenant of grace by which
He called me, His covenant of redemption by which He redeemed
me, and His covenant of intercession by which He is my advocate. That's
it. That's it. That's the hope of
old age. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1, 3,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
hath begotten us unto a living hope. There's no living hope
in this world, it's a dead hope. The flowers are all dead, the
trees are dead, everything about us is dead and we're dying. But
God hath begotten us in Christ to a living hope, to an inheritance
reserved in heaven. And the ground of this hope is
Christ crucified. All my hope on Christ is laid. All my help from him I bring.
He covers my defenseless head with the shatter of his wings.
And the reason that the old believer can have hope is his confidence
in God's word. The old believer has confidence
in the Word of God. To the old believer, the Word
of God is not just a history book, or a doctrinal book, or
a devotional book. It's the living Word of God.
It's become to him the words of life. He lives and breathes
by the promises of that book. The Word of God to the old believer
is not a source of information or a source of argument. But
it's God's Word. It's his breath and his life
and his joy. And the object of that hope is
to be like Christ, to be like the Savior. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but when he shall appear, we're going to be like him. And
he that hath this hope in him purifies himself, as God is pure. And if the earthly house of our
tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. That's the hope of the
believer. who has grown old. What's the glory of old age?
Job said in Job 19.25, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and
that he shall stand at the latter day on this earth, and though
after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I am going
to see the Lord, whom I shall see for myself and not another.
The glory of old age, you know what it is? Graduation. Graduation. A continued faith will receive
a crown of glory. Paul said, the time of my departure
is at hand. I've fought a good fight. I've
kept the faith. Henceforth there's laid up for
me, graduation, a crown of righteousness, which the Lord God shall present
to me in that day, and not to me only, but to all them that
love his appearing. That's the glory of old age.
Graduation. I'm going to graduate someday.
I'm going to finish this school of life, this school of sorrow,
this school of trial. I'm going to graduate. And they've
laid up for me a crown of righteousness because Christ loved me and gave
himself for me. Not because of the works I've
done and the sermons I've preached and the places I've gone in God's
name. When I've done everything God's
given me to do, I've just done what I'm supposed to do. My hope
is Christ. I don't preach rewards in heaven
except this, Christ is our reward. and the last shall be first,
and the first shall be last, and the thief on the cross is
as near to the throne as the apostle Peter. What is the blessedness
of old age? Our text said this. God said
in our text, even to your old age I am he, and even to white
hairs I'll carry you and I'll save you. You know what the blessedness
of old age is? Can there be any blessedness
about old age? When you're 80 years old or 85,
what is the blessedness? I think it can be summed up in
the words of Roland Hill. He was a very old preacher, and
one day he was up preaching to a crowd of people, and he stopped
right in the middle of his message. This is what he said. Young people,
there's nothing like having your heart fixed. There's nothing
like having your heart fixed. Oh Lord God, he said, my heart
is fixed. I have been all these years seeking
the Lord. Now my heart is fixed. I'm old. I have no doubt about God's elective
grace. I have no doubt about the sacrifice
of my Lord. I have no doubt about the intercessory
work of my Advocate. I have no doubt about the resurrection
of my Redeemer. I have no doubt about the coming
of my King. If any man bring a new theory
to me, I say away with it. I stand hard and fast on the
grace of God in Christ Jesus my Lord. I thank God my heart
is fixed. O Lord, I shall not be moved. Old Satan said my Lord was gone
and would not hear my prayer. But praise the Lord, the work
is done, and Christ the Redeemer is here. My heart is filled. That's the blessedness of old
age. Having a certain dwelling place, having peace in your heart
through Christ, having rest and confidence in the Redeemer, and
you can say, I shall not be moved. I don't want to be moved. And
then in closing, the duties of old age. Now God says to his
people, and they shall bring forth fruit in their old age. Now my friend, I have, in the
past, I've been in the past 29 years almost. I've been a pastor
29 years. And sad to say, I have run upon
some people who, when they get old and their hair gets white
and their steps get a little slow and they get some wrinkles. They began to get a little indifferent
about the house of God and the worship of the Lord and the reading
of God's word and prayer and these things. But God says that
my people are going to bring forth fruit in old age. They're
not going to be dead branches, they're going to bear fruit in
their old age. There are certain things that
are the fruits of old believers. First of all, We can bear testimony
to those who will listen. Everybody won't listen, but somebody
will. We can bear fruit to those who
listen about the grace of God. I like to listen to elderly people
talk, people of wisdom, people of many years, people of experience.
But I like to hear them talk about the Savior, about the Lord,
and about his grace, and about his goodness. People will listen
when old people talk wisely. Not about themselves and their
aches and pains, but about the Redeemer. Old person, listen
to me. You've got some things to tell.
You've got a journey that you've come through. You've got some
experiences that ought to be related and in Christ. And that's one of the fruits
of old age. My people shall bring forth fruit in their old age. They're going to talk about God's
grace, God's goodness. And then we can set an example.
in conversation and behavior. Now the example of an experienced
believer carries a lot of weight. I had a friend that was holding
a meeting up in Olney, Illinois many years ago, and the pastor
was all disturbed about the gospel that was being preached, and
his wife was the organist, and she was disturbed, and all the
deacons were disturbed, and they wanted to stop the meeting and
fire the evangelist because he was going to disturb their little
social church, their little social gathering, and tear up their
organization, The pastor met with the deacons, and all of
them were in favor, firing the evangelist and running him out
of town. He was just preaching God's Word. But one old white-haired
man stood up, and he said, Pastor, I want to tell you something.
That man's preaching the gospel. You've never heard it. These
deacons have never heard it. But he's preaching the gospel.
He's God's servant. You'd better not touch him. Don't
put your hands on God's servant. And you know that old man stood
in the gap, and the preacher, the evangelist preached the next
night. that they had a revival, the pastor was converted, so
was his wife and seven of those deacons, because one old white-haired
man was dared to stand up in the face of adversity and speak
for Christ. Oh yeah, a man of experience
can carry a lot of weight, but his failure can do a lot of damage
too, don't you forget that. A sour old person is not a complement
to the grace of God. And then we can comfort those
who are traveling the road that we've already walked. If you've
You can weep with those that weep. If you've been tried, you
can help those who are undergoing trial. When I can read my title
clear to mansions in the sky, I'll bid farewell to every fear
and I'll wipe my weeping eye. Let cares like a wild deluge
come and storms of sorrow fall. May I but safely reach my home,
my God, my Lord, my all. join us next large day for the
program at the same time until then, henry mahan, bidding you
a very pleasant good day

Old Age

What does the Bible say about old age?

How do we know that God cares for the elderly?

Why is the wisdom of older believers important for Christians?

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About Henry Mahan

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Old Age

What does the Bible say about old age?

How do we know that God cares for the elderly?

Why is the wisdom of older believers important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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