Ecclesiastes chapter 12. The title of my message this evening
is A Happy Old Age. A Happy Old Age. Solomon, we're not sure how old
he was when he left this world, but I know he reigned for 40
years. I believe he was in his 40s when
he came to the throne, so somewhere in his 80s. And many believe
that he wrote this book, the book of Ecclesiastes, after he
had been recovered from that backslidden state in which he
let himself go into. having married many wives and
they brought their false gods with them, then he too was guilty
of worshiping false deities. And this book, of course, it's
written at the end of his life, no doubt. And he had experimented
with everything that the world looks to for pleasure. And his
comment was, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. But here in these
verses, he exhorts young people to remember their creator. And
that word creator is actually in the plural form. The creators,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God created man. Remember now thy creator in the
days of thy youth, while the evil days come not. And what
he is referring to as evil days, of course, is old age and that
which comes with old age. Nor the years draw nigh when
thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. While the sun, or the
light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds
return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house
shall tremble, the strong men shall bow themselves and the
grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out
of the windows be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the
streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall
rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music
shall be brought low. And when they shall be afraid
of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the
almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden,
and desire shall fail, because man goeth to his long home, and
the mourners go about the streets. Or ever the silver card be loosed,
or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the
fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the
dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return
unto God who gave it, Vanity of vanity, saith the preacher,
all is vanity. I recently read a book with the
title, A Happy Old Age. A Happy Old Age, I believe I
mentioned that to us in a message recently. The book began with
this question, what is our life? What is our life? Life is a journey
that is soon ended. Life is a tale that is quickly
told. Life is a day whose hours roll
apace. Life is a vapor which rises for
a while and then vanishes. Life is a flame that burns for
a moment or two and then flickers and shortly goes out. Our little
lifetime, how short it is. And what are your thoughts, my
aged friends? As I said, the book is written
to older people, to aged people. What are your thoughts, my aged
friends, about this journey of life? Once you looked upon it
as a very different thing from what it appears to you now. Once
it seemed to you as if the days of your childhood would never
pass away. You remember that, don't you?
As the days of your childhood should never pass away. You long
for manhood or womanhood, but it came very slowly. The early
stages of your journey seemed almost endless. And if it had
been possible, you would willingly have taken a jump and sprang
into middle life in one bound. But now you look back and wonder
how quickly your life has passed. It seemed but yesterday that
you were a child. Old age has crept on almost without
you knowing it. Now the book, if I remember right,
has about 11 chapters. And as we see, it was written
to aged or older Christians. And as I read them, the various
chapters, the thought came to me, well, this is good for every
age. Not just for old people, this is good for every age. The
young, those in middle age, and those who are older. And I've
taken two of the chapters out of the book tonight that I'm
going to bring to us, and I trust that the Lord will bless this
message to us. The first chapter we're going
to look at is the aged Christian in the house of God. The aged
Christian in the house of God. And of course, by the house of
God, the author meant our worship services. The times we come together
to worship the Lord, when God's people come apart from the world
and come and gather together in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, as the author points out,
we know that God is everywhere. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere
present at the same time. He's about our path everywhere
we go. He's at our house, about our
beds when we are asleep. But he is especially with us
when we come to the house of God. For we have his promise,
the Lord's promise, that we're two or three gather in his name,
that he is in our midst. And I like the way the Lord said
that so much. He didn't say he would come into
our midst. He said he's in our midst when
two or three gather together. And on Sunday mornings, I'm sure
if you are like me, I pray, I pray God gather us together. It means
more to me than just coming because it's Sunday morning and 9.30,
that's the time we come here. No, Lord, you gather us, you
gather us together because with the Lord gathering us together,
we have his promise that he is in our midst. Well, the author
went on to say, well, dear friend, I hope you can say of the courts
of the Lord, I love to be there. There, I have spent my happiest
moments. There, I have found a peace which
the world can never rob me of. There, I have often had my heart
warmed with love to Christ and to his
people. There I have oftentimes gone
with a heavy burden, but I have left it behind me and come away
lightened. I hope that we all can agree
and say the same thing. Now here are six directions that
the author gave to the believer, the older age believer coming
to the house of God. First of all, always go to God's
house expecting a blessing. That's good advice, isn't it?
Always go to God's house expecting a blessing before you leave home. Pray and ask the Lord, ask God
the Holy Spirit to enable you to worship Him. Ask the Lord
to bless the service. And then when you come, look
out for it. Look out for the blessing. That's
the first advice he gave. Always go to God's house expecting
a blessing. That's good advice for older
people. That's good advice for young
people. That's good advice for all of
God's people, isn't it? Come together expecting a blessing. You know, some people go to hear
a preacher and they just look for faults and things that they
can criticize. Well, they're not gonna be blessed,
that's obvious. And I don't care who the preacher
is, if you come looking to find faults, you're gonna find faults.
Because a man is a man, and man at his best state is altogether
vanity. But that's the first advice or
direction he gave to older people. Always go to God's house expecting
a blessing. Secondly, once there, enter. Enter with all your heart into
the service. When others are asked to pray,
join with them in earnest prayer, seeking God's blessing. It's
not enough to sit quietly by while the preacher prays, but
join with him in asking a blessing upon you and upon those around
you. And I would add this, where the
author said, enter with all your heart into the service, and he
especially spoke about prayer. I would say the same about singing
hymns, about singing the hymns of Zion, worshiping the Lord
in song. Let your voice be heard. when
you come to worship the Lord. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. I've had men tell me, you don't
want me to sing. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I don't care what your voice
sounds like to you. Yes, I want you to join in. You
know, God inhabits, the scripture said, God inhabits the praises
of Israel. This is one way we offer sacrifice
unto the Lord. It's in our praise, in our singing. Join in and worship the Lord. Enter into the service with all
your heart. The third direction that he gave,
when the scriptures are read, I thought this was ever so good. When the scriptures are read,
listen with all your attention. Listen with all your attention. It may be at your age, you've
heard and read those chapters many times. But remember this,
it contains precious truths. Truths which are always new to
the hearing ear and the understanding heart. When the preacher announces
his text and He's going to preach on the resurrection of Lazarus.
Don't say, oh, I've heard that so many times. I've heard that
back when he's talking, preaching about the flood of Noah. I've
heard that since I was in cradle roll in the nursery and in the
beginner's class. I've heard that. No. God's word
is fresh and new, new truths and precious truths unto God's
people. And yes, you've heard. the message,
the story many times, but it's still, it's still fresh and new,
always here, always come, listening to the word of God. And fourth,
during the sermon, when the preacher is preaching, be a humble listener. Be a humble listener. Be like
a little child. Be like a little child feeling
that your knowledge is small and you still have much to learn. Be like a hungry man who comes
to be fed. Be like the thirsty soil that
drinks in the shower. Yes. If we would all hear in
that way, no doubt all of us would receive greater blessings
from attending God's house. And fifth, when you come home
from church, do not forget the service in which you have been
engaging. Take your Bible. Take your Bible
and turn to the passage the preacher preached from or the Sunday school
teacher taught from. Take your Bible and read over
that text. Look at it again. And if possible,
speak to someone about the message. Maybe just one part of the message
that you can remember, you can recall. But in speaking to others
about that part of the message, it will help you to remember.
It will fasten it in your mind. And when communion is administered,
like it is going to be here tonight, when the Lord's table is celebrated,
do not fail to receive it. My dear friend, I trust that
you are not one of these formal communicants. I trust that you
come to this blessed ordinance under a deep feeling of your
sinfulness and unworthiness and desire to draw near to Christ
with humble and living faith. You come not because you're worthy,
not because you're worthy to come, but because you feel you
need or your need of strength and grace. You come to Jesus
to be pardoned and to be healed and to receive fresh life from
him. Well, that was one of the chapters,
The Aged Christian and the House of God. The second one that I want to
mention to us tonight, and all of these chapters was good, but
the second one is The Duties of Old Age. the duties of old
age. Every station, the author said,
every station and stage of life has its own special duties. Childhood
has its duties, such as obedience to parents, modesty, willingness
to be taught. A husband and wife have their
duties. Adulthood has its duties. A grown-up man or woman are required
to be useful in the world and to live not unto themselves,
but unto the Lord. And so too, old age has its duties. And he mentioned several of them. Number one, and I think this
is my personal opinion, this book was written in the 1800s
by an English pastor. But I think older people have
gotten better today than they used to be. Used to be, it seems
like, little children really upset grandma and grandpa for
various reasons. I think we've, it may be just
because I'm older that I feel this way, but I think older people
have gotten better, at least those that I know. But the author,
he wrote this. You should endeavor to be patient
and gentle, older people. Endeavor to be patient and gentle. Along with old age usually come
pains, infirmities. How blessed if you can feel a
cheerful submission to God's will. Not only accept what old
age brings, but to be thankful. God is able. to make us patient
and humble and submissive to his will. Number two, you should
try to be cheerful and considerate of others. That's some good advice,
isn't it? Try to be cheerful. You know,
some people, they just look like they're having a hard time all
the time. They never smile, they never
They never see a smile on their face. Try to be cheerful. The scripture says, God loveth
a cheerful giver. Try to be cheerful and considerate
of others. I was talking to older people. Try to be cheerful and considerate
of others. Sometimes old people are a little
apt to dwell too much on their own troubles and needs. Guard
against this. Do not begrudge young people
those delights which you can no longer enjoy, but put yourself
often in their place and remember that you were once a child yourself. The very feeling that you're
trying to make others happy will make you happy yourself. Third, Be much in prayer and
in the reading of God's word. That's for every age, isn't it? Good advice. Be much in prayer
and reading of God's word, but especially for older people. Number four, you should set loose
to this world and be ready, be in readiness to leave it. Be
ready. I mean, you know, a person gets
older and you're not going to live here forever. If the Lord
hasn't come, we're leaving this place. Live with that. Acknowledge that and be ready
when the Lord calls to leave this world. Set loose to this world. Don't
drive your stakes. That's what a friend of mine
used to say. Don't drive your stakes too deep. You know, when you're putting
up a tent, and that's what we're living in, a tent. Don't drive
your stakes too deep. We're leaving in the morning.
Amen? Amen. And number five, try to set a
good example to others. Remember always, you may do much
by your example. I've heard, read before Charles
Spurgeon had a congregation of 5,000 people, you know that he
had older people there. I remember reading one time he
was preaching on heaven and evidently there was an older woman there
and he said, Check our sister, I believe she's just left for
heaven. And she died while he was preaching. It wasn't because
he was preaching so long either. Yeah. But he had some that would come
who couldn't hear. Now we're so blessed. I was thinking reading this passage
just a little while ago here in Ecclesiastes about looking
out the windows. We have cataract surgery, don't
we? What a blessing that is. I mean,
years ago, people, they just lost their eyesight. And he had
people in his congregation who couldn't hear. I mean, they couldn't
hear him. They maybe sat right here. They
didn't have any amplification, electrical amplification like
we have today. They didn't have hearing aids
or anything like that, but they still came. And one time he asked
one of them, why do you come? Because I want to show my family
the importance of being in the house of God, even though I can't
hear. I know that's where I need to
be. Try to set an example. This will
be even more useful even than your words. This is a good thought. Your example be more useful even
than your words, for your words may be mistaken, but your life
cannot be. It must and will speak. Paul reminded the Corinthians
when he said, you show that you are the epistles of Christ known
and read by everybody. That's what he wrote to the church
at Corinth, wasn't it? That they were living epistles,
not just epistles written with pen and ink, but living epistles. You show that you are the epistles
of Christ known and read by everybody. That is, your lives plainly declare
whose you are and who you serve. Well, I wanted to do this. I hope someone
said, well, you're not preaching Christ tonight. Well, he's preached
right here, isn't he? We see his body, his blood shown
to us in the bread and in the wine tonight. We see Christ crucified. I just pray that the Lord would
bless this word. As I said, reading the book was
a blessing to me, but as I said, it didn't apply
just to older people. I mean, it applies to all of
God's people, so much in the advice and the directions of
that author. And I just pray that the Lord
would use what I've said here tonight. Most of it I've copied
from what he said in the book. But God's blessed us, some of
us here, with old age. And we want to be a blessing,
don't we, to others? Is that an example? You know,
I've never understood, and I've seen this over the years, when
couples have young children, they are faithful to come to
the Bible classes and bring their children to Sunday school, and
then their children grow up and they feel like they don't need
to come anymore. We never outgrow needing to hear
the Word of God and to be taught. I'm thankful for our teachers,
and I encourage all of us to pray for each one of our teachers.
Pray for them by name, those who teach in the Bible classes. And come, as we saw here, come
expecting a blessing. All right, I'm going to ask Brother