You're not too old

Now I'm here because I enjoy driving. No, that's not true at all. I'm here because I enjoy the Lord's people, and I enjoy the ministry of the Word.

But I enjoy the Lord's people, I enjoy the ministry of the Word of God. And I have something upon my mind this morning that I've had upon my mind for quite some time. I hope it's not moldy.

I want to read with you in Luke's Gospel, chapter 1. I'll read in verse 1. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word of God, and it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things, from the very first to right unto thee in order, most excellent Theopolis. He's an interesting man. His name means friend of God, and the Word of God said he's most excellent.

So I take it that he is a person of high rank. Every child of God is a friend of God, and so I think it'd be fair to say that every child of God is most excellent in the mind of God. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judah, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abiah.

I take it this Abiah was the leader of that division, or the leader of that course, and his wife, this is Zacharias' wife, was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, and that nice, walking in the commandments and the ordinance of the Lord, and they were blameless. And they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both now well stricken in years.

Came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord, and the multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing in the right side of the altar of incense, and when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. And the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

As much as I want to read. Now from time to time when you come to a conference, you hear from the platform that we want to encourage young people, and we do want to encourage young people. We certainly don't want to discourage, because that takes away their courage.

So we want to encourage young people. But you know, there are older saints that need to be encouraged as well, and I'm one of them, because I'm an older saint. I'm getting kind of long at the tooth.

That's what I used to work for a fella, and if he saw somebody was getting on in age, he'd say, well that fella, he's getting long at the tooth, so I'm long at the tooth. And from time to time, older people along with younger people need to be encouraged as well, and that's why I'm thinking about this Zachariah and Elizabeth are examples of those who are described as being well stricken in years. That's what we affectionately call the seniors, senior saints.

I thought it was pretty nifty when I turned senior at McDonald's. If you're 55, used to be, back in the day if you were 55 you were a senior, and at McDonald's you could get a cup of coffee for 26 cents. Well I thought that was a real deal, Lucille.

So, I don't know what it is now anymore, so I'm sure it's a lot, it's probably doubled up. It's probably double that now. But that was one of the advantages of being a senior, is you could get a 26 cent cup of coffee.

So as a senior, one can find some encouragement. I take it in what is recorded about Zachariah and Elizabeth. You know, we're never too old for God to use.

We never get too old for God to use. There are men that have preached the Word of God way into their 90s. Not the early 90s, but their late 90s.

And we're never too old to pray, and see the results of our prayers. You see that right here with this couple. And we're never too old to fail, and we're never too old to do something new.

And we're never too old to sing. Never too old for God to use us. God enabled, thank you very much, I appreciate that.

Never too old for God to use us. God enabled this couple, along Abraham and Sarah, to have children in old age. Well, I'm not interested in having children in old age, but this is just a little example of what I'm talking about.

When God seeks to do something wonderful, at times he does it through what we call impossibilities. And the Word of God in Genesis 18 verse 14 reminds us, is anything too hard for the Lord? I don't think anything is too hard for the Lord, and you know it's not too hard for me, for him either. And impossibilities in your life and mine become possibilities for him.

Come to Luke 1 and verse 37, for with God shall be impossible. Don't get the idea that just because you're getting on in age that things are impossible in your life, because with God nothing is impossible. And he does the things that others cannot do.

He specializes in things thought impossible. That's your God and mine. John chapter 21 verse 6 to 17, the Lord commissioned his disciples to care for the sheep as well as the lambs.

And something that we need to remember is the older saints have stood the heat of the day, and they have what younger saints don't have. You say, what's that experience? That's worth a lot. And I'm going to tell you a little story that George Patterson told me.

He's gone to glory now. I spent quite a bit of time preaching with this man. You know we're never too old for God to use, and the young saints would do well to show respect for their age, and their wisdom, and their experience.

And I'm not suggesting that you don't. I'm just suggesting that if you don't, you do. Gray hair and baldness is not a mark of senility, but it's a great source of spiritual power and experience.

Mr. Patterson told me one time he went to a conference up in Canada, and at the end of the afternoon, Sunday afternoon, towards the very end of this conference, there was a man that got up because no one else got up. As George said, we used to say they ran out of gas. And his name was Mr. McElwain.

And he said when Mr. McElwain got up, he said you could almost sense a big sigh going on through the whole audience, because apparently he was not a real elegant speaker. I don't know, I never met him. I only read a book about him.

Anyways, he got up and he spoke, and he says now our young brethren have waxed eloquent. But he says I have something they don't have. And he said you could almost sense in the crowd that they were all thinking in their mind, well what does he have that they don't have? And what he had that they didn't have was experience.

And he began to tell the people that day some of the experiences that he experienced while he labored in the gospel. And George said that he won the hearts of the people of God. You know we're never too old to pray, are we? It's interesting to me when God answers prayer, it's above and beyond anything we ask or we think.

Did you ever experience that in your prayer life? This couple prayed for a child, and God gave them a son, who would be the herald of the Messiah. You read about it in Luke 1 verse 17, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Bless the older saints who pray for the younger saints seeking to serve the Lord.

Pray for them. There's a young man in this audience right now that are seeking to serve the Lord in the gospel, and that's a young man's work. You know who told me that? George Patterson.

He told me years ago, he said, give yourself to ministry, because there's coming a day, and he says you're going to feel it in your legs, that gospel work is a young man's work. So I want to encourage these young men that are here today, that are getting out with the gospel. Not just those that are commended with a letter of commendation, but young men that I'm aware of that seek to get out with the gospel, and keep at it.

Keep at it while your legs are still working good, because you need them. You can't just hang a shingle out, gospel meetings, and expect folks to come in. You got to, you need to get up, work on that shoe leather.

I'll get you a good pair of boonies, go door to door, and knock on the door, and see if somebody will come to the door, and see if you can get a little chit-chat with them. Keep at it while you're young. You know we're never too old to fail.

Many times in the Word of God has made God, many times the Word of God, let me put it that way, the many times the Word of God has made God well known to us, and we've looked to ourselves. Have you ever done that? God makes himself known to you in a kind of a special way, urges you in a special way. Maybe thought comes into your mind that you should go do a certain thing at a certain time for a certain person or group of people, and you instead of looking to God, you look to yourselves.

And then instead of looking, Abraham was marked by faith. But when he faced famine in his life, he did something, didn't he? He fled. And he fled to Egypt for help.

You read about it in Genesis 12. He went beyond where God would have him to go. Sometimes we may be guilty of that, going beyond where God would have us to go, and instead of listening to God, we just simply listen to ourselves and our feelings.

And then we go beyond where God would have us to go. You know Moses was a man that was marked by humility, but he lost his temper. You read about that in Numbers 12 and verse 3. Then he lost his privilege to enter the promised land in Numbers 20.

And then there's a man by the name of David, and then there's a man by the name of Peter, and then there's a man by the name of Jennings that has done the same. You know, someone said long ago that when you're at home, watch your temper. How's your temper, brother? Need to watch your temper.

You say, preacher, you don't have one. I have a temper. Everybody has a temper.

Am I right? We need to watch it. We need to get a grip on it, need to control it, or I'll tell you something that'll control us. How is your temper, brother and sister? I knew a person one time that had such a savage temper, that when this individual saw the cars parked on the street, that temper got so far out of control that individual had to wait outside the door until it settled down.

Watch your temper. When you're at home, watch your temper. When you're in public, watch your tongue.

People hear with your tongue. You may not think they hear what you're saying, but they hear what you're saying. And when you're alone, what should you watch then? Your thoughts.

When you're alone, brother, watch your thoughts. Sister, watch your thoughts. I'll watch mine.

When you're in the public, watch your tongue. When you're at home, watch your temper. A bad temper can ruin a marriage in a heartbeat.

No one wants to put up with someone with a bad temper. And there are a lot of sisters that have put up with men with bad tempers. And it's only by the grace of God that they've been able to do so.

You know, youthful sins are sad, but sins of an experienced saint are tragic. But there's one thing about it all. Failure need not be final.

If you failed, that doesn't have to be final. If I failed, it doesn't have to be final. And I failed, and I'll be the first to admit it.

But failure need not be final. And you know, we're never too old to do something new. How about the good old days? Remember the good old days? Someone has said they are a combination of bad memory and good imagination.

The good old days. We need balance in our lives, and we need discernment in our lives. I read about a man by the name of George Mueller.

He did something new. He left the orphanage, the work that he had started in able hands, and then he began to travel. And he began to minister the Word of God to the good of God's people.

And he was no spring chicken when he did that. He had some age on him when he did something new. So we're never ever, excuse me, too old to do something new, and never too old to sing.

You know, if we'd have been mute for nine months like Zacharias, and suddenly our speech returned, what would we say? What would you have said? What would I have said? Well, Zacharias, he spoke, and he praised God. And he praised God about redemption, and he praised God about victory. And he praised God about forgiveness.

And he spoke more about God's Son than he did his own son. Some of us want to speak about our sons, and what our sons have accomplished. Perhaps we speak more about our sons and their accomplishments than we do the Son of God.

But this man didn't do that. He saw Israel at the dawning of a new day, and maybe there's a new day dawning. We think about that.

My wife and I think about that quite a bit. One of these days the Lord will come and shout us out of this world. And in their long years, Zacharias and Elizabeth enjoyed the favor and the blessing of God, and you enjoy it, and I enjoy it as well.

You enjoy the favor of God. You're a friend of God, if you're saved in the room today. And you enjoy the favor of God, and you enjoy the blessing of God, and God blesses you every day, and he blesses me every day.

He's wonderful. Isn't it wonderful to be saved? To be a friend of God. You could have no friend greater than that.

One time I went to Newfoundland, and when I came back from Newfoundland, I had to stop in Quebec. And I had to go through customs, and the lady that handled me in customs, she could handle me, let me tell you. She was a Chinese lady, and she spoke French.

I know she spoke English, but she didn't want to. Oh, they could all speak English there, but they just don't want to do it. I don't know why.

French is a beautiful, beautiful language. Maybe that's why. Especially when you hear songs that are sung in French.

I'm half Cajun, you know. You probably didn't know that. Anyway, I let it out.

I'm French Canadian. My daddy was a French Canadian, and so I kind of like to listen to French kind of bluegrass. And it is just delightful.

Yeah, well, I don't understand what they're saying, but that's all right. I can hear the music anyway, and I enjoy that part of it. So in their long years, they enjoyed the favor and blessing of God because of His grace and because of their faithfulness.

They were faithful. And, you know, we're never too old for God to use for His glory. Never, ever too old.

If feeling old today, I tell you, when I got up this morning, I felt old, but I didn't need any help getting out of bed. Not yet, anyway. But boy, my old bones were really creaking.

You know what Mr. Hamilton used to say years ago? He used to say, keep on keeping on. And he says, your Christian life is like riding a bicycle. He liked to ride a bicycle.

He used to ride a bicycle from La Crosse to Onalaska and then preach and attend. And he met a man one day, one night, riding his bicycle from La Crosse to Onalaska. And this fellow was riding a bicycle too, and he invited him to the meetings.

And he came in, he got saved the first night. His name was Mr. Pryor. I remember Mr. Hamilton telling that.

And he said, your Christian experience is like riding a bicycle. Keep pedaling, because when you stop pedaling, you'll fall over. So we need to keep on keeping on till our earthly history ends.

We leave this poor, groaning world behind. And we're going to leave the burdens of earth behind as well. And the aches and the pains of old age.

And the infirmity of old age. We're going to leave all that behind. My first wife used to say to me 50 years from now, it won't matter.

We're going to leave this poor, groaning world behind. The burdens of earth are going to fall away. Did you know the only part of you and me that's grown older? That's our body.

Did you know that you are eternally young? And I am eternally young. And the only thing growing older is our bodies. And when we leave this world behind, we're going to be 33 years of age.

Did you know that? Well, you just asked Mr. Surgeoner about that, because that's his idea. And I got that one from him. He said the Lord was 33 years of age when he left this poor, groaning world behind.

And he says we're going to be with him and like him. So that just simply means that every one of us that saved and born again, when we get the glory, we're going to be 33 years of age. Think of it.

Boy, that'd be wonderful. Wonderful. I wonder if I get my hair back.

Don't matter. It won't matter a bit. So we're going to leave the burdens of earth by the catching away.

That's what we're looking for, isn't it? Or the coffin. But either way, we got a bright and glorious future before us. And regardless of how old we are or how we feel, how this body feels, God is able to use you.

He's able to use me. If we're ready and want to be used.