Growing In Grace

Turn your Bibles to 1 Timothy chapter 5:es 1 and 2. 1 Timothy chapter 5:es 1 and 2. We're going to continue our study through 1 Timothy and um 1 Timothy 5:es 1-2 says, "Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father and the younger men as brethren. The elder woman as mothers uh the younger sisters with all with all purity." Uh I've only got two verses to preach on and uh I don't set the schedule for the preaching. We rotate the different preachers. Uh, brother John does that and I think he chose me because it's talking about elders and I'm the eldest one in the church. I'm not sure if that's the reason why.

Uh, we had a a a young marriage activity at our house one time and we were uh playing a game with these cards and that asked questions and they were supposed to answer the questions and one of the questions on the card one of the cards was at what age are you old? And one of the young marrieds answered that question 30. uh that just uh that I I'm double over double that already. So, I guess I'm gone and done, you know. Uh but uh you know, you as you get old, everything uh everything hurts. And what doesn't hurt doesn't work anymore. As you get old, when it takes twice as long to look half as good.

As you get older, when your back goes out, your back goes out more than you do anymore. Uh there's nothing left to learn the hard way. Uh when you get old, you look for your glasses for an hour and they were on the top of your head the whole time. Brother Snyder, you know that one, right? And uh all of when you get old, all of your childhood toys are now in a museum. And uh that's actually been true. I go into, you know, these uh antique shops and I I said, I had one of those. I had one of those. I had if id saved all my toys, I'd be rich right now, you know. And uh and not only that, when I went to uh Lackland Air Force Base in basic training, when my son graduated, we went to the Air Force Museum and um uh everything that the the museum was the barracks that I went to when I was there.

And everything in the museum was from my generation. It was a picture of a guy I went to basic training with. So, I guess I'm now officially uh an antique. Uh when you get old, everything hurts. And what doesn't hurt doesn't work. And when you get old, you don't remember being absent- minded. You say the same things over and over again. And uh so we're talking about elders here and about the young as well. And Job chapter 15, there's a very encouraging verse for those of us are older. It says in verse number 10, with us are both the gay-headed and very aged men, much elder than thy father. And a lot of people in the church when they find out how old is you're older than my dad.

Uh and and it's getting now where you're older, my grandfather. And so uh uh you get old, you you grow. In Proverbs 20 and 29 says, "The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is their gray head." So, uh, you may be stronger than I am, but I'm better looking than you are. And that's biblical. All right? That's not just my opinion. That's the word of God. Uh, there's strength in youth. Go over to First John chapter 2 and look at verses 13 and 14. 1 John chapter 2 and verses 13 and 14. It says,"I wrote unto you fathers because you have known him that is from the beginning.

I write unto you young men because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children because you've known the father. I've written unto you fathers because because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you young men because you are strong and the word of God abideth in you and you have overcome the wicked one." And so God says that there is strength in youth. Uh the strength that comes from God. Now that strength curse first of all comes to know that our sins are forgiven in in 1 John chapter 2 and and and verse number 12 uh 1 John 2:12 it says I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake and and I wonder are your sins forgiven?

Do you know the Lord? 1 John chapter 5 verse 13 he that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life. And these things are written unto you that you may know that you have eternal life. And and do you know that you have eternal life? Do you know that you've overcome the wicked one in your life? Uh do you know him as your savior? Look at 1 John chapter 2. Look at verses 3 and 4. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. And so if you as a young man or young woman know the Lord, then that the Bible says that you're going to be one that is going to overcome the wicked one.

That you can be strong and you can o you can keep his commandments. And so many times in our youth, we struggle with sin. And God wants us to have victory. And the strength to overcome sin. Again, in verse 14, he says, "You are strong, and the word of God abideth in you." And the strength to overcome sin comes from the word of God. In Psalms 119:9, it says, "Wherewith all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word." And then verse number 11, it says, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." And so if you want to be strong in the Lord as a young man or as a young woman, you need to realize that you need the word of God in your life, you need to to hide that word in your heart.

Uh see the sins of your youth will plague you for your whole life. In Psalms 25 and verse number 7, it says, "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions according thy mercy. Remember thou me for thy goodness sake, O Lord." I I've talked about this before. When the Bible talks about the sins of our youth, what it's saying is is that the things that you do when you're young are things that you have to live with your whole life. The decisions I made as a teenager, decisions I made as a young man and in my early years, uh I've lived with those for 50 and 60 years now. Um and and and and we need to realize that as a young person, the the decisions you make are decisions that you will live with for the rest of your life.

And and that's what the Bible means by the sins of thy youth because we struggle with them. Uh when you start something as a young person, you struggle with a habit all your life. When you sin as a young person, you struggle with the guilt and the consequences of that your whole life. And so you want to realize that you're you're strong now. And now is the time to establish good habits in your youth. In second Timothy chapter 3, the Bible talks about from a child thou was known the holy scriptures which will make thee wise. And it goes on to say that you can be strong in the Lord because of that in in 1 Timothy chapter 4 where we looked at the other week in in verses 12- 16.

It says, "Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith and purity till I come. Give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy with laying on the hands of the presbyter. But meditate upon these things. Give thyself holy to them that thy prophecy may appear to all. I I want to challenge you. This is the time in your youth. And all of you in this room pretty much are younger than I am. So I can call you a young person. And this is the time to establish good habits.

This is the time to to build those habits in your life. Uh devotions don't get easier when you get older. I if you don't establish the habit of having devotions now, it's not going to get easier as you get older. Having a prayer life is not going to get easier as you get older. Having good habits doesn't get easier as you get older. They get harder. Uh the old adage, you can't teach an old dog dog new tricks is true. And it's hard to establish these habits later in life. And and so now is the time in the strength of your youth is to establish good habits. And now is the time to realize that the things that you do that are wrong, the sins of your youth, the things that you're going to have to live with for the rest of your life.

Some of us, you know, struggle with habits we started as teenagers. We struggle with habits we started as a young adult and and they still we still struggle with those today. And you need to realize that now is your strength to establish the right kind of habits in your life. Now is when you're strong in the Lord. In Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, it says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might." You know, it's not about the how strong you are as a young person. We sometimes we depend on our own strength, but it's finding our strength in God. It's finding our strength in the Lord.

In Proverbs 20 29, the glory of young men is their strength. And and that's where God wants you to learn to be strong in him. And so establish those habits now in your life. Don't wait until you're older. Don't wait until later in life because it does not get easier. It just gets harder. And so now is the time to establish the right kind of habits your life. So the Bible says the young are strong but the old men uh there there's a beauty in the a in in the in the gray hair. Uh in Proverbs 16:31 it says the hory head or the gray head is a crown of glory and is be found the way of righteousness. And and so what God says when we get older these gray heads hairs we've earned them.

And and there's a beauty in that. Um it you know I'm not as young as I used to be and I'm realizing that more and more. In John 21:18, it says, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou was young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest where thou wouldest, but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch th forth thine hands, and another shall guard thee and carry thee whether thou wouldest not." You know, as you get older, you're going to be able to do less and less. We always think that later in life, I'll have more time. Later in life, I'll have more money. Later in life, I'll have more strength.

Uh but it doesn't work that way. I remember back when I was in college, I thought, man, when I get out of college, I'll have more time to serve the Lord. And then I got out of college and I found out I had less time. And and I always think I'm going to have more time tomorrow. I'm going to have more time later. I'm have more strength later. And and that doesn't happen. If you don't do it now, it's not going to just magically happen later on. And and God wants to remind us as we get older, it's going to get harder and harder to do things because we're not going to be as strong as we used to be. And that's why we need to do those things now.

Don't end your years wishing. Don't get to my age and look back and boy, I wish I had done this differently. I I wish I hadn't done that. I wish I had done that. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12 and verse one, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. Too many of us when we get older, we look back in our life and say, "Boy, I wish I'd spent more time in in establishing a good marriage when we first got married. I wish I'd spent more time in learning the word of God. I wish I spent more time with my children.

I wish I spent more of this or that." Uh, it's too late at that point. You got to realize that now is the time to establish the things that you want to look back on in the future. And you've got to make sure you don't end your life wishing that you had done things differently. I It's time for you to grow up. And when at a time that we we should be um go to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5 and look at verses 11 through4. I was going to quote it and my mind just went blank on that. So Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 11. Of whom we may have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing you're dull of hearing.

For when there's a time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles, the oracles of God, and become such as the new milk, and not a strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for obeyed. But strong meat belong to them that are full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised in both good and evil. We met, we had a the deacons over for dinner last night and I was telling them, you know, that I'm realizing more and more I'm getting older and it's harder to keep up with everything in the ministry.

And I realize there's going to come a point in time where I'm not able to do that. But I also look at my my ministry right now and I say, you know what, I'm not ready to quit because I've still got something I want to teach you. And and what I want to teach you, what I want you to understand is this is listen, now is the time to learn these things. And and my job at this point in my life is to tell you this is what I I did right. This is what I did wrong. And this is what I wish I would have done differently. And and I don't want you to come to the end of your life and say, "Boy, I wish it would have been different.

I I wish I wouldn't have done this. I wish I would have done that." Uh now is the time to establish those things. And and don't end your years wishing, but grow up now and make the right decisions now in your life. Go over to Job chapter 12. Job chapter 12 and look at verses 12 through13. Job chapter 12 and verses 12 through13 says with the ancient is wisdom and the length of days understanding. With him is wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding. As I said, every gray hair is earned or every non-existing hair is is earned as well. Uh there's somebody that caused that gray hair. There's somebody that caused me to pull that hair out.

Uh there's a price to pay as you grow older. But one of the things that that we should be learning as we grow older is wisdom. It'll turn over to Psalms chapter 71. Psalms chapter 71. Psalms chapter 71 and verse number 18. Now also when I'm old and gay-headed, oh God, forsake me not until I've showed thy strength unto this generation and thy powers to everyone that is to come. You see, some of you in this room, you may not be old, but you're not young anymore. Uh you may not be my age yet, but you're getting up there in years. And and God says, "Listen, one of your jobs in life right now is to teach wisdom to the next generation, to help them to learn from what you've experienced in life, to help them to learn from God has taught you."

And and some of you have done the right things. And and we need we the young people in this room need to learn from you what you did right in your in your years as a teenager, what you did right as in your years as a young adult, what you did right in in deciding to get married, what you did right as a young married couple, what you did right as a young parent. Uh they need to hear those things from you, but they also need to hear from you. This is what I did wrong because we've made mistakes. I know I've made mistakes. And one of the things that I try in my preaching and my counsel is to share those mistakes with others because I I don't want you to make the mistakes, same mistakes that I made.

I I want you to make the right decisions. I want you to do the right things so that you can have uh good memories when you get to be my age and you can look back and say, "I I did what was right." But our job as those that are older in the church, our job is to teach that next generation to help them to learn the wisdom, the skills of life, uh that that you only learn through experience. There's some things that can't be taught through a book, but they can be experienced, and we can share those experiences with others as well. Look over at Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4 and look at verses 5-7.

Proverbs chapter 4 and verses 5-7. Proverbs chapter 4 and verse number five. It says, "Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline thy words from my of my mouth. Forsake her not and she shall preserve thee. Love her and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing. Get wisdom and with all thy getting understanding." Some of you have been here when I've taught on the pyramid of learning. And and the base of that pyramid is knowledge. And and as you remember from school, the the wider the base, the higher the pyramid can go. And the more knowledge we learn in life, it it creates the ability for us to grow higher in our walk with the Lord.

And then the next level after knowledge is the level, excuse me, the level of wisdom. And and wisdom is the skill to use the knowledge that we have. It it's, you know, you can know how something works, but know not not know how to work on it. And skill comes from practice. It comes from use. Uh the more you use it, the more skillful you become. The more you work on your computer, the better you become at it. Uh you can only read so much. You got to get your hands on the keyboard. The more you work on the engine, you be better become at it. You you can learn so much in the classroom, but you got to get your hands dirty.

And and it comes from the wisdom of skill. And then from the next level after that is the wisdom, excuse me, of of instruction. instruction is the discipline to do the things that we know we're supposed to do. And that's where many of us fall short is we fall short in that discipline to actually do what we know we should be doing. And then the final level, the peak of the pyramid is understanding. And understanding is when we've got that level when we can take what we've learned in one area and we can apply it to something brand new and different that we never uh experienced before. And and this is what we want to learn is we want to get it.

He says, "Listen, get wisdom, but in all thy getting, get understanding." And that wisdom takes you to that next level up and and learning in your life. And um and so we want to grow in our wisdom. And it's not a guarantee. It doesn't automatically happen just because you get older. In Daniel uh in Job chapter, I'm sorry, Job chapter 32 and verse number eight. Job chapter 32 and verse number eight it says but there's a spirit in man and the inspiration almighty giveth them understanding and and and so we want to get that understanding but look at verses six and seven and Elleu the son of uh Barack the buzzite answered and said I am young and you are very old wherefore I was afraid and dur not show you my opinion and said they should speak in multitude years to teach wisdom just getting old doesn't necessarily make you wise.

Now, I tell you, there's certain things you will not learn without experience. Uh if you want to grow up, I tell teenagers all the time, there's there's uh one of the things that necessary is is time. Uh you can have a lot of knowledge, but you need the time and experience that comes with that knowledge as well. But just because you're older doesn't make you wiser. It's something you've got to make the choice to. And by the way, just because you're younger doesn't make you stupid. in Daniel chapter 1 and verse 17. As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill and all learning and wisdom.

And Daniel had understanding all visions and dreams. And so even though you're a young person, you could have the wisdom of God, but you learn that wisdom from those that have been there. You learn that wisdom from the knowledge of God's word. And so we want to have wisdom. And and that wisdom leads to grace, the grace of God in second Peter 3:18. to grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. You want to grow in that grace. And in second Peter chapter 1, he started talking about grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, he started with grace and he ended with grace. And that's what we need in our lives. We're saved by grace through faith and not of yourselves. It's a gift of God. But that grace also is not only for salvation but is for abiding. In Colossians chapter 2 6 and 7, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith, as you've been taught, abounding there and with thanksgiving. We want to walk in that same grace that God began in our lives through salvation. And that grace abiding in him in John chapter 15 is what allows us to continue to grow in the Lord.

His grace and knowledge in Acts 20:32, "And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you inheritance among all them which are sanctified." And and so we go back to second Timothy chapter 5. It says, "Rebuke not an elder." Uh, you know, a lot of times young people think they know better than the generation before. Now, listen, our generation's made a lot of mistakes. And our generation is not perfect. And and and we hope that the goal is that the next generation will stand on our shoulders and build on the knowledge that we've learned.

And and I hope that you young people realize that God wants you to learn from the previous generation, learn from what we did right, learn from what we did wrong as well and and grow and become better in that way and and to learn from those that are elder and uh and to treat one another with respect in that way. You see, we grow the more most in the Lord when we're young. In 1 Peter chapter 2:es 2 and 3, it says, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. If so be you have tasted, the Lord is gracious." And we we grow the most when we're young. You know, those of you in the Navy, when you go out to sea for 6 months and you come back home and your family's waiting for you there in the dock and you get off that that ship and you come down and you greet your family, what's one of the first things you say to your children?

You you probably say something like this. Wow, you've really grown right now. Can I make a recommendation to you? Don't say that same thing to your wife unless she's pregnant. Okay? Uh you wouldn't go after your wife. Wow, you've really grown. You know, that's not a good thing to say because they where where do they really grow? They really grow when they're little. They they grow when they're young. And this is the time for you to grow in your Christian life is when you're young in age, when you're young in the Lord. And and God wants us to grow in in our walk with the Lord, to grow in understanding.

And 1 Corinthians 14:20, brethren, be not children understanding, how be it malice, be children, but understanding be men. And God wants us to grow in our understanding of the word of God. And we should never stop growing. I don't care if you're 7 or 17 or 27 or 70. Uh we still need to continue to grow in the Lord. In Psalms 92:12, the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon and and a tree continues growing all of his life. And we need to continue growing in the Lord and growing in the spirit of God and to grow in love one towards another. Philippians 1:9.

And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all judgment. And that's really what Paul is saying to Timothy. He said, "Listen, in our relationship in the church, let's respect one another. Young people, respect your elders. Respect them and the knowledge that that they've learned over life, even the things they've done wrong." And and we need to also as elders respect those that are young and say, "Listen, I want to share with you. I want to be transparent and open with you because I want to help you not make the same mistakes I made. I want you to help you make the right decisions in life and and and to respect one another in the Lord as well.

In 1 Peter chapter 5 and verses 5 and six, it says, "Likewise, you younger submit yourselves onto the elder. Yeah, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud and give a grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. And the challenge that Paul has given to Timothy for him and for the church of that day is listen, show respect. Show respect. You know, one of the things I love about our church on the side of the military is we have a a mixture of enlisted and officers. We have everything from E1 up to a four-star general.

And and I and I I appreciate brother Snyder is most people don't even know that his rank because he doesn't carry it in church. But yet he carries that respect. He carries that that that love of God and and we can respect one another in in that same way to show our respect for each other and to show the caring for one another and to help one another to grow in the Lord. I learn a lot from the young people of this church. I have been blessed uh by them in so many ways and even at my age I can learn and grow and yet I hope also I can teach you something as well and God has provided for you a family to help you to grow in the Lord as Well,