OLD and SATISFIED - NYOBS 54.07

OLD and Satisfied

Get started early before the Silver Cord is broken

Gray Hair

·         For the man that is righteous, God says that his Gray Hair is a Crown of Glory.

·         God cares about people who are up in age. - He made us and will support us, carry us and deliver us.  It’s a promise. -  It’s in the Book -

·         Man’s average life span is about 70 years, but if we want, we can live 10 more years, and still even more years by observing His statutes. -  His desire is that we have life and have it more abundantly and that it will be long enough to SATISFY us. 

Isaiah 46:4 – God will carry the aged and deliver them
⁴ even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

(ESV)

Proverbs 16:31 - Gray hair is a crown of glory
³¹ Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.

(ESV)

Psalm 90:10 – Live 70 or 80 years – even more
¹⁰ The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. (ESV)

John 10:10 – God’s will is for us to have life MORE abundantly

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. KJV

Psalm 91:16 – We will be satisfied with a long life
¹⁶ With long life I will SATISFY him and show him my salvation.

(ESV)

Length of Days

·         How can we live a long life? NYOBS 06.14 - DEATH

·         By asking God for our life to be lengthened. 

·         By keeping Gods laws and Concepts. 

·         By respecting God and honoring Him.

·         By asking God for the Understanding of Spiritual things. 

·         By helping, respecting and speaking well of our parents. 

·         By guarding our tongue that we not speak evil.   

·         By showing love - It doesn’t matter how old your life gets to be, if you have not shown love or goodness, you could be destined for another place and not even know it. 

Proverbs 10:27 – Respecting & Honoring God adds life
²⁷ The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. (ESV)

1 Kings 3:14 – Keeping Gods Laws lengthens your life
¹⁴ And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” (ESV)

Proverbs 3:1-2 - Ask Understanding of Laws; lengthens your life
¹ My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,
² for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. (ESV)

Exodus 20:12 – Honor your parents – Lengthen your life
¹² Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (ESV)

Psalm 21:4 - We can ask for our life to be lengthened
⁴ He asked life of you; you gave it to him, length of days forever and ever. (ESV)

Psalm 34:12-13 – Guarding your tongue adds many days
¹² What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?
¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

(ESV)

1 Peter 3:10-11 – Keep your tongue from evil & deceit; Adds life
¹⁰  For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;
¹¹  let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. (ESV)

Ecclesiastes 6:3 – Long life without love – destined for hell
³ If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s good things, and he also has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he. (ESV)

Luke 16:22-24 - Two different places at death

22 "The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried.

23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

24 So he called to him, `Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' NIV

What does Old look like?

·         Old should mean sensible, serious minded, reasonable, grounded in faith, loving and patient, Holy behavior, uplifting in speech, teaching good things, reverent in behavior, not slanderers and not given to much wine.

·         God adds wisdom and knowledge to us as we grow old and the youth look to us for guidance.  Age does not necessarily mean wise or good understanding; it’s directly proportional to the Spirit that we put inside us through the reading of God’s Word.  Therefore start putting God’s Word in your heart while you are still young. 

Titus 2:2-3 – Sober Minded – Dignified – Self-Control – Steadfast
² Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in LOVE, and in steadfastness.
³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, (ESV)

Job 12:12 - God adds wisdom and understanding as we age
¹² Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. (ESV)

Job 32:7-8 – It’s the spirit of man that gives him understanding
⁷  I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’
⁸  But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. (ESV)

Our Place in His Plan

·         Old age is a wonderful time that we can shine forth like we’ve never shown before.  We can still bear fruit in our old age, not necessarily children, but good works.

·         Old does not have to mean sick or feeble. 

·         When we are old God wants us to still be found in Church with the young folks and children praising His name.  It’s in the book.

·         Old folks should be a witness to the youth to show God’s strength and power. 

·         When we go home to the Father, it will be at a full ripe age at the peak of our season.

Job 11:17 – Old Age – A time to let our life show fourth light
¹⁷  And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. (ESV)

Psalm 92:14 – You can bear fruit; good works in your old age
¹⁴ They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, (ESV)

Psalm 148:12-13 – The Old are found in Church praising God
¹² Young men and maidens together, old men and children!
¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. (ESV)

Psalm 71:18 – We are a witness to the youth of God’s power
¹⁸ So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. (ESV)

Job 5:26 – When we die it will be at a full ripe old age
²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season. (ESV)

Deuteronomy 34:7 – Old age can be full of health
⁷ Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. (ESV)

Hebrews 10:24-25 – Don’t neglect the fellowship of church
²⁴  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
²⁵  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (ESV)

The Silver Cord

·         You should remember God during your youth before the days of evil, before your sight is dimmed and you shake when you move and your hearing is diminished; before fear of the terror and meanness of the streets.

·         Before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. – Put God in your Spirit in your Youth –

·         When the Silver Cord is broken, and our Spirit returns to the One who made it, we will have completed the thing which we were created to do. – We will be absent from our body and present with our Lord. - SELAH

Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 – Remember God while you are still young.
¹  Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
²  before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,
³  in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed,
⁴  and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—
⁵  they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—
⁶  before THE SILVER CORD is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern,
⁷  and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

(ESV)

Isa 55:11 – Our assignment will be completed at homecoming

11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

KJV

2 Corinthians 5:8 – Absent from the body – Present with the Lord
⁸ We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. (NKJV)

OLD – SATISFIED - COMPLETED

In the multitude of counselors,

there is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

I am grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical information, and scripture verses.  Because of them I can stand on their shoulders and see further that I otherwise ever could have.

                                                                                                                                     

Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenney-White

English Standard Version Bible – ESV

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Frank E. Gaebelein

King James Version Bible - KJV

New International Version Bible - NIV

Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee

CHASTISEMENT - NYOBS 54.02

CHASTISEMENT

First Word

Sometimes we find ourselves in deep water when we as Christians do no obey

the instructions of God.  Sometimes God has to get our attention through chastisement and discipline, but He still provides a way through it all.  - NYOBS 03.02 – JONAH & THE WHALE

It is God that chastens us.  Chastisement comes that we will not be condemned with the rest of the world, but that we will be partakers of His Holiness.

Deuteronomy 8:5 – It is the LORD your God that disciplines you
⁵ Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.

(ESV)

1 Corinthians 11:32 – Disciplined so we may not be condemned
³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

(ESV)

Hebrews 12:10 – Disciplined so that we may share in His Holiness
¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. (ESV)

Jonah 2:1-10 – With Discipline God provides a way through it
¹ Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish,
² saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.
³ For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.
⁴ Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
⁵ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head
⁶ at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.
⁷ When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.
⁸ Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.
⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!”
¹⁰ And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

(ESV)

What Chastisement looks like

·         Through Chastisement and Discipline God has sent insects and rodents, and even has stooped the rain. 

·         At times He has added grief to man’s sorrows and sometimes He has shorten his life span.

·         Chastisement can be the loss of your mind; you could go crazy. - He has caused skin diseases to come upon people.

·         It can come in the form of sickness that puts you in the bed and strong pain clear down to your bones. – I have often wondered if arthritis is a form of chastisement; if so I need to get right with God now.

2 Chronicles 7:13 – He may send locust and pestilence to devour
¹³ When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, (NKJV)

1 Kings 8:35 – He may hold back the rain
³⁵ When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, (NKJV)

Jeremiah 45:3 – He may add grief to your Sorrows
³ You said, "Woe is me now! For the LORD has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest." '(NKJV)

Psalm 102:23 – He may make you weak and shorten your life
²³ He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days. (NKJV)

Daniel 4:25 – He may take away your sanity – Drive you Crazy
²⁵ They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses.

(NKJV)

2 Kings 15:4-5 – He may strike you with a disease
⁴ except that the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
⁵ Then the LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper until the day of his death; so he dwelt in an isolated house.  (NKJV)

Job 33:19 – He may afflict you with pain in your bones
¹⁹ Man is also chastened with pain on his bed, And with strong pain in many of his bones, (NKJV)

\
Satan

·         God will allow Satan to buffet us so that we might be ever conscious of God’s power working through us and not some power of our own.  This, however, is only an annoyance or a pain in the neck and will not stop or hinder His work. 

2 Corinthians 12:7 – Satan allowed to buffet men
⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure... (NKJV)

Some Reasons for Chastening

·         Chastening or pruning can come so that as Christians we produce more fruit.

·         Chastening can come because of Sin in our life.  - If we are glad of someone else’s calamity, God will chasten us for that too. 

·         When the chastisement is over and you still walk contrary to God’s statues, prepare yourself to be punished again seven times over for those sins. -  It is possible for years of trouble to be inflicted on us if we do not listen to God’s Voice.

·         We are called to repent and turn from our sin and pray to God, then He will hear our prayer and heal our wounds.

John 15:2 - Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes
² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (ESV)

Lamentations 1:5 – God Disciplined Jerusalem for her many sins
⁵ Her oppressors have become her masters, and her enemies prosper, for the LORD has punished Jerusalem for her many sins. Her children have been captured and taken away to distant lands. (NLT)

Proverbs 17:5 – Don’t gloat over someone else’s misfortune
⁵ Whoever mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

(NIV2011)

Leviticus 26:23-24 - I will punish you seven times for your sins
²³ And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me,
²⁴  then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

(NKJV)

Psalm 78:33 – Discipline can continue for years – Repent now
³³ Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear. (NKJV)

2 Chronicles 7:14 – Humble, Seek, Turn - God will hear; forgive
¹⁴  If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (ESV)

Only Sons are disciplined

·         God even removed Himself from His only begotten Son that His greater plan might be perfected. 

·         If you have not been on the receiving end of chastisement, then you ae not a child of God.  

·         Do not hate the chastening and corrections of God for He loves you as a Father loves His own child. 

·         Be happy when God corrects you because a man that God chastens is blessed. 

·         Even though we love the Lord and are bearing good fruit, God may still prune our branches so that we bring forth even better fruit. 

Mark 15:34 – God stepped away from His own Son
³⁴ And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (ESV)

Hebrews 12:8 – If you are not disciplined then you’re not a Son
⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (ESV)

Proverbs 3:11 - Do not despise or resent the LORD’s discipline
¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, (NIV2011)

Hebrews 12:6 - The Lord disciplines the ones He loves
⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (ESV)

Job 5:17 - Blessed is the one whom God reproves
¹⁷ Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. (ESV)

Psalm 94:12 - Blessed is the man whom God disciplines
¹² Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, (ESV)

Revelation 3:19 - Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline
¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. (ESV)

John 15:1-2 – Pruned that you may bear more fruit
¹ I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (ESV)

Pray

·         Pray that you fall into the hands of God rather than into the hands of man, because God is merciful.

·         We are to pray that God will not chasten us when He is in Hot displeasure or wrath.   

·         Pray a prayer of repentance; pray that you don’t get what you deserve.

Psalm 38:1 – Pray – Not to be rebuked in His Hot Anger
¹ O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath! (ESV)

2 Samuel 24:14 – Pray – To fall into the Hand of God – Not man
¹⁴ Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” (ESV)

1 Kings 8:48-51 – Repent – Pray – God will hear and forgive
⁴⁸ if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name,
⁴⁹ then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause
⁵⁰  and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you, and grant them compassion in the sight of those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
⁵¹  (for they are your people, and your heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace). (ESV)

Results of Chastisement

·         Even though God wounds us, He will make us whole again.  When chastening comes we learn righteousness.  Our endurance bring praise, honor and glory to the name of Jesus Christ.

·         The trial or testing of our faith is more precious than gold.  When the chastening is over we will come forth as gold come from the furnace. - Chastisement brings forth ENDURANCE, endurance brings forth CHARACTER, and character brings forth HOPE.

1 Peter 1:6 – Your various trials are just for a little while
⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, (NKJV)
Job 5:18 – Although God bruises; He binds up Heals the wounds
¹⁸ For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds, but His hands make whole. (NKJV)

Job 23:10 – Chastisement brings forth a character of Gold
¹⁰ But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. (NKJV)  

Isaiah 26:9 – Chastisement brings forth righteousness
⁹ With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. (NKJV)

Romans 5:2-4 – Chastisement - Endurance – Character - Hope
² Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
³ Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and
⁴ endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (ESV)

1 Peter 1:7 – Brings Praise, Honor and Glory to Jesus Christ
⁷  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, (NKJV)

In the multitude of counselors,

there is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

I am grateful to those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical information, and scripture verses.  Because of them I can stand on their shoulders and see further that I otherwise ever could have.

                                                                                                                                     

Bible Almanac; The – Packer-Tenney-White

English Standard Version Bible – ESV

Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Frank E. Gaebelein

King James Version Bible - KJV

New International Version Bible - NIV

Thru the Bible – J. Vernon McGee