The Trees in God’s Courts

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Those that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the
courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they
shall be fat and flourishing; to show that the Lord is upright; He is
my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." Psalm 92:13-15.

THESE verses occur at the close of a Psalm for the Sabbath over which
there rests a Sabbatic glory of perfect calm, of hallowed peace. Amidst
the business and bustle of daily life the great trouble of the Psalmist
was the prosperity of the wicked, but it does not trouble him at all
when he enters the sanctuary to keep the holy day. He then looks upon
the ungodly who prosper in the world as so much flowering grass in
their beauty and he beholds them cut down and utterly destroyed. And it
is meet that a Psalm for the Sabbath should be calm and peaceful,
cloudless and far-seeing. If on any day we see things in their right
light and our views extend farther than at other times, surely it
should be on the day of sacred rest.

I know a friend who wished to take a house in Newcastle. It stood on an
elevated position and the landlord, who wished to have him for a
tenant, took him to the attic of the house and said, "What a view there
is from this window! Do you know," he asked, "that on Sundays you can
see Durham Cathedral?" "On Sundays!" said my friend, with a look of
surprise, "And why not on other days?" "Well," said the landlord, "on
Sundays there is less smoke and so you can see farther." And, as it is
in the natural world, so it should always be in the spiritual–less of
the smoke of this world–less of the dust and the care of life and,
therefore, a clearer vision of the things which are beyond–things
which God reveals to spiritual eyes! Read and sing this Psalm often and
may your heart constantly be in that sweet restful state.

David, having here put aside this trouble which he so often brings up
in the Psalms–the frequent prosperity of the wicked as they exult in
power and spread themselves like a green bay tree, while the righteous
are plagued all the day long and chastened every morning–after putting
that aside, he dwells upon the delightful condition of the man of God
and he describes him as a tree that is planted in the courts of God's
house, growing, flourishing and bearing fruit even in old age. It is of
such we are now going to speak and we shall call your attention to the
planting of the trees, the promise that they shall flourish, the
continued fertility they exhibit and the conclusive proof they show of
God's faithfulness. "Those that are planted in the house of the Lord
shall flourish in the courts of our God."

I. THE PLANTING. It sounds odd to you to hear of planting a tree in a
house and of its flourishing in courts, but you will please remember
that an Oriental house is a sort of quadrangle. It is a four-square
building with the middle open to the sky and generally there is a small
garden in which a palm tree, or an olive, or some other evergreen tree
(for they generally prefer that sort) will be found planted. So what
seems strange to us–a tree planted in a house–was not at all strange
to David or to anybody else who lived in the city of Jerusalem. And it
is a very beautiful figure–this being planted within the four courts
of God's house that we might grow right in the middle of the place
where God, with His family, deigns to dwell.

What, then, is it to be planted? Well, we are planted in God's house in
two respects. First, in regeneration, when we are born into the house
and, secondly, at our profession of faith, which should be by Baptism,
when we are publicly brought into the house and planted in the likeness
of Christ's death by being buried, after His commandment, in the water.
We are really planted in the courts of the Lord's house by the new
birth. Then we become the children of God, for "as many as received Him
(that is to say, Him who is the Divine Word, the true Light, the
Savior), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Every man, the world over, who has been born of the Holy Spirit, is
really planted in the Lord's house. But we become manifestly and
visibly so on confessing to the world this inward and spiritual Grace,
for the Lord has thus put it, you know, "He that with His heart
believes, and with His mouth makes confession, shall be saved," so that
when I come to join God's people and ask to be admitted to their
fellowship–when I come to the Lord's Table with them and publicly
acknowledge myself to be one of the Master's servants–then I, am in a
public manner, planted in the house of the Lord. Well, this being the
fact, let us follow the figure a little more closely.

Planting implies, first, that there has been something done for us that
that we could not do for ourselves. A tree cannot plant itself! There
are self-sown trees, but such are not spoken of in the text. It is,
"those that are planted in the house of the Lord." And you know it is
necessary that there should be a work of Grace upon our souls, which
shall come, not from ourselves, but distinctly from God, for, "every
plant which My heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up." It
cannot plant itself and, if it could, it must be rooted up, because it
would not be planted by the heavenly Father. There must be worked upon
us, in order to our being truly in the courts of the Lord's house, a
work of Grace infinitely beyond the power of the will or all the power
that dwells in human nature.

We must, in fact, be new-created. We must be born again! We must have
as great a work worked upon us as was worked upon the body of Christ
when He was raised from the dead! The eternal power and Godhead of the
Divine Spirit must put forth the fullness of His strength to raise you
up from your death in sin, or, otherwise you will be like sear branches
and cast off pieces of wood–and you will never be as trees planted,
made to live and to grow in the courts of the Lord's house. There must
be something done for us if we are planted. That implies, too, that
there must be a great change in our position, for a tree that is
planted has been growing somewhere else.

It has to reach a certain height in the nurseryman's garden, if we are
speaking of England, and then it is planted where it is meant to be
permanently fixed. So must it have been in the East. The tree grew
somewhere else. After a time it was dug up, its roots were loosened and
it was taken away from the place where it had been accustomed to stand.
Many a tender rootlet was made to bleed and it was then carried and put
in another place altogether and, from being outside the court, it came
to be inside the court of the house of the Lord. So, Brothers and
Sisters, if we are to answer the condition described in the text, we
must have been dug up and transplanted. This is to have undergone a
great and wonderful change.

Are we conscious of it? Do we know ourselves to be new creatures in
Christ Jesus? If you are what you always were, you are what I pray you
may not always be! But if you are new, changed, transformed, or, to
come back to the text, transplanted, then I trust you may continue to
thrive according to the promise, "They that are planted in the house of
the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." Ah me, that
transplanting business is often very painful and, while it is being
undergone, we almost think that we are going to be destroyed! What
anxiety it causes, for how is the plant to know why it is being taken
up by the roots?

Perhaps it fancies–or rather, if it had any intellect it would fancy
that it was taken up to be destroyed–just as when the Law put a big
spade down to our roots and began to loosen all our soil about us, we
thought, "Now we are going to be cut down." But we were not–we were
going to be transplanted from the field of Nature into the garden of
Grace! Blessed be God, we know what this means! Planting means not only
that something has been done for us that we could not do for ourselves
and that a great change has taken place in our position, but it implies
that there is life in us!

I suppose that if we speak of planting a post or planting a pillar, we
hardly use correct language. We plant a thing that has life in it and
we do not consider that a thing has been planted unless it is a living
thing. Most certainly the promise of the text could not be fulfilled to
any but a living tree, for it is said–"They that are planted shall
flourish and they shall bring forth fruit." God does not intend to have
dead stumps standing in His court–

"That little garden walled around, Chosen and made peculiar ground,
That little spot enclosed by Grace Out of the world's wild wilderness/'
is not intended to be occupied by dead trees! If there is such in it He
will come and say, "Cut it down! Why does it cumber the ground?" It is
a living tree that He desires to have there.

Beloved, are you conscious of an inner life? Does there beat within you
another pulse–the pulse of strong desire and love to God–besides that
which betokens natural life? Is there within you the heaving of another
breath than that which

keeps body and soul together? Is there the breath of prayer that keeps
the soul and God together and so keeps the man in spiritual life? Are
you quickened? Have you had breathed into your nostrils the breath of
the Life of God? Is there within you the incorruptible Seed which lives
and abides forever? God's people are a living people and if we do not
know the life of God we do not know God at all! There must be a life in
us. And then, to complete the figure, it seems to me that the fact of
our being planted implies that we, ourselves, have taken hold of the
soil where we have been placed. A tree that is rightly planted, so as
to flourish, begins to send out its roots–to drink in moisture–to
select from the earth around it those portions which are fit food for
vegetable life.

Now, Beloved, are you so incorporated with the Church of God that you
have got a grip of the fellowship of the saints, that you have
effectually laid hold of the citizenship of our Lord's faithful
disciples? Are you seeking for vital Truths of God to sustain your
soul's vitality? Do you, in the ordinances, send out the rootlets of
your desire to seek after what God has prepared for you? Is there
flowing in you a living sap, which sap is being fed by what you draw in
from the soil in which God has placed you? Surely you know what this
means! Sundays are often feeding times to you and your visits to the
Lord in prayer are building-up times to your spirit!

And when you search the Word of God in private and when the Holy Spirit
communes with you in your quiet retirement–yes, and when, even in the
midst of business, your soul breathes her swift utterances up to
Heaven–then are the roots of your soul taking hold of Christ and
drawing out of Him the vital element which you need! You are of the
right kind if this is the case–and you shall flourish in the courts of
our God! You see, then, the figure, and what is meant by this planting
in the house of the Lord.

II. Now, secondly, LET US ENDEAVOR TO GRASP THE PROMISE. "Those that
are planted shall flourish." "Flourish" they well may. Let us be sure
of their welfare. They shall flourish because God has said that they
shall! His promises are sure to be fulfilled. If He plants a tree, He
will cause it to flourish. There seems to be very much against the
Christian. He is exposed to many perils when he is first planted.
Indeed, in the early childhood of Christian life, we undergo a world of
trial. Such was our weakness and such our exposure to the bleak
atmosphere of this present evil world–the chances were all against us.

But there is no chance with God! What He plants is sure to take root.
If He says it shall flourish, flourish it will! Satan may seek to tear
it up. The foxes may try to spoil the vines. There may be chilling
winds. There may be long droughts. The sun may seek to smite it by day
and the moon by night, but God has promised that it shall flourish and
flourish it must! Therefore I invite you, young Christians, to be very
hopeful. See to it that you are rightly planted and then you may depend
upon it that you will really flourish! God, who has been pleased to
give you Divine Grace, will bestow on you more Grace and then more
Grace–Grace upon Grace–Grace for every crisis and every emergency!

As your needs arise, those needs shall be supplied. Just as you require
spiritual health, spiritual health shall be vouchsafed to you if you
seek it at His hands, knowing that it is at His disposal. You shall not
be a half-starved Christian–a sort of living skeleton of a Believer,
but you shall flourish! You shall be peaceful, happy, strong, useful.
Set your heart upon this and ask the Lord to make you thrive, bloom and
bear fruit. Your leaf shall not wither and He will cause you to prosper
if you are planted in the courts of the Lord.

Some of you, perhaps, are Christian men who have received the Word with
gladness and believed to the saving of your souls and, so far, you
appear to be in the courts of God's house. But you have never joined
the Church, or made a profession of your faith, which, though it may be
very sincere, is not very apparent! As, however, you have not gone in
for the whole of the planting, you cannot reasonably expect to realize
the whole of the flourishing! I like to know that I have given myself
wholly up to the Lord according to His commands–not having merely
embraced one part of the Gospel, but the whole of it. When one has
sought to obey it in its entirety, then he may come and expect to have
the promise in its entireness, too. If you are altogether Christians,
planted in His house–not merely in His garden, but in His house–then
you shall flourish, for you have the promise that you shall!

And flourish you well may, because of the goodness of the soil. They
are quite sure to have good soil in the little garden enclosed by the
house. It may be rocky outside, but when a man has built the four walls
of his house in the East, he generally takes all the soil that is in
the middle away. It may be very bad and poor, but then he has brought
in baskets of the richest soil that he can possibly get, for he must
have a good tree in the middle of his house. It would not do every

moment of the day to look out, or rather to look in and to see a little
scrubby tree, half alive. No, he procures the best soil he can get and
those that are planted in the house of the Lord are planted in the best
soil possible!

They are planted where the means of Grace abound! They are planted
where Christians help one another with mutual fellowship. They are
planted where the ordinances of the Gospel are freely enjoyed by all
who dwell there. They are planted where the Holy Spirit has promised to
abide. They are planted where the Word of God does not return void.
They are planted where the eyes and the heart of Christ perpetually
rest. They are planted in His Church–the Church that He has redeemed
with His most precious blood! The soil is good and they ought to
flourish–and they shall.

And then they are planted in a sheltered position. You know that trees,
even if they have good soil, are sometimes a great deal kept back by
having a cold northerly aspect. They may be very much bitten by the
frost. But a tree that is planted right in the middle of the forecourt,
surrounded by the walls, is sheltered. There is the natural warmth of
the house round about it and it is sheltered from that which other
trees out in the vineyard, or out in the garden, may have to endure.
Oh, how sheltered some of us have been from our first profession of
faith! I know that I can speak to some here who began Christian life in
a class in the Sunday school where a loving teacher looked after their
spiritual interests.

There are others of you that began your Christian life in the midst of
a warm-hearted, earnest Church. You were no sooner seen as a member
than two or three friends took hold of you and they did all they could
to encourage you, guide you and sympathize with you. Whenever they may
have observed a little lukewarmness or backsliding in your manner, they
have looked after you as a mother anxious for her child–so tenderly
have you been nursed by those who watched for your souls! And you
surely cannot forget how, on Sundays, the Word of God has been a
wonderful shelter to you! When your feet had almost slipped, there has
been the very Word to hold you up.

When you felt dispirited there has been a promise to encourage you.
When you have been ready to turn back, there has been an exhortation
that has stimulated you once more to go forward–and so you have lived
inside four walls. The cold could not get at you. You scarcely had
enough of the cold of the world to do you any injury! The warm sun of
righteousness was reflected upon you–not only did it come at once upon
you by Divine favor–but it was reflected upon you with grateful
sympathy by the walls of the house of the Lord in which you had been
planted. You know it has been so! Is it any wonder, then, that you
flourish?

There is a little wonder, sometimes, that you do not flourish more and
that you do not bring forth more fruit, for what more could God do than
He has done for some of you who have been planted in the house of the
Lord? Are you not like a vineyard on a very fruitful hill which He has
hedged about and walled? And does it not seem as if He has watered you
every morning, and, lest any should hurt you, has kept you night and
day? How sour the grapes and how few the clusters fit for the Great
Vinedresser to gather, no one knows better than yourselves. Yet you
ought to flourish, because you are planted in good soil and because you
are placed in a sheltered position.

Still we might assign a better reason why you should flourish. It is
because you are so near the Farmer. "My Father is the Farmer," says
Christ. They that are planted in the house of the Lord are planted in
the Farmer's house. I think I hear someone say, "I do not wonder that
such a vine flourishes, because, you see, the Great Vinedresser, who
understands all about it, has it on the wall of His own house. He sees
it every morning and, of course He pays very special attention to it."
Little do you and I know, Beloved, what special attention God has paid
to us personally and individually!

Oh, there are some of us upon whom the Lord has long looked with a
tender but jealous eye. If He has seen a little wrong about us, He has
grieved at it and felt, "I must put it away." When He has seen us
getting a little cold, He has begun at once to awaken us, for He has
loved us too well to leave us exposed to even a little spiritual
sickness. He has said sometimes, "There is My servant and he will get
proud of his service, or of his success–I must bring him down." High
looks and haughty thoughts are an abomination in His sight!

Another time He has said, "Such-and-Such is increasing in wealth. He
will get worldly-minded. I must take away some of his worldly goods
that he may take more account of his treasures laid up in Heaven and
set his heart more on Me." The Lord your God is a jealous God! Where
there is love, there is oftentimes a sensitiveness which stirs up
jealousy. The greatness of God's love makes Him very zealous for us and
very jealous of us. If He sees those whom He very much loves with the
slightest evil thing about them, He is quick to observe it and prompt
to purge it away. You know that you do not like to see a spot on your
dear child's face–you will have it washed off as soon as possible. So
will the Lord cleanse His people, both on the outside and within!

The care and the trouble He has had with us, as I have already said,
none of us can tell. We ought to bring forth fruit to the profit of the
Farmer, to the glory of God. Branches that bring forth fruit He purges.
Those that bring forth very little fruit He lets very much alone. If
there is a man that brings forth much fruit, that man will have much
trial because it will profit the Vinedresser to prune him. Some
branches will not pay for it. They will never do more than they are
doing and so there they are and thus they are left to prove their
feebleness. But those that will profit for pruning will be pruned again
and again! And truly, when the man of God is in his right mind, he will
bless the Lord for the honor He puts upon him when He afflicts him with
the view of making him still more useful.

This is evermore our Lord's design. Does He not say that they shall
never perish whom He protects and provides for, holding them in His
hands? But, as they cannot flourish if they run to wood, He will be
quite sure to use His knife to take off this new shoot and that new
shoot because it is not fruit-bearing wood. And so He takes it away and
He leaves the vine in such a condition that it will bring forth good
fruit in due time. They shall flourish and well they may, when they are
so near to the Great Farmer's hand!

Now, if any of you are not flourishing, though you are planted in the
house of the Lord, I am sure it is not through any fault on God's part.
Let such ask Him, and ask themselves, the reason why and go to Him in
prayer and say–"Good Lord, I am planted in Your house. Make me to
flourish according to Your Word."

III. Well, now, as to THE CONTINUANCE OF THIS FLOURISHING, our third
head is full of consolation. "They

shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and
flourishing." There are some that begin with a spurt and it is soon
over. And there are some trees that promise exceedingly well for fruit,
but the blossoms do not knit and, therefore, they fail to yield fruit
in due season. But those whom God plants and whom He makes to flourish,
bring forth fruit and continue to bring it forth, still, in old age!
During all their youth and all their manhood they are fruitful and then
they bring forth fruit when their years decline and their days are
numbered!

When others are in the sear and yellow leaf, their fruits are ripe and
mellow. When others are decaying, they are ripening. They are growing
sweeter, better, holier when others are not growing at all. They shall
still bring forth fruit in old age–that time when one does not expect
much fruit bearing–when the strength fails and when the capacity for
projecting seems to have gone and the power for carrying out what is
projected has become very little. "They shall still bring forth fruit
in old age." This is not merely a cheering promise, but it is a very
gratifying fact that God's people still bring forth fruit in old age!
Some of them produce very luscious fruit.

Yes, we look for the best fruit in the oldest saints. What fruit, then,
you will ask, do they bring forth? Well, there is the fruit of
testimony. I distinctly remember hearing a blind old minister talk of
the loving kindness of the Lord when I was 16 or 17–and the
encouragement that he gave me has never departed from me. A young man
could not have done that because he had not attained so much
experience. But the weight of years and even of infirmities, made that
venerable blind man's testimony very, very weighty to my soul. "They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age." Blessed be His name, I can
tell of the goodness of the Lord to me these 25 years or more since I
have known Him! But think of a man who can speak of 50 years–and there
are some children of God who can do so!

There is a member of this Church who has been a member of it for 70
years and she can tell you how good the Lord has been to her! And the
fruit is riper, you know. There is a cumulative force of evidence,
because if a thing has been true 50 years and a person has tried it in
all sorts and shapes and ways and modes and conditions and
circumstances–50 years–well, who is to contradict that? It must be so
and you feel the testimony is a blessed fruit of old age. Saints bring
forth fruit in the way of savor when they grow old. Many young
ministers can rattle out some of the Truths of the Gospel very readily,
but if you want to taste the sweetness, to feel the unction, to enjoy
the savor–you must hear one that has had long and deep experience. It
must be so!

There is an inimitable mellowness about the Christian who has grown old
in his Master's service. If you want to hear about the sea, talk to an
"old salt." If you want to hear about war, talk to an old soldier that
has been in battle and smelt gunpowder–and knows what it is to have
lost a leg. He is the man to tell you! And so, if you want to know
about the real deeps, the truth, the vitality, the power of
religion–you must not go to boys–you must go to those who bring forth
fruit in old age because they can speak out of the fullness of their
soul! We have had some in this Church–there are such now and there are
some in Heaven–who, every time we used to hear them speak, let drop
pearls and diamonds while they talked about what the Lord had done for
them!

Dear old Mr. Dransfield–how many a time he electrified us when he used
to stand on that platform and talk about the blessedness of God and the
sweetness of religion to his soul! You used to think a great deal more
of it because he was so old. I am sure you did! It was good in itself,
but still there was the age of the man at the back of it. So in that
case the age gave a power to the experience which he told us. The aged
Christian ought to have and I hope he often has, the fruit of patience.
After having suffered so long and enjoyed the mercies of God so long,
he ought to learn to be patient. I once heard a good Christian man say
that he was confessing a fault.

He said, "I am afraid that the fruit of my old age is peevishness."
"No," I said, "that is not a fruit of your old age– it is a fruit of
your old nature." But the fruit of old age, where there is Grace in old
age, should be patience. And oh, what fruit some of God's servants show
by way of patience in poverty, in sickness, in infirmities! There used
to sit here an aged woman who could not hear anything I said, but she
always came because she thought it was setting a good example to the
young people at home to attend the house of God. Whenever I used to
speak with her, there was such a charm about her conversation because,
though she was much tried, she never uttered a complaint. She could
only bless the name of the Lord for everything!

You remember Dr. Hamilton's story of poor old Betty who could not do
anything but lie in bed and cough? She said, "Well, bless the Lord,
whatever the Lord has told me to do I have tried to do it. And when He
said, 'Betty, bring up your family,' I tried to bring them up in the
fear of God. When He said, 'Betty, go to the house of God and sing My
praises,' I was delighted to do it. And when He said, 'Betty, go
upstairs and lie in bed and cough,' well I did that, too, and still do
it," she said, "and bless the name of the Lord for letting me do it so
long as there is anything to be done for Him." Now, the promise is that
if we are planted as I have described, we shall be enabled to bring
forth fruit in old age. Anything that we do with a sincere desire to
glorify God in it and anything that we bear with patience and quietness
according to the Divine will is sweet and gracious fruit. We can, by
God's Grace, bring forth that fruit in our old age.

One of the most delicious fruits that Christians produce in their old
age is calm, quiet confidence in God. John Bunyan has described this in
his, "Pilgrim's Progress," in the beautiful picture of the land,
Beulah. I shall not at all object to have a gray head and eyes like
lamps whose wasting oil is spent, weak shoulders and tottering knees if
I may get to Beulah! You know that he describes it as a land that was
just on the verge of the river and so near to the Celestial Country
that the shining ones did often cross the river. And there was a
pervading smell of sweet spices all over the land because it lay so
near to the City of the Blessed that when the wind blew that way it
wafted the spices across! And they could, in quiet places of the land,
often hear the songs of the shining ones who wandered there.

The inhabitants were at perfect rest. The land was called Beulah, for
God's delight was in her. They that dwelt in her were called
Heph-Zibah, for they were married unto the Lord and they were sitting
there, many of them, close by the brink of the river, waiting till a
message should come from the King, for the King's messengers, every now
and then, came into the country and said, "The pitcher is broken at the
cistern. Rise up, my Love, and come away." And so, one by one, the
Beulahites crossed that river! On bright sunshiny mornings they were
known to cross it singing, "O Grave, where is your victory?"

Well, it is that patient abiding, that quiet waiting, that holy
confidence, that Divine anticipation, that sweet expectation of the
coming Glory that is one of the fruits which Believers bring forth in
old age. And whenever we see it, we prize those golden apples and long
for the time when we may bear them, too. But now notice that the text
does not speak of old age merely bringing forth fruit, but it
says–"They shall be fat and flourishing," which means that Christians,
in their advanced years, shall have a fullness of savor and life in
them. I have known some Christians, both old and young, that have been
very dry sticks–certainly not fat and flourishing! They had very
little savor and very little unction, though they had very sharp teeth
to bite the young people with. They were very critical, very ready to
look harshly at them and ask them hard questions.

And, if the youngster could not spell the biggest word in the whole
Confession of Faith, they have said, "Ah, the young people nowadays are
not like what they used to be in my time." We have known some of that
sort! But when they are planted in the house of God and God makes them
to flourish, they are full of the juice of love! They are full of
Christian kindness and gentleness! They are full of life! They are full
of real vigor–not the vigor of the flesh, but the vigor of the
Spirit–and they love the Lord and delight in Him. They greatly delight
to help the young people and to encourage them in the ways of the Lord.
Oh, I like to see an old man thus fat and flourishing!

And it is added, in addition to their being fat, that they shall be
flourishing. It means that the aged Believer shall have a special
verdure. This flourishing means his profession–and how delightful is
the profession of Christianity in advanced age! I do not mean that some
people get exceedingly attached to the pastor whom they have heard for
many, many years. One old woman used to say that she liked to hear the
old minister better than anybody else. "Well, but," they said, "He is
getting very feeble." "Oh," she said, "but then I remember what he used
to be and I would sooner see him shake his head than I would hear
anybody else preach."

And I have no doubt that, though that grows to be an infirmity and
folly, there is something praiseworthy in it because you remember the
times and seasons when the Lord refreshed your soul by him and there is
a moral glory about a man as you look at him who has been, say, for 50
years, living and laboring as a public professing Christian–without a
stain upon his reputation–not a spot on his character! Why, the young
people say, "Bless God! If He has kept him, why should He not keep me?
And if the Lord has sustained him under many trials, why should He not
sustain me?" It is not what the man says–it is the man that says it
that gives force to all he says. It is what you know is behind the
voice. It is the experience of the Lord's goodness. It is the
long-continued honorable conduct which God has enabled him to maintain
and show to others, by the abounding Grace that was within him, which
preaches in accents louder than the finest voice can articulate!

Now, I pray that every young man here–and I am glad to see so many
young men–will seek to be, one day, among the old men whose profession
shall be the very strength of the Church because of this consistency! I
will not say to my elder Brothers and Sisters–because the Lord will
say it to them–that they ought to remember what manner of people they
ought to be, seeing that God has been so gracious to them these many
years.

IV. I close with my fourth point, which is THE MANIFESTATION THAT
AFFORDS CONCLUSIVE PROOF OF

THE DIVINE FAITHFULNESS. "To show that the Lord is upright." These good
folks are to bring forth fruit and to be fat and flourishing, on
purpose, to manifest before the eyes of all men, "That the Lord is
upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him." "That
the Lord is upright." Well, how does the fruit-bearing of an aged
Christian show that? Why, it shows that God has kept His promise! He
has promised that He will never leave them nor forsake them.

There you see it–He has promised that when they are weak they shall be
strong! There you see it–He has promised that if they seek Him they
shall not lack any good thing. There you see it. He has promised them,
"Your bread shall be given you. Your water shall be sure." Hear what
they have to say and you will see it! He has said, "Even to hoar hairs
I am He. I have made and I will bear, and I will carry you as in the
days of old." There you have it. Ask them! There you see it. We put,
"Q. E. D.," at the end of a proposition when it is proved. So you may
put that down at the end of the problem of life. God is good to His
people! The old man stands up and says, "Truly God is good to Israel.
If you could hear my story, young man, you would see it before your
eyes and it would show that the Lord is upright."

Nor is it only that He keeps His promises, but the Lord is kind and
generous towards His servants. I always think it a shameful, heartless
thing to turn adrift, when He gets old, a man who has been in your
service from His youth. It is one of the things that have become more
common in present than in former times, to turn out old servants. Since
you have had the pith of their life–the marrow out of their
bones–keep a roof over their heads! Grant them a pension, or at least
a pittance! Supply them with a bit of bread and cheese till they die. I
think it is only right that an old servant, a faithful servant, should
be so treated.

You know how David puts it. "O God, You have taught me from my youth,
and up to now have I declared Your wondrous works. Now, also, when I am
old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not." It is not likely that He
would, is it? Such a God as He, turn His old servants out? You remember
the Amalekite who had a master that was an Egyptian and the master left
him to perish and David found him? Ah, well, that is how the Egyptian
masters do, but that is not how our Master does! You will not leave or
desert me when my age and my infirmities multiply upon me! When these
eyes grow dim You will look upon me. When another shall guard me and
lead me where I would not, You, still, will be my Friend and Helper,
and lay Your finger on my eyelids as I close them in the hour of death.
It is a faithful God we serve, and He keeps His people alive in their
old age that they may show that He is a faithful and upright God.

Now, David added at the end, "He is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him." I want every one of my elderly friends to add
his, Amen, to this sentence and to set his seal that God is true! Come
forward as witnesses, attest the

deed while it is being executed and put your names to the record and
say, "I bear witness to that." At least I want you in the silence of
your hearts to come and say, "Yes, I can bear witness." David says, "He
is my rock." My aged Brothers and Sisters, you can say, "God is the
Rock on which my hope is founded–my Foundation–and He has never
failed me. The Rock will never shake, never move, never give way. He is
the Rock of my defense–the 'Rock of Ages cleft for me.' I have hidden
myself in Him and I have been safe. He is the Rock of my abiding. I
have dwelt in Him and lived in Him and I have found Him my castle and
my high tower. He is a Rock for immutability."

Can you say that, Brothers and Sisters? He has never changed–never! He
has been "without variableness or shadow of turning." Every good and
perfect gift have I received from Him. Bear witness to it! This is what
is needed in this age– that you should bear witness that God is a
Rock–firm, strong, faithful, immutable–the defense of His people! And
then "there is no unrighteousness in Him." I would have you bear
witness to that. You have had some sharp troubles. Have you ever had
more than you ought to have? You have had many losses. Have you really
lost anything in being a Christian? You have been brought very low.
Have you ever been altogether left and deserted? You have gone through
fire and through water, but has the fire consumed you? Has the water
drowned you?

If you have anything to say against God, you old servants of His, let
us hear it! No, but the older God's people get, the more they praise
Him! And one reason why I am sure that God must be a good God is that I
always find that all His servants want to get their children into the
same house, into the same family! A man is not badly treated by his
master when he says, "My ambition is to have my boy follow me." Oh, I
can speak well of my Lord and Master in all that He has ever given me
to do, but it is the joy of my soul to think that my sons should follow
me in the love of Christ and the preaching of the Gospel!

We who are younger men, but yet who have had a good deal of tossing to
and fro, can say, "He is my Lord and there is no unrighteousness in
Him. No, not a flaw in Him–not one unkindness, not one unfaithfulness,
not one forgetfulness, not one angry word, not one thing but what has
been full of love." He has said, "I have sworn that I would not be
angry with you, or rebuke you," and He has kept His promise! And up to
this hour we cannot discover speck, spot, or flaw in all the
transactions of His Providence. Though sometimes they have been
mysterious, they have always been right!

Blessed be His name forever and ever! Oh, who would not be planted in
the courts of such a God as this to be kept even to old age and to be
blessed with such unspeakable blessings world without end? God grant
you all to be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord
that He might be glorified! Amen.
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