Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is gained in a righteous life. This concludes the reading and hearing of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your commentary on the various capacities of life. And Father, we have before us here a statement concerning the elderly, and we pray that you would give us the wisdom to understand the truth which you are communicating. Father, we pray that even in this passage we would see Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And so Father, we pray for your spirit to equip our minds with understanding. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Henry Van Til was a reformed thinker. He was a professor at Calvin College, Calvin Seminary, until the day he died. In fact, he was sitting in his office at Calvin College when he died. Two years prior to his death, Van Til had published a book, and it was entitled The Calvinistic Concept of Culture. And that book was released in 1959. And today the Calvinistic concept of culture is still in print. It sells for $26 on Amazon. And the reason this book has been in print for the last 57 years is because it is such an excellent exposition of what the Bible teaches about culture. More than being just another book on the basics of Christian worldview, Van Til's book is a systematic theological approach to understanding what culture is. And then he goes on to provide practical ways of translating that head knowledge into practical, faithful Christian living in a culture, in the culture of this world. Well, the book is 256 pages, and so that's something you're going to sit down and read in one sitting. Van Til deals with all the complexities that go into the formation of culture. He begins where every attempt to understand culture needs to begin, which is the Garden of Eden. He acknowledges God's creation of the world and how God commissioned man to subdue the world, which is really just another way of saying that man was commissioned to create a culture upon this earth that is in complete submission to God. But then sin entered the picture. And sin had, and continues to have, an extensive impact upon culture. And so Van Til describes the effects of sin upon culture and then goes on to describe all the other necessary factors of consideration, God's common grace, the kingship of Christ, the authority of scripture, the motivation of faith, the spiritual antithesis, and several other constituent components of culture. But if you were to read Van Til's book and then you were to try to distill everything you read into a singular statement, you would no doubt end up with the same four words that Christian theologians have been reciting over and over and over ever since 1959. It's Van Til's summary definition of what culture is. And it's the single greatest contribution that Henry Van Til has made to understanding worldview. So here it is, here are those four words. Culture is religion externalized. Culture is religion externalized. And what Van Til means by this is that whatever the idols and gods are of a given people, those idols and gods will be reflected in their culture. The institutions that arise from within a culture are an expression of the religious convictions of that culture. The ideas and concepts which are promoted as acceptable or approved are an expression of the religious convictions of a culture. The legal system, the civil government, the schools, the arts, the sciences, all those things are an expression of religion. And while they may not appear religious on the surface, the origin of all of these things is always found in the shared values of the people who comprise the culture. And those values always have a religious foundation, whether that be the Christian religion or some other religion. Once having learned this, acknowledged this, we should then be able to take any expression of culture and then analyze it to the point where we discern the religious values which are driving that expression. Whether that be trends in technology, or matters of privacy, or gender issues, or environmental concerns, or gun control, even the seemingly trivial aspects of culture, when properly understood, will always reflect the shared religious convictions of the people. The proverb that serves as our sermon text this morning is a demonstration of this point. Proverbs 16.31 asserts that gray hair is a crown of glory, a crown of glory. And some translations render it a crown of splendor. What we understand from this is that possessing gray hair is an honorable thing. It's something which is to be respected. Leviticus 19.32 says, you shall stand up before the gray-headed and honor the face of an old man. Do you hear that? You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of the old man. And that's the way the ancient Jewish culture was. An older man would walk into a room and the younger men would stand up in respect of that man. And this was a demonstration of that respect. And that was, in that Jewish culture, when that happened, that was religion externalized. The honor that the Jewish culture showed to the elderly originated from the people's shared religious convictions. When we consider how our culture shows honor to the elderly, we understand that the shared religious convictions of America are a lot different than that of ancient Judaism. We don't have a high level of respect for elderly. We don't stand up when the gray-headed person enters the room. we don't consider gray hair to be a crown of glory. People in America are much more likely to elevate youth to the status of glory. People in America go to extraordinary efforts to, quote unquote, stay young, or to put it the other way, to avoid, quote unquote, getting old, as if that's a bad thing. Anti-aging is a multi-billion dollar industry in America because our culture wants to hold on to youth as long as possible. There are skin care products to reduce or eliminate wrinkles. There are cosmetic surgeons who are more than happy to take your money if you are really serious about looking youthful. There are all kinds of herbs and oils and tonics and creams that are marketed as anti-aging products that are proven to make you look younger. Perhaps the most obvious expression of this cultural trend to stay young is our attitude towards gray hair. Last year, Americans spent $1.5 billion on hair coloring products. And that figure, that 1.5 billion, that only accounts for the at-home hair coloring products, like Clarel's age-defying formula, or Just For Men's brush-in coloring gel that targets the gray. The professional salon industry, The professional salon industry in the United States is a $20 billion industry annually. And 25% of that 20 billion is for hair coloring services. And so add what Americans spend on at-home coloring with what Americans spend on professional salon services, and we have a total of $6.5 billion each year spent to hide our gray hair. What drives a culture to spend $6.5 billion on hiding gray hair? We need to remember that culture is religion externalized. America's attitude towards gray hair originates from the shared religious values of the people, which I submit to you is an idolatrous treatment of youth. It's an idolatrous religion that worships at the fountain of youth. And because gray hair is associated with old age, there's a strong cultural bias or dislike for gray hair, which further promotes a progressive reduction in honor of the elderly. When a culture idolizes youth, that culture of necessity will devalue age. Let me repeat that. When a culture idolizes youth, by necessity that culture will devalue the status of the aged or the elderly. This is the religious antithesis that Van Til wrote about in his book, and it's more accessible to you. This is the very warning that Jesus spoke about, about trying to serve two masters. For either you will hate the one and love the other, or else you will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both, Jesus says. Well, the God, little g God of America, the God that America has chosen to worship, is the God of youth. Therefore, the elderly are becoming hated and despised because you cannot serve both. But it ought not to be that way. If the shared religious values of Americans were biblical values, then Americans would truly honor and respect the elderly. And we would have an extra $6.5 billion floating around every year because we would actually desire to have gray hair. The men and women in our culture would stop trying to look and act and dress like teenagers. Rather, we would embrace the wisdom and honor and dignity which is evident in so many of those who have years of maturity behind them. Listen to what Proverbs 20, 29 says. The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. And this proverb is not shy of admitting that physical strength belongs to the youth. Their bodies are strong, there's no doubt about that. They're fit, they're at the point in life when they can perform physical feats and labors that older people typically cannot do. That youthful strength is necessary. A society needs people who are physically strong, able to provide protection, able to work in industry. And so that is the splendor of youth, to be sure. It's in their strength, physical strength. But the splendor of the elderly is in their gray hair, Proverbs 20, 29 says. And we take this to mean that the splendor of the elderly is in their spiritual wisdom and maturity. The many years of trials and challenges and hardships have helped that person increase in understanding. The lessons learned from having made mistakes and having watched other people make mistakes has given increased understanding. And so the gray hair on a person indicates that this is a person who has a lot of life experience and has come through a lot of trials and hardships and who presumably has gained much wisdom and understanding after having come through those hardships. But very few Americans understand the value of hardship. Americans complain that distresses in life is what gives them gray hair. I never had gray hair until I had teenagers, some will say. All this job is really done for me is give me gray hair. I would expect those kind of statements to come from the people of the world. But far be it from a Christian to say such things because those statements reveal an ignorance concerning God's design for his people's sanctification. Listen closely to what James 1, verses two and four, two through four, says about the attitude that we as Christians ought to have concerning trials. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. So what this tells you is that the trials God places in your life are intended to sanctify you. With each trial, the faithful Christian will become a little more steadfast in his faith. And as life goes on, and as these trials increase, the steadfast Christian becomes more and more sanctified in his faith. And so long as you are allowing steadfastness to have its full effect, as James puts it, then the gray hairs that begin to appear upon your head are evidences that God is perfecting you and completing you so that you will lack nothing. And when your hair is fully grayed, That represents a crown of glory which God has placed upon your head. A crown of glory that has been attained from years and years of God working in you and on you and refining you and developing you into the man or woman that is wise and mature and can then serve the Lord in a calling which he has given you. I want to be very clear on what the Bible is teaching on this subject. Having just stated that gray hair is an evidence that God has been sanctifying the person, it's necessary to understand that a specific condition is built into that statement. A specific condition. It's understood that the person who wears the crown of glory has been a devout follower of God. It's understood that the person who has truly received the saving grace of God and has been walking with Christ and therefore is dedicated to a life of righteousness. This condition is clearly identified in the second line of our sermon text from Proverbs 16, 31. We read there that gray hair is only a crown of glory if it is attained by a life of righteousness. That's the condition, a life of righteousness. And not every person alive is living a life of righteousness. And not every person who encounters trials is letting steadfastness have its full sanctifying effect upon their life. There are many, many people who have gray hair, Yet they have never considered the joy of the various trials they experience. Therefore, they have never learned the lessons that these trials were intended to teach them. And therefore, they've never progressed in their knowledge and wisdom of the Lord. Why is this? It's because they don't have a relationship with the Lord. They don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And as such, they've never grown in spiritual wisdom and maturity. They've never lived a life of righteousness, and so any gray hair that they have on their head only serves as a testimony of what they should be, but not what they actually are. Our sermon text says that gray hair is a crown of glory. That's true. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. That is true. But it's only a crown of glory for those who have gained that crown in a life of righteousness. It's only a crown of glory for those who have walked with Christ through the various trials of life and have had their mind and heart and soul trained by constant practice of discerning good from evil. Hebrews 5 contrasts the spiritually immature with the spiritually mature. And in describing the process by which the immature become mature, verse 14 says, they have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. You hear that? This is the mechanism God uses to move us into maturity. They have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. And I want you to notice the words constant practice there. Hebrews 5.14 says that a person who matures into a wise and faithful Christian is a person who is constantly practicing his Christian faith. He's constantly discerning good from evil. He's constantly pursuing a life of righteousness. That's the person who properly is adorned with a crown of glory. It's the person who practices his faith. So let me illustrate this point. Suppose there was a well-known group of musicians, a well-accomplished group of musicians known to play the piano, and their trademark, by which they were often identified, was that they wore a wide-brimmed tan hat. All these musicians wore this hat. Now suppose I showed up one morning wearing such a hat. Well, like this one right here. You might conclude that because I have this hat on that I'm an accomplished piano player, right? Now what if I told you that I began playing piano when I was 10 years old, which means I've been playing now for 37 years. And what if I told you that, well, would it help convince you if I told you that I've been playing piano for 37 years? Would that be convincing to you? What if I walked over to this piano right now? And what if I stood here very confidently, leaning up against this piano with this hat on? Would that make a pretty bold statement about my piano skills? What if I sat on this bench over here, prepared to play the next hymn? Would that indicate to you that I'm an accomplished piano player? What if I spoke? That's a good answer. But what if I spoke to you about piano, and I told you, well, this keyboard here has 88 keys on it. This is an upright piano. Did you know that a piano requires 230 strings if it's to make its full range of sound? I could speak some interesting facts about pianos. And I'm wearing the hat, too. Does that tell you about my piano skills? The question is, can I play the piano? This hat indicates, it seems to indicate, that I can. That's the suggestion, that's the communication of the hat. It's a hat that identifies me as a piano player. And so the real question is, can you play the piano? Well, let's find out. This bench needs to be adjusted a little bit to height here, but I think I can work through that. I think what that demonstrates is that I cannot really play the piano. But the truth is, I did begin playing the piano when I was 10 years old. Yet, I have not practiced for the last 37 years. And even though I've tinkered around on my grandma's piano when I was a kid, I never progressed in my piano skills because I never practiced the piano. And this hat that I'm wearing does serve, can serve as a testimony of an accomplished musician. Only I don't really have the privilege of wearing this hat because it communicates a message that's not true for me. The spiritual wisdom and maturity that the gray hair, the crown of glory communicates It is a crown of glory. It is definitely a crown of glory, but only for those who have attained spiritual wisdom and maturity by constant practice of righteousness. Do you get the point? It's the steadfast and constant practice of one's faith that transforms a young man with physical strength into an old man with spiritual strength. And there are people whose hair is gray, which means they are wearing a crown of glory on their head. but they've never practiced a life of righteousness, which means the message that the crown communicates is not applicable to the person who's wearing it. Their gray hair speaks about what they should be, not what they are. The Bible sets very high standards for men and women, and God has the expectation that people will not remain infantile in their faith. but that they will progress from greater to greater maturity over time. And in a few minutes, I'm going to show you from the Bible specifically what God expects of older men and older women, what he expects of their character, what he expects of their behavior. But before I do that, I wanna remind you, I wanna remind each person sitting here this morning that God's timing doesn't always allow for people to come to salvation when they are young. Okay? God's timing doesn't always allow people to be saved at an age where they then have 10 or 20 or 40 years of practicing their faith before they become quote unquote old. And our sermon text suggests that a person who has gray hair ought to be wise and mature in a Christian faith. But there are times when a person doesn't receive the justifying grace of God until that person is already gray headed. And consequently, that person's not gonna be as spiritually mature as other Christians his or her age. But that's okay. That's okay. If that describes you, then be at peace with where God has you today. His timing is always perfect. His ways are always just. Your responsibility is to begin practicing your faith on the day that God saves you, and then continue practicing your faith until the day he takes you from this earth. So if you weren't saved until the age of 40, or 50, or 60, or 70, then so be it. Don't feel as if you are any less important within the kingdom of God than somebody who has been a Christian longer than you have. So long as you are living by faith in Jesus Christ, then you wear the crown of glory. It's yours. You wear that crown as a privilege, and you wear it with confidence, and you wear it with dignity. That's the true essence of our sermon text this morning. Everyone who has been faithfully walking with Jesus Christ and steadfastly persevering through the trials is deserving of that crown of glory. And the truth is, if you came to salvation later in life, God is able to reclaim those years you lived outside of his will in disobedience to him. Listen to the promise God spoke through the prophet Joel in chapter 2, 25. So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locusts has eaten. the crawling locusts, the consuming locusts, the chewing locusts, my great army which I sent among you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied and praise the name of the Lord your God who has dealt wondrously with you and my people shall never be put to shame. So if you are in Christ Jesus, then it's His righteousness that covers you. It's His blood which is atoned for you. And therefore you are privileged to eat of the bountiful blessings that God has provided and to be fully satisfied with those blessings. It doesn't matter whether you've been a Christian for 90 seconds or 90 years. Your salvation is in the grace of our triune God and that puts you on a level playing field with everybody else. So if you're a relatively new Christian and you're hearing me speak about gray-headed people who have never lived a life of righteousness, who have never practiced their faith throughout all those years, but of whom a crown of glory only points to what they should have been and not what they are, then please understand that I'm not talking to you. If you are in Christ, I'm not talking to you. I'm describing the person who has entered into old age without ever knowing Jesus Christ. I'm talking about the gray-headed person who may claim to be a Christian for however many years, but has never produced the fruit of righteousness because he or she has never practiced walking with Jesus. Now let me address one more demographic within our congregation. I'd like to speak to the young people here, and I'm defining young as those who do not yet have gray hair. God is not content to simply let you live your life according to your own desires. There are plenty of Bible passages that I can turn to that show that you are to seek the will of God and do His will, pursue the calling He has placed upon your life. But I'm just going to quote one, just refer to one, that's Ephesians 2.10. Ephesians 2.10 affirms that God has saved us by grace, but He has saved us unto good works which He has prepared beforehand that we might walk in those good works. And this means that God has expectations upon your life. He has a design, He has a target, a goal of which He wants you to pursue. And he has given you a target way off in the distance that you ought to run for or you ought to aim for. And what I'm about to read from Titus 2 is a description of two such targets. One for men, one for women. Titus 2 is informing you what your character and what your behavior ought to look like when you get old. I'm still talking to the young people here. And the reason it's important for you young people to be thinking about this now is because it typically takes a long time to develop the spiritual wisdom and maturity that we're gonna read about from here in Titus 2. And so today is a great day to begin working on those things, on attaining those goals. All right, so everybody, please turn in your Bibles to Titus 2 and let's read this together. and while you're turning there, let me make a bold statement. It's a reasonable, reasonable expectation that an older Christian man or an older Christian woman will have mentorship roles within the church. Okay? It's a reasonable expectation that an older Christian man or an older Christian woman will have mentorship role, a mentorship role within the church. And I based this statement on what we're gonna read here together. Titus 2, or the book of Titus, is an epistle from Paul to Titus, and Titus was a pastor of a local church. Titus was an elder, you might say, and Paul is instructing him on how to properly shepherd the people of his little local church. And so beginning at verse one of chapter two, but as for you, Titus, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men ought to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith and love, and in steadfastness. Notice how Paul begins by instructing Titus to teach what accords with sound doctrine. He then goes on to describe what that sound doctrine is in verse two. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-control, sound in faith and love and in steadfastness. And notice also how Paul tells Titus to teach this sound doctrine, not just to some men, but instead to teach them to all the older men. Paul presents this command as a categorical imperative, meaning everyone who is considered a quote-unquote older man is required to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith and love and in steadfastness. So this is the target for men. You young men, this is what you're aiming for. You old men, this is what you've been working for. This is what all of us as men are aiming for. This is the target. And as the Holy Spirit sanctifies each one of us and leads us into spiritual maturity, this is what the crown of glory is going to look like. So let's take a minute or two to make sure we understand what the moral character of the older man is, what that target really is. The first expectation of an older man is that he be sober-minded. And to be sober-minded means that the man is able to restrain himself in regards to his appetites and his passions. One of the most obvious applications of this type of sobriety pertains to alcohol. Right? In this regard, a sober-minded man is one who has the self-restraint to either refrain from alcohol or to drink alcohol in moderation so as not to become intoxicated. But being sober-minded is not limited strictly to drink. A man must exercise self-restraint over all those things that have the ability to control him. In other words, he must be free from all addictions. That includes gambling, pornography, drug usage. Being sober-minded means imposing self-restraint with food, with video games and other forms of entertainment, with the internet, with shopping, even with work. The man who is a sluggard is not properly restraining himself, just as the man who is a workaholic is not properly restraining himself. The second expectation of older men is that they be dignified. And this has to do with being respectable or honorable. While it's true that the Bible requires younger people to respect older people simply because they are older, The Bible also requires older people to live in such a way that the respect they receive is deserved. Make the job easy for the young people. Older men, therefore, are to be noble, trustworthy, honest, truthful. And the third expectation is that the men be self-controlled. And this may seem like a repetition of what I described with being sober-minded, but there's a difference. Where sober-mindedness had to do with addictions and influences that have the ability to control you, being self-controlled is exercising control over our outbursts and our emotions that come out from within. And so an older man ought to be able to control his anger. He should not be prone to fits of anger. An older man should be able to control his tongue as well. And this applies to speaking profanity, for sure, but it also applies to speaking his opinion to others when that opinion is not welcomed. This can be a real problem within the context of families, for sure. Sometimes an older person will want to share an opinion with his children, or even with his grandchildren, and he will tell them how they ought to clean the house, or how they ought to stack the dishwasher, or how they ought to educate their children, or how they ought to manage their time. And this type of unsolicited advice creates stress and tension within relationships. And the type of self-control that older men are supposed to possess should be that which governs their tongue. And so by this time, by this age in this man's life, he should have reached the point where he has the wisdom to know what to say and what not to say. That's self-control. And also, he needs to know when to say it and when not to say it. That's self-control. And lastly, Older men are to be sound, Paul writes to Titus. They are to be sound in three areas of life. Sound in faith, sound in love, and sound in steadfastness. And sound in faith means that the older man should know his theology well. He should know his Bible backwards and forwards. He should be the type of person that people come to when they have a question about theology or doctrine or faith. Sound and love means that he should be compassionate. He should be somebody who's approachable. Somebody who treats people with kindness. You may have heard about the movie back in the 90s called Grumpy Old Men. It's a comedy about two guys, two men, who spend all their time insulting one another, arguing with each other, playing dirty tricks on each other. And these guys are perfect examples of what being sound in love is not. The love spoken of here in Titus 2 that is required of an older man is agape love, the love which is described in 1 Corinthians 13. It's love which is patient, kind, does not envy or boast. It's not arrogant or rude. It doesn't insist on its own way. It's not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in truth. That is what it means for an older man to be sound in love. And finally, the older man must be sound in steadfastness, which means he patiently perseveres through the trials of life without becoming embittered against God or his fellow man. That word steadfastness here in Titus 2.2 is the same word that we saw back at the beginning of the book of James. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that detesting your faith produces what? Steadfastness. and let steadfastness have its full effect. that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. So the older man, whose sound and steadfastness will be the man who is able to have walked through these things, have benefited from these things, and then be in a position to comfort others who are walking through those things, because he has those words of wisdom. Having learned those words of wisdom over the many years of taking refuge in the sovereignty of God, knowing that his grace, God's grace, is entirely sufficient for every trial, and that God is presently working all things together for the good of those who love him. Now, you put all these things together, and that is the description of what an older man's character ought to look like. That's the target that each man here today should be aiming for. Now, let's move on to the target for the women in our congregation that they ought to be aiming for. Reading from Titus 2.3. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. Now the word likewise here at the beginning of this verse indicates that the virtues just described pertaining to the men are likewise attributable to the women. And so Paul is saying that women, they must also be sober-minded and dignified and self-controlled. But there's one character trait that Paul slips into the description of women that we didn't read in the description of men. It's the prohibition against slander. This is not to say that it's okay for men to slander, only women are prohibited from slandering. Nobody should be slandering. But for whatever reason, Paul specifically prohibits slander in his description of an older woman's character. And it's actually something very similar to what Paul wrote to Timothy concerning the widows in the church. In 1 Timothy 5.13, Paul mentioned how the women were wandering about from house to house, not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things that they ought not. Older women, therefore, are expected to have overcome all the temptations of gossip, telltaling, slandering other people's names, however you want to define that. Just like men, they also, women also, need to learn to control their tongue. Now let me remind you what Paul wrote to Titus in chapter two, verse one. These character traits of the older men and older women are supposed to be taught in the church because they are in accordance with sound doctrine. That's why we're teaching them here. This is sound doctrine. That's just another way of saying that these character traits are supposed to become the religious convictions of all Christians. And as we continue to read in Titus 2, we see that Paul transitions from describing older men and women's character to now describing older men and women's behavior within the church. And so I'm gonna begin reading at the end of verse three. concerning the older women, they are to teach what is good, and so train young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, workers at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. And then verse six, the older men must urge the younger men to be self-controlled, show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching to show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. These first eight verses of Titus 2 are a beautiful example of Henry Van Til's statement that culture is religion externalized. If Christians really believe that older men and women wear a crown of glory, a crown which represents dignity and self-control and a sound faith, then we should expect to see this belief externalized within the context of the church culture, should we not? We should see young men rise when an older man walks into the room. We should see every man and woman putting off the sinful vices of their youth and putting on the righteous virtues that accord with sound doctrine. We should see older men and women actively mentoring younger men and women. Helping them to remain steadfast through the trials and challenges of life. Helping them to constantly practice their faith and power of discernment. And we should see the younger people using their physical strength to the glory of God and the older people using their wisdom and maturity for the glory of God. The church should be a culture where the terms old man and old woman are not offensive, but complimentary. If you're going to change a culture, you'll need to change the religious values of the people within that culture. And our sermon text from Proverbs 16, 31 defines what our religious values towards the elderly ought to be, what they ought to be. And the danger, And believe me, as I was working over this past week developing this sermon, this danger that I'm about to identify had hit me multiple times. And I'm fearful of miscommunicating today. And so I want to identify the danger that I'm so concerned about. The danger of preaching on topics like this is that people walk away from the sermon with a list of four or five things that they need to change in their life. Action items, you might say. A checklist of the things that they need to do differently. I need to stand when Mr. So-and-so enters the room. I need to have lunch with Mr. So-and-so at least twice a month. I need to stop dyeing my hair. If that's what you've heard from this sermon, then I have failed to articulate the truth that God is presenting before us here this morning. Because I'm not advocating any of those things, not a one of them. What I'm advocating is that you receive and maintain the truth and pure word of God into your hearts. I'm encouraging you to truly understand what the Word of God says about older men and older women, and then to allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into a faithful and proper expression, external expression, of that religious conviction. If that means that you begin to rise when an older man enters the room, then that's great. You do that. If that's what your heart is telling you to do, then you do that. But don't do that because you think I told you to do that. And if you want to stop dying your hair and let the grace show through, then that's great too. But do it because that's what your heart is telling you to do, not because you think that's what I'm telling you to do. I love the way Paul concludes this section of Titus 2. After defining the character and the behavior of godly men and women, Paul concludes with a statement of encouragement. He points everybody back to the only means by which they can possibly attain the character and behavior that he just described. Verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age. This is true for you and me just as much as it was for Paul and for Titus. The grace of God has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. He has brought salvation to His people. And the Spirit of God trains you to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, whether you're young or whether you're old, whether you've been a Christian for 90 seconds or for 90 years, the Holy Spirit trains you to live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life in this present age. That's not a future promise, that's a promise for you today, right here, right now. Therefore, we are optimistic about these things, right? We are optimistic. We believe that this is not an empty promise, but that this is a reality that will come to pass for every true and genuine Christian man and woman here today. And for this reason, The gray hair, which is a crown of glory, it's gray hair that points to a time, or the time, in the past, present, as well as the future, where the Spirit will be working His sanctification in your life. It points to the sanctification that is manifestly evident in the lives of all of God's people. So may it be that all of us here, if we're not already doing so, will someday wear that crown of glory. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are so in need of your grace. Lord, we have considered before us this morning the very high and lofty standard that you have set for your people, the expectations you put upon all men and all women to attain and to achieve this level of of moral perfection. And Father, we can try in our own efforts to do these things, to attain these things, but Lord, we know that even our most righteous works are like filthy rags, and that we can never attain these things apart from the grace of our triune God. So Father, we pray that Your Spirit would work mightily upon and within us that we would learn each day to walk with Christ and to walk in the Spirit through the fiery furnaces of this world, that the trials and tribulations that we might persevere in the power of Christ through these, that we would be steadfast and that we would let steadfastness have its full effect, that we might become more and more sanctified. And Father we pray that yes we would attain this level of character and of behavior. We pray that we would grow to be godly old people, that we would wear the crown of righteousness with dignity. And Father, we pray that we would be mentors to the young, that we would use our life experience and our spiritual wisdom and maturity to assist those coming behind us, that they may stand on our shoulders and that we may promote them to even higher places. But Father, all of this needs to be done through the work of the Holy Spirit. And so, Father, we come before you this morning as people who are in need of your grace. And we pray that you would pour out that grace liberally upon us in order that we may attain these things to your glory. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material here within, unless otherwise noted, copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.